After years of meticulous analyses and updates, who would have thought that Twitter would end up in Elon’s hands? Although challenging to overbid, Twitter’s board attempted to launch a poison pill mitigation process, hoping to impede the deal. Unlucky, though, a $44b takeover offer was too potent to come to grips with. That means Elon Musk is the one who is going to set the rules, and no one will be able to stop him.
Been an avid Twitter user and now worry about the platform’s future? You are not alone! Let’s mull over changes Twitter might undergo after being under Musk’s total control.
Elon Musk is a mysterious figure, no doubt. It’s always difficult to understand his plans and intentions. We have seen so many examples of his sudden moves that it’s best not to pose any assumptions and questions about what might occur in the future. If it happens, it happens. And we can’t do anything about it.
Musk always plays his own game, so even transforming the platform by choosing different сolor names and hex codes should not surprise you if you run an app one day and see a new symbol and color palette. But that’s unlikely, even for Musk. He may be unpredictable, but his moves are usually logical.
Twitter has seemingly worked on the issue of bots, stating the platform does its best to combat this annoying problem. However, many experts have expressed their concerns about such “efforts.” Twitter has long been unofficially accused of closing its eye on bots, claiming the latter active users, and that’s for a reason.
Bots help drive traffic to Twitter and elevate necessary threads to the top, whether they are related to politics, economics, or a wide array of other pressing topics. Musk brought up the issue of bots multiple times in the past, so we are likely to expect he will pay close attention to this problem. Furthermore, his recent Tweet sheds light that weeding out bots and authenticating people will be a top priority task.
Elon plans to release Twitter’s algorithm and make it apparent to everyone. That doesn’t mean much for laypeople, as the programming prowess is necessary to understand how Twitter works. However, reading the algorithms may be insightful for any other person who knows their way around coding.
Although morally right, opening up algorithm parameters carries several risks. While eliminating mentions of specific people and celebs makes sense, the algorithms may show the signs of suppressing posts that simply don’t appeal to an ideal picture of modern society. It will surely provoke scandals as it did with TikTok. The last was lambasted because it put down publications released by people with observable physical disabilities, bad teeth, speech disorders, etc.
We can’t tell whether Twitter has something similar unless the algorithm goes public. Yet, we may assume that once TikTok has it, which is the newest platform compared to the Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter triangle, other networks may well have something at least similar.
Needless to say, revealing the algorithm framework will be stressful, even for Musk. And he sure will encounter obstacles down the road. But that’s a necessary step to make the platform transparent.
Indubitably, what Elon will do for sure is reinstate free speech. He was a victim of suppressing free speech, witnessing Tesla cleaning up people’s comments that criticized the corporation’s work. Other than that, we all vividly remember Musk’s messages on banning former POTUS Donald Trump. So, what will free speech mean once Elon becomes Twitter’s proprietor?
The answer is we don’t know yet, as free speech is a slippery slope. But we can say for sure that Twitter will allow for more freedom than it used to, following the law and regulations. As Musk said, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy, and Twitter should adhere to this principle.” That’s about it.
Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.
Elon has empirically identified detrimental effects from numerous shareholders, as they often dictate policies and unnecessary regulations. He plans to free the platform from outside impacts by purchasing Twitter, mainly corporations that funnel considerable amounts into ads. While the intention is clear, the problem is that Twitter is highly dependent on ads. Q4 21 results showcase that ads are Twitter’s focal source of making money.
They allow the network to cover tremendous expenses, which are still not enough to make the company go into surplus (yes, Twitter spends more than it gets in revenue, and deleting an ad feature will likely take a toll on the company).
Plus, let’s not forget that Elon spent $44b, so clearly, he will want to get some money back. Assuming the ads will no longer be available, covering some of $44b and maintaining the platform may seem a tough ride.
But Musk has a solution. Everyone who wants to use Twitter Blue will need to pay $3 monthly. Coupled with his plans to dismiss Twitter’s San Francisco HQ, which drains tremendous resources, this might be an effective solution to cut costs, get rid of an ad option, and become a profitable corporation.
These are the main things we can expect from Elon once he finally adopts Twitter. Changes will occur unequivocally. The question is what they will be and how quickly they will happen. Nonetheless, prepare for an excellent adventure, as it will be a speedy and memorable ride!