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What’s really going on at Twitter—and why does it m= atter? Aynne Kokas on free speech, good governance, and the vast problem of= data insecurity on social platforms.

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The Chamber

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What’s r= eally going on at Twitter—and why does it matter? Aynne Kokas= on free speech, good governance, and the vast problem of data ins= ecurity on social platforms.

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Akshar Dave

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The bi= ggest subject of controversy on Twitter—a social-media = platform built for controversy—is now Twitter itself. This controvers= y’s been developing over the past few years, along with concerns over= the site’s content-moderation policies and transparency about their = implementation. But it’s heated up since the billionaire Elon Musk bo= ught the platform, vowing to reform it in the cause of free speech. And the= n it exploded after Musk recently released a trove of internal documents ca= lled the “Twitter Files”—indicating the role of internal = political biases, and even external influence from the U.S. government, in = decisions to restrict the visibility of certain content or suspend certain = user accounts. Twitter is meanwhile an unusual social-media platform: It ha= s hundreds of millions of users globally—tens of millions in the U.S.= , its biggest market. But relatively few of these users engage very much wi= th it. And those who do, its “power users,” are disproportionat= ely in or connected to the media industry or politics—opinion elites = more than everyday people. Opinion elites may have their own concerns about= Twitter, and those concerns may be legitimate, but what effect has the pla= tform had on the broader democratic societies around it?

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=09=09=09=09=09=09Aynne Kokas is the C.K. Yen Profess= or at the Miller Center, an associate professor of Media Studies at the Uni= versity of Virginia, and the author of Trafficking Data: How China is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereig= nty. Kokas says that while the debate over Twitter’s history= of speech moderation—and now over Musk’s own erratic treatment= of journalists and chaotic policy implementations—are significant, t= he most urgent risks from Twitter and other social-media platforms have muc= h more to do with data privacy. To Kokas, questions about whether and why o= ne influential person’s Twitter account might be amplified over anoth= er are important; but when data is vulnerable, that poses a categorically g= reater risk to the lives of everyday people across America and around the w= orld.

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=09=09=09=09=09=09Eric Pfeiffer: How has Twitter’s i= nfluence on the U.S. and global public spheres evolved since the platform&r= squo;s beginnings?

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=09=09=09=09=09=09Aynne Kokas: Twitter launched in 2006&md= ash;16 years ago now—as a kind of insider platform for developers and= people in the tech sector to share ideas and build community. From there, = the site’s key users became people in media and entertainment—p= articularly those interested in influencing the news and entertainment envi= ronments. Twitter has long been different from Instagram or Facebook, in th= e sense that it’s long been focused much more on news and generally s= erious content.

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=09=09=09=09=09=09Today, we see people on Twitter paying a disproportionate= amount of attention to arguments about changes on the platform, the platfo= rm’s successes, the platform’s demise—because of the prom= inent role it plays in elite conversations—and especially in discussi= ons among media professionals. But in terms of its impact, both across the = U.S. and around the world, Twitter really is dwarfed by other platforms lik= e Facebook or Instagram, where it comes to users numbers and user engagemen= t.

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=09=09=09=09=09=09Those of us who use Twitter professionally or personally = can often experience moments when we presume that everyone in the broader s= ociety understands a particular point being made on Twitter—or that m= ost people share agreement about an issue that’s been circulating on = Twitter.

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=09=09=09=09=09=09But then, when you engage in real-world conversation with= family or friends, it’s very clear that the public sphere of Twitter= is actually very small. This isn’t to diminish its significance&mdas= h;or the significance of what we’re seeing the platform go through ri= ght now; Twitter is an extremely important part of the U.S. media and techn= ology ecosystems. But the context is often lost when people in these indust= ries are imagining the impact their conversations on Twitter have in the la= rger public sphere.

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=09=09=09=09=09=09Another thing that’s important to note is the profo= und U.S. focus of Twitter. Looking at the company’s global markets, i= t’s really only achieved any significant penetration in the United St= ates and in Japan. In that sense, it’s not really a global platform; = there isn’t a wide range of languages, as we see on Facebook or Whats= App, for example. This is something that often gets lost in conversations a= bout Twitter, and conversations on Twitter, which reflect something of a pa= rochial focus on U.S. media.

