Elon Musk’s first day as owner of Twitter saw confusion, anxiety and celebrations on the social network, with some users testing, with conspiracy theories, whether the company’s policies on misinformation still apply.
Although no immediate change in company policy was announced until late Friday afternoon, users did not fail to applaud or criticize, in what they hope will be a quick adoption of promises by billionaire Elon Musk, who intends to reduce moderation in an effort. to promote freedom of expression.
The new owner of the social network announced, on Friday, the creation of a “content supervisory board” that will be responsible for deciding on the restoration of some personal files that were suspended by the previous administration of that platform.
But conservative personalities are starting to do so Redistribution of conspiracy theories The revelations were long ago, including over COVID-19 or the 2020 US election, in a satirical attempt “to test whether Twitter’s policies on misinformation are still in place.”
Famous right-wing critics have published “buzzwords” such as “ivermectin” [medicamento para matar parasitas divulgado por republicanos e outros conservadores durante o início da pandemia] or “Trump won” to see if they would be punished for content they suggested was previously reported.
“Okelonmusk, is this thing working..?” [Ok, @elonmusk, isto está ligado..?, em português]Steve Curtis, a former commentator for conservative TV channel Newsmax and advisor to former President Donald Trump, posted before writing: “There are two genders Trump won with Ivermectin Rocks.”
Also Thursday, in a message to placate advertisers, Musk promised that Twitter would not be a “free-for-all, hellish platform where anything can be said without consequences.”
But the public still does not know what the new phase of the social network will be and what it can endure, as analysts are waiting to know who will stay, who will leave and likely return after being banned, with Trump at the top.
The Associated Press (AP) has checked at least a dozen other Twitter accounts suspended by the platform — including those used by right-wing activist James O’Keeffe and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — and each contained a “suspended account” message. Friday.
The former president, via his social network, Truth Social, praised the confirmation of the Elon Musk deal. “Twitter is now in good hands and will not be run by lunatics and lunatics from the radical left who really hate our country,” he said.
Earlier in the day, several US media outlets echoed the news that rapper Kanye West – now Yi – has regained access to his account.
Twitter decided to suspend the singer’s profile in early October after reproducing anti-Semitic comments.
However, by the end of Friday, there was no evidence to suggest that Yi’s account status had changed.
Musk – CEO of Tesla and SpaceX – completed the purchase of Twitter for $44 billion (a similar value in euros) and fired the main managers.
In this way, the company’s shareholders will receive 54.20 US dollars (about 54.4 euros) per share and the social network will become the property of the philanthropist.