Tesla CEO Elon Musk has bought microblogging site Twitter. It seems that this is the era of billionaires buying and operating media companies. A few years ago, the Washington Post was bought by billionaire Jeff Bezos through Amazon.com. Alibaba founder Jack Ma also owns the South China Morning Post. The famous Time magazine quotes Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff. Elon Musk seems to be taking this series forward by buying Twitter Inc.
In fact, when a company is listed on the stock exchange, it is in a way out of the hands of its founder. Jack Dorsey, the man behind Twitter to start Twitter, is himself out of the company today. In terms of business too, Twitter Inc. has changed a lot over the years. The Board also gives priority to the interests of the investors. Therefore, he is not able to refuse the offer of a big investor and usually the company is sold. This is exactly what happened with Twitter.
Now that Twitter has got a new owner, it is being speculated that there will be a lot of changes in it in the coming days. A big reason for this is Elon Musk himself, who has been opposing Twitter’s policies for a long time. He believes that Twitter is a very important platform and the country and the world need it, but he wants to reach it in everyone’s hands. He is in favor of all kinds of communication on Twitter from the point of view of society and economy.
Elon Musk is also against banning anyone on Twitter. He considers Twitter’s policies to be narrow and has been saying that this platform is far behind the level of achievements it can reach. He considers a big reason for this the restrictions imposed on people by Twitter. In fact, last year it ousted the then US President Donald Trump from its platform. This was the first instance in media history of such a banning the incumbent President of America, who called himself a superpower. Elon Musk is not only opposed to such acts, but also an advocate of ‘free speech’. He believes that Twitter should be a platform for dialogue, not for guiding people.
Looking at all this, it is being speculated that in the coming days, Twitter will provide a platform for everyone to express their views, beyond right and wrong. It is possible that after this the laws of the respective countries (where it will be in use) will be much stronger on this. The result of Twitter’s disobedience was that countries like Nigeria had banned it and adopted ‘ku’ for a few months. In India too, after the introduction of alternatives like Ku, the interest of people towards Twitter has been decreasing somewhat.
If you compare with forums like Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, then Twitter has the least users, but its influence is the most. This is the reason why India has also been asking these companies to stay in the country and work. He has always been emphasizing on appointing officers like Chief Compliance Officer for dispute resolution. It is possible that such demands will now be fulfilled soon.
Elon Musk has said that Twitter accounts run with the help of robots will be closed. Such accounts are run with the help of software, which automatically retweet a hashtag after seeing it. This is different from a fake account. Similarly, by using pseudonyms, some people are straightening out their meanings. Elon Musk believes that the person who comes to Twitter should be a human, not an automatic machine. Therefore, it is also speculated that in the near future we may have to do KYC (Know Your Customer) on Twitter account, in which we will use our National Identity Cards. If all this happens, then there will undoubtedly be less abuse among Twitter users, as one will not be able to talk to the other wearing a mask.
This whole incident shows that no social media platform thinks itself safe anymore. If an investor shows interest in a company, we may see a change in its ownership. What kind of changes in the company’s policies will result from such exercises, it will depend on the thinking of the new owner. But after the new reshuffle, if Twitter gets a little clean, it will be pleasant. However, some may also consider it a contradiction that on the one hand Elon Musk is a supporter of freedom of expression, and on the other hand, only after examining and allowing Twitter users to use this platform. But in a broader sense, Twitter will also benefit from this and ordinary users will be able to share their views on this platform with some seriousness.
It is also possible that in the coming days, every user will be asked to deposit a certain amount to use Twitter, because Elon Musk has been saying that Twitter still has the potential to make more money. Even if it does, users will hardly want to oppose it, as we will then be able to see much more meaningful debates on this forum. However, all kinds of speculations are floating in the air right now. Now it remains to be seen which side the camel sits in the coming days.
(These are the author’s own views)