Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover will create ‘unsafe environment,’ editorial board argues

The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh’s (UPitt) student-run newspaper, recently published an editorial in opposition of Elon Musk’s $44B Twitter purchase. 

The editorial, “Elon Musk’s ideas for Twitter set a negative precedent for the platform,” accuses Musk of making the social media platform “less accessible” and “unsafe.”

“Musk’s plans for Twitter will likely make the platform less accessible despite his ‘free speech’ promise, and will create an unsafe environment where bigoted people will have the platform to spread hateful speech,” the board wrote. 

[RELATED: Free speech has ‘real world implications,’ editorial board argues]

The board also worried that Musk might reinstate President Donald Trump’s and Alex Jones’ accounts, calling the possibility “disturbing.” They also alleged charging for verification is “extremely dangerous” and could lead to the spread of “misinformation.”

While Musk intended to charge verified accounts $20/month to keep their status, he recently decreased his plan to $8/month, according to a Twitter exchange between Musk and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

 “Musk’s plans for Twitter could create problematic precedents for all social media platforms. Bigoted people will feel empowered to abuse Twitter to spread hateful rhetoric with the lack of regulations on Musk’s Twitter,” the editorial concluded.

[RELATED: Elon Musk’s Twitter grab is making academics angry, nervous]

Sal Zuber, a UPitt student and president of the school’s College Republicans, called out the editorial board for making assumptions about Twitter users.

“Assuming that people can’t think for themselves and will believe literally anything in their feed is disgusting,” Zuber told Campus Reform. 

Despite Elon’s push to make the platform more pro-free speech, Zuber is worried that Twitter will still participate in censorship.

“I don’t have much hope for social media buy and large, I hope that he keeps it free, but it seems like any social media platform eventually falls into censorship,” he expressed.

Campus Reform reached out to everyone mentioned and this article will be updated accordingly. Musk was unable to be reached. 

Follow @thelogandubil on Twitter.