NEW YORK ( Associated Press) – Days after Twitter took over and a week before the US midterm election, billionaire Elon Musk has positioned himself as the moderator-in-chief of one of the most popular social media platforms. important in American politics.
Musk has said he will not make major decisions about content or reinstate banned accounts without first setting up a diverse “content moderation board”. But his own behavior as a prolific tweeter indicates otherwise.
The billionaire has aligned directly with political right figures who have called for looser sanctions, including a Republican candidate for Arizona’s secretary of state that prompted Musk to briefly suspend his account last week. Gives credit for allowing him to retweet after he’s gone.
Musk also changed his profile to “Twitter complaint line operator” with a picture of himself holding a phone as a child. But it’s nearly impossible for people outside Twitter to know which influencers it’s pulling or which accounts have been suspended: The company has stopped responding to questions from the press, except for a few Musk tweets. reply with.
Musk’s promised intervention began last week on his first day as owner of Twitter. In an online show a conservative political commentator shared examples of the platform allegedly favoring liberals and secretly silencing conservative voices, a common criticism that Twitter management had called wrong. “I’ll do more research today,” Musk replied.
The case continued when the daughter of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson—whose “politically correct” culture and provocative critiques of feminism are popular with some right-wing activists—told Musk to her father after a tweet about transgender actor Elliot Page. asked to restore the account. Rules on hateful conduct.
Musk promised, “everyone who has been suspended for minor and questionable reasons will be released from Twitter prison.” Months ago, Musk said in reference to Peterson that Twitter was “going too far in silencing dissenting views.”
One of Musk’s first big moves was to address an open letter to advertisers – Twitter’s main source of revenue – in which he went ahead with his plans to encourage free expression on the platform not to allow the platform to become a “chaotic hell”. had sworn. Musk suggests asking users to pay $8 for a coveted blue checkmark to diversify income.
The check mark is criticized on the platform as a symbol of elitism. But its main purpose has been to verify that accounts in public view – such as those of politicians, brands and journalists – do indeed match their users. It has been a tool to stop impersonation and stop the flow of propaganda.
