In April 2022, billionaire Elon Musk put in an offer to buy the social media company Twitter. In the past, Twitter has set limits on what users can and cannot post on the app, putting a stop to hateful or dangerous speech that hurts other users. If Twitter becomes a free speech platform under Musk, users will be free to post comments without any consequences. The future of Twitter reminds users to practice media literacy and think about the impact of social media on peoples’ thoughts and feelings.
Elon Musk’s Major Move
Twitter is a social media platform that lets people share their thoughts and feelings through “Tweets,” or short messages up to 280 characters. After users make an account, they can follow friends, family, celebrities, politicians, and more to keep up with their lives, with the option to “retweet,” “like,” or “comment” on posts. People use the platform to share opinions, videos, photos, and news stories. As of January 2022, Twitter had more than 396.5 million users, making it one of the most popular social networking sites next to platforms like Facebook and YouTube. Now, the world’s richest person put in an offer to buy the site for $44 billion in cash.
Businessman turned billionaire Elon Musk first did well in 1995 after starting Zip2, a company that gives maps to online newspapers. Soon after, Musk created and sold X.com, now known as PayPal, for $1.5 billion. In 2004, he became a major funder or backer of Tesla, the best-selling electric car company thought to be worth $1 trillion in 2021 – or 1,000 billions. To put it in perspective: if we were to equal money to time, a million seconds is 12 days and a billion seconds is 31 years.
Musk joined Twitter in 2009, quickly becoming one of the most followed accounts with over 83 million fans. After finding problems with Twitter’s censorship, which flags or takes down specific questionable posts, he put in a bid to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion to take the company private and tweak its guidelines. With an estimated $268 billion to his name, Musk is one of the few people with enough money to buy the platform. Becoming a private company means that Twitter will no longer be publicly traded on the stock market. The stock market is a place where companies sell parts of their business to members of the public through shares or stocks. If a company goes private, the public can no longer buy those shares, and the company no longer has to follow certain rules.
As the owner of the company, Musk would have the power to change Twitter’s user rules and could bring back accounts that were previously banned or taken down. Musk has made it public that he thinks Twitter should become a free speech platform where users can say whatever they want without facing punishment.
What Free Speech Could Mean for Social Media
Musk’s opinion on free speech has sparked debate over the First Amendment and the purpose of community guidelines on social media platforms like Twitter. The First Amendment is one of ten amendments found in the Bill of Rights, a document written to guarantee or promise certain rights to citizens. The First Amendment makes sure that the government cannot stop freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to protest in peace.
Freedom of speech means that citizens can say their opinion about the government without the threat of going to jail. While people cannot be punished for speaking their minds, some speech is not protected by the law. For example, speech that might harm others is considered “obscene” and not protected, including false statements about a person that hurts them. Citizens are also not guaranteed freedom of speech if they make serious threats, encourage violence, or ask someone to commit a crime.
In addition to following the First Amendment, Twitter’s community guidelines specifically state what is and what is not protected speech in users’ Tweets. Similarly to Twitter’s community guidelines, schools have rules about what students can or cannot say and do. When students break school rules, they may be sent to the principal’s office. While Twitter is not a school system, users can face consequences for breaking rules set out by the company, including being temporarily removed or kicked off from the platform.
Many people think that the community guidelines are helpful because they keep hateful speech and bullying off the platform. However, others think that these rules are a form of censorship, controlling what people say by putting a cap on their First Amendment right to voice their opinions. As someone who supports the second argument, Musk claims that he will let all legal speech on the platform, including hate speech, or speech that attacks another group based on race, religion, gender, or another identity. If Musk “unlocks” all legal speech, users can post anything they want – whether or not their claims are true or false – without consequence.
The Importance of Media Literacy
Whether Twitter becomes a free speech platform or not, it is important for users to become media literate. Every day, users see endless messages on social media, including “fake news” or false stories that try to trick readers into thinking they are true. Media literacy is the skill or ability to look at posts and think about how they might influence someone else’s thoughts and feelings. As a result, media literacy pushes users to ask questions, think about their own point of view, and check the facts. For example, someone might practice media literacy by questioning the goal behind an advertisement for fruit snacks made from “real fruit:” Is the snack really as healthy as they say? Is it actually the same as eating an apple or orange for lunch?
By thinking about media messages, people can understand the goal behind harmful or untrue stories. If companies like Twitter stop taking down harmful posts, it will become even more important for users to reflect on the beliefs people hold and how hateful speech influences peoples’ thoughts and feelings.
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