The consequences for politics are literally the only thing that matters here. Even if Musk doesn't intend to reinstate Trump's account (and certainly, nothing he's said indicates he wouldn't do that), the second he controls Twitter he will be under enormous pressure to do so. If he declines to do so, it will be damaging to his business with government. If he agrees to do so, there will be a huge amount of public discontent with Musk and his companies.
Worse, from that point on everything that happens as a result will be on Musk and his companies. There won't be any more repercussions for powerful politically-motivated speakers, even if they explicitly call for violence. This will motivate extreme behavior and extreme responses. Boycotts for Tesla and Starlink (whose customers almost certainly tip liberal) will absolutely be on the table.
Even if you personally love Musk, the success of his consumer-facing businesses depends on broad adoption by consumers. That's all at risk now. CEOs of this kind of business may have politics, but they traditionally avoid political firestorms because of these concerns. Musk is obviously rich enough that he doesn't care, but his shareholders probably should.
Literally the only people that care about any of that, are the ones deep lost in the Twitter funnel. Here's the truth: Whatever happens on Twitter, it's going to have zero effect on your personal life. All these 140 character blurps about politics, the virtue signaling, the constant anger, outrage and cancel culture, it has melted people brains. It's all just an echo chamber, tightly kept in within bounds, and people will sell their soul, define their inner being, say whatever it takes, for bogus dopamine hits. Nobody has morals or ideology on Twitter, they are all just optimizing for likes.
It's only "US-centric" if you include its vassal states in the definition, more correct to say "West-centric view" probably.
That's of course assuming these things aren't happening on Twitter in other spheres (which would be an interesting data point - it would indicate that it may not be something intrinsic to the format, but with current issues in Western culture).
How large is Twitters non-Western user base anyways, in percentages?
I was recently looking at the payment options for a M3 RWD and have actually paused everything last week when the first Twitter news came out, because that's exactly where my mind went too.
If this whole move ends up with trump reinstated, I just cannot support any of his companies with my money, ever. And I'll do what I can to dissuade colleagues if their values align with mine.
I currently live in Germany, where German cars are very common, but yeah, I was trying NOT to give money to a German car manufacturer already before Ukraine got invaded, because they have immense influence on the local government and are to (co-)blame for the sad delay in adopting EV and government incentives (and when incentives come out, they try to structure them to exclude Tesla as much as possible). Plus the diesel scandals.
I guess I'll wait and see. But wanting an EV, not wanting something as small as a Zoe, or too expensive, and hating SUVs (I know, I know, too many conditions), it's hard to find an alternative. I may have to settle for an ID.3 or a Cupra if Tesla is no longer an option.
For the record, I currently do have a German car - bought it used, 12ish years.
> If he declines to do so, it will be damaging to his business with government.
How would failing to reinstate Trump's account be damaging to his business with the government? Wouldn't it matter whether the Federal government is under a Democrat or Republican executive?
Republicans control a minority of Congress right now but will likely control a majority by 2022. Maybe both branches and the Presidency in 2024. Ordinarily we like to pretend that political action doesn't affect your business, but Trump made it pretty clear that he's willing to retaliate against political enemies using the power of the state [1]. This feeling may not be broadly shared, but currently Trump is the most influential person in the GOP and a leading candidate for 2024.
Yeah, I agree with you generally (I don't think Congress is that important in this context; it's more the Executive Branch), I just don't see how that supports the above poster, unless one assumes that a Republican is going to win in 2024.
If there are two parties and you think one party might abuse the Presidency to help/harm your business, and the other won't... which one are you going to spend time ingratiating yourself with?
This is quite interesting. Regardless of which way you vote when it comes election time, Trump would have a much better chance if he had social media access again. If Musk takes control of Twitter and gives Trump access again it could have an enormous impact on the outcome of that election and the future of America. It’s interesting (and terrifying) that someone could take Twitter private and exercise that level of power. I can’t imagine it would be long until the government regulated it at that point but given the US strong protections for free speech I’m not sure how much regulation can occur.
Surely it depends on what Trump does with his account, right? Does Chick-Fil-A suffer from it's decisions politically? If Trump incites insurrection with his account, why not just do what Twitter did? Everybody is unhappy with Twitter. Complaining about twitter is the engagement desired. It's not political, extremists on both sides are upset.
I suppose those who own stock are also upset, I just realized. I don't think liberals will boycott Tesla and Starlink unless they become associated with their political opponents, enough that the environmental aspect would become secondary. If that happens... well, that's a lot of sales regardless, right?
Worse, from that point on everything that happens as a result will be on Musk and his companies. There won't be any more repercussions for powerful politically-motivated speakers, even if they explicitly call for violence. This will motivate extreme behavior and extreme responses. Boycotts for Tesla and Starlink (whose customers almost certainly tip liberal) will absolutely be on the table.
Even if you personally love Musk, the success of his consumer-facing businesses depends on broad adoption by consumers. That's all at risk now. CEOs of this kind of business may have politics, but they traditionally avoid political firestorms because of these concerns. Musk is obviously rich enough that he doesn't care, but his shareholders probably should.