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How will Elon Musk's political views impact Twitter?

From what I have read, it is pretty obvious that he is right-libertarian. His takes on economics, foreign policy and the culture war all put him firmly in that camp. Even his idea of the political centre (that includes himself) depicts the Democrats as the radical left.

I think Musk will ultimately struggle as a Twitter owner because the right-libertarian view of free-speech absolutism is naive, absurd and unrealistic. It can give you scope to complain about people but it's extremely hard to implement in practice unless you want Twitter to collapse into a pool of racism, misogyny and other types of hatred. I mean, more than Twitter actually is now. If he goes down this road, users and advertisers will bail, making Twitter even less profitable. Also, Musk's other businesses are international and he is likely to find his free-speech ethics tested when the Chinese are pissed off by someone's Tweet. There are so many minefields and he appears aware of none of them.

I once read him compliment Iain M Banks, the late (and great) socialist science fiction writer. Most of Bank's novels were set in a far-future utopian society called The Culture where there is no money, property or poverty. Ironically, he is precisely the sort of person that The Culture's 'Special Circumstances' division would see as a barrier to actual social progress. Musk would be happy in The Culture, only if he owned and controlled it.

Though clearly highly intelligent in some ways, Musk has made a schoolboy error. The narrative that he's bought into identifies a simple problem and provides a simple solution. I think he will find the reality pretty difficult.
CountScrofula · 41-45, M
Musk has the confused nonsensical politics of someone who thinks he is a genius but has never actually learned anything about politics. So yeah he's gonna lean to "I should be able to do whatever I want" which naturally means libertarianism and free speech absolutism. He called himself some varying degree of socialist for years without understanding what that meant either.

He also doesn't particularly like or support free speech, it's just his political conception of free speech is him doing whatever he wants. Largely just posting. But not, say, drafting an open letter that your employer's erratic behaviour is toxic for morale (which he fired a ton of people for).

Consequential free speech is only "free speech" when it reinforces his comfortable status quo which goes the same for most other free speech absolutists.

He's going to find, I imagine, that rules exist for a reason. Social media content policies exist for a reason, and it's not because Twitter is a woke corporation. It's because they make more money with them, as the alternative drives away users and advertisers.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@CountScrofula One of the reasons why the right (including Musk obvs) get so annoyed is because they receive criticism. Most examples of 'cancel culture' involve no more that petitions and criticism. As you say, free for me and nobody else. True of Musk and all those like him.
If he turns Twitter into a right-wing shithole, it will be difficult to find top people willing to work there. This is the problem Parler, Gab, TruthSocial, and other right-wing sites have. Everyone knows if you have one of those places on your resume, your options will be limited. The proof is the recent email sent to Parler users where the sender used CC instead of BCC and inadvertently exposed the private emails of a number of high-profile users.

The main purpose of social media isn't to bring people together, or disseminate information, or foster dialog - it's to make money from advertising. As you point out, Musk's stated objectives are inimical to this. I wouldn't be unhappy if he ends up running Twitter into the ground and loses his fortune in the process.
Ynotisay · M
I'm pretty confident in saying that Twitter, like Facebook, will lose a boat load of money and ultimately go the way of MySpace. I think it's the nature of the beast. There will always be something shiny and new in the world of social media. In the short term, I think it'll show that non-moderated platforms, if that's the goal, will only appeal to the dregs of society. Section 230 which revolves around culpability of social media platforms will continue to be challenged and adapted. Musk the Grifter is going to be on the hook at some point. And, like you said, if it's not through the law it'll be through revenue streams.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@Ynotisay Twitter has a bit of durability because all celebrities, journalists and politicians are on there. Nobody does what it does and it has a monopoly in a field built for one.

It has long lost to Facebook and Instagram but it still has its niche. That can be lost if Twitter becomes full of hatred. Maybe we will see a new social media platform that advertises itself as anti-hate speech. That would have a near-universal appeal and leave Twitter as a tiny rightwing echo chamber. I really want that to happen.
Ynotisay · M
@Burnley123 You might be right. But I read earlier that Reuters got a hold of an internal document showing the most active users have been leaving in droves for a while. And that while NSFW and crypto tweets are growing, news, sports and entertainment focused tweets are falling hard. That's where the advertisers want to be. So yeah. I see an echo chamber down the road too. Personally, I'd like to see all social media platforms implode, because I think they do more harm than good, but I'm realistic that it won't happen.
Northwest · M
Musk's free speech excuse is nothing more than a justification. If he's so enthralled with free speech, why is he taking deep loads from "President For Life Xi"?

We'll see what he does tomorrow. Oct 31, is a significant date. Well, more like Nov 1. On the latter date, employees stock options will vest, and then anyone with a 3.5 year tenure, is pretty much free to jump ship, with no financial penalties. He could, of course, fire them all tomorrow, but then he would have no one, but the most recently hires, to run the place.

