The Listening Post

Musk’s #TwitterTakeover: What next for the ‘digital town square’?

One of the world’s richest men and ‘free speech absolutist’ Musk acquires Twitter, prompting debates over the future of the platform. Plus, Mexican journalists in peril.

Elon Musk is closing in on buying Twitter for $44bn, taking control of a platform where everyone seems angry about something. It is not yet clear if the billionaire knows just what he is getting into.

Contributors:
Rasha Abdul-Rahim – Director, Amnesty Tech
Abe Brown – Senior editor, Forbes
Evan Greer – Director, Fight for the Future
Edward Ongweso Jr – Staff writer, Motherboard
Shadma Shaikh – Co-founder, FactorDaily

On our radar:

Amateur hour: The Kremlin accuses its adversaries of plotting to kill a Russian journalist but the evidence does not add up. Producer Johanna Hoes on Putin’s bizarre allegations.

Mexican journalism – a fight to the death:

Journalism, on the run. Mexico, its culture of violence against reporters who are killed, with impunity.

Contributors:
Andrés Manuel López Obrador – President of Mexico
Reyna Haydee Ramírez – Journalist & co-founder, Red Sonora de Periodistas
Ana Cristina Ruelas – Former director, Article 19, Mexico and Central America & Researcher, El Colegio de México A C Seminar on Violence and Peace