OPINION: Reducing content moderation to the bare minimum is unlikely to help Elon Musk turn around Twitter’s struggling business, writes Zach Meyers, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.
LONDON —With Elon Musk set to buy Twitter TWTR, -0.18% for $44 billion, commentators are scrambling to understand what the “free speech absolutism” espoused by the world’s richest person will mean for the platform. But the principle could also create headaches for Musk himself.
Legal but objectionable Today, Twitter prohibits a range of legal but objectionable content, including posts expressing the hope that someone comes to harm, or which contain “excessively” violent images, and content that “disrupts people’s experience.” And, of course, Twitter has banned controversial high-profile users like former President Donald Trump. Musk wants to change this, with Twitter banning only illegal content.
For example, the EU’s Digital Services Act will require large platforms like Twitter to assess the risks—such as causing discrimination or undermining democracy—created by the posting of legal but objectionable content. But platforms would generally be free to decide how they want to mitigate those risks. Banning content would not be the only option.
Reducing content moderation to the bare minimum is unlikely to help Musk turn around Twitter’s struggling business. Advertisers hate the public-relations risk of having their ads displayed near objectionable content. If Twitter became too toxic, they might leave the platform altogether, jeopardizing the vast majority of its revenue.
Free the algorithms Musk recently suggested that he believes allowing all legal content will reduce his accountability and responsibility, tweeting that, “If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws.” But governments are pushing responsibility back onto platforms. Their laws will force platforms to be more transparent—not just about which content they ban, but also about how their algorithms promote and demote content.
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