Twitter owner Elon Musk has plans for his social media platform that extend far beyond social networking.
In recent months, Musk has been outspoken about his intention to turn Twitter into “X,” an “everything app” that offers a variety of services—like messaging, networking, shopping, financial services, and more—in just one interface.
His goal? Advancing civilization, of course.
“X/Twitter is going to be just a very useful thing and hopefully something that is a positive force for civilization,” the tech billionaire said June 16 at the Viva Technology Conference in Paris.
Musk has often complained that he paid too much—$44 billion, to be exact—when he bought Twitter in October 2022.
But while he jokingly reiterated that thought at Friday’s conference, he also stressed that his goal in purchasing the company was not financial, but rather, societal gain.
“I’m pretty closely attuned to what’s going on with Twitter—you know, I get a feel for how it is shifting one way or the other,” he said. “And generally, I was concerned that Twitter was having a negative effect on civilization, that it was having a corrosive effect on civil society. And so, anything that undermines civilization, I think, is not good.”
As an avid Twitter user with a personal desire to move civilization “in a positive direction,” Musk said he felt a moral conviction to step in.
“Twitter kept moving more and more in a negative direction,” he said. “And my hope and aspiration was to change that and have it be a positive force for civilization.”
Speech, Not Reach
Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has transformed several aspects of the embattled social media giant, not the least of which being its reputation.
Formerly decried by many as a platform hostile to conservative speech and ideas, Twitter is now heralded by some of those same former critics as a bastion of freedom thanks to changes to its content moderation guidelines.
Musk, a vocal proponent of free speech, noted on June 16 that the First Amendment would be meaningless if it only applied to uncontroversial speech.
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