What lies forward for Twitter with Musk on the helm

Less than a month since he purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter Inc., billionaire Elon Musk is now poised to accumulate the micro-blogging platform. Mint explores what might lie forward for the platform as soon as the world’s richest man is on the helm.

What are Musk’s plans for Twitter?

Between a press release from Musk on 26 April, polls he has carried out over the previous few weeks, and different public statements, it appears clear that the world’s richest man needs to make Twitter a bastion without cost speech. He plans to open-source the algorithm that ranks content material on the platform, and “defeat the spam bots or die attempting”. The platform is now anticipated to turn into a playground for crypto and web3 fanatics, and Musk has confirmed willingness to supply cheaper subscription. Lastly, he has talked about his imaginative and prescient might solely be realized by taking the corporate personal.

Can Twitter turn into a bastion of free speech?

Easier mentioned than carried out. Experts have identified that free speech is neither outlined by corporations, nor personal people, even when they’re the richest on the earth. Instead, the definition of free speech differs from nation to nation, and relies on their legal guidelines. For occasion, in India, free speech has sure exclusions and isn’t an absolute proper. Twitter has tussled with governments in numerous international locations together with India over content material takedown requests, and lots of anticipate extra such tussles sooner or later. Experts warn that this would possibly scale back the constructive impression of moderation on the platform, and in flip result in extra hate speech.

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Can Musk defeat the spam bots?

Unlikely. In 2017, a research by the University of Southern California and Indiana University mentioned about 15% of all Twitter accounts on the time have been bots. Between January-June 2021, Twitter obtained 5.1 million spam stories from customers, in accordance with its personal Transparency Report. The downside of bots is widespread throughout the web, not simply in social media.

Could open-sourcing the algorithm assist?

Last week, Koo, Twitter’s India different, printed a weblog submit explaining the “philosophy and workings” of its algorithms, however Musk is claiming that he’ll make all the algorithm public, permitting folks to know how content material is ranked. But, typically, even the programmer who coded an AI algorithm doesn’t perceive why a choice is being made. Open-sourcing an algorithm means you may see the code, however you will nonetheless not know the insurance policies which might be affecting how that code works. It might permit extra Twitter clones, although.

What else is Musk anticipated to alter?

Like Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and former chief government, Musk is likely one of the most vocal proponents of cryptocurrencies. Musk, prior to now, has steered that customers ought to have the ability to pay for the agency’s subscription function, Twitter Blue, utilizing crypto. Under him, crypto-related options are anticipated to roll out quicker. He has additionally mentioned subscription to Twitter Blue needs to be cheaper, and everybody who pays ought to get a checkmark after 60 days. He has steered eradicating adverts from Twitter, at the very least to some extent.

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