Why Elon Musk’s Twitter move is supercharging the Big Tech debate – Fox News

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When it comes to influencing the national conversation, driving news coverage and letting people beat up on each other, Twitter punches way above its weight.

I used to say Twitter was the new AP, but thats far too limited a description. The loudest voices on the social media network may be liberal elites and other activists, but it is, as a certain richest man in the world says, the new public square.

And thats why the ideologically charged debate over Twitters obvious shortcomings is so crucial. The stakes are enormous.

My own feelings on the addictive appits vital, its fun, and too often a toxic sewerpale in comparison to the conservative anger against the Big Tech outlet. And many on the Right are downright excited that Elon Musk just bought himself a seat on the board.

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In becoming Twitters largest shareholder by buying 9 percent of its stock, for under $3 billion, Musk even got the CEO to praise him as the companys "intense critic." What management is hoping, of course, is that he doesnt mount a takeover bid.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk reacts at a post-launch news conference after the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., March 2, 2019. (REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo)

Former chief executive Jack Dorsey has admitted that the staff is left-leaning, and it isnt hard to decipher why conservatives feel dissed and shadow-banned.

Exhibit A, above all, is the permanent ban on Donald Trump. Congressional Republicans such as Lauren Boebert are already urging Musk to reinstate Trump, though at the moment he doesnt have the power to do so.

And then theres the outrageous decision in 2020 to ban any sharing of the New York Post report on Hunter Bidens laptopwhich Dorsey admitted was a mistake. The story has now belatedly been confirmed by The New York Times and The Washington Post. Now its deemed kosher for public discussion.

Conservatives, and others, also admire Musk as the entrepreneur who founded both Tesla and SpaceX.

Politicos Jack Shafer calls Musk "the anti-media media mogul. Most vanity press moguls praise the media. Musk mostly damns." Indeed, he loves to wage online warfare, but he also has a Trumpian knack for tweeting all kinds of thoughts, such as comparing Justin Trudeau to a certain 1930s German dictator, then adding, "An evolutionary asymmetry helpful to survive, but counterproductive when survival is not at stake."

Elon Musk declared hes "not perverted enough to be on CNN" as the liberal network struggles through a series of embarrassing scandals. (REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo)

The other night, acting like hes already in charge, Musk posted a poll asking users whether Twitter should allow them to edit their messages, which is now verboten.

Musk, who has 80 million followers, is promising big changes, and just last week he said Twitter is "failing to adhere to free speech principles," which "undermines democracy." Hes also asked, "Why is the traditional media such a relentless hatestream"?

That brings us to the key 280 characters or so. The liberal view, as reflected in a Washington Post news story, is that"some inside Twitter worry Musk may push Twitter in a libertarian direction, away from blocking or restricting accounts that cause social harm."

The conundrum, which Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg also regularly faces, is that many on the Left want more active content moderation to block lies, harassment and bullying. But many othersand not only left-wingersfear this leads to censorship and blatant bias based on amorphous standards.

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For my money, Musk is the most interesting CEOand maybe the most interesting dudeon the planet. Who else is talking about living on Mars, challenged Vladimir Putin to physical combat over Ukraine, smoked dope with Joe Rogan, announced on "SNL" that he has Aspergers, and is the worlds richest person to boot? Not to mention that his girlfriend is Grimes, who drew flak for telling Vanity Fair that at times he "lives below the poverty line" and wouldnt buy her a new mattress.

FILE PHOTO: Tesla Inc. founder Elon Musk speaks in Hawthorne, California, U.S. December 18, 2018. (Robyn Beck/Pool via REUTERS//File Photo)

There may well be a personal motive in the Twitter move as well. Four years ago, Musk settled fraud charges with the SEC after tweeting that he was thinking of taking Tesla privatehe claimed it was a jokeand had to step down as chairman and obtain advance approval for tweets. Last month he went to court to scrap the settlement.

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If you want to get a sense of Musks political leanings, try this, from a (real) interview with the Babylon Bee:

"At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It basically gives mean people a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue."

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No wonder the anti-wokesters are rooting for the mercurial Musk.

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Why Elon Musk's Twitter move is supercharging the Big Tech debate - Fox News