Twitter Take
There are lots of opinions and speculation flying around with the news around the Twitter acquisition. Mine is only this: whether a publicly traded company or a privately owned one, Twitter doesn’t serve as what many want, claim, or intend—a public forum.
The incentives and interests of Twitter have never completely aligned on that. We probably do need a true American Digital Public Square, and there are still many problems to sort through in order to set it up. One account per person, somehow verified? Tax-payer funded, with “official” polls on important issues? Yes, free speech, as defined and outlined within the US Constitution and US law? Call it a fantasy, but something could be built.
But it’s not Twitter. Let’s separate the hypothetical apples from the potential oranges, so that we can can indeed create a free, open, and just world.