Elon Musk’s Twitter: Principles, Politics and Problems Ahead

Impulse purchases often donamp8217t work out well For average Americans these days it might be an irresistible new car in the showroom at sticker price plus 20 percent Or a dirt cheap deal on a Caribbean time share that turns out to be in Venezuela with Hugo Chavezamp8217s militia on the front stoop Or maybe itamp8217s the latest Vega Matic that looked too good to pass up on late night TV but chokes on the first carrot instead of making soupElon Musk of course is anything but an average guy Known for taking charge Kim Chong Unlike orders and hairtrigger tweets the 200 billion capitalist icon isnamp8217t immune to the tribulations that come with an impetuous streak In Muskamp8217s case the evidence is his 44 billion deal for Twitter Unfortunately for Teslaamp8217s top gun the eyepopping acquisition began heading south even before the ink on his check was dryMusk proclaimed the addition of the social media company to his corporate empire in words that put him squarely on the Founding Fatheramp8217s turf The noble principles enunciated for the thenpending purchase seven months ago couldnamp8217t have been clearer amp8220Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracyquot the worldamp8217s richest man stated adding quotTwitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debatedamp8221Just what Muskamp8217s concept of free speech amounts to and how Twitter will reflect it however is anybodyamp8217s guess Considering his own provocativetopuerile tweeting support for unbanning serial prevaricators such as the expresident and the recent contradictory clarifications of Twitteramp8217s rules who knows A tweeted freeforall among far right provocateurs or QAnon crazies may qualify in Muskamp8217s view as constitutionally guaranteedHow much hubris as well as other business interests will shape Muskamp8217s free speech amp8220principlesamp8221 and Twitteramp8217s operations also remains to be seen After the mass firings that decimated the companyamp8217s workinglevel specialists who monitor content and the departure of the platformamp8217s experienced senior managers overseeing its ethical legal and secure operations Musk seems well on the way to setting up Twitter to define free speech on his termsReactions in Brussels and Washington suggest both see trouble coming their way European Union commissioner Thierry Breton wasted no time sending a message last month when Musk closed the Twitter purchase and tweeted amp8220the bird is freeamp8221 Within hours Breton replied in kind amp8220In Europeamp8221 he tweeted amp8220the bird will fly by our rulesamp8221 Given Twitteramp8217s troubled record in abetting foreign mis and disinformation Muskamp8217s smarmy schmoozing with authoritarians and the implications for his new companyamp8217s standards are raising US eyebrows as wellAmerican national security officials have reasons for concern According to The Wall Street Journal Teslaamp8217s manufacturing in China accounts for 40 percent of its global production China also produced 24 percent of the companyamp8217s revenue in the first three quarters of 2022 With Tesla dependent on China and Beijing a growing player in covert information warfare President Biden doubtless had Muskamp8217s public remarks in mind last week when he put a shot across his bowBiden didnamp8217t mince words amp8220I think that Elon Muskamp8217s cooperation and technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked atamp8221 he said If Musk felt put upon he has only himself to blame Despite Chinaamp8217s threats and provocative military exercises Musk last month suggested that Taiwan could solve its problems by becoming a amp8220special administrative zoneamp8221 run by Beijing Chinaamp8217s ambassador in Washington praised the idea It doubtless also drew smiles from Xi JinpingIn any case repeating Chinaamp8217s party line as a car maker is one thing doing the same as Twitteramp8217s boss another Take Twitteramp8217s responsibility to identify state actors A new report from Freedom House lays out Chinaamp8217s growing investment in foreign news organizations Are their products just a matter of amp8220free speechamp8221 Or will Muskamp8217s Twitter label Chinaamp8217s foreign media partners as amp8220state affiliatedamp8221 when they tweet content under their local label thatamp8217s authored in BeijingWhatever his amp8220free speechamp8221 principles turn out to be Muskamp8217s ego doesnamp8217t appear to leave him much room to consider that when it comes to running a politically sensitive and potentially explosive social media platform his skill set just might be less than completeTwitter will do lots of dumb things he tweeted this month before assuring the company would amp8220keep what worksamp8221 On that score so far at least in part Musk has been good to his wordClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Elon Musk’s Twitter: Principles, Politics and Problems Ahead

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Kent M. Harrington

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Elon Musk’s Twitter: Principles, Politics and Problems Ahead

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