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Ariana Baio
Oct 27, 2022
Elon Musk arrives at Twitter HQ carrying actual kitchen sink amid $44bn …
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Panic seems to have gripped some people on Twitter as Elon Musk prepares to take over the company. So, in an effort to calm advertisers' nerves, Musk has revealed his plan for the platform.
"There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising. Most of it has been wrong," Musk wrote in a three-page note.
Since his initial $44 billion bid to acquire Twitter, people have speculated the Tesla CEO plans to make major changes to the platform in order to promote free speech, including taking it private.
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Musk has been an outspoken advocate of free speech, believing Twitter's ban on Donald Trump and other right-wing figures to be wrong despite those people potentially spreading misinformation.
His hope is to make Twitter a "common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence."
But he's also making it clear that Twitter will not become a "free-for-all hellscape."
\u201cDear Twitter Advertisers\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1666876080
Musk said he worries that social media "will splitter into far right-wing and far-left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide" due to censorship on the app.
With his approach, he believes he can merge the two together in a respectful, healthy way.
Both sides have expressed concerns about where the line is drawn in sharing opinions and promoting misinformation or violence.
"Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" Musk wrote.
"In addition to adhering to the laws of our land, our platform must be warm and welcome to all where you can choose your desire experience according to your preferences," he added.
Musk's words of comfort were met with mixed reviews.
\u201cIts not a town square if its privately owned\u201d— DracuLa La Land (@DracuLa La Land) 1666880177
\u201cTwitter isn't the town square. It is a media platform. Media platforms and those who run them have an obligation to the truth. Disinformation \u2260 free speech.\u201d— Shannon Coulter (@Shannon Coulter) 1666879320
\u201cmaybe i\u2019m being na\u00efve, but i can get on board with this. hope he makes this a safer place for vulnerable/marginalized groups.\u270c\ud83c\udffc\u201d— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@Monica Lewinsky (she/her)) 1666878499
\u201cI'm no great Musk stan, but I actually tend to agree with him that a large, neutral-ish, social media platform is probably a useful thing to have \u2014 and the threat of balkanization has been made clear by the rise of Gab, Parler, Rumble, etc.\n\nI hope he doesn't fuck it up?\u201d— Justin Ling (@Justin Ling) 1666878698
Musk also told advertisers "Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world," and said to achieve this there must be high relevancy ads to users.
Musk is expected to take over Twitter by Friday.
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