Elon Musk debates whether or not to reduce anonymity on Twitter

elon musk twitter

Elon Musk debuted on his social network Twitter with a new issue: whether or not to reduce anonymity on the platform. Joining the discussion are former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, clinical psychologist Jordan B. Peterson, and others. 

Elon Musk: to reduce anonymity on Twitter or not?

Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, is posting news about the social network’s policies every day. Last Friday, Musk cited “free speech” again, wanting to emphasize that Twitter’s new policy will not delete negative or hate tweets, but will act by taking away their boost or the ability to monetize them with advertising or other revenue. 

Basically, when a tweet is categorized as negative or hate, it will only be visible to users if they specifically search for it. 

The issue has seen several figures weigh in, including clinical psychologist Jordan B. Peterson, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and crypto advocate Michael Saylor. 

“Don’t allow the anonymous troll-demons to post with the real verified people @elonmusk.

Put them in their own hell, along with others like them: LOL LULZ BRO BRUH hyper-users are narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic and sadistic.”

Peterson, in this sense, advocates the reduction of anonymity, calling narcissistic, Machiavellian, psychopathic and sadistic those who act as trolls with people who are with the verified account instead. 

Elon Musk and the reduction of anonymity on Twitter: Dorsey disagrees

In contrast to Peterson, however, there is Dorsey who believes it would be a big mistake to impose a policy that allows less anonymity.

“J.D.: that would be a big mistake

E.M.: Verification through the payment system plus phones, but allowing pseudonyms is the least bad solution I can think of.”

Dorsey’s sharp stance received support from other users who reportedly commented stating that “taking away anonymity, will kill Twitter.”

Michael Saylor, infamous Bitcoin supporter and CEO of MicroStrategy, also commented on the tweet as follows: 

“The problem isn’t the anonymity, it is the lack of meaningful consequences in the event of malicious behavior. If Twitter requires verified accounts to post a security deposit and forfeit those funds for malicious/bot/spam behavior, we can have civil discourse & respect privacy.”

The reinstatement of Donald Trump’s official account 

On Saturday, Musk also posted a pool dedicated to whether or not to reinstate former US President Donald Trump. 

“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”

The poll had 51.8% voting yes against 48.2% voting no. A small victory for the former US president. 

Musk also posted that the poll was viewed by 1 million users per hour, rising as of yesterday to 134 million people who would have viewed the poll. 

“Bitcoin will make it” and new business plans for the social network

Only last week, Musk reportedly tweeted the following: 

“Bitcoin will make it.”

The man who for years has been referred to as the Dogecoin (DOGE) memecoin influencer, is now also speaking out on the crypto queen. However, Musk also added that the crypto winter will be long. 

Not only that, two weeks ago, Musk again also outlined his new plans for doing business with Twitter, with the goal of making the social network “an app for everything,” including crypto. 

In this regard, there has been speculation about the involvement of Binance CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao, who after investing $500 million to acquire Twitter could support the initiative to introduce cryptocurrencies within the social network in various forms.