Elon Musk shocked the nation Saturday when he decided NOT to join Twitter’s Board of Directors. Considering Musk’s huge investment into the social media mega-company, the rejection sparks tons of speculation.
First and foremost, people want to know- Will Elon Musk soon be the b-o-s-s boss?! It’s not a crazy question. Musk’s recent stock purchase makes him Twitter’s largest shareholder.
“Elon Musk has decided not to join our board,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal confirmed in a statement Sunday night.
“We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the Board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance. Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board,” Agrawal said. “I believe this is for the best. We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on the Board or not.”
“Elon joining Twitter’s board was contingent on him agreeing not to buy more than 15% of Twitter. Now he’s not joining the board. So does that mean he can he buy as much of Twitter’s outstanding stock as he wants?” wrote Peter Sterne, managing editor of New York Focus.
“Hostile takeover inbound,” Austen Allred, CEO Bloom Institute of Technology, wrote on Twitter. “My read of this: (I’m guessing). 1. Twitter board wakes up to realize Elon owns 9% of the company. There’s a path to him taking over. 2. Offers a board seat contingent upon him not buying too many shares. Try to contain. 3. Negotiations break down on term details. 4. ???”
At this point, what’s to stop Musk from stockpiling more and more shares of Twitter?
Right now, the Tesla/Space X founder could and should demand that Twitter stop acting like the gods of the universe.
Free speech is a fundamental right guaranteed to all Americans. Whether the message is accepted or rejected is evaluated by every individual receiver of the words. In other words, you can say what you want to say and you can listen to what you want to listen to? As such, the users must be trusted to police themselves, and debate among themselves with every morsel of information available for evaluation.
Sting like a Bee
Apparently, it was the satirical site, The Babylon Bee, that inspired Musk’s massive purchase. After the site was suspended for violating hate speech policies, Musk took action.
According to the National Review:
The Bee was locked out after it circulated one of its comedic headlines on Twitter, an intentional political joke, that named transgender woman U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine “Man of the Year.”
Four days after the Bee landed itself in Twitter jail, where it has remained for about three weeks, Musk conducted a Twitter poll on March 25 asking followers whether the platform promotes free speech.
“Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?” Musk, who has been vocal about his free speech absolutist views, asked. “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”
In a series of follow-up tweets on March 26, Musk asked: “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? Is a new platform needed?”
Musk’s public surveys suggested that he would take matters into his own hands to either create an alternative social media space committed to upholding free speech or to use his market power, as the world’s richest man worth $273 billion, to convert Twitter into such a space.
I bet the Twitter powers-that-be now wish that hadn’t messed with the Babylonians. Because it looks like the social media gods are still feeling the sting. But the real question is this. What is Musk’s next move?
More to the point- will Elon Musk do what Trump failed to do?
So far, Truth social is a massive letdown. Don’t get me wrong, I believe Trump has done a lot of great things for this nation. But I’m betting his Truth Social staff has a lot of leftists in disguise. Because nothing has rolled out the way it was planned. The day it went live on Apple devices only, I knew there was trouble.
At this point, I believe conservatives are tired of trying new platforms. There are too many hiccups. Some are poorly designed. Others lack the bandwidth. But a takeover of Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram is the perfect plan. The people are already there. Musk only needs to change the rules. To revert back to the platform before the crooked algorithms took over. He’s already the richest man in the world. But restoring free speech to a nation hungry for the return of liberty, well that’s a super-power all its own.
