Elon Musk Is Reportedly Already Cleaning House at Twitter—And the Right Is Loving It - Vanity Fair

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The tech billionaire has reportedly already fired three top corporate executives and has said he will look into “shadow banning,” fueling concerns that the app’s content-moderation policies might soon be axed as well.

By Caleb Ecarma

October 28, 2022

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Top Republicans and conservative talking heads rejoiced after Elon Musk finalized his acquisition of Twitter on Thursday, celebrating the billionaire as a harbinger of radical change for the platform, which they previously—and baselessly—claimed was designed with a left-wing bias. The $44 billion deal lands one of the most influential social media companies in the hands—and thumbs—of the world’s wealthiest man, a self-declared “free speech absolutist” who has promised to soften many of Twitter’s content-moderation policies. Musk’s restructuring began immediately after the purchase, with the Tesla CEO declaring “the bird is freed” and reportedly firing several top executives, including chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.

On Fox News, star host Tucker Carlson argued that the acquisition would reshape political discourse in America with laissez-faire content restrictions. “He bought it not to make money, but to restore free speech to America,” said Carlson, who later added that “social media companies now have more power than entire governments. That’s why they were able to silence a sitting president. They control what you say. They also control more deeply what you think.”

Even Donald Trump, who had harsh words for Musk after he initially tried backing out of the deal, expressed delight over the news. “I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Twitter must now work hard to rid itself of all of the bots and fake accounts that have hurt it so badly.” Trump was permanently banned from the platform shortly after the Capitol riot over concerns that his tweets were “likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place” on January 6—a decision that Gadde forcefully backed. But with Gadde reportedly now gone and Musk having pledged to reinstate Trump, the former president’s return is a very real possibility, fueling concerns that the app could morph into the GOP’s breeding ground for misinformation and, ultimately, violence.

While Musk has repeatedly promised to make Twitter a digital haven for “free speech,” it remains unclear how that vision will manifest, given that the platform must remain advertiser-friendly to turn a profit. And on Thursday, Musk appeared to hedge on his vision, telling Twitter’s ad partners that the platform will be friendly to all users and assuring them that it would not become a “free-for-all hellscape.” In a Friday tweet, he also suggested that he will investigate Twitter’s use of “shadow banning” and other practices that right-wingers have long claimed are used to limit their reach on the platform. (Twitter has previously maintained that it does “not shadow ban.”)

Conservatives have a starker picture of how Twitter should be governed, with some making specific requests for who should be allowed back on the site. “Hey, @elonmusk,” wrote popular right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro, “it’s time to free [Jordan Peterson].” (Peterson, a conservative self-help author, had his account locked earlier this year after posting anti-trans remarks that he refused to delete.) Shapiro’s colleague Matt Walsh entertained a different fantasy, tweeting, “I would never call for the Left to be banned. I want them here.” He added: “I want them to see what is going to happen. I want them to see us spreading our ideas knowing that they cannot stop it.”

Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz hailed Musk as a cobelligerent in the GOP’s war against Big Tech, which he described as “the single greatest threat to free speech and to free and fair elections we have in America.” The Texas Republican, who made the comments in a Thursday night interview with Laura Ingraham, called Musk’s takeover “tremendous” news before using the occasion to promote his plan to hold hearings “examining Big Tech censorship and fighting to protect Americans’ free speech” if Republicans take back the Senate next year.