WITH ELON MUSK CAN TWITTER BECOME

THE SOCIAL NETWORK OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ?

Across the Atlantic, no one seems indifferent to efforts to restore voice to what was Donald Trump's favorite "megalophone". With six months of key legislative elections for the White House, the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk is feared by part of the American political class, approved by the other part. According to a recent YouGov poll, more than three out of four Donald Trump voters (77%) approved of Elon Musk's project in recent days, compared to only 20% of Joe Biden voters.

In fact, the reactions largely overlap with political divisions. On the right, the critics of "political correctness" rejoice. They consider the arrival of the libertarian billionaire very promising in their fight against “Bigh Tech censorship”, nicknamed to the big companies of Silicon Valley. On Twitter, the organization that brings together Republican MPs has called on Elon Musk to "liberate" the account of Donald Trump, banned since the assault on the Capitol. On the left, on the other hand, there are concerns about the arrival at the head of Twitter of a man who, as the New York Times writes in an editorial, "uses the platform to drag his critics through the mud, irony on the physique of certain people and to promote cryptocurrencies”. Robert Reich, former minister of Bill Clinton, speaks of “a nightmare”.

It is that the businessman from Tesla and SpaceX indicated that he would make improvements to the platform and in the first place that he adhered to the principle of freedom of expression. The boss of Tesla took the opportunity to reiterate its desire to relax the moderation of content broadcast on the platform: “freedom of expression is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy, he underlined in the press release announcing the operation. Twitter is the virtual agora in which we debate the issues that will decide the future of humanity. ". And Twitter has 217 million active and monetizable users worldwide, including 38 million in the United States. A sacred sounding board!

Elon Musk, a self-described “free speech diehard,” said in the April 14, 2022 TED Talk that Twitter was “an agora” and that it was “very important that this agora is an inclusive space for freedom of expression”.

Freedom of expression, censorship, even misinformation ?

However, the Republicans regularly denounce the censorship of social networks, and in particular of Twitter. During the 2020 presidential campaign, the founder of the social network with the blue bird, Jack Dorsey, had been the least reluctant, among the major platforms, to moderate content more, first by refusing political advertisements then by further contextualizing speeches. But Twitter had finally "permanently" censored all of Donald Trump's accounts, after the attack on Capitol Hill by his supporters on January 6, 2021.

Elon Musk has already declared, during an interview with the boss of the TED conferences, that he is opposed to this type of indefinite sanctions. It is therefore not excluded that Donald Trump's account could be restored even if the latter declared on Fox News on Monday that he would not return to this social network following the takeover of the platform. He clarified that he will officially join his own platform dubbed "Truth Social" in the next seven days, as planned.

Elon Musk , often close to the ideas of libertarians , is well aware of the uses of Twitter to use it frequently... and provoke just as regularly, fully enjoying his freedom of expression. On March 14, he challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin “in a man-to-man fight. The stake is Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter, addressing the official Kremlin Twitter account. And faced with the incomprehension of a surfer, Elon Musk had assured that he was "completely serious".

But can this desire for freedom of expression at all costs happen for any social network to be regulated ?

Moderation or not?

Elon Musk plans to generate Twitter revenue from subscriptions rather than advertising. But by sparing itself the worry of attracting and retaining advertisers, Twitter would have less need to focus on content moderation. Twitter would thus become a kind of opinion site, for paying subscribers, devoid of control. Elon Musk's description of a platform that no longer cares about moderating content is worrisome considering the harm done by social media algorithms.

Testimony from whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, and recent regulatory efforts, such as the Online Safety Bill unveiled in the UK or future European Union legislation, show that the public is widely concerned about the role played by technology platforms in shaping societal ideas and public opinion. Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter highlights a host of regulatory concerns.

Due to Elon Musk's other activities, Twitter's ability to influence public opinion in the sensitive aviation and automotive sectors automatically creates a conflict of interest, not to mention the implications for disclosing important information needed by shareholders. In this sense, Elon Musk has already been accused of delaying the disclosure of his participation in Twitter.

This is why since 2016, the American left has dreamed of effective regulation of social networks, but the election of Joe Biden has not made it possible to move the file forward. One of the most ardent militants of this cause is none other than Barack Obama. In recent days, the former president was in Silicon Valley to raise this issue again. In front of Stanford students, he insisted on the dangers that social networks posed to democracy. Among the avenues he suggested is the supervision of algorithms by a regulatory authority, in the same way as cars or the food industry. Barack Obama is the most followed personality on Twitter.

“Nothing prevents Elon Musk from buying Twitter, it is his right, it is the law of the market, there is no reason to oppose it. But in a few months, it will have to submit to the Digital Services Act when it operates on European territory,” warns MEP Geoffroy Didier (Les Républicains), who participated in the negotiations for this new regulation. , the now famous “DSA”, or “digital services legislation” in French, which was the subject of an agreement between the European Parliament and the Member States on Saturday 23 April.

"I hope even my worst critics will stay on Twitter, because that's what freedom of expression means," added Elon Musk on Monday.

One way to respond to his critics, who consider that there is a risk that the billionaire will seek to censor accounts that disagree with him on the platform and, in turn, make misinformation...