Before he acquired Twitter in October, Elon Musk had defined the social network as the town square of our time, the place where opinion makers and trendsetters meet and where the issues on the day's agenda and the subjects average citizens care about are determined and parsed.
One reasons he paid $44 billion for the platform was to make it a center for free speech. He has called himself a free-speech absolutist. For Musk Twitter 1.0 had become an enemy of free speech because the company had implemented safeguards against both hate speech and misinformation.
Twitter 2.0, that is, Twitter under Musk's control, was to eliminate these guardrails.
Twitter Is Hurting Financially; Musk Has a Dilemma
On this last point Musk kept his word -- but Twitter 2.0 paid dearly for this decision.
Many advertisers stopped promoting their products and services on the platform for fear of seeing their brands associated with hate speech. Musk in March admitted that Twitter had lost half its advertisers.
The financial cost of the laissez-faire approach has risen as subscriptions haven't really taken off, a huge setback for Musk, who was counting on a revamp of Blue, Twitter's subscription service, to reduce the firm's dependence on ads.
But seven months after his arrival, the tech mogul seems to have recognized a hard-to-swallow reality: Twitter needs advertisers. Twitter's market value has plunged to $14.4 billion based on the valuation of financial giant Fidelity's stake in the firm.
Musk recently appointed Linda Yaccarino as CEO. Yaccarino, who was chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal prior to joining Twitter, in a few days will take the helm from the techno king, as he's known at Tesla.
She faces the Herculean task of helping Twitter regain credibility with advertisers and restoring the lost trust and connection with them.
It is in this context that Musk had to make an important decision in the culture war, one of the battlegrounds of which is the social networks. Musk is a key arbiter in this new opposition between conservative values and progressive ideas.
He for several months has been right up front, saying that what he calls intolerance from the progressives has pushed him to the right. But as a business leader, the billionaire must also worry about the platform's bottom line.
He has thus just made a decision on a controversial subject, which satisfies half the conservatives and half the advertisers and the progressives.
The conservative website Daily Wire had reached an agreement with Twitter to broadcast a documentary called "What is a Woman?" This 95-minute documentary is a new attack from conservatives against trans activists.
The documentary suggests asking "the question you're not allowed to ask." Basically, the documentary's authors say they flush out what they call the agenda behind gender ideology, which attacks women and children.
They address issues of sex-reassignment surgery, puberty blockers, transgender youth, and transgender athletes in women's sports with the goal of defining a woman as an "adult human female." The film airs in early June, which is "Pride Month." The film is denounced by LGBTQ+ activists as transphobic.
Twitter and the 'What Is a Woman?' Film
Twitter labeled the film "misgendering" and "hateful," according to Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing.
"Twitter canceled a deal with @realdailywire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of “misgendering," Boreing posted on Twitter on June 1.
"I hope @elonmusk will reconsider this awful policy. If we can't debate these issues on Twitter, where can we debate them? If conservatives aren't welcome on Twitter, where are they welcome? It’s unlikely another centibillionaire will come along to offer an alternative."
Musk responded. He called the label attached to the film a "mistake," but he indicated that Twitter will not give great exposure to the film.
"This was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitely allowed," the billionaire said. "Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws. I should note that I do personally use someone’s preferred pronouns, just as I use someone’s preferred name, simply from the standpoint of good manners."
"However, for the same reason, I object to rude behavior, ostracism or threats of violence if the wrong pronoun or name is used."
Twitter Allows, Won't Recommend the Film
He continued:
"We’re updating the system tomorrow so that those who follow @realDailyWire will see this in their feed, but it won’t be recommended to non-followers (nor will any advertising be associated with it)."
When a Twitter user suggested: "The visibility issue prevents it from even being commented on at the moment. It should be sharable on timelines too."
Musk was clear: "Commenting & deliberate sharing will be allowed. Sensitive content just won’t be pushed to people unless they ask for it or a friend sends it to them."
Essentially, Musk is trying not to upset his millions of fans, who have made him a new conservative hero, while also trying not to scare away the advertisers that have remained loyal to Twitter.
The question is whether this decision will reassure the advertisers that had left and that Yaccarino will try to bring back.
It is also important to note that on the same day, Ella Erwin, the Twitter executive in charge of content moderation and policy, resigned.
As head of trust and safety, Irwin oversaw Twitter's response to all things hate speech and violence. Irwin, who arrived at Twitter in June 2022, was supposed to be a lieutenant of the billionaire. She has confirmed her resignation but did not say why she left.
