Elon Musk’s much anticipated Twitter takeover is all set to redraw lines between free speech and hate speech.
The dust around the future of the social media platform, Twitter, has finally been settled after Elon Musk acquired it for $44 billion last week. This happened after Twitter sued him for threatening to back out of the deal.
He quickly made an impression as a new boss when he announced major job cuts across the workforce, The New York Times reported.In addition to sweeping changes across many fronts, Musk is also eyeing to charge users per month for the coveted blue checkmark on the social media platform, The Verge reported
According to Reuters, Musk fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and Legal Affairs and Policy Chief Vijaya Gadde. Musk accused them of misleading him about the spam bots accounts.
The move has caused concerns and jubilations across the political spectrum as Tesla CEO tweeted, “the bird is freed.” In May, Musk said he would reverse Twitter’s ban on Donald Trump, indicating his lenient take on free speech, calling himself a “free speech absolutist.”
According to Politico, perhaps the most prominent setback for the civil rights groups and left leaning populace is the departure of Vijaya Gadde. She was at the center of the decision making body which oversees the content moderation policies that infuriates many conservatives and supported a ban on former U.S. President, Donald Trump. Gadde is the chief who made the call to ban Trump.
Musk addressed the expected backlash and tweeted, “Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
He also posted an open letter to advertisers on Twitter saying he does not want the site to become “a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.”
Elon Musk may have bought Twitter, but users are not buying into his brand of free speech. Many celebrities have chosen to walk away as soon as the deal was finalized.
So far, Alex Winter from Bill & Ted and screenwriter, Shonda Rhimes, have both left. This Is Us’ executive producer, Ken Olin, and actor and director, Rob Reiner, are also gone and asking followers to “save democracy and leave Twitter.”
“I will be happy to leave in a heartbeat if Musk, well, acts as we all expect him to,” said a Twitter user, @mustlovedogsxo.
European regulators also reiterated past warnings that, under Musk’s leadership, Twitter must still abide by the region’s Digital Services Act. This act levies hefty fines on companies if they do not control illegal content.
“In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules,” EU Industry Chief, Thierry Breton, tweeted on Friday morning.
Aside from Musk’s legal wrangling, he, again, made headlines with his reckless commentary on the attacker of Nancy Pelosi’s husband. He validated people’s concerns about his unhinged approach to free speech when he tweeted a link to unfounded allegations about the violent attacker.
Replying to a tweet from Hillary Clinton about the attack, Musk wrote, “there is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.” He included a link to an article from the Santa Monica Observer, a website known for allegedly pushing fake new
Amid this rumpus, he posted another confrontational tweet, this time about The New York Times.
The New York Times called out Musk for sharing a link to a conspiracy theory website regarding the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband. In a tweet, he trolled the newspaper by comparing it to the fake news website.
