Elon Musk says he’s seriously considering creating a new social media platform, but why is he so unhappy with existing platforms like Twitter?
Billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he’s seriously considering creating a new social media platform. While established social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram remain popular, they have been defeated by complaints of bias by people from all sides of the political spectrum.
While some believe that the existing social media platforms are not doing enough to stop the spread of fake news and misinformation, others claim that they’re hampering free speech with too much regulation and too many rules about what can and cannot be said. So while almost everybody agrees that the existing social media platforms are not doing a good job, it’s not clear if there’s a real appetite among users for a new platform to go up against the likes of Twitter and Facebook.
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Musk on Saturday said that he was “giving serious thought” to launching a new social media network. He was answering a tweet from Indian software developer Pranay Pathole, who had asked Musk whether he would consider building a new social media platform with an open-source algorithm. One where free speech is given top priority and propaganda is kept at a minimum. Musk did not elaborate on his plans, but developments over the past week suggest that he has been singularly unhappy about the functioning of the existing social media platforms, especially Twitter.
Am giving serious thought to this
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2022
Will Musk Launch A New Social Media Network?
The exchange between Musk and Pathole comes a few days after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO conducted multiple online polls on the functioning of Twitter and whether it is doing everything in a transparent manner. The saga started March 24, when Musk conducted an online poll on Twitter, asking his followers whether the Twitter algorithm should be open-sourced. More than 82 percent of 1.1 million voters approved of the proposal. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey didn’t take kindly to Musk’s suggestion, tweeting “the choice of which algorithm to use (or not) should be open to everyone.”
Undeterred, Musk followed up the initial poll with a new one later in the week, asking his followers whether Twitter is upholding free speech on the platform. “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully,” he said. More than two million people voted, and 70 percent agreed that Twitter has failed to uphold free speech in its truest form. Buoyed by the responses, Musk then asked what should be done since Twitter has failed in its duty to uphold free speech. “Is a new platform needed?” he asked saturday. While some users joked about going back to MySpace, others urged Musk to do something about it. As it turns out Elon Musk now says he is seriously considering launching his own social media network, but it remains to be seen what comes of it in the end.
Source: Elon Musk/Twitter (1, 2, 3, 4), Pranay Pathole/Twitter, Jack Dorsey/Twitter
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