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Musk Promises to Loosen Speech Rules at Twitter All-Staff Meeting

Posted by JJ The Psychotherapist on June 16, 2022 at 11:00 PM


Musk Promises to Loosen Speech Rules at Twitter All-Staff Meeting

On Thursday, Elon Musk attended his first all-staff meeting with Twitter employees as he prepared to assume control of the business after a deal for its total purchase.

During the discussion, which Bloomberg first reported on, Musk stated that he would allow a wide spectrum of opinions on the platform, including anything that may be regarded as "extreme" but was legal.

Musk's claimed purpose for acquiring the firm was free speech, which he had previously attacked for apparent censorship in imposing content warnings and banning controversial users such as former President Donald Trump, the Babylon Bee, and the New York Post. "I think it's essential to have free speech and to be able to communicate freely," Musk stated in answer to a query on the issue. On Twitter, he had previously defined himself as a "free speech absolutist."

Musk, on the other hand, contrasted the permissiveness of speech from its amplification, in which Twitter promotes tweets that receive a lot of attention online. He noted that, while Twitter allows speech that offends broad feelings (such as Holocaust denial), it may not reinforce such information even as it acquires popularity.

“There’s freedom of speech and freedom of reach,” he stated. “I think people should be allowed to say pretty outrageous things that are in the bounds of the law but that don’t get amplified and don’t get a ton of reach.”

 

Furthermore, Musk indicated that remote working at Twitter under his leadership will be completely prohibited, similar to a restriction recently implemented at Tesla, where he is the CEO. Only "exceptional contributors" would be allowed to work from home for a good cause, with all exceptions personally authorized by him.

 

Musk also discussed his strategy for growing Twitter's user base to 1 billion people and implementing a subscription model – with additional benefits (e.g., account verification) for paying customers – while still allowing non-paying users access to all information.

 

The conference was organized by Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal as a method for staff to understand about the company's future after Musk's takeover. Agarwal had requested workers in an email on Monday to submit questions for Musk in advance, which were picked for the meeting, which was mediated by Leslie Berland, Twitter's senior marketing officer.

 

Musk's acquisition of Twitter has been fraught with controversy since winning full board approval for the takeover. Most recently, he accused the corporation of withholding information concerning the amount of accounts on the platform that were not managed by genuine people (i.e., 'bots,' and threatened to drop out of the arrangement if the necessary information was not delivered.

 

The ultimatum came after Twitter's stock price fell significantly in recent weeks, to $37.40 at the end of markets on Thursday — well below the $54.20 per share offer made by Musk and agreed by the Board in April.

 

Even as Twitter's stock price decreases, Musk has had a tough time raising the necessary funds to acquire the firm.

 

Following a drop in the price of Tesla shares, which holds the majority of Musk's $206.9 billion net worth, Musk altered his bid, foregoing'margin loans' against his Tesla ownership and soliciting contributions from 19 new investors for his $44 billion acquisition.

 

Musk's acquisition of Twitter is anticipated to be finalized by November of this year, according to his deal with Twitter.

Categories: Social Media, Free Speech, Technology

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