Elon Musk’s promise to let anyone say what they want on Twitter, if he acquires the social network, could shift responsibility for fighting harassment, misinformation and fake news to the platform’s users – experts warn.
Few details of Musk’s plans for Twitter were released after Monday’s announcement of his deal to buy the company for $44 billion. What is already known is that the Tesla owner is a self-proclaimed “absolutist of free speech”.
Twitter’s exclusive control with Musk as owner has raised concerns from analysts and activists that this virtual arena will be run at the whims of the richest man in the world, with an approach more geared towards profit than promoting healthy digital conversations.
For Syracuse University assistant professor of communication law Kyla Garrett-Wagner, the Musk takeover is not a victory for free speech.
“What we’ve been doing is putting even more power in a few hands,” Kyla said in a conversation with AFP.
“If, tomorrow, Elon Musk decides he wants to shut down Twitter for a week, he can do that,” he added.
The professor recalls that the First Amendment to the US Constitution only prohibits governments from muzzling what citizens say, leaving the billionaire businessman the power to decide what can be published on a private entity like Twitter.
“This is not just any street corner,” warns Garrett-Wagner.
“This is the wild old West, but owned by a minority elite that doesn’t represent minority voices.”
‘Trolls take over’
Musk’s promise not to intervene in the content is particularly thorny when it comes to widely known cases such as that of former US President Donald Trump. The Republican mogul was banned from Twitter after his supporters stormed the Capitol.
“Musk says he’s going to turn Twitter into a social network without moderation. There were too many of them and they didn’t work,” says analyst Rob Enderle.
“The ‘trolls’ take over, become overly hostile and drive people away from the platform,” he explained.
Musk has also stated that he is against the suspension of Twitter accounts for misbehavior, prompting speculation that he may lift Trump’s ban.
The former president said, for his part, that he does not intend to return to Twitter even if his account is reactivated and that he will continue on Truth Social – his own network.
app stores
If Musk drops the content policy on Twitter, advertisers will also have to step up to ensure their posts aren’t associated with toxic content, according to lawyers and academics consulted by AFP.
“The responsibility now falls on Twitter’s top advertisers, who need to make it clear that if Twitter becomes a free space for all kinds of hate, extremism and misinformation, they go away,” commented the director of Media Matters for America. , Angelo Carusone.
“It’s also crucial that Google and Apple apply the same standards to Twitter that they apply to other apps like Parler,” he added, referring to the social network popular with conservatives, including Trumpists.
The tech giants would need to reiterate that “Twitter will not receive special treatment and that a violation of the terms of service will result in the platform being removed from app stores,” Carusone insisted.
Musk will also be judged harshly by public opinion: Twitter users could decide to leave the platform if it becomes hostile, or swamped with misinformation, adds Garrett-Wagner.
Some of Musk’s own tweets drew attention and caused controversy. The mogul mocked a Tesla whistleblower and in 2018 called one of the first responders who criticized his plan to save a group of boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand a “pedophile”.
While Musk has talked about rooting out “bot” programs that shoot “spam” on Twitter, verifying that users are real people can be a big challenge, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian warned in a note to investors. .
Sebastian noted that Musk’s idea of charging users the blue badge for identity verification is “very easy,” but it’s likely that only a small portion is willing to pay for it.
