Musk Discusses His Views on Content material Moderation as Twitter Deal Inches Nearer to Completion

So what’s the most recent on Elon’s nice Twitter shake-up?

Whereas we’re nonetheless ready for Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover bid to be finalized, Musk has been slowly doling out extra particulars of his Twitter reinvigoration plan, which he believes will see the app grow its user count by 200% over the next three years, and herald 5x extra income by 2028.

Which appears ridiculously optimistic by any measure – however given Musk’s monitor report along with his different corporations, nobody’s dismissing his plans outright, as possibly he sees one thing we don’t, and there’s really a pathway to creating Twitter a extra important component of individuals’s on a regular basis lives.

Although from what Elon’s outlining to this point, that pathway’s not precisely clear simply but.

At the moment, in an interview at the Financial Times’ ‘Future of the Car’ conference, Musk provided some new notes on his Twitter plans, together with:

• Musk feels that Twitter has a robust left bias as a result of it is based mostly in San Francisco. Musk’s view is that many Twitter workers wouldn’t even realise this bias because of the place they’re positioned
• Musk reiterated his plans to open-source Twitter’s feed algorithm, saying that, if he can, he would ‘actually put the Twitter algorithm on GitHub and say like, ‘Hey, anybody need to recommend modifications to this? Please go forward’
• Musk indicated that, based mostly on the proof that he’s seen, he would probably restore former President Donald Trump’s banned account, as everlasting bans, in his view, are usually not efficient within the overwhelming majority of instances

The final level is what most are latching onto – ever because the Tesla proprietor introduced his plans to purchase Twitter, right-wing pundits have been trumpeting the deal as a win without spending a dime speech, and a restoration of their functionality to say what they need on the social media platform, free from perceived bias and enforcement aligned with political perspective.

Twitter itself has been working for years to ascertain a good and cheap course of for the enforcement of its guidelines, however in Musk’s view, the banning of Trump was an over-reach, which Musk says, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey agrees with.

In response, Dorsey defined his perspective on the Trump ban:

As you possibly can see, Dorsey had reservations in regards to the determination on the time, and Musk’s view aligns with these issues. Whether or not it was the proper transfer or not, the choice to ban Trump has grow to be a ‘line within the sand’ second, and it’ll probably be a serious level of competition in marking the Elon Musk period on the app, if certainly Musk does transfer to undo Trump’s ban as soon as he takes possession of the corporate (which remains to be to be confirmed).

Although Trump says that he’s not coming again anyway. The previous President is outwardly devoted to constructing his personal social community, Truth Social, which, if it’s profitable, may find yourself making him some huge cash, whereas additionally permitting any kind of speech that it chooses.

Nevertheless it’s additionally laborious to think about that Trump is overly blissful talking to a a lot smaller viewers. Right here’s a visible illustration of the engagement on Reality Social because it stands proper now.

Trump had close to 90 million followers on Twitter when his account was banned, which gave him an enormous platform to unfold his political messages, whereas just about each one in all his tweets sparked a brand new information cycle of its personal.  

If Musk does reverse Trump’s ban, regardless of his feedback on the contrary, I’m tipping that Trump might be again, which is able to kick off a brand new season of ‘Will They Ban Him?’, as he resumes his late evening apply of poking his varied enemies and critics by way of his quick missives.

The Trump challenge apart, Musk’s expanded feedback on content material moderation in right now’s interview do appear just a little regarding, in that exterior of those bigger, extra excessive profile instances, there does appear to be a stage of naivety to his understanding of satisfactory platform moderation.

As per Musk:

“If [Twitter users] say one thing that’s unlawful or in any other case simply harmful to the world, then there must be maybe a timeout, a brief suspension, or that individual tweet must be made invisible or have very restricted traction. I believe if there are tweets which can be incorrect and unhealthy, these must be both deleted or made invisible, and a suspension, a brief suspension is acceptable however not a everlasting ban.”

‘Flawed and unhealthy’ is fairly imprecise, and whereas I’m certain that Musk has a stronger grasp on the true points at play than what this assertion would recommend, it does appear that he has a approach to go in totally understanding the potential harms and risks of permitting sure kinds of speech to be amplified by way of social networks.

In any occasion, Musk does advocate a type of moderation right here, in policing probably the most dangerous kinds of content material. Musk has beforehand famous that he’ll align with the legal guidelines of every area, in figuring out what is going to and received’t be allowed within the app, whereas he additionally not too long ago met with Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Markets to debate the EU plans for content material moderation.

So Musk, in keeping with his statements to this point, will look to make sure that Twitter adheres to evolving content material legal guidelines, in all areas. Which is sensible, and looks like a extra ‘palms off’ strategy to such points. However in the end, that would see Musk’s free speech stance diluted, not less than within the eyes of the extra excessive parts who’re welcoming the Musk period with open arms.

And all of this apart, none of Musk’s views on free speech will assist the platform stimulate person progress.

How will Twitter triple its person base in three years? Most individuals that may entry Twitter are already properly conscious of what the platform is and the way it works, they usually’re both utilizing it or they’re not.

How will Musk persuade those that’ve proven no curiosity previously to enroll?

There’s nonetheless a approach to go in understanding the subsequent part of Musk’s plan, and plenty of parts that should be thought-about, in all elements, earlier than we get some perspective on what, precisely, Twitter will grow to be in its subsequent stage.