> Twitter changes ahead
What’s expected from new chief Elon Musk?
HOW MIGHT TWITTER change following its acquisition by the world’s wealthiest individual, Elon Musk?
Several senior executives have left, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and chairman of the board Bret Taylor, among others, but culls of management are standard in such takeovers. It is unknown whether there will be wider layoffs, although sources close to Musk say he may axe “projects that aren’t going anywhere.”
The acquisition cost Musk $44bn, $13bn of which is a debt that Twitter will now need to service, so it needs to turn its finances around. The company currently reports “negative cashflow” of more than $120m, and has only about 240m accounts active daily, compared with nearly two billion on Facebook. So Musk needs it to grow fast, increase revenues, cut costs, or all three.
Musk has spoken about expanding the platform in new directions, or even making Twitter “the app for everything” — possibly along the lines of Chinese app WeChat, which covers a whole raft of services including messaging, social media, mobile payments, and food orders. With over 1.2bn monthly active users, it is the world’s most widely used single app.
It would require plenty of money and tech expertise to develop Twitter into such an app. In the shorter term, Musk said he wants to cull fake accounts and make Twitter more open. Describing himself as a “free–speech absolutist,” he has argued for less moderation, as well as the reinstatement of banned accounts, such as that of former US President Donald Trump.
However, advertisers have become uneasy about their ads appearing next to unregulated hate speech or misinformation, and more than 90% of Twitter’s revenue currently comes from advertising. General Motors, the largest auto maker in the US, suspended its advertising on the platform while it assesses the direction of travel.
Musk moved quickly to reassure nervous advertisers, saying “Twitter obviously cannot become a free–for–all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.” He announced that Twitter is establishing a content moderation council including “widely diverse viewpoints,” and “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
Finally, any reforms will face an array of regulatory hurdles. “The bird is free,” Musk tweeted, announcing the acquisition. EU digital commissioner Thierry Breton pointedly responded: “In Europe, the bird will fly by our rules.”