Throughout the previous two weeks, he has indicated by way of regulatory filings, tweets and a latest interview at a TED convention how he thinks concerning the firm and what he would do if he have been to efficiently purchase the social-media website utilized by greater than 200 million folks world-wide.
The Tesla Inc. chief govt supplied to purchase Twitter with a $43 billion bid final week. In response, the corporate adopted a so-called poison tablet, which makes it tough for Mr. Musk to extend his stake within the firm past 15%.
The board has but to formally reply to the small print of the proposal. Within the meantime, here’s a checklist of what Mr. Musk has stated he want to do with the platform.
Soften its stance on content material moderation.
Mr. Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” stated in an interview throughout a TED convention final week that Twitter is the “de facto city sq.,” and that “it’s essential for there to be an inclusive enviornment without cost speech.”
He stated Twitter ought to be extra cautious when deciding whether or not to take down tweets or completely ban customers. Timeouts are higher, he added.
The platform also needs to comply with the legal guidelines of the nations it supplies companies in, Mr. Musk stated. And when Twitter does make modifications to amplify or cut back a tweet’s attain, it ought to give customers perception into what occurred, he stated.
Mr. Musk additionally stated that he doesn’t have all of the solutions. Twitter, in the meantime, has spent years making an attempt to advertise what it calls more healthy discourse on the platform, including content material moderation partially below the argument that it’s good for enterprise.
Create an edit characteristic for tweets.
An edit button has lengthy been requested by Twitter customers. Earlier this month, Mr. Musk polled Twitter customers on whether or not they wished one. Greater than 4 million accounts voted, and greater than 70% stated sure. Twitter later stated it had already been engaged on an edit button since final yr.
Mr. Musk reiterated his assist for an edit button within the TED interview, and mused about methods the platform may implement the characteristic.
Take the general public firm non-public.
Mr. Musk stated in a regulatory submitting he desires to take Twitter non-public.
“Twitter must be remodeled as a non-public firm,” he stated. “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I’ll unlock it.”
Taking Twitter off the general public inventory change would seemingly make it simpler for Mr. Musk to implement his desired modifications to the corporate, since a lot of the shareholder stress would dissolve. Nonetheless, Mr. Musk additionally stated within the TED interview that he would need to retain as many shareholders as potential if he succeeds in taking the corporate non-public.
Make Twitter’s algorithm open supply and put the code on GitHub.
Within the TED interview, Mr. Musk instructed making Twitter’s algorithm open supply, which means others outdoors the corporate would have the ability to view and suggest fixes and modifications. A technique to try this, he stated, is to place the code on GitHub, a website that’s used for storing software program tasks.
Give customers who pay for Twitter Blue authentication verify marks.
Mr. Musk, in a flurry of tweets throughout the second weekend of April, instructed that Twitter give customers who pay for Twitter Blue—a subscription service that provides additional options to customers’ accounts—a verify mark to indicate their account has been “authenticated.” This could be distinct from the coveted blue verify mark that requires accounts to be each genuine and notable.
Rely much less on promoting.
In the identical collection of tweets, Mr. Musk stated Twitter ought to shift towards a enterprise mannequin that depends extra on subscriptions. Twitter Blue at present provides premium options like “undo tweet” for a month-to-month charge of $2.99. Mr. Musk instructed the subscription embrace eradicating all advertisements.
He additionally floated reducing workers and shutting down the corporate’s San Francisco headquarters. Such cuts may very well be wanted if the corporate have been to maneuver away from promoting, which within the fourth quarter of 2021 accounted for about 90% of its income.
Attempt to cease spam and rip-off bots.
Mr. Musk stated a high precedence for him could be eliminating “bot armies” on Twitter, which spam accounts and run scams.
“If I had a dogecoin for each crypto rip-off I noticed,” he stated throughout the TED interview.
Permit for longer tweets.
In a tweet final week, Mr. Musk advocated what he known as long-form tweets.
On Friday, he responded to a prolonged Twitter thread from Yishan Wong, a former chief govt of social-media firm Reddit Inc., who supplied his tackle the Twitter takeover state of affairs. Mr. Musk didn’t reply to Mr. Wong’s ideas, he responded to the shape they took.
“My most rapid takeaway from this novella of a thread is that Twitter is *method* overdue for lengthy type tweets!” he stated, with out providing any extra clarification.
Typically, tweets can comprise as much as 280 characters, double the earlier restrict of 140.
Twitter declined to remark. Mr. Musk didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Supply: Live Mint