Tesla CEO and incoming Twitter boss Elon Musk sent a message to the social media platform’s advertisers: “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape.”
Musk explained he bought the site in an attempt to promote free speech online, but added that did not mean “anything can be said with no consequences!”
Musk’s championing of free speech has spurred concerns that he could drop policies barring hate speech, pornography, and other offensive content from the platform. Some users have also called for greater transparency around how those policies are enforced.
In his statement Thursday, Musk said that while he is “all for” open dialogue, there are limits.
“You can definitely say what you want within reason & context, but you cannot indiscriminately insult people or ads without consequence,” he wrote.
Musk also said that while he supports paid membership to Twitter — which would allow users to opt-out of ads — he is not planning to implement it anytime soon.
He added that he would keep advertising “as is” for now and would consider “adding features later if [ads] become annoying.”
It remains to be seen how Musk will change Twitter as its new owner, but his latest comments suggest that he plans to keep the platform largely the same — with a few tweaks here and there to make it more user-friendly.
For now, at least, it seems that users can breathe a sigh of relief. But don’t hold your breath for too long…
