Elon Musk holds many different and interesting titles. CEO and Product Architect of Tesla. Founder and Chief Engineer of SpaceX. Founder of The Boring Company. Co-founder of Neuralink. Wealthiest man in the world ($264 billion to be exact).
And now, he can add president and owner of Twitter to his resume.
Early on Monday afternoon, Twitter’s Board of Directors accepted Musk’s $44 billion all cash offer to buy the company.
In his offer made public by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk had offered to buy all of the outstanding common stock of Twitter for $54.20 per share, which is a 38% premium over what Twitter’s share price was on April 1, 2022.
As of this article’s publishing time, one share of Twitter was valued at $51.70.
Prior to offering to take the company private, according to the SEC filing, Musk owned 73,115,038 shares of Twitter, or 9.1% of the social media platform.
After becoming Twitter’s largest shareholder, the company’s Board of Directors had offered to give Musk a seat on the board in exchange for his promise not to buy any more of the company.
Musk declined, and instead made the all cash offer on April 14, 2022.
Initially, Twitter’s Board of Directors was expected to decline the offer. But after Musk garnered $46.5 billion in financing, Twitter reversed course.
The company accepted Musk’s offer on April 25, 2022.
“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,” Musk said in a press release announcing the deal.
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” he added.
🚀💫♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️💫🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
Bret Taylor, Twitter’s Board Chairman, said in a press release, “The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”
Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, said, “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”
On March 25, Elon wrote on Twitter, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.” He then polled his followers asking them to respond to the following question: “Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
“The consequences of this poll will be important,” Musk foreshadowed. “Please vote carefully.”
The poll received 2,035,924 votes, of which 70.4% voted “No.” Only 29.6% said “Yes.”
In a letter to Chairman Taylor offering to buy the company, Musk had said, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe that free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy … Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
It’s a good thing that Musk saw Twitter’s “potential.” Because the main thing Christians saw was a company bent on silencing speech it disagreed with.
The Daily Citizen has had our own problems with the speech censors at Twitter.
We wrote an article in 2021 on Dr. Rachel Levine who currently serves as the Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In the piece, we noted that Levine “is a transgender woman, that is, a man who believes he is a woman.”
For correctly referring to Levine according to his biological sex, Twitter banned us for “hate speech.”
The same thing recently happened to The Babylon Bee, Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson, whose accounts were also suspended for referring to Dr. Levine as a male.
But now, the free speech implications of Musk’s purchase of Twitter could be massive.
Of all the social media platforms that have attempted to silence conservative and contrarian voices, Twitter is certainly in the running as the worst offender.
Here are just a few of the individuals or entities who have been temporarily or permanently banned from Twitter:
The Daily Citizen
The Babylon Bee
Former President Donald J. Trump
Alex Berenson
Robert Malone
Naomi Wolf
Michael Flynn
James O’Keefe
Mike Lindell
Marjorie Taylor Greene
The New York Post
David Horowtiz
Team Mitch
Pete Hegseth
The Federalist
Candace Owns
Donald Trump Jr.
Dan Bongino
Project Veritas
Jason Whitlock
Allie Beth Stuckey
Jim Banks
Emerald Robinson
Matt Walsh
Charlie Kirk
Tucker Carlson
Libs of Tiktok
It’s a lengthy, and ever-growing list.
But all that could change if Musk decides to steer Twitter in a decisively pro-free speech direction. And all indications are that he will.
Just hours before finalizing the deal with Twitter, Musk tweeted on Monday, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”
Additionally, if Twitter comes back from the brink of speech censorship, it’s possible that Facebook, Google, and Apple will reverse course too and once again allow the open exchange of ideas on their platforms.
Could Elon Musk single-handedly bring about a course correction for big tech companies and their censorship of speech?
We’re about to find out.
Related articles and resources:
Twitter Locks Out ‘The Daily Citizen’ Over Factual Reporting on Biden’s Transgender Nominee
Twitter Continues Crusade Against Science in Purge of Biological Reality
‘Babylon Bee’ Gets Locked Out of Twitter, CEO Says, “Truth Is Not Hate Speech”
Elon Musk Becomes Twitter’s Largest Shareholder, Vows Changes
Elon Musk Blasts ‘Woke’ Culture, Warns of Declining Birth Rate in Interview with The Babylon Bee
Twitter Banned President Trump, But Still Permits These Five Dangerous Accounts
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