We live in strange times. The global recession is stronger than ever, and young generations feel hopeless when thinking about their future.
However, the wealth that the wealthiest people on the planet have achieved has no precedent, a phenomenon which highlights even more that the rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming poorer.
In this climate, two names have made people talk over the past years, especially during the pandemic: Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
Respectively, Amazon’s and Tesla’s big bosses have been put under the spotlight several times because of their crazy extravaganza and the debatable ways they employ their money. Most of these arguments are raised because these two entrepreneurs argue that they are willing to help the world, using their financial wealth to fix the terrifying environmental issue that is overwhelming the planet and all of us.
Unfortunately, their good intentions have been obscured by other actions and decisions taken by both, which made people change their minds about these visionaries and their goals.
This article will primarily focus on Elon Musk and the current crisis that followed Twitter's acquisition by this South African billionaire, underling how this phenomenon is a modern threat to democracy and freedom of speech.
Firstly, it is crucial to say that Musk encountered some difficulties before and after being able to buy the social media platform.
Neither the public nor Twitter executives were positively impressed by the idea of a rich and powerful man controlling one of the most influential and common means of modern communication, underlying potential issues that could have followed the acquisition process.
Many of these concerns have become a reality over the past months. Following Twitter's change of ownership, Elon Musk announced a series of new rules, "improvements," and reviews that he would undertake.
Elon Musk's goal to extend free speech has encountered many polemics since the very first moment he stepped into Twitter's headquarters, announcing that the blue checkmarks, which describe what accounts are verified, would have been available only under purchase. This, according to the billionaire, would be the best option to eliminate spambot accounts.
However, what irritated Twitter's users and not is the fact that Musk started unbanning potentially dangerous accounts that were previously banned, with the most boisterous examples being Donald Trump, but also Jordan Peterson and Kathy Griffin.
Along with Musk’s “freedom day,” new additional accounts were banned, like ElonJet, the report which followed Musk’s private jet movements worldwide, and other charges related to anti-fascist organizations.
Moreover, these scandalous decisions have been discussed in Twitter offices, where employees did not welcome the new CEO with a smiling face.
Since the acquisition, the social media platform has been subjected to substantial downsizing. According to The New York Times almost half of the employees got fired in a desperate attempt to save Twitter, which was losing four million dollars per day at that time, as argued CBS Bay Area.
This tactic decision attracted a lot of criticism from a large group of people working at Twitter, whose accounts were successively blocked by the new CEO. A very incoherent move, considering that Musk's priority in 2022 was to increase freedom of speech, which highlighted even more how he has double weights depending on his preference.
Successively, in November, CNN and The Washington Post reported an urgent message shared by Musk with his employees, asking them to commit to ‘extreme hardcore work’ to realize his 2.0 version of the social media platform, underling that the alternative for them was to leave the company.
Consequently, following the billionaire’s purchase of Twitter and earlier during the acquisition process, Musk has been attacked from every side. An endless list of VIPs and politicians has tried to stop him, asking to block the purchase and condemning his way of running the business.
I believe that the problem with this new version of Twitter can be summarized with Elton John's last tweet on the platform, where he declared that he would quit it because of the way Twitter was allowing misinformation to spread freely, as said on BBC.
Elon Musk’s battle to guarantee people’s freedom of speech is causing many issues, mainly misinformation because there is no neutrality on Twitter anymore.
In a world where social media are used as a primary way of information, people need to get to know more than just one point of view; more than just Elon Musk’s point of view.
The fact that he has used his money to buy a viral communication platform he is now managing following just his preferences, blocking people he does not like, and allowing very controversial people to express their opinions, is immature and dangerous.
We live in a world where, if you are super rich, you can have whatever you want, you can play being God, you can feel untouchable, you can take advantage of people, controlling them and influencing their entire reputation and existence with a message.
Tragically, this is the issue with the new version of Twitter. The platform is becoming a closed system, where information is carefully reviewed to fit the CEO’s interest best, undermining people's freedom of speech worldwide.
Since 2020, I have had this impression that instead of going forward, humanity is very often going backward. Wars, discrimination, poverty, pandemics, and much more are part of our everyday life, along with authoritative, wealthy men who try to control people's thoughts, arguing they are here to save us. But I am not surprised because history repeats itself, and we never learn.
However, I am maybe a little disappointed. I am disappointed that we still allow individuals to gain so much power and a terrifying amount of influence on our lives and the world.
On the other hand, I am interested to see what will happen next because, while in the past, it occurred with other communication means, this phenomenon is the first of its kind in modern times. I am sure that we are about to see the limits of Elon Musk's power.