Following the recent announcement that the world's richest man would buy Twitter, it's reasonable to expect we'll see impacts on technology, the economy, and politics in the coming years.
By shelling out 44 billion dollars to acquire the social network, South African Elon Musk establishes himself as the owner of one of the most powerful and influential communication tools of the 21st century, and signals that he has varied but well-defined goals with the deal.
Despite Musk's statements that the purchase aims to increase free speech on the platform while staying out of politics, a mix of the multibillionaire's other interests could mean Twitter's future directly impacts world geopolitics and our lives.
Why is Twitter so special?
Twitter's dynamic of proposing short texts that stimulate and promote real-time conversations is perhaps its main differentiator, making it popular among celebrities, politicians, and world leaders.
This is all thanks to the "half-life" of content on the platform, the term used to define the time it takes to reach 50% of its total engagement, measured through popularity-based metrics. A tweet's half-life is usually around 20 minutes, much shorter than Instagram's 20 hours or LinkedIn's 24 hours, for example.
As a result, its texts and threads are updated instantly and shown in chronological order, which makes the social network both a historical record and a news verifier that has the power to interfere with the entire global dynamic, particularly regarding censorship and independence in the digital communication era.
Free speech vs. Information control
Musk has always made a point of emphasizing that, upon acquiring the platform, he would reduce the use of flagging or removal of inappropriate content. He also promised to combat bot and fake accounts, raising the possibility of verifying all users.
However, the businessman is a major donor to the American Civil Liberties Union, an entity linked to the American conservative wing that supports giving all candidates and politicians unlimited access to social media, regardless of the risks.
Furthermore, in recent times he has propagated several far-right ideas, such as attacking the politically correct way Netflix has begun addressing topics like sexuality, gender inequality, and racism. Bad signs.
Politics and Democracy
It's not far-fetched to suspect that Elon Musk might reactivate the account of former U.S. president Donald Trump, who was permanently banned from Twitter after the Capitol invasion in January 2021.
After all, the South African has already stated that he would be very cautious about bans on the platform. But those who think the pressure would come only from the United States are mistaken.
Two years ago, Twitter adopted measures to reduce the reach of posts by members of the Chinese government and media outlets. And what does this have to do with Musk?
Conflicts of economic interest
Elon Musk is, among other companies, the owner of Tesla, a venture with strong business goals in China that, to be achieved, would need the support of President Xi Jinping.
Despite promises not to interfere with business through decisions related to communication and politics, there's no shortage of examples of wealthy figures who bought media outlets that later ended up being used for personal interests, such as Amazon owner Jeff Bezos when he bought the Washington Post in 2013, or, going even further back, Rupert Murdoch, who became majority shareholder of the New York Post back in 1976.
All of this, combined with Elon Musk's recent actions, doesn't paint an optimistic picture for the future of global democracy, where control of information has passed through eager hands and clever fingers, always ready to stretch the 280-character limit in favor of their own interests.
