Elon Musk Questions Whether TikTok Is Destroying Civilization?

Elon Musk took to Twitter to contemplate if TikTok is "destroying civilization" or perhaps whether it is social media at large.

As an avid tweeter, the multi-billionaire posed the question to his 98.9m Twitter followers, about the role of social media, (particularly TikTok) within society.

The tech mogul raised the question shortly after he spoke to Twitter staff on Thursday (June 16) in his first address since agreeing to buy the company for $44 billion (AU$62 billion) in April. 

"Is TikTok destroying civilisation? Some people think so. Or perhaps social media in general," he tweeted.

Though Musk has spoken of TikTok's positives when he recently met with Twitter employees virtually.

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He described how TikTok has "honed the algorithm to be as engaging as possible," and explained how he wants Twitter have similar engagement "in a different way," Insider reported.

"It does a great job of making sure you're not bored," Musk said. He went on to use TikTok as an example as he was explaining to staff that he does not want Twitter to offer up 'boring' content to its users.

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"I mean, it does just feel like Attention Deficit Disorder. But like, next level," Musk said. He added: "I do find some of their videos offensive, but they're not boring."

In the same meeting, the tech billionaire revealed his free-speech plan for Twitter. He told staff that they 'should allow people to say what they want', as per The New York Times. He believes that users should be allowed to say ‘pretty outrageous things’, as long as it doesn’t ‘violate the law’. 

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However, Musk clarified that he didn’t want users to be ‘harassed or uncomfortable’ and that freedom of speech didn’t mean ‘freedom of reach’, meaning the platform could potentially limit the reach of harmful tweets.

TikTok wasn't the only social media platform mentioned by Musk, as he also referred to WeChat, a popular app in China for social media, and mobile payments.

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"There’s no WeChat equivalent outside of China,” Musk said, as per The Verge, "You basically live on WeChat in China. If we can recreate that with Twitter, we’ll be a great success.”

When the tech billionaire was asked what success for Twitter will look like in five to 10 years, The Verge reported that Musk said the company should be 'contributing to a stronger longer lasting civilisation where we are better able to understand the nature of reality'.

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Guess we won't be seeing the 50-year-old joining in with any dance crazes on the video-sharing platform anytime soon...