Musk’s ‘free speech’ push for Twitter: Repeating history?
By BARBARA ORTUTAY and AMANDA SEITZ
Associated Press
Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, seemingly intent on making the old new again, has successfully arranged to buy Twitter for about $44 billion. His stated aim is to turn it into a haven for free speech. But the social platform has been down this road before, and it didn’t end well last time. While Musk’s pitch may sound straightforward, neither tech giants and nor entrepreneurs have managed to make a free-for-all digital meeting ground work in practice. In past flirtations with light-touch moderation, harassment and misinformation have overwhelmed many, driving away users, advertisers or both.