Free Speech and Free Markets: Will Elon Learn?
by Ranty Em | Published November 29, 2022
Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has been chaotic, to say the least. While his fans remain convinced he’s playing the long game, Twitter users, and perhaps more importantly to Twitter’s future, advertisers aren’t convinced.
Social media, cybersecurity, business, and media experts have been weighing in on the changes at Twitter. And while users haven’t abandoned the platform, revenue has taken a major hit. Between the verification changes, the layoffs, and the seemingly erratic behavior leaking out of Twitter’s organization (for a start), there’s a lot to unpack. But as I mentioned, there are already some great analysts following the story as it unfolds. I’ll share some highlights below.
No, I want to focus on two of Elon Musk’s Tweets. Both posted within hours of one another.
Musk certainly likes to troll his critics. And he owns Twitter now — he has every right to do so on his platform. But there is a noticeable disconnect between his actions and his goals to improve Twitter’s profitability.
It both amuses and horrifies me that Musk started his day tweeting out an image of Pepe the frog, a cartoon that has notoriously been appropriated by hate groups. It’s worth noting that this image isn’t exclusively used in bigoted memes by bigoted groups. Is it possible Musk’s use here isn’t racist or bigoted? Sure. But it’s also naïve to assume he doesn’t know its associations. Maybe he is simply trolling his critics with more vitriol.
But to then publicly question why companies like Apple have all but stopped their Twitter advertising spend? This isn’t about free speech. It’s about the free market. Large companies traditionally do not want their ads running next to images and ideas closely aligned with hate and bigotry. So while Musk is free to unban whatever accounts he likes and can allow any and all 1A protected speech on his platform, advertisers aren’t required to stay at the party.
You could argue the market is dictating how Twitter should adapt, and maybe Elon Musk will change course accordingly.
Narrator: He won’t.
Elon Musk doesn’t strike me as the self-reflective type. Truthfully, he doesn’t strike me as the “I am a human who makes mistakes sometimes” type. But I suppose time will tell. It’s too soon to start predicting Twitter’s future, but for a business whose main source of revenue comes from ads — about 90% — well, let’s just say you don’t win back businesses by telling them they’re the ones who are wrong.
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