Elon Musk has placed a $44 billion bid to buy Twitter with a promise to greatly expand the notion of “free speech” on the social media platform. Yet Musk’s conception of “free speech” seriously calls into question the sincerity of his objective and why he would choose to buy the increasingly popular app at this time. A tweet sent by @elonmusk one day after his takeover became public displays its oxymoronic nature — “The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all.”
The ostensible reason for Musk’s seemingly random Twitter takeover lies only slightly below his stated reasoning. The app has come under scrutiny by many on the far and not-so-far right for its seemingly skewed censorship of conservative users. The app famously banned former president Donald Trump after his public encouragement of the January 6th capitol insurrection. Musk himself is not one to shy away from conservative association, appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast and posting a couple of recent images deriding “leftists” for their political polarization. So Musk, conscious of these associations and Twitter’s recent actions, felt the need to enshrine his ideological solidarity through direct ownership.
Most Twitter users won’t feel much of a shift if and when Musk’s free speech policies take effect. Those who will suffer are the minority of users who have found community on the app but have been attacked, both online and in real life, for their very identity on the platform, with or without more recent content restrictions. Transgender people and sex workers, especially those of color, exist on these vulnerable margins. The harassment such communities suffer will get much, much worse, the fear these individuals feel will intensify, and more harm will bleed over from the digital to the physical.
Off the back of these concerns, many Twitter users have asked themselves, and others, the ultimate question — “Should I leave the app, deactivate my account, and never return?” This is an easy question to ask oneself if all you use Twitter for is to retweet an occasional funny video or to like your closest friends’ puns.
But for those who have used Twitter as a space to find online community in an otherwise alienating world, logging off forever simply isn’t as viable. A sense of social belonging is critical to enjoying a contented life, and for a number of communities, Twitter provides this sense. But in a Muskian Twitter world, existing and interacting in these communities presents users with serious and potentially life-threatening consequences when those that would do them harm are suddenly emboldened by a no-holds-barred approach to online social interaction.
Digital harassment can very rapidly transition into physical violence through doxxing and other means. These processes will only intensify when there is no limit to what can and cannot be written, and subsequently advocated for, on the world’s most approachable social media platform. Musk, whether intentionally or not, is steering Twitter into an unquestionably more dangerous future for those who can’t feasibly just leave the app forever.
Jacob Maranda is from Rock Island, Ill.
His majors are economics and philosophy.