After turning Twitter upside down, Elon Musk on Tuesday sought to clarify his plans for content moderation, a key issue for the future of the influential platform after the departure of advertisers and top executives.
Musk said on Friday that he had reinstated some banned accounts on his site, but added that no decision had been made about welcoming former US President Donald Trump.
Twitter watchers are closely tracking to see if Musk will reinstate Trump, who was banned for inciting last year’s attack on the Capitol by mobs seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. was imposed.
The reinstatement of accounts taken down for violating Twitter’s content moderation rules is seen as a bellwether of where Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” wants to take the site.
In the same blast of tweets, Musk unveiled a new way to handle future hateful or “negative” content that appears to strike a balance between spontaneous free speech and some form of policing the site. wants
Finding a solution to content moderation became especially important after Musk’s major change to the site — adding a paid subscription service — sparked an embarrassing wave of fake accounts that drove advertisers wild.
“Twitter’s new policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of access,” Musk tweeted on Friday.
“Negative/hate tweets will be debunked and monetized as much as possible, so there will be no advertising or other revenue on Twitter,” he wrote.
New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.
You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.
‘Fundamentals’
In essence, Musk was hinting at a policy similar to the strategy at YouTube, the Google-owned video platform, where some offensive content is given lower priority in the site’s algorithm, but not eliminated entirely. would have been
“You won’t find a tweet unless you specifically look for it, which is no different than the rest of the Internet,” Musk said.
Ella Gruen, their newly installed chief of trust and safety, called Musk’s approach “a fundamental principle for Twitter … helping us ensure that we maintain a healthy platform.” “
To make his point, Musk then announced the reinstatement of three Twitter accounts that had been banned for violating Twitter’s content moderation policies.
Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson was suspended from Twitter in June, before Musk owned it, after a post about transgender actor Elliott Page violated the site’s rules on hateful conduct.
Patterson has often made comments against the rights of transgender people and was asked by Twitter to remove posts on the page.
Babylon Bee, a conservative parody site, was banned in March for similar tweets against Rachel Levin, a trans woman who serves as the US assistant secretary of health.
A third account, that of comedian Kathy Griffin, was banned earlier this month after Musk cracked down on accounts impersonating others.
Griffin, who has two million followers on Twitter, changed his username to Elon Musk, taking advantage of the website’s relaxed oversight under the billionaire.
‘Destructive’
In an opinion piece, Twitter’s former chief content officer, said it was a “near certainty” that Trump would be returned to the site.
Elaborating on why he left Twitter last week after seven years, Roth said Musk faces a huge challenge to achieve his vision of free speech.
Roth warned his former boss that advertisers, whom he “neither controls nor has been able to win over,” would pose a clear threat to his revenue stream if they became fearful of the site’s direction. will become
And even if it found another way to make money, regulators in the United States, Europe and India were wary, threatening Twitter with hefty fines or government intervention if the platform failed to play by the rules. Is.
But most of all, Roth said, it will be Apple and Google’s Android-powered app stores that have the biggest impact on Twitter’s future.
“A failure to follow Apple’s and Google’s guidelines would be catastrophic,” Roth warned.
Their often vague rules on content can see users’ access to Twitter’s phone app quickly and dictated by competing big tech companies.
“Twitter will have to balance the goals of its new owner against the practical realities of life on the Internet of Apple and Google,” Roth said.
