Musk Twitter takeover could prompt Big Tech to censor less, conservatives hope

Billionaire Elon Musk's attempt to take Twitter private and make it more free-speech oriented could nudge other social media giants to censor less content in order to remain relevant, conservative tech scholars argue.

The news of Musk's offer to buy Twitter for $41 billion Thursday has raised the prospect that if he succeeds in making the platform more popular and free speech inclined, then tech giants such as Facebook and Google could be pressured into changing their content moderation policies and algorithms as well.

Musk expressly tied his initial purchase of 9.2% of Twitter earlier this month to his ambition of making the platform more free speech oriented, which he said is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.