On October 27th, 2022, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, made headlines when his long-awaited purchase of Twitter finally concluded. This news has sparked a lot of debate and speculation among social media users, investors, and tech experts alike. While some believe that this move could be a game-changer for Twitter, others are skeptical about the potential benefits of such a deal.

Musk’s acquisition is a positive step for the social media platform, especially times like these, when disagreeable ideas tend to get silenced, transparency is in decline, and social media platforms focus on irrelevant issues. Twitter needs someone to fix this, and Musk is the man for the job.

It seems like today only those ideas which are ‘socially accepted’ by a majority are allowed to be shown on social media platforms, while those who are disagreed on are shushed. So what happened to free speech? It is great that Musk became CEO, as he believes that Twitter needs more, not less, engagement with disagreeable ideas because that’s the only way to exercise free speech. 

Musk’s concerns about censorship and the suppression of free expression on social media platforms are not unfounded. In recent years, there have been numerous cases of individuals being banned or suspended from Twitter and other platforms for expressing their opinions, even if those opinions were unpopular or controversial. 

Musk is a big advocate for free speech, however, he is not a free speech absolutist. As he has tweeted before, by ‘free speech,’ he means that which matches the law. Although private companies like Twitter are not required to follow the First Amendment, nothing prevents them from doing so voluntarily. And in Twitter’s case in particular, Musk believes that the First Amendment should prevail in social media.

Trump’s account got banned last year because of weak accusations like “the risk of further incitement of violence”, and “creating misinformation”  serves as an example of how Twitter’s past administration was a risk for free speech. Although Trump has tweeted many disagreeable things before, he is in his own right to do so as he hasn’t infringed any law. Let us remember what Voltaire said: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. 

Last year, Musk tweeted his opinion on this event.. “I’m fine with Trump not tweeting. The important thing is that Twitter corrects a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service,” Musk said in a tweet. 

Now, with Musk as its CEO, Twitter has a brighter future. Free speech violations like these will not happen again and Twitter can finally fulfill its initial purpose: serving a complete and free public conversation.  

Twitter’s past administration also lacked transparency in decision-making, user banning, and establishing clear and concrete rules. When it comes to removing or temporarily disabling someone’s account,  the correct procedure should go like this: Twitter should warn the person, tell why he/she has been warned, and provide information about the likely consequences of repeat behavior.

The problem is, Twitter relied on algorithms and computers that followed non-specific laws to ban/remove users from the platform, which resulted in many people getting suspended without a clear accusation. It is not a good thing that technology that is invisible to users, policymakers, and academics controls what happens on Twitter. Musk promises to change this. “Twitter will be far more effective, transparent, and even-handed,” Musk tweeted.

Every Twitter user should look forward to this. Transparency provides public accountability, and without transparency, the due process for social media users can’t be done. If users do not know what the rules of the platform they are using are, how can they avoid breaking them?

In addition, Musk now has gained the power of changing Twitter’s policies to focus on the issues that really matter. The platform has been filled with useless rules that have very little to do with Twitter’s initial purpose. 

Twitter should not promise its users to protect their dignity, or uphold equality. It should not promise to outlaw hatred or combat misinformation. Musk plans on implementing narrow and concrete policies. 

New changes to the rules include removing any accounts maintained by individual perpetrators of terrorist, violent extremist, or mass violent attacks, users cannot publish or post other people’s private information, etc. 

Implementing specific rules like these is a huge improvement for the safety of users, and it can prevent problems that were happening before like people being banned without a specific reason.

Elon Musk becoming the new CEO of Twitter is something to celebrate. As a free speech and transparency advocate, Musk has the capacity and potential to turn Twitter into what it is originally meant to be: a safe space for complete public debate, something that not a lot of social media platforms can offer nowadays.