Tweet about everything, but tweet about everything. This mantra seemed to guide Donald Trump’s Twitter posts. Faced with his eviction from the social network, the former president of the United States could not avoid giving his opinion, creating scandals or simply crushing his vision of society.
Now, at the head of the platform, Elon Musk seems to have taken over. A proclaimed worshiper of free speech, the kingpin of Tesla, SpaceX and now Twitter wants to return “power to the people” and strengthen the voice of the anonymous. Above all, he visibly likes controversy and catchy tweets, Donald Trump-style.
The last? “He’s fired,” he tweeted under the critical message of a contributor. Obviously, this sentence -already deleted- echoes that of the former US president, reality TV version, when he “shot” the candidates of his program with all his might. The newbie.
This strange affiliation does not stop there. In the form, first of all – cascading tweets, often succinct, supported by a powerful community of “fans”. Rarely self-deprecating, the billionaire likes to pass on posts to the glory of him and is never stingy with harsh criticism against an opponent.
Basically, Elon Musk also has some acquaintances with Donald Trump. Among the first decisions of the new Twitter leader: the establishment of a paid certification to pass everyone as a trusted source of information. All while he points the finger at “journalists who think they are the only legitimate source of information.”
Distrust of journalists was one of Donald Trump’s signatures. And obviously, it also becomes Elon Musk’s. In the eyes of the richest man in the world, the New York Times It would thus be a misinformation site. At least that’s what he implies. in a post. Later that day, he assimilated the British daily The Guardian a “a far-left propaganda machine”.
Surrounded by devotees instead of experts
All in a context of false accusations. On October 31, Elon Musk shared a link to a site that has posted conspiracy theories in the past. The article was about the assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband and contained unverified information. Given the criticism and comments, the leader deleted his publication.
The bankruptcy of crypto giant FTX was also an opportunity for him to feed conspiracy theories. According to him, Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, was never targeted by the US authorities -unlike him- because he was a “major donor to the Democrats”.
His first steps at the head of Twitter also recall the first days of Donald Trump at the helm of the United States. As Axios explains, the former president had preferred to have a circle of followers than surround himself with experts in his field. The wave of layoffs unleashed upon his arrival is not trivial.
Even in his tenure, Elon Musk takes over Trump’s modus operandi. The proposals and ideas floating around on Twitter have mostly not been discussed internally. Because of the social network, some of the employees do not know what to do, reports the American site The Verge. Some go as far as sifting through their boss’s posts to identify their assignments.
A call for the Republican vote
Among the first investors in the launch of Twitter, Chris Sacca tried to decipher the behavior of the businessman. According to him, Elon Musk “is completely alone at the moment and improvises.” In a long series of tweetsensures that Twitter will not be able to stay healthy with so many laid-off engineers and operators.
Finally, the new head of the platform has taken a new step. On November 7, Elon Musk called to vote for the Republican Party in the midterm elections. Although he had already shared his electoral trend in May, the billionaire’s importance and influence have now increased considerably.
At the time, Donald Trump also used Twitter to denigrate Democratic politics and praise his action. With the behavior radicalizing over time, the former president’s influence on the platform led to the attack on the United States Capitol. Followed by his exclusion from the social network. But who will be able to moderate Elon Musk’s behavior on his own platform?
Narcissism
But the comparison is not always correct. “They are different generations, with different abilities and different roles in the bizarre firmament of modern America,” he continues in the guardian Robert Reich. The latter especially sees in common “the rise of a particular American personality in the first decades of the 21st century: the extremely disruptive narcissist.”
“It is not mimicry but the same vision of the world, of the relationship with others”, adds Arnaud Mercier, professor of Information-Communication at the French Institute of the Press, with Tech&Co. “He cultivates the same desire to pass as disruptive, a form of brutality to appear iconoclastic.”
For the communication specialist, this “peak euphoria” acquired thanks to the exposure of Twitter could even give Musk ideas. “All of this gives the impression that he has political agendas. Trump has led by example and if he demonetizes, there is a place for him to take in the political space.” However, the new head of Twitter will face a glass ceiling: Not having been born in the United States, he will not be able to run for the same supreme role as Donald Trump.
Source: BFM TV
