Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and the world’s wealthiest man, is now the owner of the social networking giant Twitter after he capped his $44 billion takeover on October 28, 2022. “The bird is freed,” he wrote on Twitter as the news broke globally. He began his ownership with firing top executives of the company including Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal, the head of legal, policy and trust Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, who joined Twitter in 2017, and Sean Edgett, who has been general counsel at Twitter since 2012, as per reports.
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
How It Began?
The tiff between the tech billionaire and the social networking giant began earlier this year when Musk bought his shares in the company in a regulatory filing dated March 14. However, it was revealed later on March 26, a day after Musk put up a poll stating, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?” Following which he put up another poll asking if there was a need for a new platform. He also said, “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?”
As per the regulatory filing, Musk became largest shareholder in the company with 9.2% stake after purchasing approximately 73.5 million shares and now with $54.20 paid per share to shareholders, Twitter will now operate as a private company.
What Lies Ahead of Twitter?
To understand what the takeover means for Twitter we need to trace back to some of Musk’s take on the social networking giant in the past. As the news of Musk becoming the largest shareholder broke, he said that his primary reason for the takeover is to promote “free speech” on the platform. However, this raised concerns over the future of the platform’s content moderation policies.
Back in March, Musk had put up another poll, asking if the “Twitter algorithm should be open source.” The poll received an 82.7% positive response.
Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist”, also noted in the regulatory filing that he invested in Twitter because he believed in its “potential to be the platform for free speech” around the globe. “I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” he said.
“However, since making my investment, I now realise the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company,” Musk mentioned in the same.
He had also mentioned at the time that if he succeeds in the Twitter bid, “they will defeat the spam bots or die trying!”
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Another intention Musk often expressed was his stance on free speech also leads to giving access to the accounts back to the users who were suspended previously. This includes former US president Donald Trump who was banned from the platform following the January 2021 Capitol riots and Musk has previously mentioned that he would overturn that. “I would reverse the permanent ban,” Musk said while adding that Twitter was “left-biased”. According to him, not letting Trump voice his opinions on Twitter was a “morally bad decision and foolish in the extreme” and that the platform is “coming out of an environment that is very far left.”
“Twitter needs to be much more even-handed. It’s currently left-biased,” he said.
However, following the takeover, he spoke about the reason he acquired Twitter addressing it to the advertisers. He wrote, “it was important to the future civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide in our society,” he wrote.
He further mentioned that it cannot be a “free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said without consequences.”
“Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise.”
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