Elon Musk and his Historic Twitter Purchase
As many people are aware, Elon Musk, the richest man and current CEO of Tesla, is an avid user of Twitter and has announced that he would buy the company and take it private. Musk has based his decision to buy the company on his apparent desire to create a platform that adheres more strongly to the concept of free speech. He hopes to reinstate accounts that were taken down and further establish himself as a prominent character on the platform.
This week, Musk purchased the platform for just about $44 billion or about $54.20 per share. There are many implications to this development including the fact that Musk believes the platform to be hindering the so-called free speech guaranteed to individuals. In his statement about the acquisition, he states that: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.” He goes on to state that he would like to make “Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features,” etc.
Musk wants to make some serious changes to the app starting with including an edit button for tweets. Furthermore, he wants those subscribed to Twitter Blue, the platform’s subscription-based account service for exclusive features and content, to possibly use his favorite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, for purchasing the subscription. He has also stated that he hopes to make the app’s algorithm open-source and remove spam accounts to increase trust and the reliability of the platform.
This purchase may perhaps further solidify his eclectic Internet persona and further boost the business image of Tesla within the automotive and tech industry. Musk’s tweets continue to be sporadic and centered around controversial topics. As mentioned by Matt Levine, a Bloomberg columnist, while Musk does not use his money to purchase traditional luxuries, he does involve himself in projects in other ways that involve “personal challenges, like solving puzzles” while enjoying “being a rich, successful businessman” under the Tesla company that walks the line between a “pure moneymaking enterprise” and a “pure humanitarian enterprise.” Twitter fits his criteria in this case.
With this in mind, these changes to Twitter, while promising, have the potential to alter what we have become accustomed to throughout the years. Only time will tell whether this expensive investment was worthwhile, or whether the platform will take a turn for the worse.
