Elon Musk has said he is giving “serious thought” to creating a new social network that is open source and supports cryptocurrencies like dogecoin.
The world’s richest person floated the idea on his current social network-of-choice, Twitter, after posting a poll on Friday asking his 79 million followers whether they believed Twitter “rigorously adheres” to the principle that “free speech is essential to a functioning democracy”.
He added that “the consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”
More than 70 per cent of the 2 million respondents clicked ‘no’, prompting the SpaceX and Tesla boss to propose a new platform.
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” he tweeted. “What should be done?”
One follower suggested he should build a new social media platform, “one that would consist [of] an open source algorithm, one where free speech and adhering to free speech is given top priority, one where propaganda is very minimal”, to which Mr Musk replied, “Am giving serious thought to this.”
He added that any new platform would include a digital tip jar that would support the meme-inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin.
Mr Musk also made comments about another social network, replying to a tweet likening TikTok to “digital crack”.
He said: “TikTok feels like such an obvious AI attack that it’s annoying. I prefer to be attacked by AI with subtlety – maybe a rose, some candles, wine, Barry White, witty banter, that sort of thing.”
If he follows through, Mr Musk would not be the first major public figure to launch his own social media platform, with former US President Donald Trump creating his own app after being banned from Twitter.
Mr Trump said his Truth Social platform would “stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech”, however it has been beset by technical difficulties since launching last month. The reality TV star has also been unusually quiet on his app, failing to post anything beyond a welcome message in the first month of it going live.
