Payments, calls and Donald Trump: the changes Elon Musk may make to Twitter

Elon Musk is officially the new owner of Twitter. He paid 44,000 million dollars, and his first move was to show up at the company's headquarters and fire several top executives. The tech entrepreneur claims Twitter is "the future of civilization." But what are his plans for the platform?

Elon Musk believes the algorithm behind Twitter's feed must be public. That means "the rules that computers follow to determine what you see in your Twitter feed should be public," according to CNN. The entrepreneur wants to give Twitter transparency so the users would know why they see particular ads.

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Elon Musk has declared himself a "free speech absolutist," according to The Guardian. He wants to bring this philosophy to the company by loosening moderation rules. Some users are concerned that this policy will expand hate speech inside the platform and can allow a few infamous former users back.

Twitter banned Donald Trump from the platform because of his violent speech. There is speculation that Elon Musk might let him back in.

Elon Musk made a few less controversial suggestions. Like the edit button. A function allowing users to edit their tweets after hitting the publish button. Twitter included this feature as a beta test this year.

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Musk also suggested removing advertising from the premium service Twitter Blue, according to a series of tweets collected by The Guardian. That suggestion could raise concerns in a business that makes 90% of its annual revenue from ads. The entrepreneur could have a different idea to make the company profitable.

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Michelle Toh wrote an article for CNN titled 'Elon Musk may want a WeChat for the world,' in which she addresses Musk's interest in this Chinese app. Toh cited a town hall with Twitter employees in June. The entrepreneur expressed his admiration for how WeChat is a one-stop shop that does everything for users: social media, messaging, calls, and payments.

Maybe Elon Musk plans for Twitter to profit from online payments. However, according to experts consulted by Toh, this could be an uphill battle. The platform would face fierce competitors like Apple Pay or Venmo, which are already established in the U.S.

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Musk could face the same challenges when establishing a call service on Twitter. According to the CNN article, other digital businesses are also trying to become an everything app. Some of those, like WhatsApp, with far more experience in this area.

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Twitter's premium service could compile all these features.

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Musk's plans for Twitter may be to get users to spend as much time on the platform as possible by developing multiple services like WeChat. "You basically live on WeChat in China because it's so usable and helpful to daily life, and I think if we can achieve that, or even get close to that at Twitter, it would be an immense success," said Musk in a declaration collected by CNN.

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There are some concerns regarding the business model when talking about Elon Musk owning Twitter. The platform's pivotal role in the international political agenda is a sensitive issue, especially when its new owner is the CEO of two companies with a 260 billion dollar fortune.

Not only is it concerning that a billionaire with two other businesses owns a sensitive platform like Twitter, but the fact that this billionaire is Elon Musk is also a problem. The New York Times has called Musk a "geopolitical chaos agent" in an article about how he has inserted himself in some of the world's most complex conflicts.

"His critics — and there are many — worry that it is difficult to separate Mr. Musk's opinions from his business interests, especially when it comes to Tesla, which is increasingly dependent on China," wrote Cade Metz, Adam Satariano, and Chang Che in The New York Times.

There are also concerns about how much power Elon Musk holds. For example, his role in providing internet to the Ukrainian army through Starlink has been crucial but volatile. Last month he suggested that he had to stop covering this service's costs. However, according to an investigation by The New York Times, the United States, Britain and Poland have paid for at least part of the Starlink cost.

The truth is that the wealthiest man in the world closed his purchase of Twitter and has plans to reshape the company's business model. Only the future can tell what the platform will be.