Commentary on Musk Twitter

Elon Musk this week ended his destructive charade as the owner and operator of Twitter not by ceding operational control to someone more capable or by admitting his vision for the product is completely unworkable, but instead by just killing it entirely.

Twitter has flown the coop. But can a new name, logo and possibly a revamped vision for the business inspire wary advertisers to return?

Twitter is now asking users to add context to images in tweets that may be misleading. But experts believe the plan could backfire.

The media veteran will need to satisfy concerns about content moderation to attract advertisers back to the platform, communications executives say.. From Campaign US

The optics of helping Musk’s social network thrive are so bad that being busted for paying for the mark is humiliating for Twitter’s power users, and that’s not changing, says Andrew Graham in this opinion piece.

"The thing to understand about Twitter is that the app was never really the product," Andrew Graham, founder of PR and communications company Bread & Law, told Lifewire via email. "Twitter's product was always the moderation."

Elon Musk’s ownership has driven advertisers from the platform. Can it at least keep brands posting with its new verification scheme?

“I just don’t think [Musk] is a serious operator. I don’t believe anything he says about a commitment to free speech,” Graham said. “He’s a Republican activist who is going to turn that platform into the worst of modern Republicanism.”

Statement from Bread & Law founder Andrew Graham on Elon Musk's attempt to buy Twitter.

Andrew Graham, founder of Bread & Law, said: "Musk can make empty gestures in the direction of civility all he wants, but the fact is that he’s been transparent about his intention to re-platform Twitter’s most toxic users and to gut content moderation. You don’t 'debate' whether, for example, vaccines work, or whether people of certain races, ethnicities, or gender identities deserve to live. And you don’t improve the health of a conversation by inviting bigots, liars, and grifters into it."

All brands should pause engagement on Twitter immediately, writes Bread & Law founder Andrew Graham. Here’s why.

These issues, says Andrew Graham, founder and head of strategy at Bread & Law, a New York-based PR firm, will inevitably create a hostile environment for brands. “I’ve … [called] for brands to cease all engagement on Twitter immediately until, at the absolute least, there is clarity on the moderation issues that are evident under Musk,” he says. “While I doubt disengagement will happen all at once, the new company is just not shaping up to be a particularly serious or useful place for brands to be.”

“In the immediate term, some new eyeballs are going to go to LinkedIn because it has some of the same characteristics with a lot less disinfo and hate speech,” says Andrew Graham, founder and head of strategy at Bread & Law, a New York-based PR firm.

“In the short term, [I think] Hive scrapes away some Twitter users who are as turned off by Elon’s Republican activism, hubris and poor management as I am,” says Bread & Law’s Graham. “But I don’t think it becomes this haven for brands looking for a new platform. It’s just not there yet, and I don’t think anyone serious should expect it to be.”

Graham believes that Musk won’t relinquish control because he sees Twitter as a tool for his political gain. As he puts it: “What I think a lot of people have missed is the idea that Musk's ownership of Twitter was, is and always will be a political act with political objectives."