Musk sets the bird free

Everyone is talking about their horror at ‘freedom of speech for the far right’ being reintroduced through laxer attitudes to moderation and banning of accounts, but this is a red herring. Far more important a commodity is to own tech that everyone keeps in their back pockets. With his promise to combat repeat offenders on the platform by introducing user verification, knowing who everyone is and literally where they are located at any given point will be gifted to Elon Musk as part of the deal.

When does freedom of speech turn into market manipulation? Elon Musk is an incredible individual and is admired my millions. When he speaks, people listen. He is bigger than a mega influencer, he and very few others are ‘alpha influencers’, with Donald Trump being another. With great power comes great responsibility. One tweet from Mr Musk can move stock markets as well as crypto prices significantly. We have seen it many times and Elon Musk has been warned about it in the past. The GameStop Reddit community showed how us just how fast people can build an army of people to manipulate the markets for personal gain. But what happens when you combine being a trusted voice that people follow with controlling the medium itself? This is an unprecedented amount of power. Yes, we have huge media moguls like Rupert Murdock, Robert Maxwell and Mark Zuckerberg but Elon Musk is different. His words have a huge amount influence and it will be interesting to see how he, as well as other meta influencers like Donald Trump, uses the twitter platform and if there is a correlation between stock and crypto market activity and tweets.

We'll have to wait and see if this deal turns Elon into a soaring American Eagle, or a small Blue Tit. On one hand, I do agree with his notion that we need to protect freedom of speech. On the other hand, I don't know anyone who uses twitter anymore!

Marketers, along with any business owners, should be adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach before sinking any further ad spend or resources into Twitter. I think we’re in for some significant upheaval and change on this platform and marketers will be monitoring events closely.

While I'd like to think that Elon could improve the platform for marketers and users alike, we must also feel apprehensive of his commitment to allow the platform to become a place of uncensored free speech. In a world where social media must stand up to its worldwide responsibilities of ensuring safety for all users, this could reverse what people have attempted to abolish over the past 10+ years. As with most things Elon, let's wait and see what he does next.

There is much talk of the need for Twitter to control what is deemed hate speech. Yet there is no control of the conversations we may encounter in the pub. I am with Elon, let people say whatever they want. Let's also encourage people to take responsibility for the information they digest. To be able to ask questions and engage with multiple opinions on a subject.