How will Elon Musk buying Twitter affect Twitter and Crypto?
Elon Musk became the largest shareholder in Twitter, spending $2.9 billion to buy 9.2% of the social media company. He then filed an official bid with the SEC to buy Twitter for $43 billion, at a 38% premium (the current market cap of Twitter is around $34 billion). Being a pro-crypto entrepreneur and visionary, this has potentially far-reaching implications for cryptocurrency as a whole. Take note that all these are hypothetical scenarios that are nothing more than dubious speculations.
It is important to recognise that Elon Musk is probably not doing this as a business decision. Twitter is not profitable, as can be seen by their SEC filings. As such, there are many better financial investments for Elon Musk to make, and his offer to buy Twitter at a premium is perhaps a more ideologically-driven act.
Many crypto fans believe that Elon Musk can potentially bring elements of cryptocurrencies that are decentralised to the centralised platform of Twitter. Twitter is primarily used as a platform for dissemination of information and opinions. However, since Twitter is run by a centralised company under the control of the government, the posts on Twitter are regulated by a small number of people. As such, the type of information and the way of distribution of information on Twitter is controlled by the company. The structure of Twitter will be primarily for profit. However, these can all change, for better or for worse.
By integrating cryptocurrencies into a popular platform like Twitter, this will benefit both Twitter and cryptocurrencies in general.
Undeniably, with cryptocurrencies being integrated into Twitter (perhaps as a method of payment or tipping with crypto), the crypto industry will see a great increase in volume. Mind you, Twitter has 330 million monthly active users, which is more than the estimated total number of crypto users (about 295 million according to Crypto.com). As such, if cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or even Dogecoin (Elon’s favourite) become increasingly integrated into the platform, the sheer volume of new users onboarded will be immense.
Also, Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms and among the largest platforms for sharing news and opinions. If Twitter becomes open-source, anyone can propose changes to the algorithm, which if approved by the community, can be implemented. This allows Twitter to become more user-centred, where the community has control over how the news is distributed to users. It can potentially accelerate the development of the Twitter ecosystem, as intelligent minds all over the world can now make positive changes to Twitter.
The effect on free speech is a more hotly debated issue. Some believe that if Twitter is not under the influence of profit-driven companies and governmental bodies with political agendas, the information distributed on Twitter again be community-driven. News and opinions become unbiased and unaffected by political agendas of the company of Twitter, and allow users to voice out their own personal views and opinions. This censorship-resistant quality that is vital to cryptocurrencies can potentially attract people with different beliefs and agendas, bringing more freedom of speech to Twitter.
This does have some merits. Presently, the regulation of information is decided by Twitter’s board of directors and their employees. A small group of people decide which information should be taken down and which information should be propagated on Twitter. These behind-the-scenes decisions that are obscured from the community allow for censorship of information and may give rise to conspiracy, as conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro pointed out. Instead, the community should have the right to see these actions and participate in the decision-making of what information should be allowed to exist and what information should be removed.
Also, some forms of information require readers to have a grasp of cultural nuances and innuendos to fully understand. These forms of information may be easily misunderstood by regulators in Twitter or computer algorithms that detect potential violations to Twitter’s code of conduct. For instance, if someone made a joke with the word “kill”, the Tweet will probably be flagged out by Twitter’s algorithm which is not trained at detecting nuances and cultural contact. What about information that does not appear to violate Twitter’s code of conduct at first glance, but actually has connotations that target and harm different groups of people. If this information becomes overlooked by Twitter, that will make Twitter a breeding ground for discrete dissemination of dangerous information.
On the other hand, since Twitter’s user base have people from all walks of life, it stands to reason that each unique community in Twitter is more well-equipped at handling information regarding that community. Recognition and understanding of traditional contexts and nuances require years of cultural immersion, which may not be the case for Twitter’s group of regulators. Therefore, there are merits for the community to participate in the regulation of information on Twitter.
Notable Twitter suspensions include the temporary suspension of Nicki Minaj’s Twitter account for spreading misinformation regarding Covid-19 vaccines (is a suspension too harsh?). Of course, many agree and many disagree with these suspensions. But who has the right to make that decision? A small group of people who may be biased and profit-driven, or the community who are using the platform? Therefore, this lack of transparency and community control in Twitter’s present infrastructure can be changed with Musk’s Twitter takeover.
However, it is important to not be overly optimistic and have a more nuanced opinion. In many cases, having high-quality regulation of content is not only beneficial but necessary for effective free speech, and Twitter arguably has a team of well-trained professionals in place to do just that. In essence, regulation may not be directly hindering free speech and instead play an irreplaceable role in preventing perpetuation of “dangerous” speech, such as racism, harassment, extremist views and many more.
Additionally, these regulations allow for users to feel safe and protected when they voice their opinions. As of right now, Twitter allows for a pretty decent amount of freedom of speech already. So how much can a decentralised Twitter, where the community decides what is “safe” and what is “unsafe”, continue to provide the infrastructure for a safe and healthy environment of free speech?
Undeniably, Elon Musk’s bid to privatise Twitter, one of the largest platforms for news and opinions worldwide, can have huge aftereffects on Twitter and cryptocurrencies. Some will undoubtedly be beneficial to crypto and Twitter alike, while some may not be as positive as many may have hoped. Regardless, this event still shows the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency industry and the fact that crypto has become too big to ignore. Hopefully, this article has broken down some points of contention regarding this event with relation to crypto. Please share your thoughts and opinions about this event below.
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