Asia is the biggest growth opportunity on Twitter and perhaps a far more difficult challenge. (File)
Despite all the furor about how Elon Musk can tilt US political discourse after receiving the keys to Twitter Inc, his biggest challenges could arise in the Pacific.
Asia, home to more than half the world’s population, is the biggest growth opportunity on Twitter and perhaps a far more difficult challenge. If the billionaire Tesla Inc. and SpaceX has kept its promises to remove censorship, it will face a number of confusing regulations sometimes enforced by authoritarian governments pushed to the limits by a horde of Internet users for the first time.
Only the figures suggest that Musk’s biggest headaches are abroad. There are 179 million daily active Twitter users who can generate revenue – more than 38 million in the United States in 2021, according to the latest annual report.
As a public company, Twitter has repeatedly stressed that it must comply with local regulations. Once this becomes private care, controlled by the richest man in the world, Musk will personally take responsibility for navigating this thicket – and the consequences if he fails.
“Asia has the potential to create or ruin the new Twitter,” said JJ Rose, a contributor to Australia’s Lowy Institute non-partisan think tank. “It will depend on how you approach it, whether you can use it for your own freedom of speech.
Representatives of Twitter and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
China
Twitter is officially banned in China, but the country will still require a lot of attention from Musk. The founder of Amazon.com Inc. Jeff Bezos hinted at potential tweet conflicts shortly after Musk’s deal, asking, “Has the Chinese government just gained some influence in the town square?”
Obviously, China is extremely important to Tesla, Musk’s main source of wealth. The billionaire will certainly face pressure – indirect or overt – to refine Twitter’s policies to please Beijing.
As the largest market for electric vehicles in the world, and as a supplier of Tesla batteries, China is essential for the healthy growth of the central part of Musk’s business empire. Tesla also benefited from significant tax breaks in setting up its Gigafactory in Shanghai, its first overseas plant, and was allowed to own all its local operations, a rarity for an American company.
A pressing issue is how Twitter is coping with China’s efforts to spread global propaganda on the platform. In 2020, the company introduced labels for government officials and state-owned media for publications such as Xinhua and the Global Times, and readers are reminded of this support from the government whenever they like or retweet stories. Chinese media have called the practice “intimidation” and have already begun lobbying the billionaire to repeal it.
“One of the fiercest tests of Musk’s declared commitment to expanding free speech on Twitter will be whether he will withstand pressure from Beijing to smear China’s criticism and challenges on the platform,” said Susan Nossel, chief executive. Director of the non-profit advocacy group PEN America. . “Whatever gradual changes it makes to the platform in the name of free speech risk being plunged under the weight of a heavy Chinese hand controlling what Musk rightly calls a global public square.
Elon Musk must remove my label. Also, when people want to like or RT my tweets, they are now reminded by Twitter that “this is a media related to the state.” This is total discrimination and suppression of freedom of speech. Twitter needs to change that policy.
– Chen Weihua @ 陈卫华） (@chenweihua) April 29, 2022
Chen Weihua, a journalist with China Daily, spoke directly to Musk, arguing that such labels suppressed freedom of speech and contradicted Musk’s stated principles. The billionaire has not given a clear indication of how he will resolve such issues.
“By ‘freedom of speech’ I just mean what is in line with the law,” Musk wrote on Twitter. “I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.”
Bots are another matter. China is also using automated and anonymous accounts to spread government messages, prompting Twitter to close more than 170,000 accounts in 2020 to “spread geopolitical stories favorable to the Communist Party.” Musk promised to “defeat the spam bots or die trying!” And sounded determined to continue taking on the fake accounts.
If our Twitter offer succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022
Beijing has shown readiness to punish billionaires who do not comply with its wishes. The regulators hit the technology giants in the country and practically expelled the co-founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. from the public. Jack Ma.
Incentives are offered outside the electric vehicle market. Musk’s SpaceX can certainly look for Chinese customers while its Boring Co. can benefit from profitable infrastructure contracts in the country.
And what about Twitter itself? Part of the Chinese population uses virtual private networks to evade Beijing’s control and use the service. Can Beijing also offer access to its 1.4 billion people? Maybe under the right conditions. They will certainly not include freedom of speech.
India
India is another high-stakes market for Twitter: there are half a billion internet users in the country and another half a billion go online.
Twitter plays a role in India’s online discourse similar to that of the United States: the country’s political leaders use it to spread their messages, which are then broadcast on television and news networks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was an early supporter and has 78 million followers on the service – more than Twitter has registered users in the country.
But the New Delhi government has demanded much more control than Washington has ever exercised. Tensions rose during the country’s farmers’ protests in 2020 and 2021, when Twitter and the government clashed over what kind of speech would be tolerated on the platform.
When farmers’ groups demanded the repeal of some laws they said preferred corporate-run farms, they took to the streets and on social media to substantiate their arguments, including Twitter.
Prime Minister Modi’s administration has urged the San Francisco-based company to remove posts critical of its actions – and Twitter initially declined to comply. Indian authorities then threatened to shut down the company’s executives, forcing Twitter to suspend more than 500 accounts and block access to hundreds more.
This was a direct example of how support for “freedom of speech” could collide with government decrees and law enforcement. Later in 2021, New Delhi tightened its grip on social media such as Twitter and Facebook: the government insisted that companies identify specific individuals as grievance officers who will be responsible for handling formal removal requests and who could face jail time. for non-compliance. Twitter has joined, albeit after a delay.
It is unclear how Musk will reconcile his support for more freedom of speech with such tight government control.
“Twitter must comply with the country’s laws,” the future owner said in an interview.
The issue is hardly limited to India. Nearby Sri Lanka has restricted access to social media in anticipation of protests in April, while Myanmar’s military junta completely cut off internet access last year in a bid to quell opposition. Researchers have found that Twitter is the most blocked social media platform in the world with a total of 12,379 hours of interruptions in 2021.
By “freedom of speech” I simply mean what is in accordance with the law.
I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.
If people want less freedom of speech, they will ask the government to pass laws to that effect.
Therefore, going beyond the law is against the will of the people.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia has become one of the fastest growing Internet markets, fueled by countries such as Indonesia and India, which are bringing their huge population online.
The digital economy in Southeast Asia will reach $ 363 billion by 2025
But emerging markets come with their own set of problems. Meta Platforms Inc. names the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia as prominent sources of fake and duplicate accounts. Meta, whose Facebook and Instagram services face similar challenges as Twitter, has reported in its annual documents for years that approximately 11% of users worldwide have duplicate accounts and another 5% fake. As in China, Twitter will suspend its work to eradicate synthetic users.
Freedom of expression also faces local laws in the region. Singapore passed a controversial law on “foreign interference” last year, giving it the power to demand consumer information from social media in an attempt to prevent outsiders from influencing domestic policy. Will this agree with Musk’s ambition for free expression?
Vietnam has posed similar challenges to online service providers such as Facebook and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, with cybersecurity law effectively enforcing a choice between maintaining user privacy and complying with local rules.
The question to be answered in the coming years is to what extent Musk will stick to his promises to release Twitter – not only in the United States but in the rest of the world.
“Asia is not North America and it is not Europe,” said Rose of the Lowy Institute. “Musk has globalist views and his business interests have tended to be quite universal so far. But something like the media requires a more nuanced approach when applied globally.”
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published by a syndicated channel.)
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