We can assume that Elon Musk doesn't think much of journalists and despises the press. He does not have it that way with critical questions, he considers himself the greatest enlightener of all.
He has just announced that he will reveal how the Twitter algorithms work. He wants to use artificial intelligence to determine who is "manipulating" the public on the short message platform, where and where, while the research group he commissioned around journalist Matt Taibbi has published episode 19 of the "Twitter Files", which are supposed to describe what manipulation was the order of the day at Twitter before Elon Musk took over the business.
This is followed by the assurance that Twitter users are primarily supplied with messages from people they know and "verified" accounts, which are a thousand times harder for bots and troll armies to crack than unverified accounts.
Any questions? How does it work? Or why Musk is running after the lying baron Donald Trump, who is working to destroy American democracy? It would be interesting to find out something beyond Musk's erratic tweets.
The answer comes promptly
The answer to these and all questions to press@twitter.com comes promptly – Elon Musk has just announced this – in the form of an emoji. That shows? A pile of poop. With which Elon Musk expresses unequivocally what he thinks of a public that does not obey his grasp. A user had the right answer ready: The journalists are no different than any Twitter user.
One could almost say that this is already progress. After all, Elon Musk dissolved the German press department of press@twitter.com last year. Nothing more came. There is also a contact point for legal questions – a law firm in Munich. Everything else is moderated away with professional blah blah or sounds like pure mockery.
The semi-annual transparency report required by the German Network Enforcement Act, for example, begins with the sentence: "The commitment to transparency has been one of our core concerns since Twitter's inception and is in the DNA of our service, as the platform is intended to promote public debate. This commitment aligns with our efforts to support constructive conversations, make them easily accessible, and promote their quality worldwide."
If we compare this with Elon Musk's current tweet, it is finally clear what has not yet to be proven: Mister Musk does what he likes. Who else could help? Maybe Twitter support? From there comes an automated answer to our inquiry about Musk's pile. This time, Twitter is almost touching about us: "Thank you for contacting us. Twitter wants to create a safe environment where all users can thrive freely." Free development, that's something! Our request, they say, will be reviewed. In the meantime, we could check out the Security Center for handouts to "make our Twitter experiences more secure."