Elon's mask
Twitter mess matches media complexity - Media Ecology Newsletter #23
Twitter used to be a platform to share stories. Now it is the story. And it demonstrates the power of media ecology in explaining what is happening while imagining what could happen. This issue of the newsletter is dedicated to discuss about what Elon Musk has made at Twitter and the complexity of the media environment. And there is also a little idea on how to get out of this mess in great shape.
Welcome to the “media ecology” newsletter. Please, read the highlights about the “Elon’s mask” idea here or read the whole article on my blog. After this note, I share some links, hoping they are useful to readers. One of them is about the International Forum on Digital and Democracy, which starts today in Rome.
Elon’s mask
The expression “elon’s mask” is used here to designate a formidable, controversial, post-modern and very risky kind of communication stlye. The champion of this kind of communication is of course Elon Musk. But since the Southafrican entrepreneur bought Twitter, it is also becoming the worst danger for his companies. It could be his Waterloo, says Vivek Wadhwa, author, academic and entrepreneur, in a New York Times interview.
As long as Musk communicated his entrepreneurial experimentalism, the “elon’s mask” was a form consistent with the message. Basically, Musk’s communication style said: even if I express my vision very strongly, even if I launch very ambitious announcements, I don’t actually know if everything will work out as hoped because I’m doing very innovative things, but I know that every mistake and every difficulty will make me learn something which will eventually allow me to achieve the goal. This communication style was unconventional, but nothing worse.
But now that Musk’s communication style is being applied to Twitter and thus impacting the culture, the information, and the minds of hundreds of millions of people, it becomes especially harmful, to himself and to others.
In the complexity that provides context for media dynamics, Musk’s arrogant assertiveness generates consequences that are disastrous for users and contrary to his own stated goals. A bit of media ecology awareness would help him. And us.
Simplicity is not banality
Criticizing the previous managers of the platform, Musk called himself “an absolutist of freedom of expression”: he wanted to emphasize in that way his opposition to forms of control of posts published on Twitter, perhaps even suggesting that if he were in charge he would not have turned off Donald Trump’s profile following the former president’s expressed support for the hordes of violent thugs who invaded the U.S. legislature on January 6, 2021. Perhaps he thought he was making a largely agreeable statement: but he did not realize that freedom of expression cannot be absolute, because it is confronted with other rights and precise duties, such as privacy, security, defense of minorities and weak social partners, and respect for the Constitution, that is, precisely the favorite targets of the destructiveness of those groups that identify with organized hate and violence on the Web. And as a consequence of that banal statement, a number of users and advertisers decided to abandon Twitter, motivated by the realization that absolute freedom of expression is equivalent to turning the platform into a shallow cesspool of vulgarity, if not criminality, racism, sexism and so on. So that Musk had to backtrack immediately and promise that even under his management Twitter would follow the law, prevent the expression of violent and illegal views, work to maintain a certain quality of conversation on the platform, and prevent antisocial choices of expression. The free speech absolutist had to hurry and learn relativism.
But the lessons were not over. As soon as he arrived at Twitter, Musk saw fit to apply a simple recipe to the platform, convinced that he would restore it with a single decision: offer for a fee the blue checkmark that guarantees the identity of profiles that have it. Musk believed that this would be the way to rid the platform of its dependence on advertising – a goal well worth sharing – by beginning an era of subscriptions to useful services. But the banality of that thinking was immediately apparent: the people who bought the blue ticks often were the very people who wanted to impersonate celebrities and politicians. The epidemic of fake certified profiles forced Musk to stop offering that service and retrace his steps once again.
A new beginning starts in Europe
Twitter’s new beginning for now has been nothing but a collection of messes. But new owner Elon Musk and his advisers may seize an unhoped-for opportunity to rethink the service in a way that is consistent with carefully thought-out rules and purposes that are truly human rights oriented. We are talking about the new regulatory paradigm decided by the European Commission that will become the fundamental legal environment for digital, probably not just European.
The Digital Services Act has come into force. It is the new European regulation designed to guide digital services toward greater respect for citizens’ rights, greater security of online activities, and a clearer definition of the responsibilities of large operators.
Cloud platforms and services, intermediaries and marketplaces, are affected by the new regulation. Which is all the more stringent the more citizens who receive those services from those platforms. In particular, there are rules that require making information about the operation of services transparently, terms of service that respect fundamental rights, cooperative attitude with the authorities for compliance with the rules, cooperation in fighting crime, facilitations for fact-checkers, prohibition of advertising aimed at children, transparency of recommendation algorithms, freedom not to use automatic information selection systems, data sharing with authorities and scientists, cooperation in responding to crisis situations.
This is a significant shift in perspective.
Twitter could seize on this regulatory innovation to write smarter strategies. Musk kicked out all the staffers who had been involved in dialogue with the Commission. And at the same time he finds himself redefining the strategy of his platform with the stated intent of better serving the freedoms and rights of citizens who use Twitter. There would be no better opportunity to demonstrate the sincerity of this intention than to begin a close dialogue with the Commission to define Twitter’s new strategy in a manner consistent with the Digital Services Act.
It would benefit Twitter. And its users. Since Musk became interested in Twitter, many users have become distrustful, a few advertisers have begun to doubt about Twitter as the right environment for advertising, and the platform has lost credibility. The fake accounts so much denounced by Musk have increased with his policy of selling the blue checkmark guaranteeing users’ identities to those who want it: a phenomenon so egregious that Musk was forced to retrace his steps. And the proclaimed idea of being a “free speech absolutist” has led Musk to clash with the discovery that there are other human rights that must be respected. The Digital Services Act is a set of rules and is based on principles that if truly respected could restore Twitter’s credibility. And Twitter could be the first platform to proactively adapt to the new regulatory environment. This would be a win-win strategy.
In the meantime: did you notice?
Us-Eu collaboration on complex problems
The United States and European Commission intend to bring together experts to explore collaboration on research projects that can benefit Declaration for the Future of Internet partners and the global scientific community, promoting secure and privacy-protected sharing of data and artificial intelligence models, starting with the following focus areas: extreme weather and climate forecasting; health and medicine; electric grid optimization; agriculture optimization; and emergency response management. (White House)
Fondo Repubblica Digitale
If you have a project aimed at digital inclusion, you could apply for funding at the “Bando Online” (Fondo Repubblica Digitale)
Transparency in UK
Ofcom could force social media to reveal algorithms in order to mitigate their contribution to the divisions in society and the radicalization of opinions, the Financial Times has found (FT, TechMonitor).
Podcasts in Italian, by me
L’altra metà del verso. Rai Radio 3
Media Ecology. Intesa Sanpaolo on air
Eppur s’innova. Luiss University Press
Ecology of screens
On the occasion of the International Conference Vivre par(mi) les écrans: entre passé et avenir, which was held in Lyon at the end of May, the newsletter of the International Research Group Vivre par(mi) les écrans and the Media Ecology newsletter agreed to signal, each to its recipients, the importance to them of the other's content, inviting them to subscribe to receive it and disseminate it among their contacts. So please visit Vivre par(mi) les écrans and subscribe to the newsletter.
This choice of collaboration stems from the common project of promoting, developing and sharing highly qualified knowledge aimed at creating tools for guidance, critique and intervention in the field of media ecology and our current and future living between(mite) screens, as well as fostering the social dissemination of the aforementioned knowledge and tools.
Follow the International Forum on Digital and Democracy, which starts today in Rome with Romano Prodi, Věra Jourová, Andrea Cangini, Gabriela Ramos. Tomorrow Jeffrey Sachs, Roberto Viola and a wonderful lineup of speakers.