Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been a prolific Twitter user, but is now thinking of building his own social media platform. Ironically, the billionaire shared his thoughts on developing his own social media platform like Twitter on Twitter. Also Read - Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos: Party less and work more
A Twitter user asked Musk if he would “consider building a social media platform consisting of an open source algorithm and one that would prioritize free speech, and where propaganda was minimal.” To which he replied, “Am giving serious thought to this.” Also Read - Elon Musk says Tesla will not manufacture cars in India: Here’s why
Am giving serious thought to this Also Read - Meta updates privacy policy, says Indian users can choose not to accept
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2022
This development comes just after Musk ran a Twitter poll asking users if they believed Twitter adheres to the principle of free speech. He wrote, “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.” The overall ballet was revealed as 70 percent of people voted “no”.
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.
What should be done? https://t.co/aPS9ycji37
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2022
If Musk decides to develop a new social media platform, he will be joining a list of other people and companies trying to do the same, positioning themselves to allow free speech. They tend to take on the mainstream platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and more. However, to date, none of the new competitors has managed to gain as much traction, and instead have simply just carved out their own small niche and continue to operate with a small chunk of users.
As we can see in Musk’s tweets, he isn’t 100 percent convinced, but it seems as if his Twitter followers are nudging him in the direction of creating a separate social media outlet. We expect more details on this to follow in the coming days.
