The Tesla and SpaceX CEO and richest man on Earth is now also the owner of Twitter as of Friday. Elon Musk purchased the popular social media platform at a whopping $44 billion.
Musk began his investment in January. He began purchasing Twitter shares, building a stake in the company. But this was done completely under wraps— no one was paying attention.
In March, Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder, reaching a 9.2% stake according to a securities filing released on March 14. His free speech rants began later in the month when he sent out a poll to his followers and tweeted: “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
After landing a deal with Twitter to hand over the authority in April, controversies were on the rise. There were many concerns that stemmed from Musk’s outlook on free speech, who and who shouldn’t be banned and overall censorship. He eventually countered that and raised additional apprehensions over spam accounts and bots, due to Twitter’s failure to disclose an accurate estimate of the number.
Just a month later, there was a “temporary hold” placed on the deal as there were concerns for bots— when it may have been simply that there was a fear of yet another omnipotent billionaire dominating the big tech industry. Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush, an investment firm, told ABC News that the situation called for Musk to make-or-break the deal, all while the stock market proved that this was the time to make the entrance and solidify the deal.
According to Musk’s Twitter profile, he joined in June 2009 and titles himself the “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator.”
Musk put out a victory tweet to his 122 million followers on Friday: “Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
One thing Musk intends to do is unban those from the social media platform. Specifically, former president Donald J. Trump.”
“I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump, I think that was a mistake,” Musk said. “I would reverse the perma-ban. … Banning Trump from Twitter didn’t end Trump’s voice, it will amplify it among the right and this is why it’s morally wrong and flat out stupid.”
Will Twitter be the platform of free speech and fewer spam accounts? Elon Musk suggests it is.
