Have no personal feelings in relation to who manages Twitter, UN chief Guterres says on Elon Musk

United Nations, December 20

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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that he has “no personal feelings” about who manages Twitter, but he is “very interested” in how the platform is managed, underlining the importance of combating hate speech and ensuring freedom of expression, especially of journalists, on social media platforms.

“I have no personal feelings in relation to who manages a platform. I am very interested in about how the platform is managed,” he said here on Monday.

Guterres was responding to a question during his end-of-the-year press conference on whether he thinks Twitter’s owner Elon Musk was a threat to free speech and would he be relieved if the billionaire stepped down as head of the social media platform.

Twitter users had voted on Monday for Musk to quit as head of the social media giant in a poll the technology tycoon ran on his future and promised to abide by its results.

A total of 57.5 per cent of people voted “yes” after the 51-year-old billionaire asked his 122 million followers whether he should stand down. Over 17 million votes were cast in the poll that began on Sunday evening and ended early Monday morning with most respondents voting in the affirmative, CNN reported.

Guterres said there is a particular responsibility of social media platforms to preserve the freedom of press and at the same time to avoid hate speech and forms of extremism.