THUNDER BAY – OPINION – Twitter has been purchased by Elon Musk. The goal stated by Musk is that free speech on social media matters, and in one of his first tweets after the announced purchase Musk says he hopes his critics will stay on the platform too.
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
In moving to free speech, Musk feels removing the restrictions on Twitter will help.
This is a move that will represent a pretty fundamental change for Twitter.
War Coverage on Twitter
Twitter stated on the War Coverage: “Like so many around the world, we’re disturbed and deeply saddened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis unfolding there. Our top priority is to promote the safety of people on and off the service, and our teams are working diligently to that end.
“We believe we have a responsibility to the public – particularly during periods of crisis – to proactively enforce our rules, preserve access to Twitter, elevate credible and reliable information, protect the privacy and safety of the people who use our service and others, and guard against efforts to manipulate the public conversation.”
Musk has said that the banning of former President Donald J. Trump from Twitter is one of the examples of the kinds of things he would change.
It is not known if Musk’s move would bring Trump back to Twitter, as the former President has been promising a new social media platform called Truth Social.
The Trump site has not taken off like planned.
It is hard to tell if “The Donald” won’t either try to sell off Truth Social or try a merger with Musk?
There are reports that Trump won’t return to Twitter. It is not known if the former president’s account would be restored along with the almost 50 million followers.
Human Rights Groups Worried
There are concerns being raised by some human rights groups that having a free speech free-for-all on Twitter could lead to hate speech.
What Twitter has done over time has proven a valuable resource that helped keep the Arab Spring movement going, while also being part of the attempted takeover of the United States Capital building.
Twitter banned President Donald Trump over that situation.
Hate speech has laws prohibiting it in many countries, but depending on how Twitter patterns its rules, it could prove a challenge to put controls on it without support from the social network platform.
The transition for Twitter isn’t a totally done deal yet, shareholders still have to approve the move, but likely that will prove more a formality than anything else.
Developing…
