Musk's Twitter won't be the disaster announced.

 

Musk's Twitter won't be the disaster announced.

Twitter has struggled for years with content moderation. The company has been criticized for both not doing enough to remove hateful and abusive content and for unfairly censoring users. Since Elon Musk is acquiring the platform, the situation has gotten worse. On one side, libertarians, right-wing extremists, conspiracy theorists and anti-vax activists see an opportunity to regain influence, considering that the Musk's free speech statement will allow them to broadcast content that was previously blocked by the platform. On the other hand, moderates believe that Musk's takeover of Twitter is a disaster for democracy because of the very arguments put forward by their opponents. In short, Musk would be a dangerous pro-Trump with anti-democratic political intentions.

These conclusions, on both sides, are based on interpretations and assumptions that have yet to be confirmed. For the moment, if we listen to what Musk says, we can have a completely different interpretation of the situation.

Musk has always spoken out against Twitter's moderation policies in the past, but he has never advocated anarchy on the network, quite the contrary.

THE END OF BOTS

 
 

Musk has clearly stated that he wants to fight " to death " against bots. He intends to actively hunt down bot accounts by shutting them down, as well as disabling accounts that would break the law in jurisdictions where Twitter would distribute its content. It is reasonable to think that its investments in the field of AI will help lead this battle and shut down the bots that are so harmful on the network today.

To answer the legal issue of localization, he could introduce a proxy system that would allow users to have a differentiated access to the network according to their geographical position (as Google does with its search engine).

ANONYMITY AND PSEUDONYMITY

 
 

He has also already stated that he is in favor of a network that is regulated by greater accountability of its users. To this end, he has repeatedly mentioned the need for better authentication of network members. It is unlikely that a systematic authentication of profiles will be imposed on the platform. This would lead to the end of anonymity and would jeopardize the protection of whistleblowers for example. On the other hand, it is possible that it will work to build an architecture based on an enhancement of authenticated profiles while keeping an improved pseudonymity logic. This would allow users who are not individually identified to be given an account under a certified pseudonym. This type of account could be used, for example, by collectives or recognized anonymous entities (e.g. Anonymous, Banksy, Satoshi Nakamoto...), guaranteeing whistleblowers the security of anonymity while retaining a significant influence according to the number of their followers on the platform.

MULTIPLYING ALGORITHMS TO DEVELOP A CULTURE OF CRITICISM

 
 

Your current news feed on Twitter is defined by an opaque algorithm and influenced by an economic model that tends to maximize retention and advertising exposure time. The algorithm increases the visibility of certain contents and makes it a source of information that tends to be radicalized and polarizing. This situation is comparable to that of all social networks.

By transforming Twitter into a more transparent and open platform, Musk could give users more control over their experience on the platform. He could allow them to choose their own algorithms and evaluate different moderation approaches. He would offer multiple filters for content exposure and allow users to switch algorithms based on their preferences. Twitter would become a meta platform in this sense. Users would decide not only which accounts they would like to follow but also the mechanics of selecting the content they would be exposed to. For example, we could imagine that we would be offered :

- content that corresponds to users habits (equivalent to the one we use today)

- radically new contents, offering to discover new topics or perspectives

- neutral contents, from which all references to extremist points of view have been removed

- radical, extreme contents, from which all nuances would have been removed

- Intermediate and hybrid versions according to many criteria

One could even imagine that users would be asked to set and re-publish their own algorithms...

Each version of the information flow would be clearly identified as the product of such and such a filter, giving the user a meta-reading of his information source. Finally, the members could be invited to rate these selection mechanisms and to comment on them in order to develop a better critical culture of information consumption.

THE OPEN SOURCE CHOICE

 
 

There are many advantages to publishing Twitter in open source. In addition to increasing transparency and giving users more control over their experience, it would allow the platform to become an infrastructure solution for many competing or complementary projects to improve its functionality.

When the acquisition was announced, many rushed (and I was one of them) to say that the deal would signal Trump's big comeback on the network. This was a mistake. He made it clear that he would not return. We had simply forgotten that in the meantime he had launched his own platform (TRUTH Social) at great expense ($1 billion). Releasing Twitter as open source is the best way to kill any competition because not only the technological barrier no longer exists for any actor who would like to create a competing platform, but the raison d'être of TRUTH Social disappears with the end of opaque moderation. Twitter finds itself in an unbeatable position: it can compete solely on the basis of the size of its user database, while at the same time opening up unparalleled opportunities for innovation. Regarding this last point, an opensource approach has always created opportunities for improvement that have served the original project (For example, Chrome, Android, Linux and many other projects...)

ABOUT THE BUSINESS MODEL

Twitter should experience a major change in its business model in the coming months. Musk has already mentioned the possibility of abandoning the advertising-based model in favor of a subscription-based solution and developing other sources of revenue. The shift reflects a growing trend toward more independent, user-centric platforms, as well as greater use of technologies like crypto-currencies and blockchain.

By 2025, Twitter could see significant success with new features based on the use of NFT, the development of new immersive conversation channels, and the adoption of crypto-currency trading solutions.Equipped with such a strategy, Twitter's value could rise dramatically and approach Facebook's current value, or nearly 20x Musk's investment at the time of his acquisition. All of Musk's projects allow him to pursue a mission that he believes to be in the common good with an ever-demanding ambition for profitability. It is reasonable to assume that for Twitter as well he is motivated by economic value creation. Let's not forget that Musk was able to carry out his operation with the help of Morgan Stanley and that more than $12 billion of Telsa shares guaranteed the operation. It is therefore difficult to imagine that the financial stake is not one of his motivations.

WE WILL NOT SEE THE DISASTER ANNOUNCED

So, contrary to some of the hysterical comments that followed the announcement, the Twitter acquisition is probably neither good news for the extremes and the conspiracy theorists, nor a disaster for democracy. Twitter's new strategy could mean the death of TRUTH Social, more transparency and diversity in the way information is consumed, an erosion of algorithmic bubbles thanks to the diversification of filtering systems, a better critical culture of the public towards information on the internet and a return to a greater responsibility of public speech.

For all these reasons, we can think that this takeover is not necessarily the disaster that is predicted.

Michel Lévy provencal