net giants must pay for news from which they make billions
Tuesday 20 May 2025
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

In London

Net giants 'must pay for news' from which they make billions

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicleNet giants 'must pay for news' from which they make billions

Twitter logo
London - Muslimchronicle

2016 has been a year of surprises and painful lessons that have taught us we must proactively defend what we value or face losing it in spectacular fashion. In 2017, Twitter’s future might matter more than you might think—and it hinges on keeping it in the hands (or, should we say, thumbs) of the public.

 

The true story of how Teen Vogue got mad, got woke, and began terrifying men like Donald Trump


Twitter’s absence from US president-elect Donald Trump Dec 16’s meeting with top tech executives raised quite a few eyebrows. Despite using the social-media platform to regular and devastating effect throughout his campaign, Trump’s choice to not have Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sitting at the table with the tech big kids draws the importance of the company into question. The Trump team defended their decision to exclude them by saying the platform—which claims 317 million monthly active users, though that figure is not entirely clear-cut—was “too small.” (There’s also a rumor Trump froze Twitter out in retribution over rejecting a custom emoji he wanted to run during the campaign.)

Sure enough, judging by criteria such as market cap ($13 billion compared to Amazon’s $363 or Apple’s $618), number of employees (a workforce less than a hundredth of the size of IBM’s), and revenue (they’re still operating at a net loss), Twitter seems to come up short compared to the other tech giants. But it holds some serious soft economic power: Recently, Trump wiped out billions of dollars in Lockheed Martin’s stock value with a single tweet.

Twitter might yet find ways of making money from its substantial user base and the huge amount of content and data it generates. But the network’s true calling arguably resides in giving people a voice who would otherwise have been ignored. In that context, it makes a lot more sense to think of Twitter as a public service rather than a dividends cash cow. Yet the constant pressure it’s under to monetize leaves it vulnerable to a takeover, which could question its future integrity and neutrality.

 

Scientists fired lasers at antimatter in an experiment that probes the deepest human question: why are we here?


 It makes a lot more sense to think of Twitter as a public service rather than a dividends cash cow. Twitter’s potential suitors—which include Disney, Salesforce, Alphabet, and Microsoft—continually frame the company in terms of commercial viability (or lack thereof) instead of its reach and influence as a media platform. For example, News Corp has been touted as a potential buyer, although they’ve officially denied it so far. If that did turn out to be true, what are the implications of its founder and executive chairman, Rupert Murdoch, openly endorsing Trump? In fact, there’s nothing to really stop Trump’s own company putting in their own bid, should they wish to.

Regardless of how much money the company does or doesn’t make, there are still millions of people who use and need Twitter. But if not through cash, how do we assign value to a platform through which the Pope (@Pontifex) chooses to ponder the rapidly declining state of our planet, and which allows little girls in Syria to reach JK Rowling? What price should we put on a tool that journalists, both professional and citizen, have come to rely on to source and disseminate news? If Twitter’s neutrality was to be jeopardized by a third-party purchase, we’d lose all that and so much more.

Over the past ten years, Twitter has become an essential service in global society—and as such, its future should be protected. But how?

There are interesting precedents for sponsoring media organizations and information platforms through various forms of public ownership, and these solutions could very well be adapted to Twitter. Here are three possible alternatives:

Shareholder cooperatives
What if Twitter’s users were to mobilize and take matters into their own hands? After all, Twitter is a publicly traded company, and since its 2013 IPO, anybody can buy shares. While there is a group of key stakeholders who own large portions of the platform, if enough individuals decided to invest and collectively organize, it could make a big difference to its future direction.

Nathan Schneider from the University of Colorado Boulder set out how that might work in a recent Guardian article, making the case that, much like the Green Bay Packers NFL team, Twitter should be run by (and for) its fans. There is now an (appropriately hashtagged) #wearetwitter campaign and petition urging Twitter to work with users to find a way for them to buy it and turn it into a cooperatively owned platform.

source: AFP

themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

net giants must pay for news from which they make billions net giants must pay for news from which they make billions

 



Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

GMT 08:41 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Volkswagen clinches record sales

GMT 11:31 2017 Saturday ,09 December

Merkel to meet SPD after it gives blessing

GMT 04:53 2017 Friday ,24 November

Bahrain weather forecast

GMT 08:11 2017 Wednesday ,29 November

Pope to lead huge mass for Myanmar Catholics

GMT 22:37 2017 Friday ,29 September

Badr: Homosexuals do not represent

GMT 08:32 2017 Thursday ,20 April

Weather forecast: Sunny, rise in temperature

GMT 07:46 2017 Tuesday ,22 August

Al Ain, Al Hilal in goalless draw

GMT 07:50 2017 Monday ,27 November

Morocco-Côte d’Ivoire Relations Are Unique: FM

GMT 18:00 2012 Tuesday ,01 May

How can we help children learn about character?

GMT 02:24 2012 Thursday ,21 June

Somaya el-Khashab: No problem with Hemida

GMT 12:40 2012 Wednesday ,21 March

Red Tails

GMT 09:11 2017 Saturday ,12 August

Hamada reveals 'Hamza’s Bag' to be presented

GMT 13:12 2011 Wednesday ,30 November

Pakistan may summon BBC as news channel blocked

GMT 21:16 2016 Saturday ,20 August

Wild giant panda spotted in Sichuan forest park

GMT 09:50 2017 Saturday ,02 September

61% of our female workforce are Emirati women

GMT 09:56 2017 Thursday ,13 April

Philippines President Meets Saudi Foreign Minister

GMT 08:14 2017 Monday ,23 October

Travel plea for conjoined twins

GMT 20:16 2018 Thursday ,18 January

World Cup likely target for ISIS

GMT 09:25 2017 Wednesday ,14 June

Mine blast kills Saudi soldier on Yemen border
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
 
 Themuslimchronicle Facebook,themuslimchronicle facebook  Themuslimchronicle Twitter,themuslimchronicle twitter Themuslimchronicle Rss,themuslimchronicle rss  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©

muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle