Musk's free speech definition is utter nonsense and his suggestions for Twitter completely ignore decades of content moderation iteration on social platforms

from the not-how-any-of-this-works dept — Lots of talk yesterday as Elon Musk made a hostile takeover bid for all of Twitter.

Techdirt 2022-04-17 Mike Masnick

Context & Ripple Effects

Musk's hostile bid put Twitter's moderation rules at the center of an ownership fight, alongside his stated interest in opening the platform's algorithm. The immediate critique is that treating moderation as a simple free-speech constraint disregards the platform policies developed over time.

Related coverage broadened the stakes beyond ranking transparency: reporting questioned the consistency of Musk's stated free-speech commitment and raised concerns over whether Twitter's existing privacy and speech defenses would persist under new ownership.

First-order effects

Twitter's moderation framework becomes a direct target of Musk's proposed changes, placing its policy choices and enforcement history under heightened scrutiny.
Musk's bid turns his definition of free speech into an operating question for Twitter rather than solely a public-positioning issue.

Second-order effects

Twitter users and parties seeking protection from unmasking requests face uncertainty because the company's prior defense of privacy and speech rights may not carry over under Musk.
The ownership contest shifts debate from whether Twitter should disclose more about its ranking systems to who sets the boundaries for moderation and misinformation.

Third-order effects

If platform ownership increasingly brings wholesale changes to moderation philosophy, governance of major communications services becomes more dependent on controlling shareholders than on accumulated policy practice.
The dispute points toward a broader conflict between calls for maximal speech and the operational systems platforms use to enforce user protections and information rules.

The trend: Social-platform ownership is becoming a governance battle over who controls moderation, privacy protections, and algorithmic transparency.

