Elon Musk announced in a Friday tweet that he plans to create a “council” specifically for content moderation in order to better ensure that certain viewpoints are not silenced or suppressed by Twitter staff.
“Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.” Musk tweeted, “No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
Musk’s comment comes a day after a statement claiming to be from former President Donald Trump made the rounds on the internet, saying that the former President’s Twitter account would be reinstated.
“I have been told that my account will be back up and running on Monday – we will see,” the statement said in part. That statement was falsified, although Trump did later respond on his Truth Social platform.
“I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country,” the post said. “Twitter must now work hard to rid itself of all of the bots and fake accounts that have hurt it so badly. It will be much smaller, but better. I LOVE TRUTH!”
Musk’s first few days as CEO of Twitter have been eventful, after he fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust and safety, and the company’s general counsel Sean Edgett, The Washington Post reported. Musk also allegedly laid off an entire team of data engineers among other now-former Twitter employees.
Musk’s purchase of the company was finalized on Thursday evening, and the company’s stock was purchased for $54.20 per share, according to Business Insider.
Musk visited the company’s San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday, bringing a bathroom sink into the building with him and posting a video of the moment with the caption, “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!” He changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit” and his location to “Twitter HQ.”
Musk released a statement in the morning, giving his explanation for why he wanted to buy Twitter.
“I wanted to reach out personally to share my motivation in acquiring Twitter,” Musk wrote. “There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising. Most of it has been wrong.”
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk continued. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
“In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost,” Musk continued. “That is why I bought Twitter. I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility.”
“That said, Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” Musk concluded. “In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.”
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