Billionaire businessman Elon Musk said Friday that he plans to create a "Content Moderation Council" on his newly acquired Twitter social media platform before individuals that have been banned are reinstated.
"Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints," Musk posted on the platform Friday after closing his $44 billion deal to take ownership of the now private tech giant. "No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes."
The owner of both Tesla and Space X, Musk concluded his buyout of the platform Thursday, telling advertisers in a tweet that he bought the company so the world could have a "common town square" to debate ideas.
"The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence," Musk's post Thursday said. "There is currently a great danger that social media will split into far-right wing and far-left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society."
Musk said that "traditional media has fueled and catered to these polarized extremes," chasing clicks for their content to make money, losing the "opportunity for dialogue" on the issues.
The company filed documents Friday to remove it from the New York Stock Exchange, ending nine years of being publicly traded, the New York Times reported.
According to the report, Musk started his tenure as the company's owner by firing its Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde, and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
The changes have also apparently garnered a surge in new followers for several high-profile conservative accounts, the Times reported.
Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake gained 18,000 followers for her account in the last 24 hours, which is a 600% increase from the normal number of new followers she gets, including 3,100 from new account creators, the report said.
Rep. Lauren Bobert, R-Colo., also gained more than 18,000 new followers during the same time frame, an increase of 1,200% compared to her normal rate of follower growth, and includes around 9,000 new accounts, according to the times.
Conservative Candace Owens grew 3,700 new followers, increasing 300% more than normal including 2,300 from new accounts.
Times contributor and Memeticia CEO Ben Decker told the news outlet, however, that allowing these conservatives a voice on the platform is "horrifying."
"The more followers and wider reach these accounts have, the more distribution these ideas have," Decker, who also advises The New York Times on security, said in the story. "That is horrifying to consider two weeks before the election."
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