Elon Musk's Twitter Move Akin to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine
A few hours ago, Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur, the great American businessman and the founder of great companies such as Tesla, Boring Company, Starlink, Space X, Neuralink and even Paypal decided to expand his scope of authority by buying a stake on Twitter. His current stake is reportedly bigger than that of Twitter's founder, Jack Dorsey.
So, what is the motivation behind this?
Let's explore together:
Cover Image with a Sketch of Elon Musk and Twitter Logo - Made on Canva
The Cover [Free Speech for Real?]
Elon Musk's Twitter Poll on Free Speech
The main argument presented by Elon is that he wants to promote free speech. That is really a valid argument as presented in this post by @vlemon.
This purchase will definitely shape the face of Twitter in the long run, and at some level promote free speech to a reasonable degree (even if Twitter has just added an extra layer of centralization).
The Problem with Twitter
Twitter Ban on Trump as a President Shows they Wield Too Much Power
The main problem with Twitter and its counterparts is that they are becoming too powerful. This CNBC article explains in more detail.
A typical example of this is their banning Trump from the platform even as a sitting president; this was also the case with Nigeria where the president's tweet was censored which led to Twitter being banned in Nigeria for months.
Basically, at this stage, Twitter is the one who decides who speaks, who is shut up, and who is seen on the global stage.
Russian x Ukrainian Conflict
Please note that I am in no way justifying the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I am just trying to make a point.
Sometimes, after considering all available facts and evidence surrounding the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, I sum up Putin's motivation behind this war in two words:
- Fear
& - Power
Out of fear of control, invasion and NATO influence in the Russian territory, the best move for Putin was to destabilize the country and coerce them into abandoning the intention to join NATO.
It is also a move motivated by the drive to gain more power and control over Ukraine.
Is Elon Musk motivated by Fear and Power?
We cannot tell for sure the intentions of any man. But what I can speculate is this. As someone with over 80 million followers on Twitter, the platform is a very important place for him to share his opinions and influence public opinion as well.
Investing such as significant amount, at about 3 billion dollars, he can pitch his opinions and ideals through this platform without fear of censorship. Which is undoubtedly a big win for him.
This is also a good move for his business. As someone with hands in numerous companies, a strong public influence is also a good asset for his business. He can quickly and without fear of any restraint influence public opinion about his company and businesses, and this could be the sole reason why Tesla cannot be found on ad placements, his media presence is more than an ad space on the internet.
Elon makes a lot of money from information sharing, a typical example of this is how he influences the crypto space through his Tweets which undoubtedly will make him millions, so, centralizing the information sharing to yourself makes a lot of sense.
Finally, correct me if I am wrong, but could we see a future where Elon directly or indirectly starts contributing to the censorship of other people on Twitter? To me, it is very likely.
Final Words
Elon's presence on Twitter will no doubt result in some changes in how Twitter operates, and we the common Twitter users may feel the ripple effect of these benefits. Still, it is important not to forget in a hurry that, at least for now, Elon's Twitter investment does not take away from the centralized nature of Twitter, it just added another layer of centralization to it.
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