Will Twitter under Elon Musk be the ‘proverbial Wild West’? Users may have to fight bullying and misinformation on their own
- Tesla founder has struck a deal to buy Twitter, and his vow to let everyone say whatever they want on the platform has analysts and activists concerned
- Musk’s promised hands-off approach could put the onus on users to combat bullying, the experts say, and give him the ultimate power to do whatever he likes
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Elon Musk’s vow to let everyone say whatever they want on Twitter after his takeover of the social media giant could put the onus on users to combat bullying and misinformation on the platform, experts say.
The privatisation of Twitter with Musk as its master has raised concerns from analysts and activists that the site will be ruled capriciously by the world’s richest man, with more focus on attention and profit than on promoting healthy online conversations, which has been a priority at the service.
For Kyla Garrett Wagner, assistant professor of communications law at Syracuse University in the US state of New York, Musk’s takeover is not a victory for free-speech rights.
She notes the US Constitution’s first amendment only bars governments from gagging what the country’s citizens say – leaving the billionaire entrepreneur the power to decide what can and cannot be posted on the private entity of Twitter.
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“This is not the street corner,” Garrett Wagner says. “This is the proverbial Wild West but owned by a minority elite that doesn’t represent minority voices.”
“Musk says he is going to turn Twitter into a social media platform with no moderation; there have been several of those and they don’t work,” says analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group. “The trolls take over, they get too hostile and drive people away from the platform.”
Musk has said he is averse to banning people from Twitter because of misbehaviour, prompting speculation that he would lift Trump’s ban.
But Trump has said he would not be returning to Twitter even if his account were reinstated, saying he would stick to his own site, Truth Social.
If Musk pulls back on policing content at Twitter, advertisers would have to take the lead to ensure their messages were not associated with toxic content, according to advocates and academics.
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“It is also critical that Google and Apple hold Twitter to the same standards they applied to other apps like Parler,” he adds, referring to a social network popular among conservatives.
The tech giants would need to reiterate that “Twitter will not get special treatment and that a violation of their terms of service will result in the platform being removed from the app stores”, according to Carusone.
Musk will also face tough judgment in the court of public opinion, with Twitter users apt to turn away from the platform if it becomes hostile and flooded with misinformation, Garrett Wagner says.
While Musk has talked about ridding Twitter of software “bots” that fire off spam, actually confirming that users are living people could prove challenging, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian told investors in a note.
Sebastian noted that Musk’s idea of charging for the coveted blue ticks that verify users’ identities is a “no-brainer”, but it is likely only a small minority of people would pay for the status.
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Musk has also said he believes anyone should be able to scrutinise the software behind the service.
But that kind of transparency could come with the unintended consequence that it will just be exploited by “bad actors” who find ways to game the system to promote their posts, analysts warn.
“The rhetoric around transparency is that it will lead to an epiphany and people will change,” Garrett Wagner says. “It’s a misleading comfort to think everything will be OK if we know how it is working.”
