The series did not last long: three weeks after it became known that it had acquired a large share of the company through the market, and just ten days after the official takeover bid, Elon Musk on Monday, April 25, took control of Twitter.
The richest man in the world, owner of the leading manufacturer exclusively of electric cars Tesla and space SpaceX, spent about 44 billion euros to acquire the popular social media.
But what will be the exact consequences of the acquisition for the online platform itself and for its users? Studying the statements of the diverse and resourceful businessman so far, "Le Monde" reporter Olivier Clerouen is trying to codify the changes that will (most likely) occur on Twitter in the coming months.
Exit from the Stock Exchange
"Twitter will not prosper or fulfill its social mission [of freedom of speech] in its current form; the medium has a huge potential, which I will release," Musk wrote in a letter to the board. of the company and was published on April 14.
To achieve this, Musk wants to turn Twitter into a "private company." That is, to get it off the Stock Exchange. Such a change would give him the opportunity and freedom to modify the operation of the social network as they see fit.
Because the new boss of the company is convinced that the company is facing a problem of survival - despite the 217 million daily users of the medium. This is because, in his view, "Twitter has never implemented a satisfactory development model."
New rules of freedom
The first area in which the Musk administration is likely to make visible changes will be in content control. "Freedom of expression is the foundation of democracy," Musk said in a statement announcing the takeover of Twitter.
Repeatedly in the past, this liberal press - a classic example of a liberal American - has argued that the rules that impose a "moderation" on the style and content of user posts are "too restrictive" for the platform. .
"It is very important that there is an open field for freedom of expression," Musk said on April 14 during a conference on TedTalk.
Musk compared the social network to a "village square", where anyone can say what is left, adding that the freedom of expression of a network should be restricted only by the laws of each country.
The billionaire investor, that is, is oriented towards the adoption of more relaxed rules of supervision regarding the content of the platform, considering specifically that the exclusions from it of users who "exceed the limits", are not a solution.
This, of course, will not mean the "big comeback" of Donald Trump, who was ousted from Twitter for life in January 2021 (after his support for the unprecedented "juries" of his fans at the Capitol).
"Although Elon Musk made no secret of his sympathy for the former US president, he never said publicly that he would like to take to Twitter to gain control of the social media," said a Monde reporter. .
For his part, Trump on Monday all expressed satisfaction that Musk had acquired Twitter because he "is a good man," but added that he has no intention of returning to it and that he will remain on Truth Social, the new a social network that he created (and which, apart from the technical problems that plague him at the beginning of his life, does not seem to excite Americans at all).
New tools for corrections
In the message that formalized the acquisition, Elon Musk also assures that his intention is to "improve Twitter with new functionalities". But in the past, the American general manager had noted the importance of users being able to modify a "tweet" that they have already made public, to correct a spelling mistake, for example.
In fact, in early April, a "referendum" was held on the question of whether Twitter users want to change afterwards a message that they have already "uploaded". And 70% of the 4,5 million users who took part in the "referendum" were in favor of this possibility.
For his part, however, Twitter has assured that it is already working in this direction, regardless of the relevant intentions expressed by Elon Musk. It is not yet known what form this new "functionality" will take. But the company's experts assure that their goal is to make possible "every possible manipulation and every desired intervention in an already posted message".
An "open" algorithm
During the first years of the platform, the "tweets" posted by people who followed a user appeared in reverse chronological order. That is, depending on the time of their posting, first the most recent and last the oldest.
The famous algorithm has been installed since 2016. And in addition to the most recent messages, the user also appears those who, depending on his own posts, searches and comments, the algorithm deems that he will probably be interested because of their content. Although they were posted earlier.
In a brief statement, Elon Musk reaffirmed his intention to make the platform "more transparent" by publishing its algorithm "in order to increase user confidence in it," he said. Musk's goal is to make the algorithm code source accessible, which will theoretically allow users to find out why they are being offered one message or another.
"Twitter's algorithm must be 'open source,'" Musk said in March. This is a view shared by the platform's founder, Jack Dorsey.
Stop Spam
The notorious "bots" are automated accounts that have the ability to trigger, for example, "harassment campaigns" against some users. Ή to artificially inflate the number of people expressing an opinion on an issue, so that the issue appears in the "trends" of the platform and therefore is included in the "popular" and spreads more easily, as it becomes "visible" ».
Last Monday, Elon Musk announced his intention to "fight and defeat spam". He essentially repeated the promise he had made a few days earlier, on April 21st.
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