By Marley Brennan
Executive Opinion Editor
Kayla Kinsey
Opinion Editor
On Oct. 28, Elon Musk purchased Twitter after continuously investing in the company since
January of this year. The transaction gives rise to future corruption within all social media
platforms; a lack of media filtering will cause propaganda, Musk’s firing of staff will continue to
create an unreliable and unsafe environment, and political views will likely present themselves as
anonymously mainstreamed.
The process of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter started on April 14 of this year and ended Oct. 27,
when Musk concluded the negotiations and bought Twitter for $44 billion. According to Musk,
he plans to transform the platform into a free speech haven with a politically neutral
environment. Hours after the purchase was finalized, Musk fired the company’s board, including
its chief executive Parag Agrawal, as well as Vijaya Gadde, who ran the social media company’s
legal, policy and trust teams.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Musk is seeking to expand Twitter’s free speech mantra by
removing safeguards that are in place to prevent indoctrination of harmful ideals. With his development of an all-permitting digital environment, Musk has initiated a decline in the value
of freedom of speech and will lead to an increase in unreliable or biased propaganda. Musk’s
dedication to free speech has even extended to his personal safety; University of Central Florida
(UCF) student Jack Sweeney started an account on Twitter that tracks Musk’s private jet using an
algorithm with data from the plane’s transponder. Musk tweeted about it on Nov. 6, stating that
even with the direct threat to his personal safety, he will not ban the account. This breach of
Musk’s personal privacy demonstrates the dangers of unmonitored social media and how a
complete lack of censorship harms the digital community.
Furthermore, per ABC News, Montclair State University found an average of 84 tweets featuring
hate terms posted per hour (1,008 tweets in 12 hours) when analyzing the seven-day average
before Musk acquired Twitter. However, in the first 12 hours following Musk’s takeover, there
were 4,778 hate speech tweets, which is more than four times the original statistic. Musk’s
undying commitment to free speech will transform the platform to become an unsafe destination
for users, as political leaders may spread misinformation, and hate speech will increase across
the platform. With these recent public and personal developments, many fear that the platform
will solely become a hub for hateful content. According to a representative from the House
Energy and Commerce panel on consumer protection, Jan Schakowsky, Twitter is upholding
conditions that will quickly spread harmful content to communities and individuals across the
globe.
According to Elon Musk’s personal tweets, he claims that in order for Twitter to earn public
trust, it must remain politically neutral, meaning that Democrats and Republicans must retreat
from extremism and be open-minded to differing opinions on the platform. Contrary to this
statement, Musk used his 100 million followers on Twitter with the intent to alter the Nov. 8
election’s votes by positioning himself as Republican and enforcing influence to
independent-minded voters, which is what he claimed to terminate. Per politico.com, ever since
Musk obtained ownership of the prominent social network outlet, he has attempted to align
Twitter’s political perspectives parallel to his own mainstream, corrupting the user’s ability to
freely express views, opinions, and experiences. By naming himself chief director and dissolving
the directing board, Musk has made it clear that he intends to personally control Twitter’s
mainframe and guide its power of influence on its users.
Many claim that with his ownership, Musk will prompt a nation-wide and possibly even global
end to censorship. With his new implementations of free speech mechanisms and removal of
precautionary filters, Musk is allowing potential content topics and possible banned tweeters
back into mainstream circulation. However, with the removal of safeguards implemented to
shield hateful comments and disinformation from circulating across the application, it will prove
to be a detriment to the public.
With Elon’s recent actions, Twitter will turn into a biased platform, compiled with
misinformation, hate speech, and Musk’s personal opinions altering the public eye.
Leave a Reply