For the past one month, everyone familiar with Twitter had been holding their breaths over the possible acquisition of the social media platform. This could have also been one of the largest acquisitions of 2016 due to the participation of Google, Salesforce, Disney and others as potential suitors. But, they all backed out of the deal due to one simple reason that you all might be aware of — hate speech.
As per a fresh report from Bloomberg, Disney and Salesforce both backed away from bidding for the micro-blogging platform because of its hateful image among masses. If you’re a regular visitor on Twitter, you may have heard or seen instances of abuse and hate speech on the platform. The company itself knows that it is plagued with a serious abuse problem, and is continually trying to pry themselves away from it. But, it has only been failing time and time again.
It further suggests that Disney was genuinely interested in acquiring Twitter and adding it to their impressive roster. The entertainment company had gone so far as to hire two investment banks and have a meeting with the board to evaluate prospects of a potential deal. But, it ultimately pulled the plug on the transaction in light of abusive trolls on the platform.
Walt Disney Co. decided not to pursue a bid for Twitter Inc. partly out of concern that bullying and other uncivil forms of communication on the social media site might soil the company’s wholesome family image,
say sources privy to the matter.
In addition, Salesforce had been aggresively pursuing the purchase and was the last man standing for this deal. But, it recently tapped out and said that it was no longer interested in Twitter due to the troll-like behavior of users on the platform. This rage and hatred-filled behavior of users has been highlighted as a major concern by each potential bidder. Commenting on the same in an interview, Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff says,
What’s happened is, a lot of the bidders are looking at people with lots of followers and seeing the hatred. I know that the haters reduce the value of the company…I know that Salesforce was very concerned about this notion.
Everybody considers this massive hate speech problem and dwindling userbase as one of the primary reasons for the internal strife at this 140-characterised social platform. Twitter has recently suggested that it is working on a new filter that will soon block out certain keywords and is expected to roll out to the platform very soon.
Under the leadership of Jack Dorsey(which is under question by co-founder Ev Williams), the company is now also redirecting its resources in making the platform more easy to use and robust. It has recently phased out links, photos and others to count towards the charcter limit, partnered with NFL to stream live football games, presidential debate and has now joined the race for IPL digital broadcasting rights.
