Mark Cuban renews scrutiny of Elon Musk’s Twitter plans by calling out ‘downvote’ proposal

‘I’m even more curious what you think the implications of purchased blue checks and your verification processes are’

Billionaire Mark Cuban renewed scrutiny of Twitter chief Elon Musk's plans with the social media platform amid outcry over abrupt policy changes.

On Saturday, Mr Musk announced that Twitter will start incorporating mute and block signals from Blue Verified as downvotes. He clarified that all user actions will "factor into a NN (neural networks) model for a tweet and the account tweeting, including positive actions".

As user accounts develop credibility, their actions will have greater weight, similar to how Community Notes works, he added.

Mr Musk's new rule was deemed "very cool" by computer scientist and podcast host Lex Fridman, who said: "Creates an incentive for civility and good-faith effort even while criticising."

Responding to him, Mr Cuban said it was "just the opposite".

He added: "You are presuming there will be a balance in perspective among blue checks. I would bet against that.

"My guess is the blue checks lean pro-Elon and will use the impact of blocks, mutes and likes to create intentional echo chambers that reflect Elon’s positions."

In a tweet on Sunday, Mr Cuban directed his questions to the Twitter chief asking his views on Section 230 protections and the possible challenges to it. Section 230 of the United States codes provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability based on third-party content.

"I'm even more curious what you think the implications of purchased blue checks and your verification processes are," he asked. "Does that diminish your ability to use 230 protections?"

The owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team had previously locked horns with the Twitter boss over allowing people to buy verification badges for $8 a month. Mr Cuban in November asked his fellow billionaire to offer free Twitter subscriptions to some users, a suggestion that was rejected by Mr Musk.

“You might consider proactively offering your $8 verification program for free to those you deem the most accurate Notes contributors," Mr Cuban suggested. "Won’t be easy to confirm accuracy. But if AI can try to model out bias, maybe it can model in accuracy?”

Mr Musk knocked back the idea outright, replying: “$8 for all.”

“Your business. Your decision,” Mr Cuban responded.