Everyone already knows that Twitter is the most widely used social media platform in politics. What is Elon Musk's position?
The experience of several major political events in the world such as the 2019 Indonesian Presidential Election and the 2020 United States Presidential Election, Twitter is used to attack each other between different political camps. Of course, everyone still remembers the tweets at that time.
Twitter has been facing challenges of misinformation, hoaxes, hate speech and others. They responded by removing or blocking accounts that violated community guidelines, even though he was Donald Trump.
When Elon Musk appeared to buy Twitter for $44 billion, he threw the discourse to make Twitter a supporter of free speech. His remarks received various responses.
Those who have been blocked by Twitter hope to come back again. Meanwhile, those who fight hoaxes and hate speech are worried that Twitter will become an even worse social media war.
What did Elon Musk say? We monitored , Thursday (28/4/2022) Elon Musk answered public criticism. He said Twitter would be a neutral platform.
"For Twitter to gain the public's trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means disappointing both the left and the right equally," Elon said.
For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2022
Elon's tweet got 1.2 million likes, 126.2 thousand retweets and 24.4 thousand quote tweets. Many were dissatisfied with Elon's answer.
Many observers say, right-wing politicians are flooded with new followers. Authoritarian regimes will also benefit, while the people are considered to be increasingly depressed.
Elon Musk is said to have set an example that Twitter can act neutrally. Only then will people believe it. Well, here are the comments of a number of world netizens.
"Twitter is pretty neutral, what about the bullying, racism, misinformation? How do you plan to tackle that? Why haven't you addressed these issues?" said @davidmweissman, US politician who opposes Donald Trump.
"In Iran, Twitter for the people has been filtered and blocked by the ruling regime of Iran, while the Iranian rulers have Twitter accounts without any restrictions, please pay attention to the freedom of expression of the Iranian people," said @chawshin_83 from Iran .
"One important indication would be for you to lead by example, engaging with/responding to people across the political spectrum," said @ianbremmer, a US political observer.
Previously, Elon Musk has also responded to criticism of free speech on Twitter. He said it would not make Twitter wild because everything must be in accordance with the law.
By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law.
I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.
If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.
Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022