There are good explanation why Elon needs Twitter

In comparison with different social media corporations, Twitter is tiny.

For years, investors have criticized it for failing to realize its full potential. Twitter hasn’t been in a position to purchase billions of customers like Fb (which has over 11 times more daily active users) or to develop a mega promoting enterprise like Google-owned YouTube (which had over five times more revenue than Twitter final quarter).

However Elon Musk’s $43 billion provide to purchase Twitter on Thursday — whether it’s viable or not — reveals how essential and influential the corporate is, even when in comparison with its a lot bigger rivals. There’s cause why Musk, the wealthiest particular person on the planet, has already spent about $three billion to purchase the highest stake in Twitter and is now spending his effort and time loudly proclaiming that he needs to thoroughly take over the corporate. Once more, even when Musk shouldn’t be planning to observe by way of with the deal, he’s nonetheless flexing his energy and affect to strain Twitter to run its enterprise as he needs. The rationale Twitter is effective to Musk is, in essence, the identical cause it’s precious to politicians like former President Donald Trump, who for years pushed to say no matter he needed on the platform with out consequence, till he crossed the road to this point that Twitter (and most different social platforms) completely suspended him.

For politicians, enterprise leaders, celebrities, and journalists, Twitter is a key platform for amplifying their messages and controlling their very own narratives. Musk’s give attention to Twitter, and his efforts to affect the way it features and moderates its customers, underscore simply how essential the corporate is to public discourse — regardless of how a lot revenue it makes — and raises questions on who ought to have the ability to management an organization that holds a lot energy.

Talking at the 2022 TED conference in Vancouver on Thursday, Musk was requested why he needs to purchase Twitter: “My sturdy, intuitive sense is that having a public platform that’s maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extraordinarily essential to the way forward for civilization,” Musk mentioned. “However I don’t care in regards to the economics in any respect.”

There’s good cause to query Musk’s claims that he needs to take over Twitter within the title of defending free speech and civilization, as my colleague Whizy Kim has written. Nevertheless it additionally is sensible that for Musk, it’s probably not in regards to the cash he would make or lose off Twitter’s backside line. Musk’s curiosity in proudly owning or reshaping the corporate reveals simply how precious the platform is, even when that worth comes within the type of delicate energy.

Twitter’s social and political value is greater than its inventory worth

Twitter is, in some ways, a platform of the elite. Whereas it could actually generally elevate the voices of unusual individuals who don’t command large followings on the platform, it’s strongest as a communication software for already outstanding and influential individuals.

Although it has about 200 million daily users, Twitter has had an outsized function in shaping politics, notably within the US as the previous platform of alternative for Trump till the top of his presidency, when he was completely suspended for tweeting in support of the January 6 Capitol riot.

Up to now, when once-prominent customers like Trump, Alex Jones, and Milo Yiannopoulos have been banned from Twitter, they’ve turned to alternative platforms for attention however failed to attract the same social media attention that they had at their Twitter peak. Twitter is distinct from Fb and Google in that the monetary markets don’t really replicate its full energy, which is why Musk can entertain the concept of shopping for your entire firm with a fraction of his complete estimated net worth of over $220 billion.

Twitter’s significance additionally makes it weak to exploitation.

The identical VIPs who increase Twitter’s worth by tweeting on a regular basis can use it to wreak havoc. Influencers have used Twitter to push conspiracy theories like QAnon into the mainstream, politicians have used it to threaten violence, and celebrities have used it to promote harmful health misinformation.

On account of all these points, Twitter has in recent times expanded its guidelines round thorny speech points, like labeling false election claims or ​​misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. In its new period, Twitter has begun balancing its dedication to letting individuals say what they need and minimizing the harms that individuals can do utilizing its platform. For Musk, there’s worth in being the one that units these phrases, and he has made it clear that he’ll err on the facet of permitting as a lot controversial speech as doable.

“Twitter ought to match the legal guidelines of the nation,” mentioned Musk on the TED convention on Thursday, then later mentioned, “If it’s a grey space, I’d say let the tweet exist.”

However permitting completely free speech is simpler in idea than in follow. If Musk had been to purchase Twitter, its moderation guidelines round subjects from hate speech to threats of nuclear violence would in the end be at his discretion or on the discretion of the leaders he places in cost.

If one other main tech firm like Fb or Apple tried to purchase Twitter, that may seemingly set off antitrust issues. However there’s nothing underneath US legislation stopping an extremely rich particular person like Musk from shopping for an organization with a lot energy, though there’s an apparent chance that Musk might use the platform to form his personal enterprise or political pursuits.

We don’t know but what’s going to come of Musk’s expressed curiosity in shopping for Twitter. It’s value noting how, regardless of being the richest man on the planet, he could not have the liquid money to take action, since a lot of his wealth is tied up in shares. However this saga highlights how precious Twitter is, no matter its backside line.