The boss of Tesla has shown the worst of himself lately since his takeover of Twitter last month: brutal dismissal of half the staff, ultimatum for those who remain, spreading of false news… Lately, as he l Elon Musk had said, reinstated the accounts of several suspended users and put Donald Trump’s return to Twitter up for a user vote.
Users of the blue bird social network have until around midnight tonight (French time) to answer a simple question: should Donald Trump return to Twitter? Launching this poll, Elon Musk tweeted in Latin: “ Vox Populi vox dei » : the voice of the people is the voice of God.
According to this defender of freedom of expression, a million people would vote every hour to say if they want the return of Donald Trump on Twitter. The former president of the United States had been banned from the social network on January 6, 2021, after his supporters’ assault on the Capitol.
Since his arrival at the head of the social network, Elon Musk has returned to the account of American comedian and actress Kathy Griffin. She had 2 million subscribers before she was suspended last week for mocking him by changing his username to ‘Elon Musk’.
The account of the American satirical site The Babylon Bee has also been reactivated. Same thing for that of Jordan Peterson, a conservative media personality, suspended for his hateful remarks towards transgender personalities.
The boss of Tesla, who defends an absolute vision of freedom of expression, is expected at the turn on this subject and on the moderation of content in general. ” The politics of the new Twitter is freedom of speech, not freedom to reach the public, he said on Friday.
New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.
Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.
You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from the rest of the Internet.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
” Negative or hateful tweets will be demoted and demonetized, so there will be no back-to-back ads or other revenue for Twitter. You won’t find these tweets unless you look for them specifically, which is no different from the rest of the internet. “, he added.
The vision of the libertarian entrepreneur for the platform at the heart of the political and social life of many countries worries many associations, authorities and advertisers. They fear that Elon Musk will remove existing safeguards, fragile as they are, against misinformation, harassment and other abuses.
But Elon Musk will struggle to implement his vision of ” free speech “. American, European and Indian regulators are waiting for it if the platform does not respect their laws.
And that’s not counting the power of the Tech giants, like Apple or Google, which control the two main mobile operating systems in the world, iOS and Android. The two giants can ban any application that does not respect their rules on content.
► To read also: Elon Musk’s links “with other countries deserve to be examined”, says Biden
(With AFP)