Tesla CEO; Elon Musk has bought a large stake in Twitter, paving the way for potential turbulence over the social media platform’s stance on free speech.
The billionaire bought 9.2 percent of the company — worth almost $3 billion, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Oh hi lol,” has been his only tweet since the announcement, which sent shares on Twitter up more than 25 percent.
Mr. Musk is one of Twitter’s most popular users, with more than 80 million followers. He is also particularly prolific, using his account to share memes as well as an update on his life and his companies.
Those tweets have however caused problems for Mr. Musk in the past. In 2018, for instance, he tweeted that Tesla would go private – starting a period that saw him investigated by the SEC as well as the loss of his position as chairman of the company.
In recent weeks, Mr. Musk has used his account to post about Twitter itself, and the rules that govern it.
On 24 March, he tweeted about being “worried about de facto bias in ‘the Twitter algorithm’ having a major effect on public discourse”, and shared a poll inviting his followers to vote on whether that algorithm should be open source.
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
A day later, he tweeted that “free speech is essential to a functioning democracy”, and polled his followers on whether they thought “Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle”. After 70.4 percent voted that it did not, he asked followers “what should be done”.
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
Mr. Musk bought his Twitter shares before those posts – filings with the SEC indicate the purchase happened on 14 March – though they were only disclosed today.
Considering Musk’s obsession with Twitter — which he keeps using even though it routinely gets him into trouble and makes him fork over millions for bad behavior — the purchase isn’t exactly surprising. What will be interesting, however, is what Musk decides to do with his shares.
According to Bloomberg, the type of filling used to report Musk’s purchase, known as the 13G, indicates that the buyer isn’t planning to carry out a company takeover or have a say in who leads it. Analysts who spoke to CNBC acknowledged that the purchase is a “passive stake,” but speculated that Musk taking a more aggressive stance, in this case, would also make sense given his recent comments.