I think the original crew is going to step back in, and start a new company. I hope they do.
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I do wonder how musk will hold up when people start abusing Twitter to spread false rumors about him. For example, one could easily claim Musk bought twitter to suppress information about him having children killed so he could drink extracts of their blood. Or that he's a flaming pedophile sex addict. Or the spearhead of an alien invasion.

Social media moderation was created because malignant groups were manufacturing just such rumors about public figures they opposed. Musk may be fine with his platform spreading lies about Hillary, but what will he do if the lies are about his children and his siblings?
@ElwoodBlues Musk will allow all speech on Twitter except speech critical of Elon Musk.
OggggO · 36-40, M
I found the predictions in this article interesting, and I hope they are right:
https://theintercept.com/2022/10/28/elon-musk-twitter/
@Burnley123 Key financial point:




Twitter is also, speaking just in financial terms, a crummy business. It’s only been profitable for two years of its existence, 2018 and 2019. In 2020 it lost over $1 billion, rebounding to lose a mere $222 million in 2021.

To make matters worse, Musk’s deal to buy Twitter involved taking out $12.5 billion in loans. This means that Twitter will have to come up with an additional $1 billion a year to service this debt.



Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@ElwoodBlues Or service it himself. A lot of his assets are tied up.
@OggggO Great article that pretty much sums up the situation.
luckranger71 · 51-55, M
It's been just since Friday and the early returns aren't good. Twitter was easily the best moderated platform that I've been on and it's seemingly filling up with people (or bots) anxious to exercise their "free speech" to use the N word.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@luckranger71 Yeah, we will see what moderation he uses when the share price drops!
@Burnley123 Or when advertisers abandon him. McDonalds doesn't want their McRib ads next to some guy ranting about how all Muslims should be executed.
SW-User
It's nutty how some US SWeeps think that just because he owns businesses, the US constitution should be amended to allow this petulant egomanic to run for POTUS (and presumably to serve eleven terms).

Relying on someone's success in an unrelated area (like reality tv) has literally zero to do with someone's ability to lead a country. Moreover, Musk's engineers are more vital to his companies than he is.

Right wing populist voters are some of the dumbest people on the planet.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@SW-User I've said for some time that there is a major crossover between libertarianism and rightwing nationalism.

Even though their views shouldn't be comparable (on immigration and state intervention etc) there is a seamless link between the two. Both are about mentality more than coherence. About myself and people like me against others. White middle-class consciousness, I guess. With a couple of 'anti-establiehment' billionaires thrown in.

My take is that right libertarianism ultimately ends up with authoritarian results because its stated world view and methods can't work. Musk is about to provide a perfect example.
@SW-User Senator Arlen Specter proposed that the Constitution should be amended to allow a foreign-born person to run for president if they've lived in the U.S. for twenty years. Of course, he had his friend Arnold Schwarzenegger in mind. I'm sure he wouldn't have felt the same way about George Soros.
SW-User
@Burnley123 historically in the US "libertarians" have run under the Republican banner if they actually wanted to get elected ... I don't recall any ever running as a Democrat
BackyardShaman · 61-69, M
He seems dangerously conflicted to me, and I’m not sure what his goal is with Twitter. I just stay away from him and was already gone from Twitter.
LegendofPeza · 56-60, M
Like this ?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/10/30/musk-shares-unfounded-conspiracy-theory-about-paul-pelosi-attack-on-twitter/?sh=466e62a316e4
windinhishair · 61-69, M
@LegendofPeza And less than a week later, that's exactly what is happening.
LegendofPeza · 56-60, M
@windinhishair What a fool this makes him look.
windinhishair · 61-69, M
@LegendofPeza As if we needed any additional proof?
smiler2012 · 56-60
{@burnley123] really his opinions and political views of the democratic party are just that and he can air them . but on the same token the tim nice but dim look a like should not let the right wing of the republican party / trump /m.a.g.a make twitter a mouthpiece for his views and policies as trump as been banned from the site once for carrying out this practice
Mindful · 56-60, F
He does not, and will not live in the same reality as the entire population. And when anyone is under the influence, will not think straight. Maybe he will design a clever way for the ignorant to remain so, dispassionately.
Zonuss · 41-45, M
It won't. Twitter on the grand scheme of things is irrelevant. 🙂
Zonuss · 41-45, M
@Burnley123 And your point is 🤔
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@Zonuss The one I made: above.
Zonuss · 41-45, M
@Burnley123 Trump is a non issue. You will see soon.🙂
basilfawlty89 · 31-35, M
[media=https://youtu.be/AdpQ-P6D61E]
I bet you guys would love to know what color panties Elon Musk wears. Jeesh, give it a rest. He's just a man with a lot of money.
TrashCat · M
@RocktheHouse I smell a SW post
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@RocktheHouse Money and power.
TrashCat · M
@Burnley123 Don't forget arrogance

 
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