Elon Musk to Buy Twitter

Beginning in early 2022, Musk began tweeting about his dissatisfaction with Twitter’s censorship laws, arguing that the company’s failure “to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.” Additionally, the business-tycoon polled his followers on the platform’s regulations and concluded that something must be done to ensure “America’s right to free speech.” Musk made his opinion crystal clear on his opinions of Twitter and began his stock-buying mission in the latter half of January 2022.

Before long, Twitter noticed the increasing amount of stock belonging to Musk and pushed for a confrontation to discuss his intentions with such a large part of the company as an outside shareholder. Some board members—like Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey—hold Musk in high regards, with Dorsey telling of Musk’s intelligence and kind-heartedness on multiple occasions. Other executives remain apprehensive, weary of Twitter going down a similar “takeover” style deal that Musk embarked on with the Tesla company. Despite any hesitancies, Twitter invited Musk to act on the board of directors to work with the company on his vision for the future of Twitter. Musk accepted the offer and was soon admitted into the heart of the news app’s operations. This induction, however, had one constituent: Musk could not post any content criticizing or exposing Twitter’s current policies or Board members. What did Musk then decide to do? Post content criticizing or exposing Twitter’s current policies or Board members. The day after the agreement.

On April 26, Musk exposed Twitter executive, Vijaya Gadde, for actions that potentially swayed the 2020 election. He called her actions “incredibly inappropriate”—definitely not in line with the agreement laid out the day previous. After reprimands from Twitter, Musk decided to decline the offer for the Board seat. Musk was not out of the picture yet, though. Bret Taylor received a text detailing Musk’s intent to propose an offer to Twitter for the purchase of the company, and publicized the request to make the company private and offer $54.20 to its current stockholders. After an extremely brief period of refusal from the company, Twitter accepted Musk’s offer due to fear that the company would lose value if the deal was not taken.

Will Musk’s inheritance of the News app change the course of the app in the future? The answer is unclear. As demonstrated by Musk’s past economic endeavors, the companies he overtakes undergo massive policy-changes that best align with his creative “vision.” While this may very well be the fate of Twitter, both the executive board members and the general public still hold power in this situation. If the changes upset the app’s frequenters, usage drops and so will positive perception of the app as a whole; apps are nothing without an audience. The battle between Elon Musk and Twitter is far from over and will undoubtedly continue to unfold as the business tycoon gains control in the coming months. In the wise words of Elon, “Let’s make Twitter maximum fun!”