His entry into Twitter does not bode well.
(Photo: AP)
Wars are also waged on Twitter today. On Saturday evening, network users learned earlier than TV viewers or newspaper readers what obscene horror Russia’s army apparently left behind in Bucha. The Ukrainian military had released a video there entitled “New Srebrenica”, which soldiers had recorded driving through the Kiev suburb.
The tweet was the first domino in a chain that should at least lead to new sanctions. The case shows the great influence that Twitter exerts on the world public today. When the Russian or Ukrainian leaders want to get a message across, their first choice is Twitter. There they reach heads of government, business leaders and, above all, journalists who carry their messages out into the world.
There is hardly a more efficient PR channel today – also because it is still only laxly controlled.
This is a massive problem, especially in times of war. Twitter fails to give its users an objective picture. Conflicts are artificially exaggerated and emotionalized, users are rewarded for polarizing tweets. This can escalate quickly.
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When the management around CEO Parag Agrawal, who recently emphasized their “responsibility”, now assures in view of the war that they want to take a closer look, it seems almost cynical. False news, conspiracy theories and – especially in the case of Butscha – unbearable propaganda myths are still being spread on their platform. This is negligent.
Responsibility is a foreign word for Elon Musk
The entry of Elon Musk, who, as it became known on Monday, had secretly acquired more than nine percent of Twitter shares, gives no hope in this regard. The Tesla boss has never taken his responsibility so seriously. In the past he has criticized Twitter for obstructing free speech and thus “undermining democracy”.
That’s not even wrong. Twitter is indeed a threat to the cohesion of our society. The network was and is a playground for Russian trolls, i.e. accounts presumably filled by secret services who strive for the stability of western democracies.
It’s nice if the platform has “marked or deleted” “more than 50,000 pieces of content” as misleading since the outbreak of the war, as it boasted in mid-March. With more than 500 million tweets sent worldwide every day, this number is downright ridiculous.
Twitter is powerful, but not a success. The company suffers from a chronic management problem. Commercially, the network lags behind the competition. A confident CEO who takes his responsibilities seriously would now defend the political tool Twitter against the influence of a libertarian mess like Musk.
More: “Musk has big plans” – Tesla boss could fundamentally rebuild Twitter