South African billionaire Elon Musk has bought Twitter for a record $44 billion. Musk had long been behind this social network and three weeks ago he paid 2.9 billion to get 9.2% of his shares, becoming the company's main shareholder.
Musk is a regular user of Twitter, he has more than 84 million followers and his tweets have repercussions beyond the virtual world: his comments on cryptocurrencies and virtual money, for example, sent the value of these virtual currencies in the real world up to end of last year.
However, the purchase of Twitter has set off alarms about the possible consequences on freedom of expression on this platform: some fear that Musk could silence those opinions that go against his interests or those of his companies.
However, Musk himself has written a tweet to defend freedom of expression as a "pillar of democracy" and has described Twitter as a "digital agora" where crucial issues for the future of humanity can be discussed.
Twitter was created in 2006 as an open platform in which users can write messages or tweets of a maximum of 280 characters (it was originally 140 characters). It currently has more than 400 million users, according to the most recent data from Statista.
Although it is not one of the most popular networks (Facebook has close to 3,000 million users, for example), the topics discussed in this application are widely publicized in the media. Many governments, institutions and famous people use Twitter as a platform to make public announcements.
For Musk, Twitter is wasted and should make changes to make the most of its potential: add an edit button to be able to modify the content once published, accept payments in cryptocurrencies (to pay for ads or promote publications) or act against the bots that publish spam in the users' timeline.
Freedom of expression in danger?
Musk has announced his intention to make the Twitter algorithm open: this means that anyone will be able to see how the posts are processed, which ones are considered a priority and according to what criteria, why the ads appear on our timeline...
However, the most critical voices point out that Musk could use his power as his owner to hide information that does not interest him or veto negative opinions about him or his companies on Twitter.
After buying all the shares and becoming the sole owner, Musk will turn Twitter into a private company without a board of directors: he will make all the decisions and will not have to submit to the opinion of other shareholders.
In addition to concerns about freedom of expression, there are also concerns about user privacy: Will Twitter remain a free app? Will users have to pay so that their personal data is not processed for commercial purposes?
From now on, what will be the strategy to combat fake news and disinformation? If Musk uses the free speech argument to argue that all opinions are publishable, does that mean Donald Trump would get his Twitter profile back? (Her account of him was suspended for inciting violence and advocating the assault on the Capitol.)
Musk is not the first billionaire to invest in media. Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon and second richest man in the world, bought the Washington Post, one of the most prestigious newspapers in the United States. Great tycoons like Rupert Murdoch or Carlos Slim have also invested part of his fortune in media groups, a way of controlling information and using it in their favor.
The richest man in the world
Elon Musk was born in Pretoria (South Africa) in 1971. From a very young age he was interested in programming and computing and at the age of 12 he designed his first video game, which he sold for $500. Earlier this month he was named the world's richest man by Forbes business magazine, with a net worth of $219 billion.
He studied at the University of Ontario (Canada) because his mother was Canadian, but also because it was much easier to get a student visa in the United States from there. Musk wanted to try his luck in Silicon Valley (California), where the main technology and internet companies are located.
In 1999 he founded X.com, one of the first Internet financial services companies, which would later merge with PayPal, the main online payment platform. The success of this project made Musk a billionaire, allowing him to invest in his own projects.
In 2002 he founded SpaceX, a company dedicated to space exploration. In recent years, SpaceX has built several rockets and promoted space tourism, but has also collaborated with NASA to develop a rocket to deflect an asteroid. On the other hand, through Starlink it is creating a network of satellites to expand communications and make them more accessible.
He is also the owner of Tesla, a manufacturer of high-end electric cars. The company also functions as a renewable energy laboratory and develops other projects such as photovoltaic panels and solar installations.
Musk considers himself a visionary and has invested heavily in projects for the future. He has founded the company Neuralink to investigate the functioning of the brain and develop artificial intelligence applications in our daily lives, and has also created Halcyon Molecular to develop drugs that can slow down aging and lengthen life.
Despite allocating millions of dollars to scientific research, many criticize that this money would have a greater impact if it were dedicated to solving current problems such as poverty, malnutrition or pollution. Experts also point out that most of Musk's fortune is in the form of shares in companies, so he does not pay taxes on assets or properties (money that would directly affect the public budget and social welfare).