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It’s not just the name that has changed. Since the takeover, the billionaire has significantly restructured the company – with consequences.
Author: Victoria Habermacher and Andreas Kohli
How successful is X? This is difficult to judge from the outside. With the takeover, Elon Musk took the company off the stock exchange and has since then provided little insight into the company’s figures. Advertising is the central source of income. Advertisement revenue has fallen by over half since the takeover, as Musk himself admitted. Now, among other things, he is trying to expand paid subscriptions and other income channels. Depending on estimates, the number of users has fallen between 5 and 15 percent.
Has the discourse on the platform changed? Yes. Background: According to Musk, a good 1,500 of the once almost 8,000 jobs remained. Many of those laid off were employed in the areas of content moderation and combating disinformation. “There is more hate speech, more disinformation and a more aggressive, polarized mood,” says Adrienne Fichter, tech journalist at the online magazine “Republik”. It’s not just X that has to struggle with this, but: “Compared to other platforms,
Caption: X’s headquarters in the heart of San Francisco now features a single letter instead of the former name Twitter. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
What about freedom of speech? Musk has always emphasized that he wants to ensure more freedom of speech. “For him, free speech means that everyone can say what he or she wants completely unfiltered – even if it comes at the expense of others,” says Philipp Bachmann, media economist at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences. This puts Musk in conflict with the EU regulators. In the EU it has been since the end of 2022 DSA (Digital Service Act) comes into force. This includes, among other things, rules for content moderation and transparency regulations. In this context, the EU Commissioner recently raised Thierry Breton the accusationillegal content and disinformation also spread on X in connection with Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Legend: A lot has changed at the short message service since he became boss: Elon Musk. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
But there is no complete freedom of speech even under Musk. He has released previously blocked accounts, such as that of Donald Trump. At the same time, he blocked accounts that didn’t suit him.
What has changed for researchers? For some studies they use data from social media. They analyze user behavior, posts and images. Twitter used to give them relatively easy access to the corresponding interfaces. This has become more difficult under Musk, says media economist Bachmann – and he regrets: “Former Twitter leaders have said that they really appreciated it. Because through this exchange they became aware of undesirable developments. This mutual cooperation is no longer possible.”
Can Musk bring back advertisers who have dropped out? That is questionable, says Silke Bambauer-Sachse, marketing professor at the University of Freiburg. “X is trying very hard to win back lost advertising customers through significant discounts.” But the question arises as to whether that is enough. “Advertisers dropped out because of the image problems. The image would have to stabilize first.”
Was will Musk mit X? Despite these problems, Musk repeatedly hints at his goals for the platform and mentions it as one Reason for renaming Twitter to X. Specifically: He seems to be envisioning an “everything app” in the style of the Chinese WeChat. With this app you can chat, make payments, book doctor’s appointments and taxis, and handle financial services. One day you should be able to do this with X. At least if Elon Musk has his way.