Discussion

@chrisjbakke Chris Bakke on x
Elon Musk is in for a bad time. I'm not sure he's prepared to take on a couple PhDs, a few MBAs, and a Baroness who use Twitter once a year (to reset their passwords) and collectively own 77 shares of the company. https://twitter.com/...
@ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x
Twitter board member Jack Dorsey snipes at Twitter's board https://twitter.com/...
@pmarca Marc Andreessen on x
I recommend reading both @yishan 🧵 https://twitter.com/... and @paulg 🧵 https://twitter.com/... on Internet moderation and censorship. I agree with elements of both, but agree with @paulg more.
@anildash @anildash on x
This is how they spin the argument. Whether they're lying to everyone or just themselves is not the most important part — the result is. https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Good thread on someone's experiences with actual content moderation. (And, actually, our original title was closer to Techmeme's, but I thought it was too long and shortened it). https://twitter.com/...
@davidsacks David Sacks on x
Most public company boards are a joke once the founder is gone. They have little-to-no ownership in the company. They are a club. https://twitter.com/...
@jkosseff Jeff Kosseff on x
This sort of reality-based nuance is perhaps a bit more useful than the million hot takes of the past week. https://twitter.com/...
@mariosundar Mario Sundar on x
If you're negotiating with his nonsense, he's winning. His gambit ain't for Twitter. It's for your attention. And, you've lost already. Before you begin. https://twitter.com/...
@emptywheel @emptywheel on x
Masnick on Musk: “Dealing with human speech isn't about building a car, a robot, a tunnel, or a rocket ship. It's about dealing with human beings, human nature, and society.: https://www.techdirt.com/... This is very long (like I should talk) but really worth reading.
@nateafischer Nate Fischer on x
Does the philosophy toward speech espoused in this thread meaningfully differ from that of the CCP? https://twitter.com/...
@davidsacks David Sacks on x
New Twitter CEO Checklist - Open-source the algorithm - Eliminate all bots - Restore free speech - Implement Coinbase policy on workplace politics - Fire useless employees (50%?) - No more company-wide days of rest (take vacation if you're tired)
@brij Brij Singh on x
Good to see this post get due recognition. This (and research paper in the link) is a good start for anybody coming late to the content moderation party. For Elon Musk - this will amount to fixing road rage, something FSD can never solve. https://twitter.com/...
@jimvandehei Jim VandeHei on x
Elon Musk and other tech billionaires are pushing a parallel media ecosystem with unfettered speech, fewer rules, more voices and less power for traditional media. https://www.axios.com/...
@prairielaura Laura Lorson on x
this is excellent, and takes me back to my days as a teenager on The Well, as adults basically screamed at me to grow up and Think Bigger after I said “that's all well and good, but that is not how it will play out, try taking a sociology class sometime” https://www.techdirt.com/…
@ousfourita Wafa Ben-Hassine on x
Great article — though still all very much US focused. Musk's ignorance on these issues is magnified when you introduce the complexities that being a global platform brings / international human rights standards. https://twitter.com/...
@kudeki @kudeki on x
i too was v alarmed at how little elon knows about these topics, and that the TED interviewer was somehow so much worse??? hurt my brain to watch https://twitter.com/...
@gullikyro Padraig on x
This entire post is ridiculously on point. Anybody with actual real world hands on experience in the field will nod their head reading it. Also I shall once again repeat, political content is a minor part of content moderation, it's seriously not all about you libdestroyer428. ht…
@akurjata @akurjata on x
“what struck me about his views is how much they sound like what the techies who originally created social media said in the early days. And here's the important bit: all of them eventually learned that their simplistic belief in how things should work does not work in reality ” …
@bborrman Brandon on x
Must read for anyone interested in all this Twitter stuff. The collective exasperate scream of a thousand experts in one column. https://twitter.com/...
@katebevan Kate Bevan on x
This is a good piece. And RIP your mentions and inbox, Mike. https://twitter.com/...
@eddie1perez Edward Perez on x
“The ‘public platform’ is the internet. And trust is earned, but...being broadly inclusive & trustworthy also requires recognizing that bad actors need to be dealt with...This is what people have spent over a decade working on. And Musk acts like it's a brand new issue.” https://…
@verba_et_vertus Virginia Murr on x
Fantastic article. Worth the few minutes to read. “And Musk is basically saying 'I have a brilliant idea: let's go back to step 1 and pretend none of the things experts in this space have learned over the past decade actually happened.'” https://twitter.com/...
@marklittlenews Mark Little on x
“Knowing how much effort Twitter has actually put into understanding interventions and how to build a trustworthy platform, I fear that what Musk would do with it would be a massive step backwards and a general loss for the world.” https://www.techdirt.com/...
@eddie1perez Edward Perez on x
