Over the weekend, Twitter’s engagement rate skyrocketed as American actress Alyssa Milano revealed that she has exchanged her Tesla for a Volkswagen EV (VW). But she soon learnt that her protest over the Elon Musk Twitter deal just worsened the problem she tried to address.
To add fuel to the fire, Elon Musk replied to a tweet by conservative comedians Hodgetwins, who replied to Alyssa Milano’s Twitter post by pointing out VW’s white-washed origins. The twins wrote, “Volkswagen was literally founded by the Nazi’s and Hitler,” and Twitter was up in arms.
The Alyssa Milano Twitter Saga
Alyssa Milano, previously a fan of Elon Musk, thanks to her Tesla, believes that the billionaire is inviting hate speech back into the platform by reinstating the accounts of controversial personalities, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, The Babylon Bee, and Donald Trump.
The actress’s post on November 26 read, “I’m not sure how advertisers can buy space on Twitter. Publicly traded company’s products being pushed in alignment with hate and white supremacy doesn’t seem to be a winning business model.” This, from an actress who in the past mentioned that she admires the genius that is Elon Musk and would like to have him over for dinner. The sudden turnaround has not gone down with self-advocates of “Free speech.”
When it was pointed out to her that her car is a direct result of Adolf Hitler’s business ventures, social media users jumped into the fray to give her their two cents. Although Volkswagen was founded under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi government in the 1930s, the company has changed hands and ideologies, and in recent times even suspended advertising on Twitter after Musk vowed to make Twitter a bastion for free speech.
The Alyssa Milano Twitter debacle shows no signs of dying down anytime soon as twitterati took the opportunity to school people about one of the greatest promoters of hate speech.
Why Elon Musk doesn’t mind a bit of Twitter controversy
Elon Musk’s Twitter deal has been mired in controversy since Day One. Immediately after he took ownership of Twitter, a director at the social media company alleged that usage of a particular slur in tweets went up within 48 hours. Research from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) showed that the use of the N-word on Twitter shot up by nearly 500% in the 12 hours after Musk’s deal closed.
Major companies have either paused or pulled out of advertising on Twitter, after Musk’s takeover. But one thing advertisers cannot ignore is user data. While some celebrities and companies have balked at the idea of a new Musk-ified Twitter, the Tesla CEO knows what works for him.
Online sanitation is not an easy job. And the microblogging site’s content moderation policies have come under scrutiny in the wake of Musk’s Twitter deal. Although the billionaire has supported some controversial public figures, he revealed that he draws the line at supporting those “who use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.” He made the statement justifying Twitter’s continued ban on Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Earlier this month, Musk had shared that Twitter’s revenues had dropped massively, before he launched the Twitter Blue subscription. Musk also admitted to being overworked and exhausted.
But, despite all the hate coming his way, why did Musk jump in to support the Hodgetwins’ tweet? The answer is simple. Daily Average Users (DAU). There is no denying that Musk has a fan base of his own. Even though advertisers have hit the pause button for now, they cannot afford to alienate nearly half their consumer base. As a businessman, Musk understands that if engagement rises, companies will engage with the platform.
The billionaire is a master at using Twitter, what with marketing Tesla solely through the social media site. To appease both parties that frequent Twitter mentioned that he will let users decide what they want to see, and hate speech won’t be visible unless people specifically seek it out. Musk is also on the lookout for a new Twitter CEO. While it is clear that Musk wants to let everyone feel seen and heard, he has not lost sight of the fact that the company needs to bring in revenues. And the fastest route to do this is by making users (subscriptions) and advertisers (by increasing daily users) pay up.
