Twitter users are in a blue funk. They are not amused by Elon Musk’s money-making tactic of monetising his social media weapon by putting a price tag on the blue tick. Last week, Amitabh Bachchan tweeted in Bhojpuri lamenting that the blue verification mark beside his handle had vanished. Since the tick mark symbolised special status befitting the star’s standing, he coughed up around Rs 9000: the minimum fee to get it back. But Twitter sat on the money. Only after ticking it off with a caustic tweet, sarcastically pleading with folded hands, did Twitter restore his verification. But the superstar wasn’t content to leave it there. He punned, “Tu cheej badi hei Musk Musk.” With 48 million followers, Bachchan realised that Twitter had pulled a fast one—a new Twitter policy says users with over a million followers don’t have to pay for their blue tick. Though Bachchan was joshing since he doesn’t need SM to boost his popularity, millions of tweeple worldwide were in a blue funk at the sudden loss of their artificially inflated social (media) status. This also sent many Indian digital daredevils into a deep depression. Hardly 5 per cent of Indian tweeple are privileged by blue racism that puts them ahead of others. Particularly peeved are the self appointed influencers who bought or got the tick marks thanks to their connections with the right people in the Twitter establishment. Musk’s lucre lust is hurting the pockets of thousands of Indian tweeple. Getting the coveted blue tick costs organisations about Rs 83,000 per month. The political parties, their frontal organisations, social activists, NGOs and corporates are most affected. None of them had a Twitter budget. Now parties and civil society interventionists without a cause are trying to figure out how to ensure their public presence for free. Since many parties use thousands of handles to dictate the narrative extensively, they are now revising the list to minimise expenditure.
Colour coding VIP status is Musk’s masterstroke. He has assigned a grey tick mark to presidents and prime ministers, ministers and affiliated organisations. Companies and media organisations get a gold tick. As the great disrupter, the South Africa born billionaire has ensured that the blue tick becomes a status equaliser since it will apply equally to a chief minister and an ordinary babu in his government. All Indian CMs, mantris, sports and film stars and sarkari agencies have paid for their verification. With 24 million accounts, India has the third largest Twitter client base, led by USA and Japan. Even after almost a decade since he left the White House, Barack Obama has a maximum number of 133 million followers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with over 86 million followers, is among the top ten Twitter titans. Most Union ministers and BJP chief ministers have over a million followers each. It was only after Modi became prime minister that Twitter became the most powerful digital communication tool to set the agenda and amplify public opinions. He encouraged its maximum use and advised every functionary to use it, not only to amplify the government’s success stories but also demolish the opposition. Previously Twitter was dominated by illiberals and leftists, while right wing tweeple were denied both the blue tick and the traction they deserved. Twitter’s tsunami power has been a major contributor to BJP’s myriad massive electoral successes. The platform has played an important role in moulding public opinion in the US. In 2020, it banned Donald Trump after discovering rather late that the president was pushing a fake diegesis. Though Musk has restored his account, Trump hasn’t tweeted anything so far.
Though Twitter is just number 15 of the top 20 social media platforms, with Facebook leading the pack, it has acquired the role of the prime digital news disseminator in the shortest time. With over 400 million users worldwide, its subscribers create around 6,000 tweets per second or 3,60,000 per minute. There is hardly a person of significance who doesn’t use Twitter as a personal mouthpiece. Earlier, it divided users along ideological affiliations. Today it is the online vehicle of the rich and famous to air their views unilaterally: a game played by a privileged few. According to a published report, the top 25 per cent tweeple generate 97 per cent of all tweets. Twitter’s homepage declares: “We serve the public conversation. That’s why it matters to us that people have a free and safe space to talk.” This original mission statement of founder Jack Dorsey assured a free ride without strings attached. But its true colours and contours changed after the adventurist entrepreneur Musk bought it, not as a public cause but to serve his private purpose. He has a whopping 122 million followers, the second largest followed person after Obama, which makes the blue bird the perfect vehicle to accelerate his business on wheels and in space. He spent $44 billion to acquire Twitter in 2022; but the value has plummeted by half in less than a year. Though it collects over $4 billion annually, the platform has been losing over $200 million yearly in the past three years. Out of the blue Musk declared that Twitter doesn’t exist as a corporate identity as he spends more time on it than his flagship Tesla and SpaceX since he knows the colour differentiation can hatch valuable eggs.
Basically, Musk has colonised the platform to promote his business interests, unleash his information machinery and ensure regulated content. The more you pay, the larger the amplification. Many fear that the Musk Money Model is a devilish device restricting freedom of expression. Liberals see it as part of a corporate conspiracy to control and shape the dissemination of information. The world’s powerful mega corporations will use their algorithms to decide who will read what and where by accessing user data. Social media companies created and owned by instant multi-billionaires have reduced the world to a global village of bytes. Their market valuations even exceed the GDP of many developing and some developed countries. Newspapers are gasping for breath because they cannot charge the consumer proportionately while generating content at a high cost. On the contrary, the tech tyrants gypped gullible users to join their platforms with 24/7 free content. Twitter’s USP is that, unlike other SM companies, it is an addictive accessory for expression and hence a powerful tool for the political class. Various governments post their propaganda material but force intermediaries like Twitter and YouTube to remove content they find offensive. A new nexus between technology, business and government has been born to dictate a biased narrative while silencing and curbing contrary opinions and facts. Even as free voices fall silent in the limitless void of cyberspace, Musk’s hunger for money and power speaks louder than the silence of the digitally restricted.
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com
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