“Dealing with human speech isn't about building a car, a robot, a tunnel, or a rocket ship. It's about dealing with human beings, human nature, and society.” https://twitter.com/...
@ewankirk Ewan Kirk on x
Occasionally I find a fascinating article on Twitter in which I learn lots of new things. Ironically, today it was this 👇 Fabulous piece by @mmasnick https://www.techdirt.com/...
@mehdirhasan Mehdi Hasan on x
Elon Musk, the self-styled “free speech absolutist,” has fired employees for speaking out; tried to buy the silence of a teenager with a bot; and banned a blogger from owning a Tesla because of a critical *blogpost*. Receipts from me on @MaddowBlog: https://twitter.com/...
@techemails @techemails on x
Elon Musk on tweeting August 21, 2018 https://twitter.com/...
@tedcruz Ted Cruz on x
Orwell would be truly amazed at today's authoritarians. Free speech = “anything goes” To get “more democracy,” we need “MORE content moderation.” TRUST the overlords, the corporate media insists. Big Tech billionaires should decide what YOU get to say. What BS! https://twitter.co…
@rebeccaforwa @rebeccaforwa on x
Elon Musk has enough money to end homeless and hunger, but instead he wants to buy Twitter.
@asemota Osaretin Victor Asemota on x
“Twitter serves less as a town square than as a gladiatorial arena. It's where competitors kill off one another while the crowd cheers,...; to be on Twitter is to fight on Twitter, and often to fight about Twitter..” https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...
@tbskyen @tbskyen on x
This has such “I have realized the world needs a robust public transportation system, THEREFORE I AM BUILDING SINGLE FILE CAR TUBES UNDERGROUND” energy What a fucking idiot https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Every once in a while I have semi-decent things to say. https://twitter.com/...
@kateconger Kate Conger on x
Everything came to a head yesterday, when Elon said he'd go straight to the end and buy Twitter outright. I think this story has everything: boardroom drama, Elon's vision, shareholder pushback, employee reactions https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@goldman Jason Goldman on x
Very smart reporting here to get this quote to underline exactly what is going on. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@samifathi_ Sami Fathi on x
“The board is also considering soliciting offers from other companies that may want to acquire Twitter, one of the people familiar with its plans said, another common move among takeover targets. It was not clear if Twitter had approached anyone yet.” Stay away, Zuck. https://twi…
@carlquintanilla Carl Quintanilla on x
“.. appeared to be marshaling investors against Mr. Musk's plans, and signaled that he would have to spend billions more if he wanted to own the company.” (via ⁦@MikeIsaac⁩) $TWTR https://www.nytimes.com/...
@ngrossman81 Nicholas Grossman on x
Good @mmasnick piece in @techdirt on content moderation and free speech. Two of its best points -It's not that “just do free speech” or “follow 1A” hasn't been considered. It's been tried a lot and failed. -Twitter isn't the public square. The internet is. https://www.techdirt.co…
@dbfarber @dbfarber on x
“The simple fact is that dealing with human nature and human communication is much, much, much more complex than teaching a car how to drive by itself...There is no ‘congrats, we got there’ moment in content moderation.” https://www.techdirt.com/... @mmasnick
@sarthakgh @sarthakgh on x
“The simple fact is that dealing with human nature and human communication is much, much, much more complex than teaching a car how to drive by itself. And there is no perfect solution. There is no “congrats, we got there” moment in content moderation.” https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
I assume this post walking through all the things Elon Musk shows he does not understand about content moderation will be read calmly with the responses and my inbox will fill with thoughtful nuanced replies. https://www.techdirt.com/...
@yishan @yishan on x
Elon is going to try like heck to “fix” the problems he sees. Each problem he “fixes” will just cause 3 more problems.
@arrington Michael Arrington on x
🤔 https://www.techdirt.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@repdarrellissa Rep. Darrell Issa on x
The panic coming from blue-check media after Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter is the fear of losing the ability to censor conservatives online and silence free speech they don't like.
@susanlitv Susan Li on x
This is not a surprise folks! #silverlake was already floated as a potential partner when #ElonMusk unveiled his #Twittertakeover bid #Twitter $twtr https://nypost.com/...
@evacide Eva on x
There is no room to quote all of @mmasnick's take on Musk's understanding of content moderation, free speech, and the public square, so just read it yourself because his take is the right take: https://www.techdirt.com/...
@hansmahncke Hans Mahncke on x
Mark Zuckerberg put up $500 million to interfere in a presidential election. Elon Musk is putting up 100 times as much to save democracy. It is a testament to the insanity of our times that Zuckerberg is heralded as a hero while Elon is vilified.
@daniel_rubino Daniel Rubino on x
This is a very long thread (very) by the ex-CEO of Reddit, but well worth your time. It captures the fundamental issue with social networks and how the problems are about behavior, *not* ideas. Yes, it's complex, sorry, and not just “bUT mA fReEdOm oF sPeEcH.” https://twitter.com…
