As Musk buyout looms, Twitter searches for its soul

SAN FRANCISCO –

It is a toxic wastebasket. A lifeline. The world’s pulse. Twitter can be all of these and more for its 217 million users worldwide — celebrities, journalists, activists and weirdos, politicians, cats and dog lovers, and anyone with an internet connection.

Elon Musk, the ultimate troll and most prolific user of Twitter, is now facing a difficult decision. Twitter is “de facto town square”, in dire need for a libertarian overhaul.

The timing and manner of the takeover are still unknown. Musk tweeted that the deal was “on hold” on Friday and that he was still committed to it. Musk had earlier announced that the deal was “on hold” and tweeted that he was still “committed”. saidIf his purchase is approved, he’d reverse the ban on President Donald Trump’s platform. He also he saidHe supported a European Union law that would protect social media users from damaging content. On Thursday, Twitter’s current CEO fired two of his top managers.

All this and more saidIt’s been a chaotic few weeks for Twitter. One thing is certain, the chaos will continue inside and outside the company.

“Twitter has always been chaotic at its highest levels.” It has always been intrigue-driven and has always had drama,” said Leslie Miley (a former Twitter engineering manager). “This,” he said, “is in Twitter’s DNA.”

‘WHAT ARE PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT?’

Twitter has never been contented since it began in 2007 as a small “microblogging service” at South by Southwest Festival.

At a time where rivals are counting their users in the billions, it has remained small, frustrating Wall Street, and making it easier to make an offer to Musk that its board couldn’t refuse.

Twitter’s public nature, its largely text-based interface, and sense of chronological urgency make it an unrivaled force in news, politics, and society.

Michael Liedtke, an Associated Press technology reporter, said that the company was “a potluck of pithy selfexpression simmering with whimsy. Twitter had 27 employees in 2009, and Barack Obama was its most-popular user.

Today, 7,500 people work for the San Francisco icon. Obama is still the most well-known account holder. Katy Perry and Justin Bieber are close behind (Musk is No. 6). Twitter’s rise into the mainstream can be documented through world events. The Arab Spring, wars, terror attacks and other crucial moments in our collective history were all recorded live on Twitter.

“Twitter is often a magnet for thinkers. A text-based platform is more appealing to people who think about things. It’s also full of journalists. Twitter is both a reflection of people’s thinking and a driver,” writes Cathy Reisenwitz, writer, editor, and OnlyFans creator. She has more than 18,000 Twitter followers and has been on Twitter since 2010.

It is a wonderful way for her to discover people and ideas. She also enjoys having other people discover her writing. Despite harassment and death threats, she has stuck with the platform all these years.

Users of Twitter are in academia, niche fields, people with unusual interests, members of small and large subcultures, activists from grassroots, researchers, and many others. Why? It is because it is open to all facts and ideas. Knowledge can be shared, discussed, and challenged.

These subcultures can be formidable. There are many subcultures: Black Twitter, feminist Twitter; Japanese cat Twitter; ER nurse Twitter.

Brooke Erin Duffy from Cornell University, who studies social networks, says, “It’s allowed interest groups, especially those organized around social identity whether we’re discussing gender, sexuality, or race to have really important intra-group dialogues.”

THE DARK SIDE

Twitter’s instantaneity and public nature is not the only drawback. The 140-character limit (once 140 characters) is also a recipe for anger.

Steve Phillips, an ex-general manager of the New York Mets, hosts a show on MLB Network Radio. He says, “The anonymity of Twitter empowers folks to take shots sometimes but it’s till one of our most effective ways of communicating with people with like interests.”

There’s also the dark side of Twitter. This is the Twitter that supports conspiracy theorists, demented trolls, and nation states funding large networks of influencers to vote.

Jaime Longoria (manager of research and training at the Disinfo Defense League) says Musk’s purchase by Twitter threatens a platform many experts believe has done a better job reining in harmful content than other platforms.

Longoria states, “We’re waiting and watching.” “The Twitter that we know could be over.”

A series of tweets by Jack Dorsey, then-CEO in 2018, saidThe company was committed “collective health and openness” and to holding ourselves accountable publicly for progress.

Twitter’s trust-and-safety team has been working to improve the situation. It created new policies, labeled false info, and kicked of repeated violators its rules against hate, inciting violent acts, among other things. Things have improved in fits and starts, at least in the United States of America and Western Europe.

However, the situation in regards to hate speech and misinformation is not changing outside of Western democracies.

“There is a lot hate on Twitter, especially towards minorities. Shoaib Daiyal, associate editor at Indian news site Scroll, says that there is a constant struggle to get Twitter to crack down on hate speech.

Musk’s absolute freedom of speech, Daniyal claims, isn’t very practical in India, where there aren’t many restrictions on speech.

He says, “It’s pretty filled with hate anyway.” “And Twitter haven’t done much about it. Let’s just see where it takes us. This, considering Musk’s mercurial nature could lead to almost any direction.

—-

This story was contributed by David Klepper, Associated Press writer from Providence, Rhode Island.