Elon Musk Invites All Ordinary People To Become Journalists For His X Social Network
According to the owner of Tesla, traditional media are “no longer needed,” as they are outdated, have become an atavism of the past, while “the future lies with social network journalism
Multi-billionaire Elon Musk doesn’t seem to like traditional media at all. “I can hardly find any news that leaves any impression on me,” Musk wrote on the X website on October 4, urging all users of the former Twitter, which Musk acquired for $44 billion, to become “journalists.”
“What’s the point of reading 1000 words about something that was already published a few days earlier on the X website?” asks Musk, accusing the media of being completely outdated. “Social media journalism is the future! I invite all people around the world to publish news, articles, and videos created at the moment of the event itself!” Musk emphasized and called: “Don’t believe what they tell you, believe what you see!”
Musk’s attack on traditional media became a new episode in his long-standing conflict with the journalistic world: in 2022, then Twitter suspended the accounts of several well-known journalists who covered the work of the social network and Musk’s activities. The move came after Musk abruptly changed the social network’s policies regarding accounts tracking private jet flights, including Musk’s as well.
On October 1, the European Union also sounded the alarm about the “spread of disinformation on social media.” As expected, Brussels sweepingly “condemned the risk of Russian interference in the elections,” without specifying, however, where or when this should be expected, and called the X social network “the platform with the highest proportion of messages containing disinformation or completely misinforming users.”
Addressing Musk directly, European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourová said, “You are not released from your obligations, we will closely monitor what you do.”
Yurova’s statements followed the publication of a report on how the largest internet platforms were adhering to the “code of self-discipline” to combat disinformation, signed in June 2022, but from which Twitter-X withdrew in May 2023. The report’s authors also pointed a finger at Italy, which, according to Brussels, “tops the charts for the spread of fake news on social networks.”
