Musk’s Inaction on X is Pushing the Platform Toward a MySpace-Style Decline

In March, amid a surge of user departures from X (formerly Twitter), I proposed five key strategies to restore trust and enhance user experience. Seven months later, none of those suggestions have been implemented, and the platform’s decline continues, affecting users and marketers. 

Here’s a look at each of those strategies with an analysis of why they remain essential for X’s future.

1. Implement stringent content moderation and anti-harassment policies.

2. Combat disinformation.

3. Give people more control over their timelines.

4. Give advertisers more control over ad placements.

5. Limit Musk's posts.

Part of the problem is that X has gotten less transparent since Elon Musk purchased the company. In Oct., X published its first transparency report in two years. The findings were not good.

Let’s look at each suggestion.

Decline of Content Moderation

Back in the spring, racist, anti-Semitic or anti-LGBTQ+ posts were all over X. According to a Forbes article in Oct., "X’s Latest Content Findings Reveal Troubling Trends In AI Moderation," "users reported over 224 million accounts and tweets -- a massive surge compared to the 11.6 million accounts reported in the latter half of 2021." (Notably, 2021 was before Musk purchased Twitter.)

Some argue that Musk is a free-speech absolutist who doesn’t believe in censorship, and therefore, X should not moderate what users post. (It’s worth citing a CNBC article whose key point is that “Musk’s free speech advocacy seems to apply mostly to his own speech.”) 

But most users don’t want to be inundated by hate speech, and following the recent election, reports indicate people are leaving or reducing their time on the site. This trend does not bode well for X’s business model.

X can claim that it continues to moderate content – which is true – but Musk dissolved its Trust and Safety Council in 2022 and placed such little value on having a Head of Safety that it took the platform 10 months to hire a replacement in April. 

In the meantime, because of layoffs, X has been relying more on artificial intelligence for content moderation, and AI is not to the job. According to Forbes, while “the number of reported accounts has surged, the platform's moderation decisions have shifted. The most stark reveal: alarming reports of child exploitation content, yet a significant decline in actions taken against hateful content."

Forbes reported that "despite this nearly 1,830% increase in reports, the number of account suspensions grew only modestly, rising from 1.3 million in the latter half of 2021 to 5.3 million in 2024 -- a roughly 300% increase." Anecdotally, some of those whose accounts were suspended merely opened new accounts.

Timeline Customization

Users still have little control over their timelines, including getting more of the content they want and less of what they don't.

Meanwhile, ad placement controls haven't improved. I've seen pro-Trump ads placed among anti-Trump threads and pro-Harris ads placed among pro-Trump threads -- and few of those ads were designed to persuade. Regardless of your politics, I doubt those ad buys were effective.

Misinformation Rises 

As for misinformation, a recent Vox article headlined, "We’re all living inside Elon Musk’s misinformation machine now," observed that “the warning labels that Twitter once used to flag false or misleading information (are gone). Musk replaced that system with a crowd-sourced fact-checking program called Community Notes. He called it ‘the best source of truth on the internet.’ Unfortunately, the new system doesn't work very well."

According to a Reuters article, "Musk and X are epicenter of US election misinformation, experts say," published Nov. 4, 2024, "False or misleading claims by billionaire Elon Musk about the U.S. election have amassed 2 billion views on social media platform X this year, according to a report, opens new tab by non-profit group Center for Countering Digital Hate."

Limit Musks' posts

Back in March, we said: “His posts, including endorsements of antisemitic conspiracy theories and subsequent retractions, are erratic and confusing and have diminished X’s value, perhaps by 50%. X’s board must provide better oversight, particularly regarding safety, transparency, content moderation, and Musk’s whims and ego.”

Musk, who bought Twitter for its influence, has amplified misinformation and permitted hate speech to run rampant.

According to the Reuters article, "At least 87 of Musk's posts this year have promoted claims about the U.S. election that fact-checkers have rated as false or misleading, amassing 2 billion views, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate's report."

What should be next?

How has making no changes to the user experience paid off for X?

Not very well. 

According to an article in Social Discovery Insights citing a Financial Times article and a Similarweb report, U.S. active users have decreased by about 20% over the past 16 months." Fidelity recently estimated that the company went from a valuation of $44 billion in Oct. 2022 to $9.4 billion at the end of August.

With his billions, Musk could afford to transform X by enhancing content moderation, tamping down hate speech and misinformation, allowing users to customize their timelines (a problem shared by other social media platforms), and optimizing ad placement.

X’s relevance isn’t guaranteed. Even billionaires sometimes face consequences when they lose users, revenue and influence. Remember MySpace? The once dominant social media platform from 2003 to 2008 is still around but most don’t realize that. 

So Musk has an important choice to make: either continue down this path, and risk further damage to X’s reputation and influence while hemorrhaging users -- or take meaningful steps to improve X’s user experience. 

Musk’s next moves could determine whether X remains relevant or becomes the next MySpace.