Twitter is usually full of topics for discussion, but over the past few days one has stood out on the platform – what does the future hold for Twitter itself?
With Elon Musk looking to buy the site for $44 billion — subject to shareholder approval — tweeters around the world have voiced their opinion.
Nobody knows exactly what the billionaire entrepreneur has planned, and even Twitter boss Parag Agrawal admits that the future of the platform is uncertain. But the richest man in the world has offered some clues.
Mr Musk has long been vocal in criticizing the platform’s content policies, and there is speculation that he could tweak Twitter’s moderation rules and allow the return of banned accounts – like that of former US President Donald Trump.
When his acquisition was approved by Twitter’s board of directors, the billionaire said freedom of speech is the “foundation” of a functioning democracy and hailed the platform as “a digital town square where matters important to the future of humanity are debated.”
Mr Musk has previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” but his exact take on the concept is unclear.
He has also blocked people on the platform who have criticized him or his companies in the past.
If the billionaire relaxes Twitter’s content moderation rules, he could be in for a “rude awakening,” says Jeffrey Howard, an associate professor at University College London.
Twitter could be “easily weaponized” by criminals, bots and individuals who use it for “malicious purposes” and to “incite hatred and violence,” warns Mr Howard.
“I think Elon Musk is relatively naïve when it comes to the actual challenges of moderating content. He will learn from this that you cannot simply proceed in a laissez-faire manner when it comes to content management.”
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Both the UK government and the European Commission have reminded Mr Musk of his duty to protect the rights of Twitter users. And with tough new regulations looming to tackle online abuse, like the UK government’s Online Harms Bill, it’s unclear what changes Mr Musk can make.
The news of the takeover already divided political opinion in the USA.
Those on the right, who feel unfairly targeted by social media platforms, have welcomed the deal, while those on the left have been more critical, with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren calling it “dangerous to our democracy”.
Peter Vidlicka, media expert and co-founder of PR website Newspage, said that while Mr Musk can help Twitter “get his mojo back”, “in the current sociocultural climate, we can expect fireworks in the coming months”.
After becoming Twitter’s largest shareholder in early April, Mr Musk released in a series of now-deleted tweets that he would like to get rid of advertising on Twitter’s premium subscription service, Twitter Blue.
“The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced when Twitter depends on advertising money to survive,” Musk wrote.
Although the entrepreneur may have raised concerns about the influence of advertisers on Twitter’s policies, the platform currently relies on ads for about 90% of its income.
In results for the three months ended December, Twitter said revenue hit $1.57 billion, with ads accounting for $1.41 billion — both up 22% year over year.
Mr Musk suggested making improvements to Twitter Blue, which could be relied upon as an alternative source of income. He has also stated that he wants to cut costs.
The service, which launched last year and is available in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, gives users access to additional features like an undo button on tweets.
But GlobalData analyst Rachel Foster-Jones says Elon Musk may need to “balance his dreams of an open space for debate unconstrained by advertising with the harsh realities of Twitter’s core business model.”
“Musk needs a serious overhaul of Twitter’s subscription model, Twitter Blue, if he wants to move away from advertising,” she adds.
Mr Musk has spoken of “defeating the spam bots,” a promise likely to be hugely popular with Twitter users.
Twitter has long had a problem with automated, fake accounts being used to relentlessly post unhelpful or misleading content.
Jamie Moles, a senior sales engineer at cybersecurity firm ExtraHop, says that while removing the Twitter bots seems like a daunting task, if Mr Musk is successful, “the methods used by Twitter to remove bots from the platform may change new ones.” technologies that improve the detection and identification of spam emails, spam posts and other malicious intrusion attempts”.
However, Robin Mansell, a professor of new media and the internet at the London School of Economics, says that when people or algorithms authenticate users, “there will always be errors”.
“Anyone offering certainty in this area is full of hype or wishful thinking,” says Prof. Mansell.
“As Musk dives into the business, he will realize that there are more constraints and governance arrangements that these companies need to respect when they do business internationally.”
Prior to his bid for Twitter, Mr Musk asked his 83.6 million followers if they would like an edit button in a Twitter poll.
This led to Twitter confirming that it was already working on such a feature, which would allow users to modify tweets after they were posted.
Users have long asked for an edit button, but there are concerns about how to perform it. On the plus side, it would allow users to correct typos or errors in a tweet without losing any replies, retweets, or likes already gained.
But if not managed well, it could hurt the platform’s transparency, warned Jay Sullivan, the company’s vice president of consumer products, last month.
Mr Sullivan said “without things like timelines, controls and transparency into what was edited”, such a feature “could be abused to alter the recording of the public conversation”.
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