Digital rights campaigning organisation Open Rights Group (ORG) have called on Elon Musk to let Twitter be “opened up”. Following the billionaire’s purchase of the social media network, ORG Executive Director Jim Killock told The Addition:
What Twitter really needs is to be opened up. There are increasing calls for social media to work like email or telephones – where you can contact who you like from any other product – meaning that consumers can start to choose the experience they want without sacrificing their social networks.
However, Killock thinks regulators will need to get involved in order to make this happen. “I don’t see any monopolistic company doing this on their own,” he said. “It will take regulatory action – from the US or Europe. But it is truly time to break these walled gardens open so we truly have the public space that Musk talks about, but one built for our needs rather than purely corporate interests.”
The purchase by Musk, priced at $44 million, marks a significant moment in the debate about free speech online. That is the subject of today’s The Addition newsletter.
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