Musk transformed Twitter, or reshaped the American public opinion pattern

2022-11-09

During the period after completing the acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion, Musk has been committed to rapidly transforming this social network platform. Although the acquisition transaction is temporarily over, a greater degree of public opinion and even political influence may still be on the way. As a mainstream social platform in the United States, Twitter has a great influence in American political and social life, and to some extent, it also plays a role in guiding and shaping the global public opinion agenda. From this point of view, the acquisition of Twitter by Musk is obviously not an ordinary commercial transaction, and the fierce debate around this transaction in the United States indicates that the era of surging public opinion in the United States is coming. In American domestic public opinion, Mask's acquisition of Twitter was first interpreted as the marriage between the world's richest man and the social media giant, which is another example of the deterioration of the American media industry. It is said that more than half of the funds Musk raised for the acquisition came from the debt financing of Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Barclays, as well as the investment of the Saudi royal family. It can be said that without the support of capital giants and top consortia, Musk would be difficult to complete this remarkable acquisition. Therefore, this transaction has further aggravated the long-standing anxiety and dissatisfaction about the political life of capital manipulation media in the United States. The different narrative logic behind Musk's acquisition of Twitter is also extended due to the special attributes of both parties. First, does the entry of global technology giants into the media mean the deep penetration of modern technology into human life from the behavioral to the ideological level? Is it possible for technology companies to bring political power comparable to that of sovereign countries, thereby threatening the stable operation of American style democracy? In the opinion of Democrats, Hillary Clinton's defeat in the contest with Trump in 2016 was partly due to right-wing capital's manipulation of election information on Facebook and other social media. Whether Musk will restore Trump's Twitter account and allow or even encourage public opinion attacks on Democrats may become factors that affect American public opinion and even the political trend. Second, will Twitter push the traditional mainstream media into a dead end if it expands with the support of big capital? The New York Times, the Washington Post and other paper media have sent out articles to attack Musk. Social media has led to the reconstruction of the public opinion pattern. The old order is being broken, but the new order has not been established. The trend of tearing and fragmentation of American public opinion will become increasingly difficult to stop. Third, given Musk's extensive global relationship network, will the public opinion ecology of the United States become the trading product of its commercial interests? Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia converted nearly 35 million shares of Twitter stock through the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Holding Company, becoming the second largest shareholder of Twitter. In view of the recent disagreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia, US Senator Chris Murphy has said that this is a national security issue that needs to be resolved by the US Foreign Investment Committee. In addition, this transaction also gave rise to a new conspiracy theory in the eyes of anti China forces, that is, whether Musk, who has extensive and continuous growth business in China, will restrict negative opinions about China on Twitter for business interests. From a deeper perspective, Mask's acquisition of Twitter also reflects the collision and conflict of different political ideas in the United States. When elaborating on the purpose of the acquisition, Musk mentioned that "we have the utmost trust and extensive

Edit:wangwenting    Responsible editor:xiaomai

Source:china.cn

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