Musk’s Master Plan for Content Moderation
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk recently announced his plans to transform the social media company Twitter, once he buys it for a proposed $44 billion. Musk aims to increase Twitter’s annual revenue and boost usership. He also intends to take Twitter private, meaning the company would no longer have to report its financial information or changes to the government. He accuses Twitter of currently having excessive content moderation and political bias; he plans to undo Twitter’s current regulations and thus create an unregulated platform that he believes would help preserve free speech. However, content moderation creates a safe environment for users; although it is not a perfect system, it allows people to receive accurate information more often than not (The Conversation). Without content moderation, Twitter could potentially become an untrustworthy platform and fall into disuse.
According to the Pew Research Center, about 70% of Twitter users get their news from the site. Instead of traditional news outlets—which are typically extensively fact checked—people use Twitter or other forms of social media as an important source of information for current affairs and politics (Frontiers in Psychology).
“Everyone our age gets their information from social media,” freshman Rhys Ota said. “[Its influence is] especially evident with [Musk], as his posts about economics influence the market. [When Musk] tweeted about Dogecoin, [it] resulted in its [stock] price increasing drastically.”
With Twitter’s heavy influence, it is important that the app’s content is moderated so people can receive accurate information before making decisions. If Musk removes all content moderation on Twitter, more false information than facts will be spread (The Conversation).
Musk also believes that people should not be banned on Twitter, and to him, that includes reversing the ban on former President Donald Trump, which began after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Twitter permanently banned Trump because the two tweets he posted that day violated Twitter’s Glorification of Violence policy.
“I disagree with a lot of things Trump has said and done as president,” sophomore Pradyuman Raja said. “[However], I do not think that it is a justification for banning him from the platform. The fact that [Musk] wants to unban people from the [political] left and the right definitely will benefit the platform.”
While some consider Trump’s banning as Twitter silencing the voices of people on only one end of the political spectrum, Trump should remain banned from Twitter due to his selfish intentions and negative influence on his followers. Trump was banned for a reason — he incited great violence with his platform largely because he lost the 2020 presidential election. The people he addressed on Twitter were then motivated to storm the Capitol, causing injuries for about 140 law enforcement officers (New York Times). Even though some argue that Trump being banned on Twitter violates his right to free speech, keeping him banned will benefit society more than harm it.
Ultimately, what Musk plans for Twitter might not happen. On May 13, Musk tweeted that his deal with Twitter has been placed on hold until more details about spam and fake accounts emerge (Twitter). However, he did add that he is still committed to the acquisition of Twitter because if he backs out of the contract now, the company can sue him for up to $1 billion (Consumer News and Business Channel). If he does follow through with his changes, Twitter may become an untrustworthy and unreliable platform.
“[Many] people make claims that what they say is fact, but then you check [what they say] and it turns out it [does not show the full story].” Economics and Advanced Placement Economics teacher Allen Aronson said. “If [information on Twitter] is more in the middle and we get to the truth of topics instead of [having] selective research, I am okay with [Musk’s changes to Twitter].”
