Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter Inc for $44 billion in cash. This will give the world’s richest individual control of the social media network, which is used by millions of people and world leaders.
Musk has the approval of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, but liberal activists have pointed out that the focus now will be on awareness and profit rather than supporting healthy online dialogues.
Since his deal to acquire Twitter became public, Musk has posted a number of tweets and responses indicating how he plans to make changes to the platform’s core product. One aspect that Musk talked about is the need to “document” all human beings.
In fact, even before the deal was formalized, Musk tweeted that he would try to defeat spambots and also validate all humans.
Now in a new tweet, the Tesla chief has indicated that there will be some balance when it comes to authenticating users versus maintaining anonymity.
Musk was responding to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s tweet saying he hoped the platform would insist that users now rely on their real names.
Huckabee wrote:
“I hope @elonmusk will insist that all Twitter stickers use their real names and not be keyboard cowards hiding behind silly secondary screen names. Be man enough or woman enough (even if you know what that is) to stand by what you say!” If you can’t have it, don’t say so.”
Authentication is important, but so is anonymity for many. A balance must be struck.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2022
The co-founder of Tesla responded, “Authentication is important, but anonymity is also important for many. A balance needs to be struck.” It is not clear how he intends to achieve this balance.
For example, many users run spoof accounts on the platform and do not wish to reveal their names because revealing their identities could expose them to attacks on and off platforms. Some use anonymous accounts to take over oppressive regimes, major corporations, etc. For some Twitter users, privacy is important, as it ensures protection against the wrath of the state in many cases. It should also be noted that not all so-called anonymous accounts are involved in the harassment. Many choose to remain anonymous for safety reasons, etc.
Here are some comments from folks online:
“Anonymity is necessary for a lot of people to be able to exercise free speech. Therefore a platform that does not guarantee anonymity for the speakers cannot truly be a free speech one”
“There can be 3 tiers. Blue tick: accounts of public interest Yellow tick Authenticated: Public identity verified Authenticated-anonymous: Authenticated on the back end, anonymous in the front Then a choice to allow full anon. Restrict posting for less than 1 yr old accts”
““Maybe you could let everyone who wants to get authenticated, give those people higher algorithm placement, special privs, ONLY allow those people to be part of determining trending topics, etc. That’d reward authentication & punish botnets while still allowing anonymity”
“When I lived in China, they’d just started all the ‘real name online’ nonsense. A few years later, they now have their Social Credit System. If they don’t like your post, your score goes down, and that could affect your ability to travel or even buy property. No thank you,”
“Yes! Some people with large accounts have to use burners because using a verified account to talk on certain issues is risky in this current climate of oversensitivity”
Sources: Conservativebrief, Business-standard, Americanthinker