The purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk ends the great business soap opera of the year, but opens up a whole series of unknowns around the social network and, on how, his future will be in the hands of the richest man in the world.
Freedom of expression
Musk has said from the start that one of his goals is expand freedom of expression on Twitter, which he considers limited by the content moderation policies of the social network. Now it remains to be seen how far it will go.
The businessman of South African origin declares himself an “absolutist of freedom of expression”, but this week he has already tried to reassure advertisers by warning that Twitter “cannot become a hell” in which anything goes and where “it can be said anything without consequences.”
The platform, he assured in a message, must become “a warm and welcoming place for everyone, where everyone can choose their desired experience according to their preferences” and where “the laws” are respected.
While in the United States there is a more maximalist conception of freedom of expression, in other regions such as Europe there are more restrictions and Musk is already being warned from Brussels that the blue bird will “fly” there according to community regulations.
For now, it is expected that the new Twitter goes to much less content moderationreversing the measures it has put in place in recent years to, for example, take action against those who spread fake news or promote hate speech.
Will Trump come back?
This will almost certainly lead to the lifting of the bans imposed on some figures who have used the platform to distribute falsehoods or incite their followers to violence.
The case par excellence is that of former US President Donald Trump, Banned from Twitter after the assault on the Capitol starring his supporters in 2021.
Musk has said that he is in favor of lifting Trump’s veto, which he always saw as a “mistake”, and the Republican leader welcomed the new owner of the social network on Friday.
Until now, Trump has assured that he will not return to Twitter and that he will continue in his new digital home, Truth Social, a business that he controls and whose main attraction is his own presence.
Nevertheless, the temptation to return to Twitter will be strong for Trumpwho used that speaker like few others to gain influence and manage to reach the White House.
Paying users
The possibility that the new moderation policies will turn Twitter into a “wild west” threatens to scare off advertisers, who are currently the main source of income for the company.
Musk, however, has already made it clear that they want his Twitter relies less on advertisingand for this he plans to increase the number of people who pay to use the platform.
So far Twitter Blue, the company’s paid service, hasn’t been very successful, but Tesla’s boss has said in talks with investors that he sees it possible to get millions of subscribers who would pay fees to access certain features.
An app that works for everything
Musk’s idea is that, in the long term, Twitter becomes an app with many more functions or that it serves as the basis for that product.
“Buy Twitter is an accelerator for the creation of X, the app for everything“, assured this month the businessman, who has pointed to the Chinese WeChat as inspiration, an application owned by the giant Tencent that was born as a messaging service and has expanded to become basic for many essential tasks in the Asian country.
One of the star functions of WeChat is to serve to make payments and in technological circles it is assumed that Musk will seek to do the same with Twitter.
The one who now calls himself the “Twitter chief”, in fact, has a lot of experience in this field and owes him the launch of his career: Musk co-founded X.com, a digital payment service that later merged with PayPal. and that, with the purchase of this company by eBay in 2002, he filled the pockets of the businessman.
The employees
Among those most concerned about the sale of Twitter are the company’s employees, as Musk arrives with the idea of doing a clean one. According to various financial media, would have plans to get rid of 75% of the workforce, which currently amounts to about 7,500 peopleuntil leaving it in about 2,000 workers.
For now, the first victims have been the main executives of the firm, including the CEO, Parag Agrawal, that yes, they will leave in principle with multimillion-dollar compensation. In these early stages of his new era, the little bird’s network is headless.
MORE NEWS:
EFE International news agency based in Madrid and present in more than 110 countries.