In 2017, Musk sought out in the pursuit of buying Twitter. Five years later, he officially purchased the microblogging platform with a staggering amount of $44 Billion.
Elon Musk and Twitter go hand-in-hand. From purchasing 9.3% stakes in the company to buying it 100%, Musk has had a profound impact on Twitter lately. Moreover, many people believe that Musk will change the aspects of Twitter and make it more accessible to a vast majority.
For now, we don’t know what exactly the billionaire entrepreneur has planned—even the Twitter CEO is acknowledging the future is uncertain. However, it seems as if the Tesla CEO has dropped some clues regarding his plans for Twitter.
Let us walk through the potential tweet tweaks that Musk will bring forth after taking charge of Twitter.
1. Content Relaxation
Elon Musk has described himself as a “free speech absolutist”. He has been vocal in his criticism of Twitter’s policies on moderating content and argued that the microblogging platform needs to be a genuine forum for free speech. Therefore, there are speculations he could tweak Twitter’s moderation rules and allow suspended accounts to return.
After his takeover was approved by Twitter’s board, Musk said that “free speech was the bedrock of a functioning democracy and hailed the platform as the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
While some people believe Musk could loosen the content moderation rules, others believe he could be in for a ‘rude awakening’.
2. Advert-free Twitter
In April 2022, when purchased shares of Twitter, he posted a series of (now deleted) tweets suggesting he would like to get rid of adverts on Twitter’s premium subscription service (Twitter Blue). He wrote: “The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive.”
This could become a matter of concern for Twitter since the platform is currently relying on adverts for about 90% of its income. Additionally, Musk further suggested that improvements could be introduced to Twitter Blue, which could be relied on as an alternative source of income.
3. The Indispensable Edit Button
Do you want an edit button?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
Prior to bidding for Twitter, Musk had tweeted a poll asking his followers if they wanted an edit button on the platform. A few hours later, Twitter confirmed that it was already working on a similar feature where users can change tweets after they have been posted.
There are various pros and cons to introducing an edit button:
| PROS | CONS |
| Fix typos or errors in Tweets | Could affect the platform’s transparency or authenticity |
| Editing content without losing replies, retweets, or likes | Alter records of the public conversation |
4. Clearing Spam Bots
Previously, Musk has spoken of ‘defeating the spam bots’ on Twitter. For a long time, Twitter has had an issue with automated, fake accounts being used to relentlessly post unhelpful or misleading content. Some analysts believe if Musk succeeds in removing the spambots, the platform may generate new techniques that improve the detection and identification of spam mails, posts and other malicious intrusion attempts.
On the other hand, few experts believe that irrespective of various filtrations, there will always be errors in the authentication of users by humans or algorithms.
Also Read: Musk’s 9.2% Stakes: Two Sides of Twitter’s Largest Shareholder Fiasco
