Five things in Elon Musk’s in-tray after Twitter takeover

theguardian.com:

Elon Musk, the owner of one of Twitter’s most followed accounts, is now its owner. On the evidence of his tweets over the past month, expect change at the social media platform. Here are some of the biggest issues you can expect him to address.

Musk has described himself as a “free speech absolutist”, and the fate of the former US president’s suspended Twitter account represents a strong test of that ideal. Trump was banned permanently shortly after the Capitol riot in January 2021, as the company cited his repeated violations of the company’s rules and the risk of “further incitement of violence”.

Musk said this month that he was “very cautious with permanent bans” on Twitter and would prefer a timeout system. But he has not directly addressed the issue of Trump’s account, which had almost 89 million followers.

Speaking at a TED conference, Musk said: “I think it’s very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech. Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it’s just really important that people have the … reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.”

However, Trump was banned in part because Twitter feared his tweets were inciting law-breaking. Musk has to reconcile his free speech principles with legal reality – and Trump’s history on the platform. On Monday evening the former president told Fox News he did not even wish to return and would use his own startup, Truth Social, instead.

Nonetheless, one group of House Republicans has urged Musk to act.

The social media industry is coming under more stringent regulation, particularly in Europe. Last week the