‘The opposite should be happening’: Elon Musk's Twitter buyout bid rattles tech world

Elon Musk’s shock offer to buy Twitter drew immediate fears Thursday - and some cheers - over putting the platform in the hands of a mercurial billionaire who advocates fewer limits on what people can post.

Tech watchers reacted to the Tesla chief’s proposal for one of the world’s most influential information exchanges with immediate worries about accountability, public discourse and even how it could impact democracy.

“Twitter is too important to be owned and controlled by a single person,” tweeted venture capitalist Fred Wilson. “The opposite should be happening. Twitter should be decentralized.”

However, the $43 billion pitch faces uncertainty on several fronts, including potential board or shareholder resistance, as well as lack of information on how Musk would actually fund the all-cash offer.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has already come out against the proposal, saying it’s too low, drawing a sharp reply from Musk.

Still, Musk provided some detail Thursday on his vision, saying he’d like to lift the veil on the algorithm that runs on the platform, even allowing people to look through it and suggest changes.

He also reiterated his stance favouring a more hands-off approach to policing the platform’s content, a thorny matter that has fuelled criticism of Twitter, especially for the highest-profile instances of violations of its terms of service.

Donald Trump’s critics had long called for him to be kicked off the site, yet his supporters then voiced their outrage after he was barred over worries his tweets could spur violence.

“I do think that we want to be just very reluctant to delete things and just be very cautious with permanent bans. Timeouts, I think are better,” Musk told a conference on Thursday, without addressing Trump directly.

“I think we want to really have, like a sort of obsession and reality, that speech is as free as reasonably possible,” he added.

Critics argued that free speech absolutism on social media can be very messy in the real world.

“I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter,” tweeted Max Boot, a Washington Post columnist.

“He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less,” Boot added.

Yet supporters of Musk’s hostile takeover bid came to the exact opposite conclusion, welcoming the prospect.

“This is the best news for free speech in years!” tweeted Nigel Farage, a populist British politician who helped lead the campaign for Brexit.

American conservatives like Senator Ted Cruz also voiced their backing for less moderation.

“If the left thinks they’re right, why are they so terrified of free speech?” he tweeted in reply to Boot’s criticism.

“’I have to buy and take the public square private in order to save it!’ Try saying it out loud. It sounds ridiculous,” tweeted Renee DiResta, technical research manager at Stanford Internet Observatory.