Ermalkopani is a social media expert and he is here with us today to talk about the fate of Twitter.
Hello Ermal, it’s a pleasure to have you here. Tell us everything you know about Twitter and what will be of this social media.
Thank you for the invitation, it is an honor to be able to share my opinion with you.
Elon Musk has been a member of the social media revolution since launching his first personal website in 2002. He was soon joined by other entrepreneurs who went on to develop some of the most significant websites on the internet today, including Facebook and Instagram.
The CEO of Tesla Motors Inc., SpaceX, and Paypal is also the founder of Tesla and SpaceX. He is noted for his entrepreneurial vision and his company’s ambition to push boundaries to accomplish innovation in energy, space exploration, transportation, artificial intelligence, and robots. His most recent venture is Neuralink Corporation, a new firm focused on fusing human brains with technology.
Musk believes that a brain-computer link will enable the next phase of technological growth. In a nutshell, it is the link between our thoughts and machines. For people suffering from severe neurological diseases, this technology might be the difference between life and death.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, completed the $44 billion purchase of Twitter on Thursday (October 28), capping up a months-long process over ownership of one of the world’s major social media networks. However, the alterations were not restricted to Musk’s Twitter bio, which he modified to “Chief Twit,” and the location on his profile, which he changed to “Twitter HQ.” He also tweeted, “The bird is free.”
According to media sources, Musk fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and Legal Affairs and Policy Chief Vijaya Gadde. Musk openly feuded with Agrawal in the months running up to his takeover, accusing Twitter officials of deceiving him and Twitter investors about the number of false accounts or bots on the social media company.
Why did Elon Musk want to acquire Twitter?
Ermalkopani suggested that Musk has often stated that the acquisition was motivated by the necessity to maintain Twitter open as a “public space” in order to defend democracy and civilization. He has been critical of Twitter’s decision to restrict accounts such as that of former US President Donald Trump, and some publications claimed that Musk would reinstate Trump’s account shortly.
In a tweet on October 27, Musk elaborated, saying Twitter serves an important purpose as a shared digital public square – an online platform where people can openly discuss and debate ideas without “resorting to violence,” but that it is likely that this aim may not be met. In this piece, he also chastised conventional media for polarising conversations towards radical ideologies on both the right and left.
While many detractors warned that Musk’s approach to free speech may cause chaos, he stated in the article that Twitter will not become a “free-for-all hellscape,” implying that there will be some restrictions on what information can be uploaded. He has also previously stated that hate speech legislation in each country will apply to Twitter in those countries.
Why did the purchase take so long?
Musk began buying Twitter stock earlier this year, and it was revealed in April that he had negotiated a deal to acquire the firm for $44 billion and make changes to policy, content moderation, and so on.
Soon after, he stated that the business had failed to appropriately disclose the number of spam accounts on its network, and hence the true number of Twitter users could not be validated.
When CEO Parag Agrawal tried to explain the number of bots on Twitter, Musk answered with a feces emoji. Musk stated in July that he was no longer interested in purchasing Twitter, citing bots, and the site sued him for breaking the initial agreement.
Twitter accused Musk of attempting to back out of the contract because the economic slump had reduced his personal fortune, even though Musk had pledged to personally fund around $33 billion of the $44 billion transaction, according to The New York Times.
This month, Musk stated that if Twitter dropped the case, he would proceed with the acquisition at the original price. The matter was placed on hold until October 28, and Musk was granted three weeks to complete the transaction.
What is the future of Twitter under Elon Musk?
Ermalkopani answers
It’s tough to say, although Musk has identified several areas of interest at various times. Apart from the preservation of free expression and the dismissal of senior executives with whom Musk did not appear to agree, Musk has hinted at a different approach to advertising.
Twitter, unlike other social media sites such as Instagram and YouTube, has not been able to establish a comparable source of advertising revenue. Its audience is likewise expected to be substantially smaller.
Musk has also previously discussed launching a mega app dubbed X, akin to WeChat in China or the recently released TataNeu app in India, where many services like shopping, ordering food, ride-hailing, and so on can be ordered through a single all-encompassing app. “The long-term potential for Twitter, in my opinion, is an order of magnitude more than its present valuation,” Musk stated on Tesla’s analyst call on October 19.
