Creepy revelation or (unfortunately) largely predictable reality? Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter and a dozen other companies, said in an interview that the US government has “full access” to direct messages (DMs), the private messages of users on Twitter. The news, says the tycoon, left him literally speechless. Which is new in Musk's case, but that's another story.
Privacy, this unknown
As a character who rides the global conversation with some success, Musk simulates amazement very badly. The issue of privacy and government control over social media has always been at the center of debate. A government that spies on all our social media conversations? But what comes to your mind. Musk's revelation (but I would call it an "external") only fuels these discussions further. If we too pretend to fall from the clouds, however, it would be important to verify the reliability of his statements and evaluate the possible impact on users' perception of privacy.
To stay within the "short range", however, I would start with the perception of privacy on Twitter. And here the story changes. Far be it from me to have the idea of mitigating the excesses of Musk, who has done a lot of things with the blue bird, but the conduct is now by the book. To maintain the "loyalty" of the hard core of Twitter users, the tycoon plays everything on the theme of "transparency". And not just for the interview just released.
A label that "nails" a government
Meanwhile, Elon Musk finds himself at the center of another dispute with some media outlets. Last week, National Public Radio (NPR) announced it was suspending the use of its Twitter accounts following the platform's labeling of some media outlets as "state-affiliated." Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded” after receiving widespread criticism.
Today, the controversy with CBC, a media outlet "labelled" by Musk as "funded by the government", takes center stage. To be honest, the measure was followed by a ridiculous clarification ("we are less than 70% funded", said the CBC leaders). The "tweak" was simply irreverent, in the style of the owner of Twitter. Now, next to the yellow CBC sticker stands the words “69% government-funded”.
Yet another act of a tragicomedy which, in its own way, never bores.
