Twitter's First Post-Musk Blog Claims 'None Of Our Policies Have Changed'
Twitter's first official blog since Elon Musk's takeover of the platform has just gone live, and it comes with some surprising information. Most surprising, at least to us, is that apparently "none of [Twitter's] policies have changed."
Let's be blunt for a moment — At first glance, Twitter using an official organ to say "none of our policies have changed" since the Elon Musk takeover looks like a lie. Musk's acquisition of Twitter has caused a wide variety of organizational changes, from a new "vox populi, vox Dei" decision-making process based on open polls to fresh employment expectations that caused the resignation of thousands of employees.
In fact, there's more nuance to the situation. Understanding it requires a deeper look at Twitter's business model, past the Sturm und Drang of the endlessly memeable Elon Musk. What the most recent Twitter blog is saying isn't a lie; it's reassurance for the platform's most important stakeholders.
Change in the house of Musk
Understanding the most recent Twitter Blog post requires an answer to a surprisingly tricky question: How does Twitter make money?
The short answer to that question is "advertising." Per Investopedia, advertising is by far the service's main source of income, representing about 89% of Twitter's revenue.
That creates a dilemma. As a public figure, Elon Musk has an image to cultivate, that of an iconoclastic outsider transforming a static, unhealthy business culture. As CEO and sole shareholder of Twitter, he needs a stable, comfortable digital space for users to consume ads. Thus far he's been unsuccessful at the latter. Advertisers have deserted Twitter in droves; over half of the service's top clients have bailed since Musk's takeover.
The first blog post of Twitter 2.0, therefore, focuses on the elephant in Twitter's digital room: its post-Musk spike in hate speech, trolling, and general toxic nonsense. As Gizmodo reports, that's what's driving advertisers off the platform. The blog details Twitter's content moderation strategy, reassuring readers that, despite the change in ownership and Musk's own trumpeting of free speech, people who speak in unprofitable ways will continue to get booted off the platform.
In that sense, Twitter policy really hasn't changed. The platform's take on hate speech, trolling, and everything else it terms "violative content" is what it's always been: de-amplify, demonetize, ban. In Musk's own words, Twitter won't become a "free-for-all hellscape" of unmoderated speech on his watch.