According to a tweet from Elon Musk, Twitter will establish a “Content Moderation Council” made up of individuals with “widely diverse perspectives.” This council’s main duty will be to decide whether to unblock the accounts of those who have been indefinitely suspended. According to Musk’s tweet, no significant decisions on content moderation or the reactivation of suspended accounts will be made without the input of that council. This implies that the rumored unblocking of controversial users—possibly including former US President Donald Trump—will not occur instantly and may not occur at all. Musk has previously stated that he believes that a commitment to free speech is violated by account suspensions, and he sees Twitter as a virtual “public square.”
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
On Thursday, Elon Musk seized control of Twitter with merciless efficiency. According to those familiar with the situation, he removed several key executives soon after agreeing to the purchase, including Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and Chief Legal and Policy Officer Vijaya Gadde. He had claimed that they had misled him and Twitter’s investors over the prevalence of fraudulent accounts on the site.
He tweeted “The bird is liberated” shortly after completing his acquisition on Thursday, making obvious reference to his wish for Twitter to have fewer restrictions on what can be written.
However, the CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla and self-described adamant supporter of free speech has also stated that he wants to stop the platform from turning into an echo chamber for hatred and division.
Other objectives include trying to “fight” spam bots on Twitter and opening up the algorithms that decide how the material is shown to consumers.
Musk, however, has not provided specifics on how he intends to do all of this or who would lead the company.
