Issue 111: Twitter’s Challenge Isn’t Technology
Welcome to Backstory, a weekly newsletter turning global technology shifts into a three-minute read. This week, we’re thinking about social – Mary Ames, Director of Strategy
THE BIG TAKE
Twitter’s Challenge Isn’t Technology
Oh, Twitter. Who could avoid the unfolding saga over the influential social media company? In case you have been living under a rock, Tesla and SpaceX pioneer Elon Musk recently bought Twitter for $44bn after months of back and forth over the deal. With the company under his control, Musk has gone to work quickly by dismissing top staff, demanding that coders print out 50 pages of their recent code, and floating the idea of a $20 per month verification service. After haggling with the writer Stephan King over the service, Musk brought the figure down to $8.
What is the problem anyway? Musk has long proclaimed that Twitter should be a platform with little moderation. By removing content limits and moderation, he promises to take the company to profitability, although there is little evidence this is going to happen soon. Musk believes that better tech can help achieve these goals. But the primary challenges Twitter faces are with its users. Twitter has a political problem, in the words of The Verge Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel. In a widely-circulated piece, Patel argues that “the problems with Twitter are not engineering problems. They are political problems. Twitter, the company, makes very little interesting technology; the tech stack is not a valuable asset. The asset is the user base: hopelessly addicted politicians, reporters, celebrities, and other people who should know better but keep posting anyway.”
Next steps: Other than watching the circus around Elon Musk, what can be done about “fixing” Twitter (and other social media companies)? Given the importance of these platforms worldwide, deeper guidance from tech-savvy governments is one place to start. This isn’t about controlling what is said on the platform. Rather, it is about addressing moderation standards so that Twitter isn’t such a harsh place. Musk is trying to curtail moderation but that will likely only make things worse. Twitter is a place for conversation and Musk would do well to make sure he is speaking with as many people around the world as possible if he wants the platform to survive.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Any product that needs a manual to work is broken."
– Elon Musk
CHART OF THE WEEK
In this week’s chart of the week, we are looking at IPOs in the Middle East. They are having one of the best years in decades. Check out what’s leading the charge.
OUR VIEWS THIS WEEK
Aging in the digital age: Sticking with the theme of well-being, we just published a new piece looking at how we can strive for more purpose in our lives. Nothing inspires the human spirit more than the inevitability of aging. The famed Swiss psychologist Carl Jung transformed psychology with his ideas about the middle of our lives. Once we reach a certain halfway point, our period of long decline stirs unavoidable emotions inside us. Read more in this piece published by Xische.
Remaking the internet: Social media companies have tried their best to stay away from content moderation for most of their existence. Leading platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have repeatedly argued that they can’t be the arbiters of truth or the editors of perceptions. That’s all changing now. This week, in a piece from our archive, we explore how content moderation is a perfect opportunity for small states like the UAE to help define the internet we want.
SPOTTED ELSEWHERE
How does AI work? Developments in artificial intelligence are pulling the future forward. But the strange reality is that many researchers don’t fully understand how AI programs and innovations work. In a fascinating piece for Vice, several AI researchers have warned developers to focus more on how and why a system produces certain results than the fact that the system can accurately and rapidly produce them. Sometimes technology moves too fast for even the innovators at the forefront of change.
The crypto story. Now and then, Bloomberg devotes an entire issue of Businessweek to one topic. The first time that we can remember this happening was with Paul Ford’s incredible deep dive into code. Well, they have done it again with a long and immersive story about crypto by columnist Matt Levine. If you are looking for an in-depth but accessible explanation of crypto, this is it.
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