Twitter Isn't a Town Square, It's an Angry Mob
The world’s richest man, and also an egomaniac, meme-wielding troll, just bought one of the world's most influential media platforms.
Welp, the world’s richest man just bought one of the world’s most influential media platforms. What else is new?
Musk’s takeover of Twitter today caps off a seesawing three weeks of news. First it was announced he bought a 9.2% stake in the company, then he was joining the board, then he wasn’t joining the board, then he was sued for not informing the public of his purchase in time, then everyone learned what the hell a ‘poison pill strategy’ is, then he financed his offer, and now Twitter has accepted the deal.
With it, Musk, who is already one of the world’s most powerful men and also an egomaniac, meme-wielding troll, will take the company private and do whatever he wants with it.
In all likelihood, that means that another powerful, egomaniac, meme-wielding troll will be re-invited to the platform. I wonder what Mr. T**** has to say about that…
(Sadly, this may be one of the last times I’ll be able to make that joke).
In a statement, Musk wrote:
"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
It’s not the first time he’s described the platform as a town square, and he’s not the first to do it. In 2013, then-Twitter CEO Dick Costello also heralded it as such, and The Atlantic, Wired, The Guardian and countless others have agreed with the notion.
But the metaphor is hogwash, as other analysts have noted in recent days.
It’s a quaint thought to believe that the social platform is akin to some post-renaissance golden-age-of-enlightenment public forum, where all ideas can be considered and the good ones championed and the bad ones disregarded (as if all town squares in history always benefitted democracy anyway), but that isn’t how the platform works.
For one, no town square that I’m aware of has ever shown you around to only certain speakers based on an algorithm that is designed to keep your attention and do nothing else. For another, town squares don’t only give bullhorns to those who already have the largest audiences or those that pay to reach more people; indeed, everyone is equally allowed to cry and be heard.
I’m unaware of any town square that forced its patrons to speak in 280-character increments, nor any town square that permanently recorded what they said. I also always understood public squares to be, well, public, as opposed to owned by private companies with the ability to police (or not police) the square at their own beck and call.
And of course, the world’s wealthiest man didn’t own and control the town square. At least, not usually.
No, if Twitter resembles anything at all like a town square, at best it is of the medieval type, where witches and heretics were burned, enemies of the state were drawn and quartered, and those with sensible heads were more likely to lose theirs than not.
Hate, fear, and spectacle attract the most attention, and the same has been and will always be true of Twitter, just as it is with the sad state of contemporary cable news (pour one out for CNN+) and social media at large.
Musk stans, may we pity them, are likely keen to point to his previous successful business ventures with Tesla, SpaceX, and PayPal as reason for optimism with Twitter.
Elon has pledged to “make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans”.
Sounds nice. And in under 280 characters, too. Well done.
But putting aside the point that it’s pathetic to worship a man whose net worth it would take the average American, earning $69,392 per annum, three million years to match, Musk is one of the last men that should be responsible for platforming the speech of hundreds of millions around the world, including and most importantly, purveyors of hate speech. Crown a bully and a troll, and suddenly bullies and trolls come out of the woodwork.
Musk, for his part, has repeatedly stated he is a strict proponent of free speech. I don’t doubt it, but I share my reservations nonetheless. I don’t know of any billionaire that earned the title by serving any interest that wasn’t their own.
Not to mention, free speech has become something of a hot button issue on the far-right, as Republicans quiver over being rightfully censored on private platforms for hate speech. These so-called victims will complain of being canceled while speaking to a wide audience. Go figure.
Perhaps the only thing I do share with Musk is that I am also a proponent of free speech. Indeed, (most) Americans are. Of course, a variety of thoughts should be considered to any debate or conversation, and no one should be censored or have to self-censor to avoid scrutiny from the state.
But that’s all the first amendment protects us from – the state – and even that has limitations.
Free speech does not mean that anyone can say whatever they please, such as, I don’t know, inciting an insurrection of a democratically elected government, and get off scot free.
It doesn’t mean that foreign governments and poorly-read uncles should spout blatant lies and misinformation as if it were a substitute for robust consideration of fact and policy.
And it doesn’t mean one can or should say anything they want and be immune from responsibility for their own words, as many on the right fail to understand.
In complete fairness, I’m not sure I have ever trusted Twitter’s leadership, themselves all billionaires or multi-millionaires, to police their own site. Indeed, I shared disbelief with many Americans that it took them until after an attempted coup to remove the twice-impeached ex-president from the platform. And that was with robust content moderation, which Musk has signaled he wants little to do with.
Musk’s purchase of Twitter should shine yet another spotlight on how important social media has become to society, how it contributes to the decay of democracy, and how few tools we have to enforce responsible use of it.
But hey, at least we’ll get childish 4/20 tweets from the owner of the company, rather than just a user. #aboringdystopia #quirky