Elon Musk, a billionaire, has taken ownership of Twitter in one of the largest tech deals in history. Musk will pay around $44 billion for the social network, with shares valued at $54.20. On April 14, Musk revealed his takeover attempt, calling it his ‘best and last offer.’
“Free speech is the foundation of a functional democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where important issues affecting humanity’s future are discussed.” I also want to make Twitter better than it has ever been by adding new features, opening up the algorithms to boost trust, combating spam bots, and authenticating all people.
“I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unleash Twitter’s immense potential,” Musk stated in a press release issued to his Twitter account.
However, Twitter first put in place a “poison pill defence” against the hostile takeover. However, once Musk stated that he had obtained finance, the Tesla board entered into discussions with the co-founder of the company. Musk met “privately with some shareholders of the firm to laud the merits of his idea” on Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal, and also made video calls to them to press his case.
“I hope that even my harshest detractors remain on Twitter, since that is what free expression entails,” Musk said earlier today on Twitter. It’s also worth noting that Musk sent out a fairly obnoxious tweet about Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Saturday, ostensibly in retaliation to Gates shorting Tesla. More than a million people have liked the tweet. He then quipped that his tweet was being reviewed by the’shadow ban council.’
On the platform, he has been a staunch supporter of ‘free speech.’ “I invested in Twitter because I believe in its potential to be the venue for free expression throughout the globe, and I believe free speech is a social essential for a functioning democracy,” Musk stated in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. “Twitter has great potential,” he stated in the filing. “I’ll get it unlocked.”
Musk has already floated the idea of privatising Twitter. “If our twitter bid succeeds, we will destroy the spam bots or die trying!” he tweeted recently. Then came another post in which he stated that all individuals on the site should be authorised.
The Tesla co-founder has already spoken on the necessity for a ‘Edit Button’ on the platform, and even ran a poll in which he purposefully misspelt yes and no, apparently to emphasise the need for an edit button given the frequent errors that people make when tweeting. It’s worth noting that Twitter has previously announced that an Edit button will be included.
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