What Elon Musk's Twitter takeover means for charities

Elon Musk is the world’s richest person, with a net worth of $255 billion (and rising). On 25 April 2022, Twitter’s board of directors accepted Musk’s offer of $44 billion for total control of the company.

 

The deal is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. But if and when it’s completed, Twitter will become a private company – something that Musk says must happen in order for it to undergo the changes needed to unlock the platform’s ‘tremendous potential’.

 

And what could those changes include? It is likely that it will include enhancing the platform with new features (including an edit button), open source algorithms, authenticating human users, and promoting freedom of speech. 

 

 

Freedom of speech

 

Musk regards himself as a ‘free speech absolutist’, Tweeting: "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."

 

The potential easing of content moderation levels has raised fears about incitements of violence and hatred growing on the platform, along with the question of banned accounts, such as Donald Trump’s, being brought back. (Though Trump now has his own social media platform, Truth Social, and returning to Twitter would show it to be a failure.)

 

If loosening content moderation does lead to increased hate speak, charity brands will need to think carefully about whether they want to be associated with the platform.

 

An MIT study in 2018 found that on Twitter misinformation spread faster than real news and for the past few years Twitter has been working to clean up its act. But more lenient content moderation could lead to greater spread of misinformation and disinformation.

 

This is something Greenpeace promptly highlighted on Instagram just a few days after Musk’s deal broke the news. This means that charities of all causes may have to work harder to get their messages across, in particular environmental charities who may have to increase their efforts to combat climate change deniers.

 

 

Human authentication

 

Musk stated his intention in ‘defeating the spam bots’ – something which Twitter has an issue with, particularly around promoting cryptocurrency scams.

 

To do that, all real humans would be authenticated and have their accounts linked to a phone number, email address, or photo, for example.

 

But there’s an argument that by removing user anonymity, marginalised groups could be put at risk and freedom of speech hampered. 

 

 

Open source algorithms

 

Which Tweets you see in your feed is dependent on complex algorithms. One of Musk’s changes may be to make these algorithms open source, meaning that users know the decision making behind what they see.

 

While this could help to build trust in the site, it’s a massively complex and complicated task.

 

 

Edit button

 

When Musk asked his followers if they’d like an edit button on Twitter, 73.6% said yes. That was before his bid, and since the poll Twitter confirmed they were already working on one.

 

At a practical level, an edit button would mean that users could change Tweets after they’d been posted. This could be helpful for clearing up typos or errors without losing any replies, or traction from retweets or likes (and especially useful for charities Tweeting frequently with more margin for error).

 

But the bigger picture means it could muddy the waters in terms of transparency, by enabling people to rewrite conversations or change quotes after others have supported or retweeted them.

 

 

Users leaving the platform

 

Musk’s potential changes to Twitter could lead to a significant fall in number of users. It’s been reported that already tens of thousands of users have left the platform, with Barack Obama losing 300,000 followers since Musk’s takeover was announced. So, for charities, fewer users means fewer eyes seeing their Tweets.

 

Furthermore, in a deleted Tweet Musk suggested a subscription model may be put in place where users pay monthly and will see no adverts, meaning again, a smaller audience seeing adverts.

 

Regardless of whether Twitter sees further significant fall in users, the key for charities is to focus on the platforms that their audiences use the most – ignoring any excitement about newcomers or existing platforms. Charities need to be where their supporters are, not where the hype is.

 

Equally, it’s really important for fundraising not to rely on any one platform. Using a selection of platforms means not focusing on any singular income stream and so reducing risk.

 

 

And a final note…

 

While these elements are potentially on Musk’s wish-list, it’s worth noting that he won’t necessarily be able to put them all into action. He faces a rigorous regulatory environment and pressure from governments worldwide, let alone facing tough internal battles within Twitter itself.