There’s a new top dog (er, bird?) over at Twitter and it seems change is afoot (a-wing? Sorry, I’ll stop).
Billionaire Elon Musk’s (forced) purchase of the social media platform was recently completed and the eagle landed at the nest on Wednesday. (I really am done now).
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022
His arrival was greeted with hand-wringing and defiance by many.
Twitter employees demand Elon Musk “not discriminate against workers on the basis of… political beliefs.” I wish Twitter employees would offer conservative users the same respect. https://t.co/cEm5czi4uY
— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 26, 2022
I can't even calculate how much money I'd pay to read the Slack chat of Twitter employees today.
Definitely would pay extra to read the thoughts of "Content Moderators." https://t.co/ZqWG0fjQND
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 26, 2022
This is “a day in the life of a Twitter employee.” No wonder @elonmusk is firing 75% of them pic.twitter.com/cAHOuni765
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 26, 2022
Twitter employee looking happy at @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/57KCdukFKQ
— Mortimer (@mortimer_1) October 27, 2022
The meltdowns over the new era weren’t just coming from inside Twitter either.
Stay. Hold your ground like a Ukrainian.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) October 28, 2022
Elon Musk now in charge of Twitter, CEO and CFO have left and will not return. Twitter will be delisted from NYSE tomorrow—it’s now the private domain of one all-powerful person. God save @Twitter and humanity. https://t.co/XI9cQBNZyD
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) October 28, 2022
Some of the histrionics at least make a little sense. Elon reportedly told investors he wants to turn the company’s finances around and will fire over 75% of the workforce to do so. And by all indications, he means business. The CEO, CFO, and the head of legal policy, trust and safety were all kicked out within two days time.
This reduction in employees will mean numerous things for the company, but most importantly, it means they won’t have as many staff members to carry out content moderation on the website—and it’s that factor, along with Elon’s history of support for free speech, that really has many on the Left up in arms.
The people who spent years insisting Twitter wasn't biased at all are also the ones most upset about it now being owned by someone who isn't fully ideologically aligned with them.
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) October 28, 2022
The content moderation debate has been swirling for over two years time now. The Left wants social media companies to censor more people, especially those who post “disinformation,” which they define as any information that contradicts their positions. The Right feels it has been the target of censorship and unfavorable algorithms set by social media companies that are predominantly staffed by progressives in Silicon Valley, as well as by the Biden Administration.
They aren’t altogether wrong, the current administration absolutely pressured social media companies to censor information on COVID that pushed back on directives from the government (directives that have now been proven to be the actual misinformation, for the record).
The First Amendment, ample legal precedent, and Section 230 all correctly hold that private businesses have the right to censor anyone they want, or to kick them off their premises. Free speech after all means you not only have the right to say what you want free from government persecution or pressure, you also have the freedom to not host or promote speech you disagree with. A whole lot of people forget that last part.
So while the content moderation decisions of social media companies may anger both Republicans and Democrats for very different reasons, neither has any constitutional or ethical authority to do much about it.
That being said, when the government puts its thumb on the scale and pressures social media companies to moderate content in a certain way, that is an actual violation of free speech—both of the companies’ and of the individuals’ using them. (The bad guy here is still the government though, guys, not the private business that is also being threatened by the government).
While the current administration certainly has its hands dirty here, Republicans aren’t innocent either. In retaliation to this censorship, instead of going after the government for its violations of free speech, Republicans in places like Texas and Florida have passed bills that would force the platforms to moderate as they wish them to. Still a free speech violation, folks. And two wrongs certainly don’t make a right here.
So with Elon’s takeover of Twitter, and with his professed support for the free exchange of ideas, many are left wondering what’s going to happen to the platform’s content moderation standards. Clearly many on the Left believe Twitter will become a cesspool with rampant racism, conspiracy theories, and Donald Trump left to run amok all over the place. They also are apparently afraid of having to actually debate and defend their ideas versus just shutting down those of their opponents. And many on the Right are hoping their ideas will finally get the chance to flourish.
But how will the company actually approach the moderation question? Elon has already given some indication of next steps:
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.
No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
And, other good ideas have been floated.
Starting ASAP, @elonmusk should require Twitter staff to record all requests for content moderation or user discipline from governments or government officials.
This info should be publicly released in periodic reports like the ones platforms do for law enforcement requests.
— Neil Chilson ⤴️⬆️🆙📈 🚀 (@neil_chilson) October 28, 2022
But perhaps the best proposal came from BASEDPolitics’ hero and privacy icon, Edward Snowden.
This is going to cause controversy, but platform censorship had clearly gone too far. Content moderation should be an individual decision, not a corporate prison.
Let people make their own choices—and not just on Twitter. https://t.co/BlN8W4CqSP
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 28, 2022
Wrong. If I can in one command pull a blocklist of mean tweets you don't like (see pictures), there's no reason @elonmusk can't add a tool for you to auto-block people talking about your personal list of "things I don't want to see."
It's not hard. Corps just give you bad tools. https://t.co/4czwYxVw8x pic.twitter.com/qxK2Bivy7d
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 28, 2022
It's crazy to me that people think content moderation is a binary between "corporate gods must decide for us who is permitted to speak" or "my timeline will be filled with racism and torture videos." There are other, better alternatives.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 28, 2022
You could literally check boxes to opt-in to community moderation lists. You can outsource these decisions to people you trust. There is a whole universe of possibility out there, and every point within it is superior to letting some underpaid Facebook drone decide what you read.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 28, 2022
He’s brilliant. And he’s right. Content moderation could easily be handed off to the individual if these platforms simply integrated the right tools. Per usual, the options are not a limited to “corporate gods must decide for us who is permitted to speak,” “my timeline will be filled with racism and torture videos,” or “the government must come shut down dissent.”
Elon looks to be a positive development for Twitter as a whole, it’s too bad he can’t make Snowden his top advisor.
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