The fact that Elon Musk is a billionaire should not disqualify him from owning an important media firm
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskCompared with its rivals—Facebook, Instagram and TikTok—Twitter is a minnow. But the deal matters. One reason is that Twitter’s size belies its importance. As a haunt of politicians, pundits and wonks, it does much to set the political weather—a digital “public square”, as Mr Musk put it.
At first blush, Mr Musk—best known for electric cars and reusable rockets—seems an unlikely social-media mogul. But a closer look suggests his acquisition of Twitter fits his approach to business. Mr Musk, a passionate engineer, likes to take poorly performing technologies and improve them. Tesla tore up the car industry’s rule book by replacing petrol with electricity, ditching dealerships and treating cars as computers.
Assume that Mr Musk really is ready to spend billions of dollars of his own money to secure the “future of civilisation” . The question is whether his vision of free speech on Twitter is sensible. The fact that Mr Musk is a billionaire should not disqualify him from owning an important media firm. He has already set out some ideas for Twitter, many of them cautious and sensible. The resulting fuss shows how illiberal much online opinion has become. He wants fewer outright bans and more temporary suspensions. Users should prove they are not bots. When in doubt, err on the side of leaving tweets up, not taking them down.
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