@frankluntz Frank Luntz on x
“Twitter is not the town square, and it's a ridiculous analogy. The Internet itself is the town square. Twitter is just one private shop in that town square with its own rules.” https://www.techdirt.com/...
@karlbode Karl Bode on x
I'm not just saying this because he's my boss, but @mmasnick is really smart on content moderation issues, has really helped inform my thinking on the subject, and you should read this: https://www.techdirt.com/...
@kevinbankston Kevin Bankston on x
There are so many perfectly articulated and nuanced sentiments in @mmasnick's dissection of Elon Musk's simplistic perspective on content moderation that it's hard to pick one to highlight in this tweet. So just read the whole thing. https://t.co/jRu0iOLxTC
@jayrosen_nyu Jay Rosen on x
In this post about how little Musk understands, @mmasnick has to keep saying “as anyone who has lived through (or read up on) the history of content moderation knows...” https://www.techdirt.com/... On content moderation Musk is like a chess player still learning how the rook mov…
@haroldpollack Harold Pollack on x
Imagine a world in which people of stratospheric wealth were as obsessed w/protecting global health as they are w/cryptocurrency+culture-war fights on social media. Elon Musk could provide covid vaccines to every remaining unvaccinated human at lower cost than this Twitter bid. h…
@ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald on x
The censorship power of Big Tech monopolies isn't wielded as much by executives as it is by Western governments. FB, Google/YT and Twitter are crucial instruments to control the flow of information available to their populations. If Musk is serious, it will provoke a battle: http…
@moorehn Heidi N. Moore on x
I see that the name of the poison pill is being taken in vain. Marty Lipton, its inventor, is still alive and I hope to God he's not reading some of the tweets out there. Who wants an explainer thread on poison pills? Very short because I have things to do.
@nathanbomey Nathan Bomey on x
Let's see, that's the same JPMorgan that ... ::checks notes:: ... is suing Tesla over the fallout of Elon Musk's “funding secured” tweet. https://twitter.com/...
@teslapodcast Rob Maurer on x
Twitter has adopted a Rights Plan allowing shareholders to buy newly-created shares at 50% of market value if anyone buys more than 15% of outstanding shares. This means if Elon keeps buying, the company dilutes itself at a low value, “poisoning” what Elon would be acquiring. htt…
@rowantrollope @rowantrollope on x
Great thread and insightful thread, but there's a false equivalence between the pre internet free speech crowd and todays hysterical censorship culture. What we're doing now isn't working so its worth trying something radically different https://twitter.com/...
@yishan @yishan on x
[Thread] Ex-Reddit CEO warns Elon Musk that he doesn't understand current internet culture enough to handle the challenges of large social networks like Twitter
@ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x
Interesting argument from @nbashaw: opening up the twitter algorithm & allowing different versions could be good business for Twitter. Would be a nice compromise position between the different ideological camps. Let camps have their own community norms https://every.to/... https:…
@jack @jack on x
@theAkshEffect ... yep
@nbashaw Nathan Baschez on x
@Twitter Opening up the algorithm to transparency and choice would be a Good Thing — increases usage — decreases assholery — rebuilds trust I wrote all about it how it could work and why to do it here: https://every.to/...
@ejang @ejang on x
Open platform co-op https://twitter.com/...
@hkanji @hkanji on x
“Commoditize your complement” https://every.to/... via @getmatterapp
@adhutchinson Andrew Hutchinson on x
An interesting look at the proposed open source algorithm approach for Twitter from @nbashaw - it eyed certainly be worth exploring if Twitter's entity classification, in particular, could be improved to make its algorithm more effective https://every.to/...
@theaksheffect @theaksheffect on x
@nbashaw @Twitter This is actually what @jack wanted to do and mentioned it multiple times while he was CEO
@nash076 @nash076 on x
This is how bids happen: rumor, leaks, but nobody is screaming from a hilltop with a trumpet up their ass. Unlike Elon. https://nypost.com/...
@carlquintanilla Carl Quintanilla on x
“When Musk was pretending to take $TSLA private, he pretended that he was going to let all of Tesla's existing shareholders remain shareholders of the new ‘private’ Tesla. This is not a thing.. And now he's doing it again.. Sure buddy!” @matt_levine $TWTR https://www.bloomberg.co…
@maxkennerly Max Kennerly on x
The one consistent thing through Elon Musk's temper tantrum has been his total inability to grasp the basics of how social media works. It is, for example, 100% “legal” to use the reply function to spam everyone. Users get banned for it because of Twitter's Terms of Service. http…
@decryptmedia Decrypt on x
“It takes some pretty impressive mental gymnastics to associate any type of ‘freedom’ with the richest man in the world initiating a hostile takeover,” says @ummjackson, co-creator of Dogecoin. https://decrypt.co/... https://twitter.com/...

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