New York Times column predicts ‘wild ride’ if Musk buys Twitter: He will ‘put thumb on scale’ of 2024 election

New York Times technology columnist Kevin Roose warned that if billionaire Elon Musk purchases Twitter, society will be in for a "wild ride" as Musk brings back former President Donald Trump, fires the current CEO, and alters politics going forward. 

Roose warned about several dramatic shifts that he thought would happen if the deal goes through. He predicted Musk will fire the current Twitter CEO, that the deal will prompt a "revolt" from its progressive employees, that Trump and his allies with a history of "hateful views" and harassment will be reinstated on the platform, and that ultimately this will impact the 2024 presidential election.

Roose’s Wednesday column, titled, "Elon Musk’s Twitter Will Be a Wild Ride," began with: "Buckle up. Elon Musk, who for months has been strenuously trying to back out of a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, now appears ready to buy the company after all. In a surprise letter to Twitter on Monday night, Mr. Musk offered to take Twitter private at his originally proposed price — $54.20 per share."

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He offered several predictions of what would happen after the deal is hammered out, beginning with the ousting of "Twitter’s chief executive, Parag Agrawal." Citing text messages between Musk and his associates which surfaced last week, Roose said, "From reading Mr. Musk’s texts, it’s clear he believes that Twitter’s leadership is weak and ineffective, and lacks the ability to carry out his vision for the company."

He added, "If Mr. Agrawal doesn’t immediately resign once the deal is complete, I’d expect Mr. Musk to fire him on Day 1 and name himself or a close ally as a replacement." The author also noted that "it’s hard to see how he could fire Mr. Agrawal without also clearing out most or all of the company’s top leadership and installing his own slate of loyalists."

Roose noted that the company’s progressive employees will quit, saying, "Those employees may believe — for good reason! — that under Mr. Musk’s leadership, Twitter will abandon many of the projects they care about in areas like trust and safety. Or they may simply not want to deal with the drama and tumult of a Musk regime, and start looking for jobs elsewhere."

He then provided an even more dire prediction, one worrying many others in the media upon news of the re-proposed Twitter deal. He wrote that Trump’s return to the platform "will happen almost immediately, I predict. (And, yes, Mr. Trump will come back to Twitter if he’s invited, no matter how much fun he’s having on Truth Social.)"

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Though it’s not just Trump to worry about, Roose noted that, "A host of right-wing culture warriors could come back to the service with Mr. Musk’s blessing, including those who were barred for expressing hateful views, spreading false conspiracy theories and harassing other users."

Roose also wrote, "Mr. Musk, who styles himself a centrist but often crusades against the ‘woke left,’ has made no secret of his plans to make Twitter a friendlier platform for right-wing voices." Among these voices, he included those who spread "transphobic humor," such as conservative satire site The Babylon Bee, and those who have been suspended for "for repeatedly sharing misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines."

In addition, Roose claimed he’d "expect that Mr. Musk would tear up Twitter’s existing rules and rewrite new ones, and that he might dismantle Twitter’s content-policy and trust-and-safety teams"

Though he mentioned he’s not sure whether Musk’s ownership of Twitter could affect the midterm elections, being only a short time away, Roose claimed it would impact the 2024 presidential race. He said, "But Mr. Musk will be firmly in charge, and if Twitter still plays anywhere near the role in American political and media culture that it does today, he will emerge as a central, polarizing figure in the 2024 election cycle."

He added, "But whatever moves Mr. Musk makes before 2024, it’s a good bet that they will be closely scrutinized for signs that he is putting his thumb on the scale."

Of course, Roose predicted that Musk will alter the business model of the platform, like trying "to shift Twitter away from advertising revenue and toward other moneymaking opportunities." He will also "try to rid the site of spam bots, a problem that he has long singled out as one of the worst parts of Twitter," he said. 

The reporter concluded, "If the deal closes, Mr. Musk will have direct control over one of the world’s largest megaphones, and will be able to use it entirely as he sees fit — whether that’s to turn it into a lawless free-for-all, take revenge on his political enemies, promote his own business ventures or do something else entirely."

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