“The bird has been released,” the Tesla owner wrote after his arrival on the bird’s social network. He took control of the company; He kicked out the leadership and announced the creation of a council to moderate content.
The tweet, of only four words, marked a change of era, and was the prelude to a storm. “The bird has been released,” wrote Elon Musk., at 11:49 pm ET on Thursdays in the US. Hours later, the first news of Twitter’s new course began to make headlines. The dome was beheaded. The company has announced that it will cease to be listed on the stock exchange. Employees prepare for a wave of layoffs. And Donald Trump celebrated that Twitter is now “in good hands”, anticipating an eventual return to the platform that paved the way for the White House.
Elon Musk’s first day on Twitter had its own stamp and left a series of political reactions – silence or concern on the part of the Democrats; enthusiasm among Republicans – who were a true reflection of the wishes and concerns surrounding the future of one of the most influential social networks on the planet.
The first changes came just hours after Musk took over the company. Top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, have been fired. The board was also preparing for dissolution after Twitter told the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US stock market regulator, that the company will be removed, reducing external scrutiny. Musk also announced his first decision on two sensitive issues: what will happen to content moderation on the platform and suspended accounts like Trump’s.
“Twitter will form a advice on content moderation with widely differing points of view, “Musk said.” No major content decisions or account resets will be made before the board meets, “he said.
After months of back and forth, lawsuits and the threat of a lawsuit, Musk became the new owner of Twitter after finalizing the $ 44 billion transfer deal Thursday night. The change of hands closed one of the most impactful operations in the tech world. Although Twitter is less popular than Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, it has tremendous political influence and has been at the center of the debate over limits on freedom of expression on the internet. Musk said he wanted to transform the platform and, although he hinted on several occasions about his tendency to be more permissive when it comes to dictating what can be said and who can say, before taking control of the company he stated that Twitter ” it cannot become a hell of all against all ”.
Much of the concern over Musk’s Twitter membership has centered on one person: Donald Trump. Trump was banned from Twitter after the attack on Congress on January 6, 2021, which ruined the presidential transition. For the right in the United States, that decision ended up crowning what many see, plain and simple, as a censorship in favor of the left. Trump was one of the first to celebrate Musk’s arrival on the social network which was his main communication channel and springboard for his meteoric political career. He did it on Truth Social, the network he created after his exile from Twitter.
“Social truth has become a kind of phenomenon. Last week it had bigger numbers than all other platforms, including TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and the rest. It also looks and works best for my eyes. I am so happy that Twitter is now in good hands and will no longer be run by madmen and radical left maniacs who genuinely hate our country, “Trump wrote.
Trump is not the only figure who could return to Twitter. Rapper Kanye West, now called Ye, also lost his account after posting anti-Semitic comments. Earlier this year, Twitter also permanently suspended Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conspiracy theorist, for spreading false information about coronavirus vaccines. Alex Jones, who lost a multimillion-dollar lawsuit for claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was false, was also deported. In turn, Twitter has received criticism for maintaining other accounts, including one linked to Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who called Israel “a malignant tumor” that must be “removed and eradicated”, and wondered if the ‘Holocaust has happened.
In Washington, political reactions had a clear partisan profile. “Freedom of expression. Progressive tears,” tweeted Jim Jordan, one of the most ferocious members of the Republican Congress. Andy Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, offered a downside after the company’s top layoffs were known: “RIP, moderately sane Twitter. The bloodshed has begun,” he tweeted.
After months of back and forth, Musk will now face multiple dilemmas at the helm of Twitter and with the financial burden of an operation that, for many, has been very expensive. The right will demand that he carry out his preaching for freedom of expression with a soft hand to impose limits, while the left will demand that he contain speeches that encourage violence and disinformation. Musk has decided to revitalize the “public square” and attract more users, but at the same time he wants to strengthen the company’s finances, for which he will have to offer companies a sufficiently drinkable platform – which means limiting toxic content – to who is willing to publish their ads. “Welcome to hell, Elon,” summed up Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The border.
Source: The nation
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