Technology

What are Elon Musk's plans for Twitter? Twitter has thoughts

Amrutha PagadApril 6, 2022 | 18:49 IST

When the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is not thinking about putting computer chips in human brains, colonising another planet, deriding people for not having children or challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin to a fight, he’s thinking about the platform where all his thoughts are expressed on – Twitter.

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After buying a 9.2% stake in Twitter, Elon Musk has gleefully made his way onto the social media company’s board. His appointment was announced by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and he was also welcomed by the micro-blogging site’s founder (And ex-CEO) Jack Dorsey.

But what does Elon Musk’s appointment to Twitter board really mean?

Everyone is well aware of Musk’s love-hate relationship with the social media platform. But for all that’s worth billions, the world is still trying to figure out what exactly is Elon Musk thinking. Why did he buy a stake in Twitter, after having dissed the company on the company’s own platform? Why did he buy a stake in Twitter after floating the idea of starting his own social media company?

The questions are many. The answers, more.

Here are some musings:

1. Musk’s investment and involvement in Twitter could just be a passing interest.

2. It may very well be a revenge plot to destroy the social media platform; the billions in exchange for it is just loose change for Musk anyway.

3. Musk may try to bring the changes he so desires to Twitter or have his ideas be heard on the board rather than just complaining about it on Twitter.

4. Some of the views Elon Musk has strongly expressed about his social media addiction of choice are about –

5. One of the legal questions that remains unanswered is how Elon Musk’s situation with the US Securities and Exchange Commission will progress. Elon Musk and his incessant tweeting had come under the US SEC radar. Why was the SEC bothered with his rants? Because Musk’s tweets move markets. Hence, Musk was ordered to have his tweets checked by a legal team before they were tweeted out.

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6. Musk may have invested in Twitter after watching former US President Donald Trump’s debacle over launching his own social media app – Truth Social. Musk may have thought it may not be a good idea to build a social media platform from scratch.

What netizens seem to think will happen:

Twitter is divided over Elon Musk being on the company’s board.

1. Some think a rich man professing to uphold free speech and transparency will do the exact opposite of the deed. Not to mention that free speech on the internet is clouded with several considerations on where to draw the line and what hate speech means. In an opinion piece for Bloomberg Opinion, Timothy L O'Brien wrote that Musk has had ample room to express his speech. Twitter has been criticised for censoring and not censoring enough in the past and present. So, the matter is really objective, rather than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ Twitter poll option.

2. Others, mostly Trump supporters and right-wingers, want Elon Musk to bring back Donald Trump to Twitter.

3. Some Twitter employees are reportedly considering leaving the micro-blogging site over Musk’s appointment to the board.

4. Netizens also had a meme way to express their views of Elon Musk joining Twitter. Some showed him making a bold entry, backed by his cult-like followers, beating up and kicking out old ‘woke’ employees of Twitter.

5. Other netizens asked why the richest man with billions to spare is fixated on a bird app, when the same money could have helped billions of poor and downtrodden people. Of course, Musk’s preoccupation with Twitter seems trivial in the face of his larger ambitions of setting up a colony on Mars or pondering over the philosophy of life while smoking a joint.   

One thing that has happened due to Elon Musk’s investment in Twitter is that the company is nearly $10 billion more in value now.

So far, Twitter has assured users that the views of Musk or any other shareholder on the board do not influence the company’s policy decisions. Only time will tell of Musk’s adventures at Twitter, now not limited to the feed, but behind the scenes as well.

Last updated: April 06, 2022 | 18:49
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