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=09=09=09=09=09=09Pfeiffer: How do you see Elon Musk&rsquo= ;s reorientation of Twitter changing its influence? What would you say we k= now and don’t yet know about that?

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Kokas<= /strong>: There are a few things we definitely know.

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=09=09=09=09=09=09One is that Musk has dissolved Twitter’s Trust and = Safety Council, the external advisory group the company put together in 201= 6 to address problems on the platform like hate speech, child exploitation,= self-harm and suicide—and generally to help oversee digital safety a= nd digital privacy. That one decision already represents a very significant= change in the platform’s governance.
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=09=09=09=09=09=09The other thing we definitely know is that there have bee= n massive layoffs at Twitter, which have led to significant challenges for = the company’s engineers and also for its compliance team.
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=09=09=09=09=09=09In this context, we’re already seeing the question = arising in public debate about whether Twitter still has the capacity and t= he capabilities to conform to digital-privacy laws in the European Union, a= s well as in Japan. Even though the European Union isn’t Twitter&rsqu= o;s biggest market, it’s meaningful, and it has very robust data-priv= acy laws; Japan is a relatively large market and also has robust data-priva= cy laws. What we’re seeing is an environment where Twitter will poten= tially be subject to major fines and serious legal action in countries outs= ide the U.S.
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=09=09=09=09=09=09This isn’t as much of a problem in the U.S., becaus= e there isn’t very robust national data-privacy legislation in Americ= a—but there are really significant global implications, which could h= ave a long-term effect on the stability of the platform and its ability to = continue functioning.
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=09=09=09=09=09=09A third thing we know is that Musk is trying to shift the= business model of Twitter in order to require users, and specifically powe= r users, to help underwrite its revenue. And this is extremely interesting,= because it shifts the entire business model of social media, where there&r= squo;s a kind of hidden labor bargain: Users can engage with one another fo= r free on the platform, and in exchange, they provide content for free that= powers the platform’s growth.
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=09=09=09=09=09=09What this means is that Musk is essentially reworking tha= t labor bargain, making it so that users aren’t just sharing content = freely in order to power the platform but paying for it. And it’s qui= te unclear whether and how this reframing of the platform will work.
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Camilo Jimenez

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More from = Aynne Kokas at The Signal:

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=09=09=09=09=09=09“In many ways, the issues we see s= urrounding Twitter and TikTok aren’t too dissimilar. The main differe= nce is that TikTok has a Chinese parent company, which gives TikTok a lot o= f cover—but also, because everyone knows TikTok is therefore effectiv= ely controlled by the Chinese government, it makes it a lot easier to organ= ize common opposition to some of TikTok’s practices.”

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=09=09=09=09=09=09“Unfortunately, a disproportionate and misg= uided focus from U.S. coastal media outlets and the U.S. tech indu= stry misses what’s really at stake with Twitter and other social medi= a platforms: personal-data privacy protection. The fact is that these major= communications platforms can extract the data of high-profile users in way= s that aren’t secure. When that data is stolen, as it has been, it&rs= quo;s vulnerable to being manipulated for financial crimes, bullying, or ev= en terrorism. These are the real political issues and risks from my standpo= int—more than, for example, some person being elevated or another per= son being suspended from the platform for controversial reasons.” =09=09=09=09=09=09

=09=09=09=09=09=09“Poor security on a platform makes it vulne= rable to hackers and illegal data exfiltration. There’s gene= rally poor oversight of data security at Twitter, which makes user data eas= ily subject to misuse. And the incentives for that may now even be escalati= ng, with Musk’s focus on Twitter’s financial losses and declare= d intention to make it profitable—both by cutting costs and by creati= ng new revenue streams. This makes user data even more vulnerable to third-= party data brokers. Once your data is either shared or sold to a third-part= y broker, you have no control over where it goes. Right now on Twitter, you= can see that there aren’t a lot of scruples in terms of how user dat= a is being protected.”

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The Signal explores urgent q= uestions in current events around the world—to support it and for ful= l access:

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