Elon Musk will soon own Twitter after the company accepted the all-out cash deal offered by the billionaire. The cash deal will shift the control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to a single person.
According to Reuters, Elon Musk would be purchasing the company through a debt and margin loan financing of $25.5 billion. Moreover, he is providing a $21 billion equity commitment.
Before taking over, Elon Musk harshly criticized the company’s moderation policy. While calling himself a free speech absolutist, he said that Twitter’s algorithms for prioritizing tweets should be public. He further criticized the fact that the company gave too much power to the corporations that advertise.
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
Moreover, political activists believe that Musk’s regime will mean that there would be less moderation and reinstatement of banned people such as Donald Trump. Conservatives are extremely happy with the news and the prospects of having fewer controls. However, human rights activists feared that it would lead to a rise in hate speech.
Here are the 4 things that most likely could change after he has taken over,
-
An edit button:
Elon Musk had proposed the idea of an edit button through a Twitter poll. Cleverly, he had misspelt the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in the poll. With 4 million voters, the majority of the voters agreed to an edit button.
Do you want an edit button?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
-
Making the Twitter algorithm public:
In another Twitter poll, he had asked the users if the Twitter algorithm should be made public. With more than 1 million voters, 82.7% had agreed with Mr Musk. In a Ted Talk, Elon Musk thought that Twitter users should be able to see if their posts have been promoted or demoted. Moreover, he suggested posting the code on Github so that people can look for errors and suggest changes.
Twitter algorithm should be open source
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2022
-
Crackdown on crypto scams:
Mr Musk’s account has been a target of scammers impersonating him. Moreover, there have been reports that his account was hacked in 2020. He would most likely use his resources to combat cryptocurrency scams on the platform.
This is annoying pic.twitter.com/KAkDl29CTX
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2022
-
A free platform:
In another poll, Mr Musk had asked Twitter users if the platform adheres to the principle of free speech. More than 70% of the voters selected no, which could lead to Mr Musk removing certain moderations on the platform on free speech. Moreover, he had bashed the company for its policy regarding what is allowed and what is not.
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
References: NDTV and Reuters.
Featured image source: CNET
