Elon Musk during a meeting with officials from the twitter this Thursday (16), intensified desire to relax content restrictions on the social network. Some of the professionals have even raised concerns about how the billionaire can change the platform.
At his first event since acquiring the company, Musk faced a series of questions about his stance on content moderation and reiterated his willingness to allow all legal speech on Twitter, even when it includes so-called “nice but awful” content. , such as extremism or abuse.
“I think it’s essential to have freedom of expression and for people to be able to communicate freely,” Musk said.
The entrepreneur noted, however, that the platform must work to prevent potentially harmful or offensive posts from being amplified. This is to ensure that users feel “comfortable on Twitter”.
“There is freedom of expression and freedom of reach,” he explained. “Anyone can walk into the middle of Times Square right now and say whatever they want. They can just walk into the middle of Times Square and deny the Holocaust. I think people should be allowed to say very outrageous things that are within the bounds of the law, but which, if not amplified, are not very far-reaching.”
agreement at risk
The meeting came amid turmoil over the $44 billion deal to buy the social network and questions about how serious Musk is about going ahead with the acquisition. Last week, he threatened to back out of the deal if the company didn’t hand over more data to help him understand the prevalence of fake accounts and spam on the platform.
Some analysts have suggested it is an attempt to find a pretext for him from a deal he might consider overpriced.
On Thursday, the businessman appeared to be trying to reassure employees of his intention to complete the purchase, even as he arrived about 10 minutes late for a meeting and spoke to employees on his smartphone.
Musk has laid out some ambitious plans for the company, including his desire to grow Twitter’s daily active user base from just over 200 million to “at least a billion people.” He also wants to increase monetization opportunities for creators and explore potential payments capabilities.
“I think an important goal for Twitter would be to try to include as much of the country, the world as possible,” he said, before comparing its potential to a popular social networking service in China. “You basically live on WeChat in China because it’s so useful. It’s useful for everyday life, and I think if we can achieve that, or even come close on Twitter, it would be a huge success.”
Changes in company culture
Crucial to some of the company’s employees, Musk suggested he might be at least a little flexible with employees who work from home. A note Musk made earlier this month demanding that Tesla executives return to the office sparked speculation that he would do the same on Twitter, which would be a big reversal for the tech company, which relies heavily on a distributed workforce.
“There is a blow that is taken remotely, because [o home-office] reduce esprit de corps [a capacidade de um grupo manter a crença em uma instituição]”, claimed Musj. “Even if someone is working remotely, they have to come sometimes to recognize their colleagues. For me, working in person is important, but if someone is exceptional, remote work can be good.”
On the other hand, when asked if he was planning layoffs if the takeover deal was approved, Musk didn’t entirely dismiss the idea, leaving those in attendance anxious.
“Right now, the costs [do Twitter] exceed revenue, so that’s not a good situation to be in,” he said. “But anyone who is obviously a significant contributor shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”
Source: CNN Brasil
