Elon Musk overhaul of Twitter signals significant changes ahead

On October 27, 2022, Elon Musk closed the $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter and thus takes over one of the world’s most influential social media LL platforms at the helm as its richest man. Musk wasted no time stamping his mark on Twitter, announcing his intention to loosen content moderation policies and the nature of Twitter, turning it into an ‘everything app’ based on user growth and free speech principles.

Musk’s Changes Signal a New Era for Twitter

When he took over Twitter (now X), he sacked the board of directors and became the sole director. Then he fired top executives at Twitter, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. That cleared the leadership ranks for Musk to put his own team in.

What does this mean for the future of Twitter? Musk has said repeatedly that Twitter should allow any speech that is legal, and should be the world’s digital town square for debate and discussion. He plans to form a “content moderation council” to oversee future policy, but has otherwise said that he intends to revert bans and allow suspended accounts back onto Twitter.

The early moves since Musk officially took over Twitter indicate that major change is coming:

• Content moderation and banning policies will be greatly relaxed under Musk’s watch
• Political speech and “trolling” that was previously banned may be allowed again
• Musk aims to shift Twitter’s ideology towards absolute free speech rights
• User growth, not revenue or safety, is likely to become Twitter’s key metric
• Advertisers might cut back if contentious material explodes on the network

For Twitter’s millions of daily users as well as their past messages, this new path will have major ramifications. Although Twitter has softened its policy, it is still the reason why many people have lost their reputations and become canceled. If you have questionable tweets and want to save your reputation, you should consider ‘delete all my tweets’ as soon as possible.

What Happens to Your Old Tweets Now

Under Musk, Twitter is likely to become a more chaotic place than it has been in recent years. That opens the door for a wave of previously exiled users to come back, and the company could revoke lifetime bans on suspended accounts. He has also proposed giving suspended accounts that have not infringed the law “amnesty”.

This raises questions about what will happen to years of old tweets from users:

Previously Banned Users May Return

• Accounts banned for repeat violations of Twitter’s old rules may be reinstated
• Instead, these users would regain access to years of their old tweets before their suspension
• Banned from Twitter in January 2021, Donald Trump returned thanks to relaxed policies and a close relationship with Elon Musk

Trolling and Harassment May Increase

• With moderation down, abuse and trolling could proliferate on the network
• Users may experience harassment in response threads on past civil benign tweets
• Comment sections could be overflowing with nasty messages,even on years-old tweets

Under Twitter’s 2022 policy, hateful conduct was banned on the platform. Musk has said, however, that he thinks all legal speech should be permitted, implying the policy may be undone.

Old Tweets Could Be Weaponized

• Unchecked past inflammatory tweets could come back to cause fresh indignation
• Quotes and screenshots from users’ tweet histories could be used against them
• Damaging old tweets could be deliberately amplified more easily without moderation

Twitter aimed to balance free speech with user safety under its previous regime. Under Musk, that balance is tipped sharply towards free speech, meaning past unwise tweets that may have been buried could now be dug up or go viral.

What Can Users Do About Old Tweets

The policy changes Elon Musk makes will reshape the Twitter landscape drastically, taking control of tweets away from users and corporate moderators. So what options do individuals have regarding their old tweets in this new era?

Delete Old Tweets

• Twitter has a built-in feature allowing bulk deletion of old tweets
• Be aware doing so may break up conversational threads
• Best for pruning one-off outdated tweets that could cause issues

Mass deleting tweets allows people wipe their online record, but it also removes context around past interactions with other accounts. It may be necessary for some, but indiscriminate deleting erases your contribution to discussions.

Make Accounts Private

• Lock the account so only approved followers can view tweets
• Helps shield casual visitors from seeing your tweets
• Old public tweets remain public unless mass-deleted

Making your Twitter account private limits the visibility of your incoming tweets. However, it does not protect years of existing public tweets, which remain viewable through search engines and direct links.

Use Third-Party Archive Sites

• Export tweet history to sites like Thread Reader App
• Allows you to store a searchable personal record
• Does not prevent old public tweets from recirculating

Archiving tweets rather than deleting them preserves your contributions for personal reflection while removing them from the main Twitter ecosystem. But it does not prevent old tweets you regret from being screenshotted or quoted by others.

Deactivate or Delete Account

• Removes all tweeted content from Twitter servers
• Erases your share of public conversations
• Past tweets may still be archived by third parties

Deactivating your Twitter account temporarily hides tweeted content and username from search results. Permanently deleting your account clears all associated tweet history from Twitter’s platform. However, external sites may retain records of your public Twitter history.

What Happens Next – Musk’s Vision for Twitter

Elon Musk envisions Twitter as the digital town square for free speech – an open platform welcoming legal debate and discussion. In the end, he wants Twitter to become the most accurate source of knowledge regarding the events in the globe and the market of ideas.

Still, there are many unresolved issues regarding how Musk will reconcile his free speech philosophy with his legal commitments, advertising income and retention of current Twitter users. The path forward is highly uncertain.

Loosening Content Moderation

Musk is adamantly against outright bans or suspensions on legal free speech grounds. He most certainly will substantially relax Twitter’s rules on behavior, hate speech, and false information. For some people, this could rapidly make Twitter a more dangerous place. Having advertisements next to contentious tweet content could cause advertisers to object, therefore endangering Twitter’s revenue model.

Shifting to Algorithmic Ranking

Musk wants Twitter to rank content on the quality of tweets themselves using algorithms rather than amplify outrage and negativity to drive engagement. It could make trolls who want to start a fight. Less visible algorithmic ranking has its knotty problems of bias, accuracy, and gaming, which is the system that Twitter must navigate, but it’s here to stay.

Authenticating All Users

Musk also wants to authenticate every human user on Twitter while permitting pseudonymous accounts that don’t use real names. That would help tamp down artificially inflated follower counts and clean things up across the platform. But verifying hundreds of millions of users is a monumental undertaking in terms of logistics.

Becoming an “Everything App”

Musk’s ultimate goal is to make Twitter the app you open all day long – an everything app like China’s WeChat. Some of the features he has suggested include digital payments, ride-hailing coordination and news aggregation. Doubts abound as to whether Twitter’s core competencies can reach into these areas. However, Musk wants to make Twitter’s website traffic a suite of services that allows users to spend hours on Twitter, not minutes.

Final Thoughts

Elon Musk seeks to transform Twitter into a one-stop digital town square welcoming all legal speech. He believes opening Twitter’s platform will make public debate healthier and strengthen democracy. However, some worry that looser rules could erode civility and allow the spread of misinformation, extremism, or real-world harm to spread virally.

If past controversies resurface when old tweets are reinstated, they could come back to haunt users under Musk’s ownership in new ways. For those concerned, now may be the time to review your Twitter history and tighten account privacy settings. Musk’s intention is to relax moderation, therefore, users will probably have to use greater caution and judgment over their own tweets in Twitter’s erratic new phase.

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