Elon Musk Spoke At TED Thursday About Twitter. Here Are the Key Takeaways

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Elon Musk talks at TED the same day he offered to buy social media platform Twitter.


TED

Elon Musk had a busy Thursday. In the morning, the Tesla CEO announced his offer to buy social media platform Twitter for $43 billion in cash, and in the afternoon he gave an interview at TED to discuss what he wants to do with the microblogging site if he acquired it. One change he wants to see on the platform is opening up its algorithm. 

“One of the things that I believe Twitter should do is open source the algorithm,” Musk said. “Any changes to people’s tweets — if they’re emphasized or de-emphasized — that action should be made apparent… So there’s there’s no sort of behind the scenes manipulation, either algorithmically or manually.”

Later, Musk said the algorithm should be posted somewhere like software development hosting platform GitHub, allowing people who see an issue or an error to highlight it and suggest a change.

Musk also said there should be very little moderation of what can and can’t be said on Twitter, calling the platform the “de-facto town square.”

“I think it’s very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech,” he said. “In my view, Twitter should match the laws of the country. And really, you know, there’s an obligation to do that.”

Musk was referring to free speech protections under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, though that only applies to government censorship of speech. Twitter, as a company, determines what can be posted on its platforms, requires users to agree to terms of service when they sign up and can remove people who break its rules.

Musk reiterated that he didn’t have all the answers throughout the course of the interview, but also suggested that permanent bans from the platform should be used very sparingly. 

CNET has reached out to Elon Musk for further comment. CNET is updating this story.


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source: cnet.com