He announced it, he wanted it, he did it: Elon Musk, aka the richest man on the planet, has taken a new step by buying the social network Twitter for the modest sum of 44 billion dollars. An operation which, according to the declarations of the billionaire, had a « democratic » rather than economic goal. An avid user of Twitter, Elon Musk has never been stingy in criticizing the functioning of the platform. This takeover could therefore be the starting point for a wave of more or less profound changes. Overview of the advanced tracks.
Liberate Twitter
The spearhead of its reform should revolve around freedom of expression. Elon Musk considers speech too muzzled on Twitter, deploring too frequent use of censorship. « Freedom of expression is the foundation of a functioning democracy »he explained, comparing Twitter to a « digital public square where vital subjects for the future of humanity are debated ».
Opposing banishments (notably of former President Trump) and controlled debates, he considers that the extremes, left and right, should be « fairly displeased ». He also said he hopes to see his staunchest critics continue to use Twitter, because it is the very definition of freedom of expression. He also said that if Trump had created his own social network (Truth Social), it’s because Twitter had censored free speech.
Only limit set by whoever qualifies « free speech absolutist » : that of the law, which must not be violated.
Soon an option to edit your tweets
Prior to the takeover, Elon Musk had already taken the pulse of his subscribers on possible changes. At the top of the list is the « edit » option. A clear poll (73.6% for, 26.4% against) of its followers the a priori confirmed the merits of this option.
But many fear adverse effects if this option, which is already available on other networks such as Facebook or Instagram, were to appear on Twitter. Because if a user were to change a posteriori a tweet, to modify comments or even completely reverse the meaning of the comments, the original comments on the thread would remain unchanged. This is enough to give comments and their authors a completely different look on a given issue.
A public and transparent algorithm
This is perhaps the biggest upheaval that Elon Musk could imagine. On several occasions, he expressed his desire to make open-source the Twitter algorithm.
Concretely, when you open a social network (Twitter or another), an algorithm determines which content is most likely to interest you. It is he who chooses what you will see (or not see) during your navigation. Elon Musk would like to make this process available to the general public, allowing Internet users with the necessary knowledge to decipher the operation of the algorithm in real time. It is also possible that some may suggest changes to how it works.
Adopted by very few platforms, this policy would be a real revolution for a social network like Twitter.
Fight the bots « or die trying »
Another vital fight in his eyes, the fight against bots (fake accounts), used by brands and influencers to create more interactions around a subject, thus making it rise among the trending subjects.
More cryptically, he also claimed to want « identify all real humans » on the social network, without specifying what he meant by this formula. Considered more favorably by observers, this approach would tend to improve the quality of the platform and avoid abuse, in particular advertising.
End of ads and paid version
Elon Musk has also never hidden his disapproval of advertisements on Twitter, lamenting that they gave brands too much power and influence. Important source of financing, their disappearance would force the company to turn to other sources of income.
One of the avenues considered is that of paid registrations for certain users. Yes « Twitter will always be free » for ordinary users, a small financial contribution may be required from commercial or political account holders. Note that it is already possible in some countries (United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to pay a monthly subscription to have access to Twitter Blue, which gives access to additional features. The system could therefore be extended in the future.
Anyway, and even if Elon Musk has already explicitly addressed these options, there is no guarantee that they will be implemented in the more or less long future. First of all, because man has already shown himself to be unpredictable on many occasions. It is difficult to know if his first projects will indeed concern these themes or if he will opt for other battles. Then, because Twitter remains a juggernaut to maneuver. If it is very far behind the Meta family (3.6 billion users), the social network still has 200 million users. If Elon Musk can give a course, the very nature of Twitter will remain heavily dependent on how users react to the proposed changes. In any case, the next few months promise to be lively for the little blue bird.
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