Credit unions have a decent handle on customers-as-owners, so it's not completely without precedent from a business standpoint.
My biggest issue is your last point, where owning an account would likely involve "Know Your Customer" levels of identity proving. It would likely require a new class of shares or going private, rather than buying a share on an exchange. Similarly, you'd likely only get one share no matter the number of accounts (using KYC information to de-dup, or having two notions a "member" who can have multiple "personas").
I don't know that it's a good idea for Twitter, but it's at least a (sort of) legally workable idea for an authenticated messaging platform in the abstract.
If I were starting a new Twitter, I'd consider it.
My biggest issue is your last point, where owning an account would likely involve "Know Your Customer" levels of identity proving. It would likely require a new class of shares or going private, rather than buying a share on an exchange. Similarly, you'd likely only get one share no matter the number of accounts (using KYC information to de-dup, or having two notions a "member" who can have multiple "personas").
I don't know that it's a good idea for Twitter, but it's at least a (sort of) legally workable idea for an authenticated messaging platform in the abstract.
If I were starting a new Twitter, I'd consider it.