Featured Image Credit: TED/YouTube
Topics: Elon Musk, News, Tesla, Twitter, Technology
Shola Lee
Shortly after putting in a bid to buy Twitter for $41 billion, Elon Musk gave a TED Talk about, you guessed it, Twitter.
Speaking with Chris Anderson, head of TED, Musk outlined why he'd love to buy Twitter.
In the past, Musk has made some pretty questionable tweets, from those that sent stock shares plummeting, to key insights about the world around him, in the form of memes.
However, the Tesla CEO doesn't seem to be content prolifically tweeting, he's now seriously considering buying the company.
He even outlined some improvements he'd make to the social media site, because of course he did.
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Anderson approached the mogul by asking: "So Elon, a few hours ago you made an offer to buy Twitter, why?"
To which Musk, not missing a beat, responded, "How did you know?" referencing the fact that he had tweeted about his offer and illustrating why the social media site would be a good investment.
He went on to further elaborate, saying: "I think it's very important that there will be an inclusive arena for free speech."
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"Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square. It's really important that people have the reality and the perception that they're able to speak freely, within the bounds of the law."
He then started to suggest improvements for the site, which included greater transparency.
"One of the things I think Twitter should do is open source the algorithm and make any changes to people's tweets, if they're emphasised or de-emphasised, that should be made apparent, so you can see that that action has been taken.
"So, you know, there's no behind-the-scenes manipulation either algorithmically or manually."
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However, Musk did say that the reality of owning Twitter could be pretty miserable as he thought he'd likely be to 'blame' for anything that goes wrong with the site.
He went on to note that Twitter was really important to 'the function of democracy' and 'to help freedom in the world'.
"I think civilisational risk is decreased the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform," he continued.
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The tech billionaire also added that, for him, buying the social platform wasn't about the profit, but rather because he feels that 'having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilisation'.
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