Musk is leading Twitter down a fraught path
Since the start of this month, the internet has been rocked by tech tycoon Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and his often ham-handed attempts to remake it in his image. Last week, many users joined a Twitter deathwatch and talked of going to other platforms due to reports of the social media giant’s imminent demise.
The most recent chapter in this drama is the unbanning of Donald Trump’s Twitter account. So is Musk ruining Twitter? Is this, as some progressives claim, a threat to American democracy? Should the majority who aren’t on Twitter care?
There is no question that Twitter, with its immediacy and universal access, has become a major tool in politics and news media — whether for better or worse is a difficult question. For journalists, it’s an excellent source of information and a great venue for conversation with colleagues and audiences. But the drift toward Twitter-focused (rather than real world-focused) reporting is a problem. “Here’s what people say on Twitter” is a lazy and obnoxious journalistic genre.
In politics, too, there has been a tendency to confuse Twitter with public opinion — leading many, for instance, to underestimate Joe Biden’s chances in the 2020 Democratic primaries.
What happens on Twitter doesn’t stay on Twitter but often drives both media coverage and public debates — which is what makes it relevant even to non-participants.
Conservatives have long believed that Twitter has a left-wing slant and that its moderation practices are biased against the right. While these claims are often blown out of proportion, there is no question that many people on the left (including a contingent of Twitter staffers) have seen the platform as a preferred space for progressive politics and social justice activism where right-of-center users are at best tolerated.
Enter Musk, a onetime liberal (he still champions action to combat climate change) who has made common cause with the cultural right because of his quarrels with the media. His decision to buy Twitter was partly driven by his belief that it suppresses “politically incorrect” speech — and partly, it seems, by the desire to spite his progressive foes, especially journalists.
The results have been contentious, to say the least. At times, Musk has acted like a right-wing troll in his capacity as Twitter CEO, even appearing to endorse a defamatory conspiracy theory about the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. His decision to reinstate Trump on Twitter based on a narrowly won user poll seems startlingly frivolous (though Trump, who now has his own social media platform, may not return). And his attempts to change the rules for Twitter membership and identity verification have been so erratic that some critics have accused him of deliberate sabotage. Mass firings and resignations haven’t helped.
Will Twitter collapse, or get back to normal and even improve?
Much of the criticism of Musk’s antics is justified. But the polemics also reflect left-wing bias. Musk has made some right moves, such as reinstating a number of Twitter personalities banned over ideological disputes. Concerns that his policies will enable harassment and abuse on the platform ignore harassment and abuse by the progressive left (usually under the guise of “calling out” bigotry).
It’s also possible that Twitter under Musk will lose some of its journalistic and political cachet and its disproportionate influence on public life. Even as an active Twitter poster (@CathyYoung63), I think that’s probably a good thing.
Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a cultural studies fellow at the Cato Institute, are her own.