BLOG 4

  Blog #4

Max Gilbert

Elon Musk and Twitter: An Unlikely, Yet Sound Partnership

    As of recently, and specifically this morning, Elon Musk seems to be on the precipice of buying the social media platform Twitter for roughly 46.5 billion dollars, and taking the company private. In total, Musk is worth more than two hundred and eighty billion dollars, and is most known for electric car company Tesla, and space exploration venture "Space X." Amidst this corporate drama, there remains the question of why does he want to buy twitter, what's in it for Musk? To begin with, he has spoken about the platform's harsh moderation of content, and free-speech, and would most definitely lessen those restrictions if purchased. Furthermore, Twitter as a whole has not capitalized on it's larger than life user base, and is notoriously dysfunctional. Musk would bring a fresh mindset to the table, and provide a more in-touch view, and perspective of younger generations.

    In a regulatory statement regarding some of Musk's previous investments in the company (He owned a 9.9% stake), he stated, "I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” Musk makes an extremely valid point here, as twitter is ideally, the ultimate expression of free speech, say what you want, when you want, and nobody can stop you. Although there are aspects of that which can become dangerous, Musk’s assertion that it is necessary for a functioning democracy is completely true. Conversely, however, there can be moments like we have seen with president Donald Trump, where this power can be abused, and warped into a battle cry, creating a very fine line between what is acceptable, and unacceptable under “free speech.” It is generally assumed that if Musk took over the company, he would have to address Trump’s ban from the platform, an issue that is so controversial it is almost not even worth getting involved in for Musk.

    There is an aspect of twitter that feels outdated, almost ancient in a sense. Twitter, in many ways is a relic from an earlier era of the internet, but all of that could change under Musk’s new leadership and vision. It definitely won’t be easy, as the topic of free-speech within social media is not an easily addressed problem. Who knows, maybe Musk will kickstart a new era of the company, as it could certainly use a fresh vision, which he could provide. 

Comments

  1. Evan GoldsteinApril 27, 2022 at 3:20 PM

    I agree with the argument presented in this blog. I think that Elon Musk buying Twitter is a great move, not only for the longevity and health of the company, but also for the country as well. I think that freedom of speech is one of, if not the most important cornerstone of any democracy and I also think that Twitter has not done a great job of ensuring that everybody has the ability to speak their mind, regardless of which side of the political spectrum they fall under. Finally, I agree that Musk's leadership would be a welcome change for not just Twitter, but all of social media, as he can bring fresh ideas on how to deal with freedom of speech in a social media context.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carter GoltermannApril 27, 2022 at 5:15 PM

    I agree that it is a wise financial decision for Elon Musk to purchase Twitter under to pretense that he will facilitate a platform where free speech is fully supported and that it is renovated to cater to the new generations social media preferences. I completely agree that that there are many issues that coincide with complete freedom of speech which may prove more difficult to navigate than Elon Musk has predicted. Specifically on the internet, where individuals have the power to say anything they want anonymously it leaves a lot of room for unnecessary harm and violence to enter the world that may have been avoided through greater moderation. Elon Musk must ensure that he has thought out the possible negative effects that could follow this purchase, and how he will deal with them.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog post 5

Implications of Diplomatic Risk Game  The Diplomatic Risk Game provided valuable insight as to how international political decisions are executed, morevor what leaders place emphasis on when choosing their political strategies. In a fictional game, the chosen leaders and diplomats were not concerned with the true implicit and explicit costs of war, rather, the focus was on total dominance in resources. Similarly, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to progress it can be seen that leaders like Vladimir Putin operate under those same principles.  In principle, war should operate as it did throughout the Risk Game: two nations that cannot reach an agreement go to war and the dominant nation will emerge victorious. The Risk Game allows its players to focus solely on the international dynamics and their corresponding power changes emerging post-war. In order to settle a conflict,  “both the defender and the attacker roll X dice, where X is the amount of units they ...
Read more

POLS 170 Blog Post (1)

          International Relations realism, International Relations Liberalism, and Constructivism were very apparent in the time leading up to World War I and the time period immediately succeeding it. There were many reasons for the outbreak of WWI, however, one of the major reasons was the  European powers’ building up their respective militaries. As each nation saw another improving upon a facet of its military, it began looking for ways to counter it. This was very apparent in both Germany and England engaging in a massive build up of their navies, in order to ensure that in the event of war, they would have control over the oceans. Every nation saw a build up of forces in another as a threat to its own security, thus ultimately leading to the events of WWI. Also importantly during this time period, in terms of IR realism, was the colonization of territory across the world by European powers, significantly in Africa. European nations saw how resour...
Read more