What Elon Musk Would Do With Twitter
The Tesla CEO has said his vision is a private social-media company with less content moderation and an edit button
Elon Musk wants to make substantial changes to Twitter Inc. TWTR +4.06%
During the past two weeks, he has indicated through regulatory filings, tweets and a recent interview at a TED conference how he thinks about the company and what he would do if he were to successfully acquire the social-media site used by more than 200 million people world-wide.
The Tesla Inc. chief executive offered to buy Twitter with a $43 billion bid last week. In response, the company adopted a so-called poison pill, which makes it difficult for Mr. Musk to increase his stake in the company beyond 15%.
The board has yet to formally respond to the details of the proposal. In the meantime, here is a list of what Mr. Musk has said he would like to do with the platform.
Soften its stance on content moderation.
Mr. Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” said in an interview during a TED conference last week that Twitter is the “de facto town square,” and that “it’s very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech.”
He said Twitter should be more cautious when deciding whether to take down tweets or permanently ban users. Timeouts are better, he added.
The platform should also follow the laws of the countries it provides services in, Mr. Musk said. And when Twitter does make changes to amplify or reduce a tweet’s reach, it should give users insight into what happened, he said.
Mr. Musk also said that he doesn’t have all the answers. Twitter, meanwhile, has spent years trying to promote what it calls healthier discourse on the platform, adding content moderation in part under the argument that it is good for business.
Create an edit feature for tweets.
An edit button has long been requested by Twitter users. Earlier this month, Mr. Musk polled Twitter users on whether they wanted one. More than four million accounts voted, and more than 70% said yes. Twitter later said it had already been working on an edit button since last year.
Mr. Musk reiterated his support for an edit button in the TED interview, and mused about ways the platform might implement the feature.
Take the public company private.
Mr. Musk said in a regulatory filing he wants to take Twitter private.
“Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” he said. “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
Taking Twitter off the public stock exchange would likely make it easier for Mr. Musk to implement his desired changes to the company, since much of the shareholder pressure would dissolve. However, Mr. Musk also said in the TED interview that he would want to retain as many shareholders as possible if he succeeds in taking the company private.
Make Twitter’s algorithm open source and put the code on GitHub.
In the TED interview, Mr. Musk suggested making Twitter’s algorithm open source, meaning others outside the company would be able to view and recommend fixes and changes. One way to do that, he said, is to put the code on GitHub, a site that is used for storing software projects.
Take the public company private.
Mr. Musk said in a regulatory filing he wants to take Twitter private.
“Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” he said. “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
Taking Twitter off the public stock exchange would likely make it easier for Mr. Musk to implement his desired changes to the company, since much of the shareholder pressure would dissolve. However, Mr. Musk also said in the TED interview that he would want to retain as many shareholders as possible if he succeeds in taking the company private.
Make Twitter’s algorithm open source and put the code on GitHub.
In the TED interview, Mr. Musk suggested making Twitter’s algorithm open source, meaning others outside the company would be able to view and recommend fixes and changes. One way to do that, he said, is to put the code on GitHub, a site that is used for storing software projects.
Allow for longer tweets.
In a tweet last week, Mr. Musk advocated what he called long-form tweets.
On Friday, he responded to a lengthy Twitter thread from Yishan Wong, a former chief executive of social-media company Reddit Inc., who offered his take on the Twitter takeover situation. Mr. Musk didn’t respond to Mr. Wong’s thoughts, he responded to the form they took.
“My most immediate takeaway from this novella of a thread is that Twitter is *way* overdue for long form tweets!” he said, without offering any more explanation.
In most cases, tweets can contain up to 280 characters, double the previous limit of 140.
Twitter declined to comment. Mr. Musk didn’t respond to a request for comment.