On Thursday evening, anxious Twitter workers in San Francisco were given the opportunity to raise questions concerning entrepreneur Elon Musk’s bid to buy their business.
His Grand Plan
Musk has broached the idea of turning Twitter’s headquarters into a homeless refuge; so their fears are not wholly unfounded.
It’s worth mentioning, however, that Twitter workers have been assured they can work at home forever.
The meeting came after a spectacular two-week period in which Musk, a vocal opponent of Twitter’s content filtering procedures, bought enough shares to become the company’s biggest shareholder.
He was promised a seat on the board of directors on the condition that he did not own more than a 14 percent share in the company.
He subsequently retracted his decision to take the seat and made a bid to buy the company’s outstanding shares, thereby privatizing it.
It has been revealed that the Saudi prince who publicly rejected Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter sold all his personal shares in 2019. https://t.co/llQtoieIds
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 16, 2022
However, many of Twitter’s most powerful users — sort of — share the employees’ anti-billionaire mindset.
In actuality, these influencers don’t have an issue with billionaires in general; rather, they have a problem with this specific billionaire, thanks to his absolute support for free speech.
“Elon Musk’s proposal to buy Twitter poses a scary new threat: wealthy trolls taking over social networks,” Business Insider said in a tweet.
This is in stark contrast to their tone in 2013, after they wrote, “Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post purchase heralds a remarkable cultural revolution in America.”
The Left Hates Musk
So, for all those keeping track at home, a conservative tech billionaire has purchased a tech firm? Bad.
In America’s most powerful metropolis, a left-leaning internet entrepreneur acquires the most important heritage media property? Good.
Elon Musk's move to buy Twitter faces roadblockshttps://t.co/GuuxQeeEi5
— eNCA (@eNCA) April 16, 2022
This duplicity, however, pales in comparison to other media leaders’ doom-and-gloom predictions.
Musk’s ownership of Twitter, according to MSNBC’s Katy Tur, may have “serious, catastrophic, huge, life and globe-altering” ramifications for democracy, such as the restoration of Donald Trump’s account.
MSNBC was created as a joint venture alongside NBC, as well as Microsoft, Bill Gates’ computer company.
“The world’s wealthiest person is progressively behaving like a cinematic supervillain, controlling virtually infinite riches with which to bankroll his tomfoolery,” according to an article from media technology venture Axios.
Multibillion-dollar hedge fund Greycroft is one of Axios’ investors. “We will never get an editorial page,” they promised when they started.
“Spooked by the consequences on social and political life if Elon Musk owns Twitter,” writer Max Boot tweeted. “We need to have more content filtering, not less if democracy is to survive.”
I’m not a fellow of the Council on International Policy, but I think it’s a fresh argument that democracy, as a social theory based on debate, benefits from less communication. Boot also writes a column for Bezos’ Washington Post.
“When the media outlets are in the control of billionaires, we are doomed,” one of Boot’s supporters responded. Who wants to be the one to inform him?
