Conflict of interest

Taking Twitter private will not help free speech

Elon Musk, who describes himself as a free speech absolutist, has made an unconventional attempt to take Twitter private. His rationale: Twitter can perpetuate free speech and reach its “true potential” only if it is a privately owned, unlisted entity.  Mr Musk suggests the platform should offer an edit feature (Twitter claims it’s been working on this for months); it should run on an open-source algorithm (users would then know why they are seeing whatever is displayed on their personal feed); have no ads (removing the major revenue stream); less content moderation; and a higher bar for deleting offensive tweets.