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The bird is out of the cage

 No price is big enough to have an unfettered voice. But $44 Billion to use Twitter as a personal megaphone is the limit. There are some who welcome Elon Musk buying Twitter as he is all for allowing unmoderated messaging on the world's most popular common digital town square. Social media, and before that internet, ushered in the most democratic digital space for humanity. Old media was all about mediated communication, the new media would be different and allow anyone with anything to say a free voice. Slowly, but surely, politicians of all hues and interest groups started to highjack the social media for their own narrow ends. Yes, now and then, we did have the Jasmine Revolution and Black Lives Matter campaigns enabled by and through social media. But one also saw extremist organisations and groups deluge the platforms with hate and personal attacks. Ultimately, social media, and in particular Twitter is a media platform and it is us, the people, who give it character and substance. 

Should Twitter be free of control? A big yes. Should Twitter afford hatemongers and extremists the opportunity to set the agenda? A big no. Only by staying neutral can Twitter provide for a free and democratic public sphere. Elon Musk is not neutral. He is a businessman and he is political. His ideology is there for everyone to see- good thing, it is not hidden. It is not a liberal ideology and that is what is frightening to many. Everyone has a right to take sides politically but if the media platform is also owned by the same person then it becomes his master's voice. It looses its neutrality and independence. It will become a magnet for the purveours of right-wing ideology. They will naturally have a greater voice and that will result in the suppression and finally the loss of moderate stance. 

The week after taking charge of Twitter, Elon Musk has shown both brashness and intolerance to criticism. Action speaks louder than words is how we will judge the new management of Twitter. So far it has been dissapoing to say the least. One can only hope that even for the richest man, a loss of $44 Billion will matter ultimately. Because it looks like Elon Musk is driving Twitter to its bankrupcy and final doom.

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