![]() “Most people don’t see a lot of these spammy accounts.”Īnd for those unhappy with the company’s crackdown on hate, harassment and misinformation, there are plenty of fledgling examples of “free speech”-focused social media platforms that have been launched in the past few years as Twitter antidotes, largely by conservatives. “The spam bots, for him, are highly visible and somewhat personal,” said Donovan. And some of the problems he has identified aren’t felt by most users. “It’s about the power and the influence of Twitter itself and its importance in our culture.”Įxperts who have studied content moderation and researched Twitter for years have expressed doubt that Musk knows exactly what he is getting into. “He’s made it pretty clear he’s not interested in making Twitter a profitable enterprise,” said Joan Donovan, who studies misinformation at Harvard University. ![]() The statement announcing his acquisition of Twitter on Monday highlighted the need to defeat “spam bots” that mimic real users.īut what about Twitter’s more than 200 million other users who aren’t getting banned or flooded with spam? There’s still a lot of uncertainty about whether his ideas are technologically feasible and whether these changes would benefit most regular users, or serve some other purpose. Many of Musk’s proposed changes reflect his own experience as a high-profile and outspoken Twitter user with more than 85 million followers and a swarm of pesky impersonator accounts that use his name and photo to promote cryptocurrency schemes. “The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all,” he tweeted Tuesday For others who worry that Musk will give free rein to agitators who spew hate, lies and other harmful content, making the platform too toxic for advertisers and average users, Musk has offered few assurances. ![]() His vision for improving the 16-year-old company leans heavily on a pledge to make speech “as free as reasonably possible” on the platform - a commitment that’s been celebrated on the political right and among followers of former President Donald Trump, whose account last year was permanently banned. Next comes the real challenge for the world’s richest person: fulfilling his promise to make Twitter “better than ever” as a lightly regulated haven for free speech. Coming up with $44 billion to buy Twitter was the easy part for Elon Musk.
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