The global dangers of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover
The internet was abuzz yesterday after news broke that Elon Musk’s $44 billion buyout of Twitter had gone through. Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has made it clear that he believes Twitter overzealously moderates content and that he favors an approach with fewer takedowns, open algorithms, and “authentication of all humans.” In announcing the agreement, he said: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
But what would a rules-free Twitter mean in places that are vulnerable to violence and social unrest? Last week, Coda’s Ellery Roberts Biddle took a sharp look at the dangers of Musk’s free speech absolutism in places where online hate speech regularly translates into real-world violence, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, and India. She spoke with Nikhil Pahwa, founder of the New Delhi-based tech publication Medianama, who rejected Musk’s ideas. Pahwa pointed at how extremist groups and political parties in India have weaponized the platform to incite violence against religious minorities, Muslims in particular.
“I think we’re in a situation where we need more moderation of hateful content and not less,” said Pahwa. “I don’t think Musk understands or cares for whether people are getting polarized or killed in India.”
Human rights groups are suing the Ugandan government over its controversial national digital ID system. The lawsuit, filed yesterday, claims the country’s digital ID scheme has excluded women and the elderly from accessing public health and government services. The government’s national identity card, known as the Ndaga Muntu, is mandatory for citizens to open a bank account, get health care, vote, buy a mobile phone, travel within the country, and obtain other key social services. But the claimants say that millions are being denied these services because they don’t have the required digital ID cards. A June 2021 study of the country’s digital ID system by researchers at Unwanted Witness, the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights, and New York University found that it “has become an important source of exclusion for the poorest and most marginalized,” barring millions of people — up to an estimated third of the adult population — from accessing public services. Now Ugandan groups are suing the government over the alleged exclusion. Uganda’s scheme is one of a number of digital ID systems that are either active or under consideration in Africa. For more, check out our past newsletters on digital ID systems in Ghana and Kenya.