Okay, okay, we all know that Mr. Elon Musk has been around the business scene for a long time. In fact, many of his former associates and business partners have noted that he doesn’t always appear as the person his Tweets paint him to be. Sure, he has said and continues to say some pretty nutty stuff, some of which has garnered the ire of people and organizations that you otherwise wouldn’t want, but when it comes to business, the man has his own rhythm.

The Only Classic Left

Simply put, what Musk says and what he does are often very different things, which is essential to note, especially when assessing the direction he’s taking for Twitter. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton recently met with Musk to discuss all the recent management changes at the company, along with its future alignment with the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), which does include several provisions around content moderation and user safety. If Musk wants Twitter to remain in operation in the EU, he has to comply with these demands. 

Bretton says that Musk adhered to making the company commit to these rules, which could potentially impact his broader “free speech” approach. While the path to Twitter 2.0 remains a tad bit murky, and though it has stopped enforcing its COVID misinformation policy, its rules around hate and harm remain intact.

In his approach, Musk seems to try to appeal to both sides, easing up on suspensions and removals, and instead focusing on reducing offensive Tweets and comments, which is enough to meet the DSA requirements at least. This involves having to comply with the regulatory guidelines of the respective Google and Apple app stores. Musk is essentially stuck in a rut because he really can’t have a full-blown free-speech movement on Twitter unless he really wants to put the company in a pickle against larger regulatory bodies. 

There’s also talk about how Musk is using the notion of free speech simply to boost engagement. Earlier this week, Musk posted a meme after calling Apple out for scaling back its Twitter ad spend. He later removed it knowing that he was actually the one on the receiving end of that joke, revealing that he’s actually more opposed to paying Apple’s 30% app store fee than he is to its rules, per se. Musk is wise enough to know that free speech arguments also bring with them a lot of clout and often, negative press, so he’s also using this as a proxy to try and bypass Apple’s would-be 30% cut from Twitter Blue subscriptions.

The Wrap

Perhaps most of us jumped the gun in judging how Elon was essentially driving Twitter into the ground. In reality, he’s an accomplished businessman with impressive strategic acumen. He’s a definite advocate for free speech, but he also knows that he has to play within the rules if he wants to keep the company running. He’ll appease potential investors, supporters, and lawmakers because he knows he needs them. At the same time, his often controversial and outlandish Tweets give Twitter a lot of attention, which is basically free PR. Let’s change our perspective about Elon Musk and start looking at his strategies using more dynamic lenses – he’s more than he makes himself out to be.

Sources 

https://bit.ly/3VvqRoo