TWITTER IS ALREADY A DANGEROUS SPACE. IN THE HANDS OF MUSK, A WEALTHY MAN WITH A HISTORY OF WILD IDEAS, THERE IS NO KNOWING HOW IT MIGHT MUTATE FURTHER

managed to build rockets at a fraction of the average cost. Two years ago, his company SpaceX displaced NASA (America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration) as the world’s largest rockets supplier by number; in a further twist, NASA is now one of SpaceX’s biggest customers.

A thread that binds all of Musk’s narratives is the determination to never be average, and to fearlessly define what he wants. He realises that his purpose as an outlier is to push boundaries. It’s what makes people like him rare. It’s what makes people like him change the world.

So why do I want his bid for Twitter to fail? Because some things don’t belong with an outlier. Social media platforms are already dangerous spaces. They are hotbeds of abuse and slander, lies and political machination, all in the guise of free speech.

The founders of these platforms, particularly Facebook and Twitter, have gained the kind of power that heads of state now look upon with envy. In the hands of a very wealthy man with a history of wild ideas, there is no knowing how Twitter might mutate further.

“I don’t care about the economics at all,” Musk told technology magazine Recode recently, when asked about his plans for the company. That doesn’t sound good, given that there is still no sign of what he cares for instead.

We have already had a front-row seat to just how much a single app can shape history. I wouldn’t want that app to be run by a maverick, especially one who still won’t tell us what happened to those pigs.

The writer is co-founder at Founding Fuel &

co-author of The Aadhaar Effect