Elon Musk as ‘Chief Twit’

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The same day the world’s wealthiest man took control of the medium-sized, but culturally influential microblogging site, he fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and the company’s head of legal and policy, Vijaya Gadde.

Gadde led the team that ultimately decided to ban former President Donald Trump permanently from Twitter over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. It has been reported that Gadde was also involved in the muffling of the New York Post’s story on Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 presidential election.

Upon taking the corporate reins, Musk, writing under his new handle, “Chief Twit,” described the reason he acquired Twitter.

“Because it is important to the future of civilization to a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” the tech CEO wrote.

It’s notable that Musk uses the term “town square” instead of “public square.” The question of social media platforms being regulated like public utilities looms in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and is primed to be taken up by the Supreme Court. At issue is the tension between the First Amendment rights of speakers in public forums versus the First Amendment rights of private platforms to refuse to carry the speech of others.

Musk’s desire to maximize viewpoint diversity will likely have to be balanced with the practical considerations of Twitter’s bottom line. In Musk’s tweet statement, he went on to write that “Twitter cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”

That’s because Twitter’s business model is built around advertising. The platform has never been profitable, but the aim has been to attract enough users’ eyeballs to gain sufficient advertising revenue to be a money-maker. The content-moderation constraint is that advertisers won’t want their brands popping up next to third-party content that’s known as “awful, but lawful.” Examples include “hate speech,” violence, and various other material that’s disagreeable to many, but not criminal.

There are reports that Musk wants to expand the cost of premium service Twitter Blue and make it a condition for users who want to keep their verified status. More revenue would take some of the pressure off advertising, but in the same statement, Musk hinted at keeping the basic advertising model.

“Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise,” he wrote.

In a nod to Musk’s hoped-for profitable but speech-expanding balance, he announced Twitter will be “forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints” and that “no major content decisions or account reinstatement will happen before that council convenes.”

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Whatever Musk and his council decide, Washington might be even more likely to get involved in the content-moderation practices of all major social media platforms. “Tech lash” is a bipartisan affair inside the Beltway, even though the parties generally have different targets for their anger. Democrats gripe about firms being too big and powerful. Republicans are more apt to home in on what they claim is social media discrimination against conservative viewpoints online.

With Twitter now privately owned, there is little obligation for Musk to make his plans for the company public. But the banks that helped him secure funding must sell that debt to asset managers on Wall Street who will want to know the CEO’s proposed paths to profitability. That, coupled with his penchant for publicity, means that the already drawn-out drama of Twitter and Elon Musk isn’t ending anytime soon.