Tell me what you brag about and I'll tell you what you lack. When I read Elon Musk's tweet that says "The bird is free" in reference to the Twitter symbol, I thought exactly the opposite. The controversial businessman has finally acquired the social network and his plan is to eliminate the prohibitions that currently exist on the platform with the excuse of defending freedom of expression. The risk is that hate messages and manipulated news, spread by false accounts, multiply more and more on the network. The absolute freedom to insult, lie or defame can take away the already deteriorated prestige of this platform.
This same week we learned in Catalonia about the activity of a false journalist, baptized with the name of Joana Masdeu, who was dedicated to criticizing a sector of Junts. This campaign could hardly be carried out from a traditional media outlet, where there are minimal publication controls. In the world of Twitter, everything is possible and if the company's management opts for an open bar, the results can be disastrous.
The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, turned to this network to wittily reply to Musk's tweet and wrote: "In Europe, the bird will fly in accordance with the laws of the European Union." Breton made reference to the digital services law, which aims to force these platforms to eliminate what is considered illegal information. A rule that, in turn, opens the debate on who has the power to finally assess what is false and what is not. For this reason, we believe that the normal and simplest thing would be for the network itself to limit these limits. It is not necessary to be a specialist in the sector to see how some accounts are camouflaged robots that repeat certain slogans to influence public opinion. Some accounts are closed, but there is a certain laxity that translates into a festival of disqualifications and lies. There is everything on Twitter and there are also positive attitudes that make it a useful social communication tool. It also has to be said. The risk is that the weight of the negative ends up imposing itself and makes it impossible to fly Musk's bird back.
