Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, Americans are concerned that he will not use his new great power with great responsibility. Musk has used twitter over the last decade to share controversial opinions, put other people with power in their place, and post silly memes. Regardless of your thoughts of what he says and who he disses, you have to admit it’s pretty comical. One of the most powerful individuals in the world gives no shits and does as he pleases all in a witty manner on social media; It’s pretty funny. People were already pissed off that Musk’s power was pretty much uncheckable before owning Twitter. You can’t really cancel someone who’s shaping the future of the world in technology. The closest thing to being canceled that can happen to a billionaire is being suspended from social media. Donald Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter in 2021 for “incitement of violence” when he influenced events such as the storming of the capital and the pizzagate shooting and Kanye West was recently suspended for conspiracy and hate speech. Losing a presence on social media is a minor setback for billionaires, but still an inconvenience. As an avid voicer of contentious news and opinions, Musk will no longer face consequences for his actions on Twitter, nor will his rich friends.
In an effort to support his maximalist vision of “free speech,” the Tesla CEO plans to rethink Twitter’s content moderation policies and permanent bans for users who previously violated the platform’s policies, including former President Donald Trump. He also reportedly wants to gut Twitter’s staff. and has already fired several top executives.(CNN)
Some of the high-power employees Musk fired were directly involved in decisions to suspend popular accounts which raises the concern of checks and balances: if nobody can stop the most powerful people in the world from reaching billions of people with false information, or ill-intended political influence.
Many Americans are worried about how this unchecked power will affect future political elections. Since government policies can make or break the success of tech companies by deeming what is and is not allowed, Musk is definitely going to want people to vote a certain way, and without anyone to stop him, the measures he may take in spreading propaganda or false information may get out of hand.
Free speech is always a good thing, but powerful people on social media can incite dangers to the general public. While I don’t think Musk is crazy enough to use this power for anything other than advancing his businesses, the potential makes things interesting.
As someone who previously worked for the Musk man, its crazy to see how much controversy he has brought to twitter. Sebastian brings up a great point that Twitter has become more than just a social media platform, its become a modern version of newspaper and topics/ideas spread like wildfire on twitter. Im curious to see how this situation with Elon will unfold in the long run and makes me wonder if he will begin to power trip.
Super interesting post! Elon Musk is definitely comical. I'd consider myself pretty politically centrist, which makes me not have much of a strong opinion on Musk's acquisition. He's definitely going to use Twitter's power to push for conservative values, but I also think Twitter was pushing for leftist values before his purchase. To me, it's much more concerning that social media has this much power in the first place. Of course, anyone who has this much power will use it for their own various purposes.
Such an interesting and prevalent post! Elon buying twitter as a sense of control and power made me realize how much social media impacts our world today. I do think Twitter does more than other social media platforms like instagram and snapchat. It enables society to talk politically; something that is not as easily done on other platforms. It will be very interesting to see how Elon reconstructs Twitter and how society will be able to use it. Elon has already allowed access to this platform from individuals that were banned in using it like Donald Trump and Andrew Tate. I can’t wait to see how this will affect these individuals and our society today.
I find his use of power and twitter in this situation pretty funny as well, but only because he is executing it in a witty manner. It makes me think, what if Musk was to ever have malicious intentions behind his actions? If he owns all of the world's most conversation-starting and influential social media, who is to stop him?
It is going to be interesting to see how not only this whole acquisition plays out but how Musk decides to incorporate it into society. In other words, i feel that twitter is more than a social media platform. To many it is a world news and political news outlet, so it will be interesting to see if it keeps its same credibility now that Musk plans to let loose on the restrictions set forth prior by Twitter.