What’s Really Behind Elon Musk’s Twitter Chaos

Will Elon Musk finally be what kills Twitter? For years, the social network has been an extremely popular center for news and public conversation. But it’s been in a chaotic transition phase since Tesla CEO Elon Musk completed his purchase of the company. Elon’s transition to Twitter CEO has come with immediate changes, like mass employee layoffs and new features designed to monetize the platform. But changes like this one fundamentally alter Twitter’s landscape. The current state of Twitter is evidence of an irresolvable tension at the heart of the internet: the desire for openness and free speech coming up against the demands of shareholders and profitability.

Transcript

“Elon Musk is running Twitter into the ground.”

- Trevor Noah

Will Elon Musk finally be what kills Twitter?

For years, the social network has been an extremely popular center for news and public conversation. But it’s been in a chaotic transition phase as Tesla CEO Elon Musk finally completed his months-long purchase of the company. The sale itself was a tumultuous back and forth–perhaps an omen of what was to come.

Elon’s transition to Twitter CEO has come with immediate changes at the company, like mass employee layoffs–that included top executives and it seems, anyone who disagrees with him.

Elon’s transition to Twitter CEO has come with immediate changes at the company, like mass employee layoffs–that included top executives and it seems, anyone who disagrees with him. Musk’s shakeup also implemented new features designed to monetize the platform like Twitter Blue, which allows users to pay $8 a month to be verified and prioritized. But changes like this one fundamentally alter Twitter’s landscape. Albeit some flaws, the site was once a place where people could find verified information in real time from trusted sources. And how “the little guy” got the word out.

Here’s our take on how Elon Musk’s purchase and redesign of Twitter–a place that was once a public forum for underdogs to question those in power–could be its ultimate downfall.

“If I acquire Twitter and something goes wrong. It’s my fault 100%.”

- Elon Musk

Here’s our take on how Elon Musk’s purchase and redesign of Twitter–a place that was once a public forum for underdogs to question those in power–could be its ultimate downfall.

Twitter’s Timeline

Twitter can be an incredibly toxic, exhausting place, full of public pile-ons, absurd conversations, and general negativity. So, would its destruction really be such a loss? In short, yes.

“Have you seen the hashtags?” “Oh yeah, stay off Twitter.”

- Beyond the Lights

Despite a slow start, Twitter had become an invaluable tool for activists and political movements by the 2010’s. In several of these cases, the power of Twitter came from promoting free and open communication, lifting up the voices of people who otherwise might not have been heard. Protestors in places ranging from Egypt to Ferguson, Missouri were able to document the conditions they dealt with and broadcast their demands.

“Twitter is how the Arab Spring took off. Black Lives Matter blew up on Twitter. The #MeToo movement started on Twitter.”

- Trevor Noah

All of this made Twitter what it is today–a pivotal part of our global culture–especially when it comes to how we get our information. Since anyone’s voice can, in theory, be elevated on Twitter, it literally launched careers for writers, comics, artists, and other trailblazers who were able to break through the noise and establish themselves in their fields.

“Twitter and journalism go hand in hand. Twitter is a source of information. Because Twitter doesn’t have an editorial staff and there’s no filter, it has a very different role from what journalists have, which is to be that filter.”

- PBSoffbook

Twitter allows users to follow–and interact with–anyone of interest. That’s allowed new communities to form, bringing people together in surprising ways that might not have been possible before. This has, understandably, facilitated a fundamental change in the relationship between fans and public figures. Powerful people realized that Twitter could help them extend their power in new ways–exposing Twitter’s more dangerous potential.

As of late, Twitter has tried to make the platform a safer place for its users – putting in barriers meant to curb misinformation and hate speech – even de-platforming high profile users who have violated its standards.But moves like this are what brought conversations surrounding censorship, free speech, and whether or not Twitter had become too powerful to the forefront.

Enter: Elon Musk. A self-proclaimed bastion of free speech, the tech billionaire has been a longtime user but also critic of Twitter.In early 2022, Musk became a sort of self-appointed knight in shining armor, coming to liberate the platform and bring it back to its earlier, less-moderated, version of itself. But he seems dead set on making Twitter a more open platform, no matter the cost.

“A good sign as to whether there is free speech is someone you don’t like, allowed to say something you don’t like.”

- Elon Musk

So, will the “public town square” that once empowered the powerless ever be the same now that it’s being run by the richest man in the world?

Elon Musk’s Unclear Plan

Since purchasing Twitter, Elon has laid off roughly 50% of the company’s employees, caused a mass exodus of even more employees with a “be extremely hardcore or get out” approach to leadership, and has users tweeting #ripTwitter with farewell messages. And the severe reduction in workforce has dramatically reduced Twitter’s functionality–since many of the departed employees were engineers, developers, and coders. The situation has become so dire that Musk had to ask some of the people he had let go to come back just days later.

As the company continues to hemorrhage money. Musk is reportedly laying plans to monetize the app. But critics wonder how he’s going to get people to pay for a service they used to get for free–or if there will even be an app to pay for in the coming weeks.

Elon’s fumbles on Twitter have been well documented over the years–making the platform central to his career for both good and not so good.

“You tweet a lot.” “I use my tweets to express myself. Some people use their hair. I use Twitter.”

