I admire Elon Musk. And I’m probably part of a minority on the Blick editorial board, as well as privately. Like Musk, it’s out of fashion.
In Switzerland, the founder of Tesla is often laughed at. He thinks it’s too big, he’s completely taken off. leave the earth? What nonsense! And ultimately, this Musk is all about the money anyway.
On Thursday evening, Musk bought the short-messaging service Twitter for 44 billion Swiss francs. At the moment it is a social platform popular among politicians, activists, journalists and everyone who still cares about it.
Musk claims in a statement that it’s not about the money. And about “human love”. May be. Or not.
He certainly speaks the truth at the very beginning of his statement: “There is currently a great danger that social networks will split into right-wing extremist and left-extremist echo chambers, further fueling hatred and dividing our society.”
A trend that has been documented by numerous studies over the past few years. Anyone who does not believe must register on Twitter for a week. This is already enough to give the impression that the world is only black and white.
As head of Twitter, Musk will roll out the red carpet for the return of Donald Trump. This is also correct.
Trump was an extremely bad president, whom I had the honor of accompanying for three years as a correspondent for the Blick Group in the US. But his ban after the January 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol was still a big mistake by then-Twitter boss Jack Dorsey.
A few days later, he could not stand the pressure of the public. This was bad for his business and for American democracy.
Trump continued to inform and radicalize his supporters — just not the focus of the bluebird anymore. To this day, the ex-president is by far the most important figure in the Republican Party. And he has the best chance of returning to the White House in 2024.
Elon Musk has not only noble intentions. He sees the business, and Trump is part of it. From a democratic point of view, his return is desirable. Censorship cannot be the solution.
American democracy should be able to stand up to Donald Trump, who, by the way, was democratically elected by the people in 2016. Just like Elon Musk. Otherwise, it’s worth nothing.