EFFIE BATEMAN | Lifestyle | Contact
With entrepreneur Elon Musk cinching a deal to buy Twitter for a staggering US $41 billion, many people have been left wondering what it means for the future of the social media platform and news in general, seeing as there’s already a monopoly of biased right wing organisations in charge of every major media outlet.
As an outspoken advocate on the rights to freedom of speech, Musk says he sees Twitter as a ‘digital town square’ and that he wishes to create an environment where people are able to speak on a matter of topics without being repressed – which sounds great in theory, if you’re thinking intellectual discourse versus simply having an excuse to spout morally bankrupt hate speech.
However, if this inclusive arena of free speech is to truly come into effect, Musk will also have to ensure every voice remains uncensored – including his very own thorn in the side, Jack Sweeney.
Nineteen year old programmer Jack Sweeney is well known for creating twitter bots that tracked the movement of Musk’s jets, before attempting to extort the entrepreneur for $50,000, an internship or a Tesla model 3 – to which the billionaire countered with an offer of $7,000.
Of course, this resulted in the ‘Barbra Streisand’ effort, as news that Musk had attempted to buy his privacy only caused the teen to gain even more followers – now with a reported 416,000 people tracking Musk’s every moment.
Having blocked the pesky teen on Twitter, it appears it will only be a matter of time until we learn just how committed Musk is to freedom of speech, or if he only means freedom of speech when it comes to talking shit about minorities, and not when it personally affects his privacy and safety.
More to come.
