The Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, is no longer the main shareholder with his 2.25%. Elon Musk now has more shares at 9.2%. How much control can he exert over the radically liberal social media outlet? He’s talking about big change or starting something new. He might have to gut whole departments and adopt a “take no prisoners” attitude to those who tweet otherwise. No investigations, just fire ’em.
Elon Musk bought some Twitter stock
Bloomberg noted, “Twitter shares surged about 26% in premarket trading after the regulator filing released Monday detailing Musk buying the holding, The stake is worth about $2.89 billion, based on Friday’s market close.”
The market was excited when Musk wondered about big change in the social media giant. Maybe he’d redo it for free speech instead.
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
Twitter doesn’t promote free speech
At least according to the informal poll Musk asked of his followers. The speech on this online “town square” is overwhelmingly liberal or progressive.
He said on the social media outlet that “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle? The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”
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? https://t.co/aPS9ycji37
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2022
Response to the poll
Informal polls might arguably have a better finger on the pulse of Americans than professional polls. It came back as expected.
Over 70% of over 2 million people who responded said a resounding “NO” to his question. Musk followed up with another question. “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?”
One Twitter follower asked him, “Would you consider building a new social media platform, [Elon Musk]? One that would consist an open source algorithm, one where free speech and adhering to free speech is given top priority, one where propaganda is very minimal. I think that kind of a platform is needed.” Musk responded that he’s giving serious thought to it.
