Twitter is broken, Elon Musk could help fix it

Elon Musk taking over Twitter could bring some much needed change to a social network that has an outsized influence among journalists and politicians.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Twitter is broken, but I've been unable to find a suitable alternative. I checked out Gab and thought it was a cesspool at the time (which is remarkable since Twitter can also be a cesspool). Parler had potential, but it seemed to be Twitter-lite and just a Trumpian echo chamber (maybe that's what some people are looking for, but I'm not), and then it was shut down and hasn't fully recovered. Truth Social appears to be a failure out of the gate (and another echo chamber). 

So Elon Musk becoming the largest individual shareholder of Twitter, buying up 9.2 percent of the stocks, was intriguing. 

Today, news reports state that he turned down an invitation to be on Twitter's board of directors but has now offered to buy them outright and make Twitter private again.

"I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy," said Musk in a letter sent to Twitter chairman Bret Taylor. "Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it."

There has been a collective freakout over Musk, but if (a BIG IF) he succeeds in taking it over and making it private, he could make some much-needed changes.