How To Fix Twitter For Good

Recently Twitter has been pressured into cleaning up their platform. They have banned and de-verified Nazis, removed bots and made some advances in transparency. But without a long term aim, and any sense of moral purpose, these solutions are just band-aids and the problems will likely resurface.

The good news is We, a few of The People of Twitter have an idea to fix Twitter for good. It’s an idea you’re going to HATE! And then you might step back, think about it and say “hmmm, that doesn’t sound so bad, after all.” Don’t bother skimming to the bottom of the page to read the idea, here it is in bold:

UNESCO SHOULD BUY TWITTER AT MARKET VALUE AND DESIGNATE IT AS A WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Twitter is an amazing service, but it’s been corrupted:
Botnets, Grifters and Neo-Nazis

Internet con-artists operating enormous Botnets are pushing misinformation to the masses and eroding our ability to tell fact from fiction.

Grifters like Mike Cernovich, Alex Jones, Jack Posobiec and Paul Joseph Watson are wreaking havoc on Twitter, weaponizing their followers to spread vile smear campaigns that frequently boil over into real world violence.

Neo-Nazis have found a home on the platform, glorifying murder and openly organising rallies.
Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville when a Neo-Nazi drove his car through a crowd of protestors. Jason Kessler organized the Unite the Right rally that led to her death and is now verified on Twitter.

You’re probably thinking all these hate-preachers should just be banned from Twitter, right?

Well, it’s not that easy.
Money Talks

It seems Twitter’s original dilemma was: “Yeah, but how does it make money?”

For Twitter that answer lies within their user base. More active users means more user generated content to sell ads against, even if that content is salacious.

This business model is horribly flawed, but the direct correlation between active user growth and their stock price is clear as day.
(Source: Recode)
(Source: Google Finance)

Twitter is in quite the predicament. They need to maximize active user growth and profit, but their attempts to do so are making the site toxic. Something needs to change.
UNESCO and Twitter

We propose that UNESCO buy Twitter at market value. Twitter should be owned and operated by an impartial international governing body with a strong global mission. UNESCO, a member of the United Nations Development Group, fits that model.
(Source: Recode)

To fund the initial purchase there would need to be additional capital. At the moment UNESCO’s budget is $653M and Twitter’s market cap is $13B.

Here’s one idea to solve that. What if Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon created a special fund through UNESCO to complete the buyout? These tech giants have a combined $501B cash on hand. Jointly paying $13B would be a drop in the bucket and UNESCO needs the funding.

UNESCO would then designate Twitter as a Digital Cultural Heritage Site. This designation provides Twitter with strong international treaties that protect every piece of content created on the website.

All tweets would be transparently organized and archived, becoming a trustworthy ledger of human culture, history and weirdness.

To maintain public trust, fundamental fixes to Twitter’s community would have to be made immediately:

Ban Known Hate Groups
Purge the Spam Bots
Suspend Conspiracy Theorists
Full Transparency on Terms of Service and Policies
Require every account be tied to a real person

Twitter currently does not have a team capable of making these content and community fixes. We’d suggest that they partner with the Wikimedia Foundation, which is the foundation that funds Wikipedia and other Free Knowledge projects.

The Wikimedia foundation could provide thousands of global volunteers that have experience moderating a global community, Wikipedia, that generates vast amounts of user generated content daily. This experience is directly translatable to managing the community on a platform such as Twitter. The foundation is also fully funded by millions of small donors, there is no big dollar investor agenda.

Without market pressures Twitter could selectively run ads to fund continued operations. Even with reduced revenue Twitter could easily finance their operations. The current cost of revenue, what it takes to run the service, is $932M and in 2016 Twitter generated $2.5B revenue.

Any surplus from the platform could fund mission driven initiatives focused on education, scientific research, freedom of the press, human rights, cultural diversity and artistic expression.
(Source: Recode)

If executed properly this could be a vision for Twitter, and other tech companies, that would allow them to operate solely for the benefit and well being of all citizens.

But one final question remains.
Will Jack Sell?

The idea of a Twitter buyout is not novel. Jack Dorsey, CEO has frequently considered an acquisition exit and many critics say it is only a matter of time before this happens.

We believe now is that time. Twitter could truly become a platform for world leaders to directly engage in meaningful dialogue before a global audience. It could be a vast archive of historical events and human culture. A tool for self expression and irony. A platform to organize political movements. A new vision for the future.

“It is not enough to understand, or to see clearly. The future will be shaped in the arena of human activity, by those willing to commit their minds and their bodies to the task.” — Robert Kennedy