He did it. He did the thing he said he was going to.
What happens when an “ideological enigma” buys a leading digital space with fixations on taking the seminal social media platform private? Chaos, of an evergreen variety.
The world’s richest man has one of his richest plans in place. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has forged a successful $44 billion bid to acquire Twitter, as of Monday, April 25. This comes after deciding not to join their board just last week. To quote another ruthless leader in business embedded in pop culture iconography, “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
Although, nobody was pulling Musk’s strings back into any mix. In Musk’s world, he is the one who pulls. Specifically, he pulls cerebrally unparalleled punches; playing three-dimensional chess when everyone else is playing checkers.
What does it all mean? A free speech-enveloped society assumes order, but Internet users the online world over, even the most devoted “tweeters,” often refer to Twitter as a “hellscape” anyway. And that’s before someone as controversial (and sometimes contradictory) as Musk entered the thread.
Musk’s aptly-shared latest tweet, that he hopes even his foremost enemies will remain on the platform “because that is what free speech means,” has drawn the wrath of “gotcha reply-bombers.” His past partaking in online speech suppression is well-documented.
FOX News contends the maneuver could “reshape the Internet as we know it.” The “Teslafication” of the Nation’s roads is just his opening act. Many in support of Musk’s purchase
cite the recent recirculation of his rarely-shared ethos as it pertained to checking technological advancements before they spiral en masse.
“If you can’t trust someone weary of artificial intelligence because he’s more capable of weighing the haunting detriments than the next man, what he’s probably seen in the labs that we don’t know about and wouldn’t want to, then who can you trust?” said one Islip native.
“The reason that today’s sale of Twitter is big news — the reason it could turn out to be a pivot point in our history — is that Elon Musk does not agree with the rest of the billionaires in the tech business,” FOX News anchor Tucker Carlson said. “We’re back.”
From boardroom departer to poison pill defeater, Musk’s April mirrored the fiscal showmanship performed by scripted series powerhouses putting dents into the Succession and Billions universes. Their respective writing staffs need inspiration from somewhere, don’t they?
Musk has refrained from weighing in with agenda-item exacts. However, there is growing speculation political motivations are afoot. Notoriously devoid of single-party leniency, Musk will break into the helm of a company that removed a conservative US President from its platform, and continued to tailor its algorithm to promote anti-Trump and pro-Democrat rhetoric.
Needless to say, Musk throwing his hat into the ring at this juncture could end up being retroactively considered his equally transparent emergence by way of readministering balance where there isn’t, but should be, in preparation for the 2024 Election. The South African native can’t run himself, but depending on the growth of Twitter – currently one-tenth the user-base of the historically more political, “Meta” (Facebook’s parent company) – under his ownership, Musk may just end up running the show.
Unpredictable (who could have foreseen an Asperger’s announcement in his Saturday Night Live monologue?) as he is corporately thorough, Musk’s moves will be closely monitored in the days, weeks and months to come. Meanwhile, the public discourse is as divided as it’s ever been.
Power and influence in the hands of the billionaire class; it’s a debate that’s been raging strong from sometime, and will continue to thanks to defining moments such as this. In the past decade, a lack of political experience has proven to no longer be a deterrent. Rather, it is an asset that helps those with singular voice and visionary aspirations stand-out amongst the interchangeable bodies. Charging your way into leadership in 2022 isn’t as much of a formulaic “dog and pony” dance as it once was; it’s a WWE spectacle where the heels are ever on the prowl. Do you smell?
Last week, Mark Cuban commended his fellow billionaire for what he perceived as Musk toying with the SEC to drive up Twitter’s stock prices. With the master plan endgame in the wings, this also considers the bitterness still fresh in Musk’s mind, as the commission came after him in 2018 for claims over misreported Tesla funds sent out into the Twitter-verse to sway stocks.
“Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?” posited Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, one of Musk’s staunchest rivals – especially in the modern space race.
The Blue Origin rocket and space tourism facilitator believes the authoritarian regime hold over all things China dealings could amplify complexities for Musk and his desired reign. China is currently one of Tesla’s strongest markets. What concessions is the man still in the acquisitional honeymoon phase obliged to make to keep business silky smooth where free speech is not?
#RIPTwitter and #DeleteTwitter were amongst the trending hashtags on the site while the reactions poured in on Monday.
“The man (Musk) was raised in Apartheid by a white nationalist,” said far-left writer, Shaun King. “He’s upset that Twitter won’t allow white nationalists to target/harass people. That’s his definition of free speech.”
“Elon Musk himself has been very difficult to decipher when it comes to what his ultimate objective is, and certainly indicating that Donald Trump may be back on the platform could be a provocative strategy to try to move the Board of Directors of Twitter in one way or the other,” Luis Alvarado, a Republican political strategist, told Business Insider.
“ I like Elon Musk. I like him a lot. He’s an excellent individual,” Former President Trump told CNBC on Monday while promoting ‘Truth Social.’ He elaborated on FOX News,
“I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH.”
“Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else,” said Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren. “We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech accountable.”
“In many ways Twitter has been a dark, dark place,” said U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Shumer on Tuesday. “I hope it doesn’t get any darker.”
Musk supports the incorporation of an “edit button” feature, according to NPR; make of that what you will. At the end of the day, misinformation is still information. Remember, you get to be the judge. Unless, of course, Musk is first.
In any event, tentative plans to conduct an immersive review of Twitter’s own review board surely will guarantee that, so long as Twitter is his, so too will the last laugh be his for the count.
