After Twitter accepted Elon Musk‘s offer to buy the social media company for a staggering $44 billion, the reaction on the site was swift and hysterical. Among other claims, some partisans saw Musk’s takeover as a danger to democracy itself and proof that regulation of social media is needed now more than ever. In response, Musk called it an “extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech.” It appears this massive new venture is off to a great start.
It will be some time before Twitter users and the general public see what dramatic shifts Musk and his team may or may not have in store. Twitter, like other companies, creates rules for use. No one is required to create an account, and no one is owed anything by Twitter. While all of this is true, it’s also true that Twitter has both leaned left and favored the Left for years. Twitter’s rules aren’t applied evenly across the board. Politicians and/or “problem” accounts may get suspended or banned. Meanwhile, bad actors, terror-supporting dictators, and communist regimes and their representatives enjoy free rein. Those wildly unbalanced actions may be Twitter’s right, but they’re nothing short of glaringly biased.
From every indication thus far, Musk’s desire for the site is to increase transparency and allow for freedom of expression. For too long, Twitter and its executives have punished “wrongthink.” That the reaction from so many on the Left is one of fear at what they consider “upcoming extremes” says a lot. Those who are terrified of a Twitter future with Musk at the helm are openly admitting they’ve been favored this whole time. They are frightened not because suggested ideas for improvement are actually bad but because the pendulum will finally swing away from favoring Democrats and the Left, allowing all users the ability to share as they wish.
It makes sense that conservatives and others on the Right would feel a sense of ease and excitement at this week’s news. At the same time, they need to be sober. Musk has acknowledged he is not a conservative. He has even described himself as “half Democrat, half Republican.” There’s no reason to believe he’d treat either side with favoritism. Both political teams want someone as powerful and accomplished as Musk on their side. It looks as though both will be disappointed.
On Wednesday, he tweeted: “For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally.” And in a response to popular conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, Musk said: “Attacks are coming thick and fast, primarily from the left, which is no surprise, however I should be clear that the right will probably be a little unhappy too.”
But Twitter with Musk in charge looks much better than what former President Barack Obama suggests for the social media landscape. Increased censorship sounds like a brilliant plan only to those who fear intellectual diversity in the public sphere. On the whole, the Left, so concerned with certain kinds of diversity, is eager to restrict the intellectual kind.
Musk has been painted by some as a savior, while others believe he will only bring about destruction. Dealing in extremes never works for complex human beings, all of whom possess their own biases. If Musk’s vision of transformation does start to bring balance to Twitter, our discourse will be far better for it. And that’s something the Left and the Right can, and should, applaud.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a columnist at Arc Digital.
