Many online users, both within and outside the crypto industry, discussed free speech in hours and days prior to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s purchase of social media giant Twitter.
Following Musk’s offer to purchase Twitter’s stock for $54.20 a share in cash. Twitter announced on Monday that it would become a privately held company. Twitter’s shareholders and regulators still need to finalise the transaction which is expected to be closed sometime this year.
In one of Musk’s he said, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means.” Twitter quoted the Tesla CEO saying “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square.”
This said, many critics have raised concerns regarding this potentially having the opposite effect. Angelo Carusone, president of nonprofit media watchdog Media Matters for America, said that it “would be a victory for disinformation and the people who peddle it”. This is suggesting that Musk might lift bans on people which would let them freely join and could potentially incite violence back on Twitter.
As a result of the purchase, Musk who has more than 83 million followers, could significantly impact behaviour on the platform and on social media as a whole. He said on April 14 that his first priority will be to eliminate “spam and scam bots and the bot armies,” including those connected to crypto scams.
Photo by Jeremy Bezanger
