Musk claims to have bought Twitter for "free speech," but viewers don't seem to buy it.
On April 25, local time, the social networking site Twitter announced that it had reached an acquisition agreement with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, agreeing to Musk's wholly-owned acquisition of Twitter at a price of $54.2 per share, totaling about $44 billion in cash. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.
Musk said Twitter is a digital town square, adding, "I hope that the harshest criticism of me can also stay on Twitter, because that's what free speech is about." ”
However, skepticism also followed, and the Atlantic monthly published an article saying, "Musk took down Twitter, but not to defend free speech." Many voices said that the world's richest man was more concerned about his own interests than promoting free speech, and they believed that Musk had just bought a "public opinion field" for himself.
The public opinion field of the super-rich
Musk has been a veteran Twitter user for the past few years, and since joining Twitter in 2009, Musk has more than 80 million followers. He made surprising tweets from time to time, earning him enough eyeballs for Tesla, SpaceX, Boring Company, etc.
Musk's predictions of Tesla's privatization deals on Twitter and ridicule of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have also caused him to repeatedly fall into confrontation with regulators. Many analysts worry that once he wins Twitter, Musk may be more unscrupulous in his own turf.
Robert Reich, a professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote, "Be careful when oligarchs talk about freedom. For Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder), that means he's free to set prices. For Jamie Dimon (the American banker), that means he's free to integrate banking. For Elon Musk, that means he's free to set the terms of his political debates. Don't get confused. ”
He said the public needs to be careful when billionaires like Musk prove their motives through "freedom." What they really seek is "freedom" from being held accountable.
Robert Reich tweeted
Former New York Times writer Anand Giridharadas bluntly said that what Musk has done is exactly what the rich have been doing: buy power with money, and protect their money with power.
Anand Giridharadas tweet
The New York Times called Musk's acquisition of Twitter "another remake of a familiar story": In the past, many super-rich people have acquired large media companies to establish their own public opinion field.
In 2013, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million; in 2018, Silicon Valley software giant Salesforce founder Mark Benioff bought Time magazine for $190 million; in 2018, Chinese-American billionaire Chen Songxiong bought the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego United Tribune for about $500 million; Steve Jobs' billionaire widow Lauren Powell Lee. Jobs has also been making his own media investments, most notably the Atlantic.
The New York Times analysis believes that Musk's move is only a continuation of this "rich tradition".
Can Twitter really be a "city square"?
In a statement released on Twitter, Musk said that Twitter is a digital city square where people discuss issues that are critical to the future of humanity, "I hope to enhance Twitter's product with a series of new features, such as open source algorithms to increase public trust, human-machine verification to solve problems such as spam bots, and make Twitter better." ”
He also tweeted, "I hope that the harshest criticisms of me can also stay on Twitter, because that's what free speech is about." ”
Market research firm Ipsos conducted a poll of 1,000 Americans aged 18 and older on April 4-5 local time, and the survey showed that "a large number of Twitter users" believe that Musk will "lead to greater freedom of speech on Twitter" (40%) and "improve the quality of discussion on the platform" (40%).
But another poll suggests Musk's rise to power could divide Twitter. Opinion poll expert Ben Treanor, after surveying 1,953 Twitter users, said that about one in six Twitter users said they would abandon the platform if Musk's deal was completed, and 24 percent said they would quit if former President Trump's account was restored.
Suzanne Nossel, CEO of the nonprofit PEN America, said in an article: "Elon Musk will learn the same lesson from autonomous social media as autonomous vehicles, namely: collisions are inevitable. "Musk is right, our current content moderation system is flawed." But the idea of completely clearing the rules is not feasible. ”
It is also worth noting that whether Twitter can achieve what Musk calls "free speech" depends on the trend of policy. At present, Regulators in Europe and the United States are implementing stricter regulatory policies on social media. On April 25, local time, the White House rejected a media request to evaluate the acquisition, but said THAT US President Biden has been worried about the power of social media platforms. White House spokeswoman Jane Psaki also said social media platforms need to take responsibility.
On April 23, local time, the European Union agreed on a new Digital Services Law that would force tech giants such as Google, Meta and Twitter to more proactively regulate content on their platforms or face fines of up to billions of dollars.