In an interview at the TED conference on April 14, billionaire Elon Musk said that his acquisition of Twitter was for nothing more than to create a turning point for civilization.
The world’s richest billionaire insists that the offer to buy this social network is not aimed at business, but to ensure Twitter is a trusted platform for democracy.
“This is not how I make money,” Musk told Chris Anderson, TED leader. “I firmly believe that a platform of utmost trust and inclusiveness is crucial for the future of civilization.“.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO protested what he saw as a lack of free speech on Twitter. Musk believes that the platform should open-source the algorithm to increase transparency in decisions about content. This will be a big change to the way Twitter works.
“The source code should be on Github so people can look at it and say ‘I see the problem here’ or ‘I disagree with this’. They can find problems and suggest changes“, the 50-year-old billionaire said.
Elon Musk is one of the most famous users of Twitter. Photo: Bloombergquint
When asked how to change Twitter’s content moderation, Musk explained that the test of whether a platform adheres to the principles of free speech is simple. “If you allow someone you don’t like to say what you don’t like, that’s freedom of speech“, he said.
The Tesla CEO said that if a tweet is controversial, the company should not promote it. “I think we need to be careful when deleting things and be wary of permanent bans. A temporary ban is better“, added Musk.
The billionaire also admits that even when Twitter returns to his hand, there will still be mistakes. “I think people will still blame me for everything“, he said.If I acquire Twitter again and something goes wrong, it’s 100% my fault“.
When asked about a backup plan if the attempt to buy Twitter fails, Musk said he has “different” ideas. But the Tesla CEO declined to elaborate, saying these will need to wait “for another time.”
Previously, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the world’s richest billionaire was expected to pay $ 54.2 per Twitter share in cash. This price is 54% higher than the closing price on January 28 and values the company at $43 billion.
In a letter to the Twitter Board of Directors, Musk said he believes the social network “would neither thrive nor serve free speech if the current model remained. Twitter needs to be transformed into a private company“.