on the crypto
Buying Twitter (Nasdaq shares Twitter) by Elon Musk has generated all kinds of reactions. Many people have expressed concern about Musk's acquisition of a platform that they consider central to the circulation of information today, while others believe in the entrepreneur's promise to users of the social network: to make it a true platform for "free speech. ".
In my house, I make the rules
Among these people, many are bitcoiners, whose principles are based on the eradication of trusted third parties, intermediaries and centralization - everything that Twitter is not and will not be. It doesn't matter what Musk promises.
It is not that he in particular cannot or does not want to do this (his motives can only be fully known to himself), but that such a platform does not necessarily respond to the premise of freedom.
No matter how many voices are present on the social network and the enormous flow of information that is published there, it is still a platform owned by a company that, due to its centralized nature, can censor at will. They have the right to do this (that's how businesses and services work) and have done it for as long as the world has existed.
Let's look at Twitter for a moment as if it were my home. In this space I can be open to welcoming a very wide diversity of people with their voices. I can also give them the opportunity to speak and express themselves however they want. But it will remain my home, under my subjective rules.
If you offend, get out, nothing but freedom of speech!
There is always the possibility that a person may say or do something offensive, aggressive or simply not in line with my principles; and that could make me change my mind about letting him into my space. In short, something that would make me ask them to leave my home. We take this as my "usage policies" for the "expression" space that is my home, in this imaginary exercise. Everything becomes more complicated when we add up how complex freedom of expression is. Especially when, in his name, the right of others not to be violated is violated.
What guarantees, then, that Musk can't change his mind at some point about the limits of the "free speech" he claims he wants to guarantee on Twitter? Where would the boundaries of this freedom be, and who will be in charge of dictating what is right? According to Musk himself, he would simply abide by the law in his conception of what is "free speech". But these are America's rules - do we all follow the same rules? After all, it will still be their "home".
Don't trust it, check it out
There are those who simply assume that what Elon says he wants is what he actually will do. It seems, or at least it seems to me, that this kind of blind trust is in total opposition to one of the most basic principles of bitcoiners: don't trust, verify.
These same bitcoiners rely on Musk's business success and casual way of communicating through social media and other means to make sure he will deliver on what he promises. This must be reiterated, taking his declared intentions for granted.
But for me the question is not whether he will deliver or not. Yes, Twitter contains the voices of millions of people. It is also true that the bitcoin community in particular is very strong and deeply rooted in this network. It is arguably the most active and diverse discussion space for bitcoiners today. Now, let's take a moment to acknowledge something: despite all this, Twitter is not the center of the world and life continues outside its borders.
Despite this importance that cannot be denied, shouldn't we, as bitcoiners, be clear that it's just another tool? Shouldn't we be clear that it is essentially centralized and that, by this principle, it cannot be considered a space that guarantees absolute but rather limited freedom?
Is Bitcoin just a form of money, a monetary network, or is it also a philosophical and political approach to life? As I see it, Bitcoin is also a way of understanding the world outside of the economic one. And Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or any other network doesn't work and can't work as a bitcoiner would expect. Whether run by Musk or not.
