It’s been two years since Elon Musk acquired X (formerly Twitter), and the outpouring of drama has been immense. For those out of the loop, Musk bought Twitter due to his frustration with the platform and its policy of banning users for spreading misinformation.
Musk acquired the platform and the initial reaction was mixed. Some people were excited due to all the controversy involving Twitter at the time, but many people were worried due to Musk’s controversial views and tendency to make rash decisions with his companies.
Unfortunately, those critics were proven correct. Almost immediately, Musk started to make decisions that made next to no sense. These decisions included removing the block button, banning users with little to no reason, changing the name of the platform to “X,” and changing policies to make it so art on the platform may be used by generative AI. Obviously, there was an uproar with these sudden changes. Instead of listening to these critiques the users had with the platform, however, Musk has refused to listen to their complaints.
Sadly, this is insanely in character for Musk. Musk is an extremely polarizing figure in the public eye due to his strange personality and alleged genius. However, his actions are nothing short of despicable.
Musk claimed he wanted X to be a sort of digital town square. This is a noble goal, especially since some people, such as artists and influencers, make a good chunk of their money through using X and other such sites. As soon as he acquired the website, however, it was made clear he wasn’t trying to elevate people’s voices but rather quash the ones he disagreed with. Instead of making a town square, he made X full of more misinformation than ever before. Despite notes being added to inform people of information that may be false, it is still irresponsible to claim that Musk is not responsible for the spread of misinformation.
The main claim in support of these actions is that Musk is defending certain X users’ First Amendment rights. This misunderstanding comes from a basic lack of knowledge of how the First Amendment works. X is a private business; they are not required to let everyone speak on their platform. Obviously, this also means Musk has the same ability, but that isn’t the main mistake he has made with X.
Musk’s big error with the platform has been specifically making decisions that negatively impact everyone on the website. From normal people who are just trying to enjoy the website but are now plagued by misinformation and people they may not want to talk to or even interact with to business professionals who are dealing with AI and more to stay relevant in their field. Not only has Musk made the platform worse, he still is to this day.