- Elon Musk

In 2018, he infamously tweeted that he would be taking Tesla private at $420 per share, referencing the connection between the number 420 and marijuana. Though he claimed there was quote-unquote “funding secured,” this was ultimately a joke. Not only was he investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and forced to settle for $40 million, he’s still in the middle of a civil lawsuit brought by Tesla shareholders who lost money by taking the tweet as a statement of fact. An incident like this one not only showed how central information shared on Twitter is to businesses – but also served as a foreshadowing for some of the issues plaguing the site under Musk’s reign.

Twitter Blue–Elon’s attempt to make the blue checkmark system more inclusive – was an almost immediate disaster. The system would allow users to access verification if they paid a monthly fee of $8. Previously, Twitter had a more rigorous process–it would verify journalists, celebrities, politicians, and public figures on a case-by-case basis, requiring them to provide government issued ID in an effort to prevent impersonation. Musk quickly found out why it was always done this way. Twitter became flooded with fake, yet blue-check-mark-verified, accounts impersonating public figures and brands. A single tweet cost pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly roughly $15 billion in market cap. Twitter Blue was disabled the very next day. Musk says that the feature will come back eventually but with some careful new changes. In an effort to discourage impersonators, new accounts will have to wait 90 days before they can subscribe to Blue.

The paid subscription service was supposed to help wean Twitter off of its dependence on advertising revenue–but advertisers are already beating Elon to the punch. Huge companies like Pfizer, General Motors, United Airlines, and General Mills have all left Twitter since Musk took ownership, and more are fleeing in droves. Many longtime Twitter users have also decided to stop using the service, including several high-profile celebrities like Shonda Rhimes, Whoopi Goldberg, Liz Phair, and Alex Winter. What it seems Elon is failing to see is that–until Twitter stops being so dependent on advertising–it’s going to need to be a more tightly moderated place.

“The thing about advertising is that it’s very easy to turn on and off. And so while things are so volatile right now, it’s better for advertisers to take a back seat.”

- Bloomberg Technology

Misinformation and impersonations threaten Twitter’s function as a public safety tool and an integral part of our global communication system–which it has been for nearly twenty years.

What Does “Free Speech” Really Mean?

When Musk purchased Twitter, one of his major goals was to expand quote-unquote “free speech.” He and his followers have railed against the use of external fact-checking and content moderation on Twitter, which they claim limits its use as a public forum.

But while Musk would like to present himself as in favor of absolute free speech, he’s come up against his own limits after just a few days of owning Twitter. Faced with verified accounts making fun of him, he’s brought the full force of Twitter moderation down on several people whose speech he doesn’t like.

“The company will start permanently suspending any accounts that engage in impersonation without specifying ‘parody.’”

- Elon Musk

Online content moderation has been a thorny problem for years. On one hand, there are those who claim that it’s important to allow free and open platforms for all speech, regardless of what’s being said. This is ostensibly Musk’s goal, and something that has been lauded by certain segments of Twitter’s audience.

On the other hand, academics, journalists, and activists criticize tech platforms for creating what amount to safe spaces for white nationalists and other dangerous fringe groups. These conflicts have been a part of Twitter for years, leading to the permanent banning of controversial figures like Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, and, most infamously, Trump himself, though this was recently overturned. Social media platforms have a responsibility to combat the spread of information and calls for violence against others–but Elon doesn’t seem to be too concerned.

“He’s trying to decide what to do and clearly doesn’t have a plan - it’s absolute chaos. There has to be a responsible adult in the room, and it’s not Elon.”

- Mehdi Hasan

And this is a major problem Twitter users are dealing with right now. Many of Musk’s layoffs specifically affected employees who work in content moderation. In the time since the deal closed and Musk took control of Twitter, hate speech on the platform has skyrocketed, in what the Washington Post described as a quote, “flood of racist posts.” This creates an environment where it’s actually harder for certain people to speak—the commitment to free speech means making a series of tradeoffs about what speech, and whose speech, is really important. And though Musk has claimed that his new model for verification will solve the problem of hate speech and disinformation, there’s no evidence that that will happen. What was once a place where people felt welcome to share ideas, form online communities, and get verified news and information seems to be crumbling before us in real time.

Conclusion

Twitter itself may not be dying, but a version of it is. Many of the users who once relied on the platform are now rightfully looking elsewhere, fleeing to alternatives like the decentralized social network Mastodon and the newsletter platform Substack.

In Twitter’s future there are a few real possibilities. One is that Twitter will literally collapse as the remaining engineers and employees maintaining its infrastructure get laid off–or quit–leading the platform to become unusable.

Another–is that Musk might pull back from the edge, and return Twitter to at least some measure of equilibrium—in keeping with the way he has already asked some of the previously fired employees to come back to their jobs.

And there’s a good possibility that he won’t be CEO for very long. But for now, Musk seems ready to double down on both the best and the worst parts of Twitter. The site will likely remain a headache, both for Musk and for even some of the most dedicated users—given how open Twitter can be, it couldn’t go any other way.

“The closest I’ve been to a warzone was when I logged onto Twitter this morning”

- Jimmy Fallon

What’s Really Behind Elon Musk’s Twitter Chaos

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