[Epoch Times, April 28, 2022](Epoch Times reporter Liang Yao interviewed and reported) US social media giant Twitter (Twitter) announced on Monday (April 25) that it has accepted Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The acquisition deal proposed by (Elon Musk) of about 44 billion US dollars has attracted great attention from all walks of life. Some experts generally agree that as long as Twitter doesn’t suppress speech on the right, it is doing the right thing and promoting free speech in America.
In his statement announcing the deal, Musk said that free speech is the cornerstone of a normal democracy, and that Twitter is a digital square where matters vital to the future of humanity can be debated.
Musk added, “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by beefing up the product with new features, making algorithms open source to increase credibility, fighting spam bots, and certifying all humans. “
It is reported that Twitter permanently banned Trump’s account after the riots in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Musk has criticized Twitter’s decision. He said in a recent TED interview that he “Very reluctant” to delete tweets and very cautious about permanent bans. He did, however, acknowledge that his speech on Twitter is restricted by law, saying he advocates free speech “within the law.”
Twitter will boost free speech in America if it doesn’t suppress right-wing speech
Xie Tian, a tenured professor at the Aiken School of Business at the University of South Carolina, told The Epoch Times that Musk was outspoken before the acquisition, and his intention was to protect freedom of speech. Musk’s party characteristics are not obvious, but he is a successful businessman. He is obviously very disgusted with Twitter’s account blocking, so he is considered by some people to be close to the right. Obviously, he did move the cheese of the left.
On April 25, MSNBC host Ari Melber offered a controversial take on Musk’s acquisition of Twitter: “Twitter may secretly ban a party’s candidate. (Posting content) … you may not find out until after the election.” He worries that Musk may use Twitter to “tilt the election” and suppress speech before the election.
Professor Xie Tian said that this just exposed what the Democratic Party used Twitter to do in the past few elections. Now judging by the reaction of politicians and the media on the left, it is clear that Musk has indeed hit their stronghold, or stronghold of opposition to conservatism.
After acquiring Twitter, Musk also posted a tweet saying: “I hope the most vicious comments about me can be kept on Twitter, because this is the true meaning of free speech.”
Professor Xie believes, “Musk will not delete any remarks that attack and abuse himself, but will retain it. This is not easy. It is enough for a media to retain a truly objective and neutral platform.”
He believes that the biggest problem with Twitter now is not the issue of free speech at the level of the Communist Party or the left, but the suppression of the speeches of the right and conservatives. After Musk takes over, as long as the speech of the right is not suppressed, it will maintain what they call “fairness”. “The arena”, the right actually won, and for the conservatives on the right, they just got the free speech that they should have.
The Guardian reports that more than 217 million people around the world use Twitter, and the platform plays a key role in shaping the political and media public space in the United States and elsewhere around the world. Professor Xie believes that Twitter has a great influence compared to other social media. Twitter readers are mainstream Americans. So it is very important that Twitter does not silence the voices of the right.
Twitter should allow anti-vaccine, blockade and discussion of election theft
Chinese economic analyst and Epoch Times columnist Antonio Graceffo told The Epoch Times that the fact that the U.S. president and the White House social media accounts were shut down by Twitter during the election was completely insane and a threat to democracy. People used to be shut down for talking about Hunter Biden’s laptop, but now that the news is in the mainstream media, maybe we should be allowed to talk about it again.
He is cautiously optimistic about Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, “I hope again that Mr. Musk will defend this freedom of speech, and other types of speech, even speech that I disagree with. But I don’t know if he keeps his word. Time Will prove it all. My guess is that things may not necessarily go back to where they were before the election and before the pandemic, but hopefully things will be better than they are now.”
Gresford added: “If we have a platform where we can challenge vaccines or mandatory policies, or where we can talk about elections without being shut down, then we can have a more informed debate.”
He explained that many doctors and researchers who were against vaccines or blockades were taken off the platform. And you can’t actually say elections were stolen on Twitter, or you’d lose your account. No matter which side one is on these issues, everyone should have a voice. No one should be banned for speaking out against (the rules of) a common narrative.
“Musk is doing the right thing”
Anders Corr, head of New York-based Corr Analytics Inc, told The Epoch Times that he was optimistic about Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, saying, “Musk will do what he says and improve Twitter. freedom of speech. His recent donation of resources to Ukraine for democracy is a big risk for him because Putin can respond by targeting his satellites. So this indicator shows that he is doing the right thing.”
Musk, he believes, “could open the way for more diverse voices on Twitter. Maybe Trump will be allowed back on Twitter, and maybe increase partisanship and extremism online, and embrace those voices as part of the conversation.” It’s almost always the price of free speech. On rare occasions, those we disagree with are proven right, and then that changes the whole culture of thought.”
He said that if Musk allowed people to write and choose their own filtering algorithms, then maybe it would increase the reading resources of readers.
Responsible editor: Sun Yun#