Musk is trying to change Twitter's revenue direction from the current advertising-based approach.
He initially thought of Twitter as the same as other technology companies like Tesla and SpaceX. However, Twitter relies on advertising for revenue, and there are advertisers.
Advertisers hate hate speech and discrimination. In fact, Musk has sent a letter to advertisers, whose numbers have drastically decreased since the acquisition, promising them that they can "say whatever they want and not have to take responsibility for it -- I will not turn Twitter into a hellish place where anything goes."
Shortly after that, on October 30th, Musk caused a commotion.
An incident occurred in which Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and a leading figure, was attacked with a hammer while sleeping at home. At that time, Musk introduced an article from a right-wing conspiracy theory site that speculated that "it may be related to male prostitutes." He tweeted, "Maybe there's more to it than meets the eye."
Musk intuitively understands engineering, but human emotions are difficult to deal with because of the way his brain is wired. He doesn't understand that that's where the difficulty of acquiring Twitter comes in. He doesn't understand the emotions of advertisers. Musk doesn't understand, and doesn't want to understand, that Twitter is actually an advertising medium based on human emotions and relationships.
The tweet to Paul Pelosi caused controversy, and Musk had to fly to New York to discuss a contingency plan with the advertising sales team and work to reassure advertisers and their agents. In fact, Musk flew to New York and arrived at 3 a.m. the next day.
Musk seemed to be furious from start to finish after that. "We've been under attack ever since the acquisition was made public in April. Activists are putting pressure on us not to sign advertising contracts," he said.
He added, "We want Twitter to be something that will interest a wide range of people, such as a billion people, one day. That's why safety is important. If people see a barrage of hate speech or are attacked, they'll stop using the platform."
Regarding the Paul Pelosi incident, he brazenly stated, "I am just me. My Twitter account is an extension of who I am as a person. And as a person, I tweet stupid things and make mistakes." He was so blunt that he didn't apologize, leaving those involved dumbfounded.
The next day, many Twitter executives, who are trusted by the advertising industry, resigned. As a result, many brands and advertising agencies announced that they would withdraw Twitter advertising for the time being. Monthly sales fell by 80%. However, Musk was furious and said he would not allow himself to succumb to such pressure.
Musk often goes into "whimsical mode" or "insensitive mode," but occasionally goes into "devil mode." He is exposed to the cold anger emanating from his jet-black persona, as if possessed by something.
"Twitter is a good thing. Its very existence is ethical. They are behaving unethically," he said, adding that he believed pressuring advertisers to pull their ads was extortion and ordered the freezing of accounts that tweeted such things.
