Planet

Elon Musk Outlines His Plans For Twitter And Reveals Why He Bought It

November 2, 2022 People's Tonight 270 views

“I did this to try to help humanity, whom I love,” Musk tweeted.

MuskTom Hale

Musk1Musk recently changed his Twitter profile to refer to himself as “Chief Twit”. Image credit: rafapress/Shutterstock.com

With his Twitter takeover set to be completed this week, Elon Musk has outlined some of his vision for the social media giant. Speaking on Twitter (where else?) Musk claimed that he didn’t buy Twitter for financial gain, but he do so to “try to help humanity.”

Planet1Addressing his message to advertisers on the platform, the multi-billionaire said he believes “the relentless pursuit of clicks” has ultimately resulted in the extreme political polarization we see around the world today. While this is good for profits, Musk argues, it results in meaningful dialogue being lost.

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner,” he said in a tweet.

“There is a great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hated and divide [sic] our society.”

However, he conceded that social media can end up as a “free-for-all hellscape” with no consequences for actions.

“In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warming and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences,” he added.

Musk went on to suggest that the new Twitter administration will put a stronger focus on highly focused adverts that are closely targeted to specific audiences. He notes: “Low relevancy ads are spam, but highly relevant ads are actually content!”

Responding to a comment under the tweet, Musk also seemed keen on the idea of top Twitter users receiving money for their content, just like YouTube or TikTok.

There’s been a lot of speculation about how post-Musk Twitter might take form. He has previously hinted that he’d like the social media platform to take inspiration from the so-called “super-apps,” such as China’s WeChat, which tie together social media, instant messaging, and digital payment services all in one place.

As for the finer details, only time will tell…

________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MuskTom Hale 

Senior Journalist

Tom is a writer in London with a Master’s degree in Journalism whose editorial work covers anything from health and the environment to technology and archaeology.

IFLScience.com

AUTHOR PROFILE