Ო is official. Social network Twitter has reached an agreement to sell the company to billionaire Elon Musk for $ 44,000 million..

The transaction, which was approved by shareholders and regulators on Monday, April 25, is expected to Will end this year. The company must now close its capital and stop trading stocks on the stock exchange.

Changes in the social network are now expected. Musk, according to Forbes, is the richest man in the world and the founder of the space technology company SpaceX and the maker of electric vehicles, Tesla. It supports a series of platform changes.

Changes in content moderation, new ways of monetization, restrictions are expected BotAnd more transparency about the algorithm used by the platform.

However, experts warn that these are not trivial changes and depending on how they are implemented, they can hinder the formation of public opinion and democracy itself.

1. Content moderation

“Invest in Twitter because I believe in its potential to be a platform for freedom of expression around the world, and I believe that freedom of expression is a social imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk wrote in a letter to the board of directors. Twitter when he submitted his proposal on April 14th.

Buying a mask raises great expectations for that Content moderation mechanisms by the platform. Critics believe this could lead to Spreading hate speech and extremist content Prohibited by social network rules.

“Musk’s logic is that speeches should be free in order for the market for ideas to be moderate,” said Christian Perone, coordinator of law and technology at the Rio de Janeiro Institute of Technology and Society, and the BBC’s Thai Caransa, a journalist from Brazil.

“There is uncertainty about how content will be moderated after purchase. “The space can be opened for disinformation and more polarized discourses,” said the expert.

Sergio Amadeu, a professor at ABC Federal University in Brazil and a researcher in digital networks, is concerned about possible changes. “Twitter posted a poll on its blog last year that showed, for example, that in seven countries, with millions of tweets rated, right-wing speeches were more widespread or promoted than left-wingers,” Amadeu recalled.

“So we know that These platforms are not neutral, they distract people from the content And, consequently, with the establishment of democracy and public opinion. It bothers me a lot, ”said the teacher.

2. Greater monetization

The second expected change is greater monetization of content, e.g. Increased push for paid posts.

Given the South African billionaire’s enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies, analysts estimate he could also popularize them on social media.

“With the advancement of monetization, those who have more money win. “This is what happens, for example, on Facebook and YouTube,” Amadeu said.

“Or what happened in Brazil in 2018. It is often said that Bolsonaro’s campaign was cheap, but it was not. It was a distributed campaign, with big money and a large number of using messaging platforms like WhatsApp. “The money was wasted,” said the professor, citing the Brazilian example of dynamizing content for political purposes.

3. Open the algorithm

Musk promised to open Twitter algorithm. Provide transparency of technologies used for personalization of content Shown for each user.

“One of the things I think Twitter has to do, open its algorithm with open sourceAnd (if) they make any changes to people’s tweets, whether it will be enhanced or not, it should be clear to everyone what action was taken, so there is no manipulation behind the scenes, either algorithmically or manually. ” Defending a businessman.

Amadeus believes that more transparency of the algorithm is positive, but not enough. “Opening an algorithm means that anyone with any technical skills, in terms of data science and statistics, will be able to understand how the algorithm works. This is good because it lets us know how it works effectively, what the platform does with the data it receives. “It’s important that the public knows this,” he said.

Perნიn, for his part, thinks it could be “Two-edged sword“. “It simply came to our notice then. “Let’s find out what kind of moderation is taking place, what interventions are taking place, how the moderation process is balanced,” he said.

But similarly, when you have more clarity about how an algorithm works, you can have people learning how to overcome it. “You can pass the rules of the game to irresponsible players with a non-positive agenda.”

4. Fight bots and check profile

Another mask for the flag when it comes to buying Twitter Reduce activity on auto-profiling platformKnown as Bot.

Also offers Expand verification of real people profiles. In the verification process, the network requests documents and data to prove that the person is themselves, giving the certified pages a blue ring.

However, Peron points out that this process has its difficulties. “First of all, it is It is very difficult to determine what a Bot“, He says.

The second point is that not all Bot Poor in definition Bot Which are used super positively to send information that would otherwise be limited to a very small group of people. ”

The growing prevalence of the profile verification process raises concerns about data security and the privacy of users who will have to provide more information on the social network.

5. Doubts that remain

One of the biggest unknowns left by the acquisition of Twitter is Whether the report of former US President Donald Trump will be returned.

The Last year, Trump’s report was suspended forever In Washington, DC, at the Capitol Building after the Jan. 6 riots. But even if his Twitter ban is lifted, Trump says he has no plans to return to the social network, instead choosing to use his own platform, Truth Social, as BBC business journalists Annabel Liang and Peter Hoskins point out.

Ming Chi Kuo, a technology analyst at investment management firm TF International Securities, told the BBC that Trump might decide to return to the platform if he runs in the 2024 US presidential election.

“Twitter is still a better option for him to have a voice if Twitter is ready to restore his account,” Kuo said.

Another question People will leave the social network if they stay in it. Musk said he hoped that even his strongest critics would stay on the platform, “because that’s what freedom of speech means.”

Despite this, Some users have threatened to leave Twitter, while others have already done so.

Dan Ives, an analyst at investment firm Wedbush Securities, told the BBC he expected most consumers to take an “expectation and viewing approach”.

“Now we are talking about approving new users and stopping abandoning the platform,” Ives said.

In addition, Amadeus believes Muskie’s acquisition of Twitter This could be the beginning of a billionaire’s acquisition of other platformsCreate a conglomerate of information services such as companies such as Alphabet (owned by Google), Meta (Facebook parent company), Microsoft and Apple.

“By buying Twitter, it might indicate a transformation in its companies,” the analyst said. “Today there is no large conglomerate that does not have many platforms at its core.”