“The bird is freed,” Elon Musk tweeted after taking the helm at Twitter—and it’s been a busy week since. He fired the executives and Friday morning mass termination emails are going out potentially half the employees. He floated charging for verification, assured advertisers that the social media app wouldn’t be a “a free-for-all hellscape,” tweeted a conspiracy theory to his 113 million followers and talked with civil rights leaders about hate speech after the N-word increased 500% in one day since the takeover.
Twitter users and observers have reasonable cause for wariness as the world’s wealthiest man, with strong views against censorship, takes control of what he hopes will become the world’s “digital town square.” Today, we discuss Musk’s ideas for remaking Twitter, what we can glean from his use of the social media platform and what it might mean for the future of the platform, free speech and public discourse.
Will Oremus, writes on technology and society for The Washington Post. @willoremus
Issie Lapowsky, chief correspondent for Protocol. @issielapowsky