tomder55
Apr 6, 2022, 05:06 AM
Elon Musk shook up big tech with his purchase of a 9% share of Twitter ;making him the largest shareholder .That's 73.5 million shares at a cost of $2.89 billion. The value of Twitter went up $7 billion just on the news of his purchase.
Now in the world of big tech this pales compared to the Facebook/Instagram monopoly under the new name of Meta. That is a $230 billion operation .
But Twitter has an oversized influence in the public square.
Twitter brazenly censored content it did not like as it catered to the preogressive left agenda . That included shutting down the account of the sitting President of the United States while allowing state sponsors of terrorism like the Ayatollah Asshola in Tehran to keep his. Hundreds of conservative Twitter users saw followers disappear with no explanation Many of those users would face suspensions and bans of their own if they wrote tweets that countered the accepted party line. The censored topics included not only the electoral politics . It included pandemic related topics ;school curriculum ;transformer's agendas etc.
Musk was an active Twitter user and became increasingly angry and frustrated about it .One tweet he wrote said “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?”
Unlike other users, Musk has the means to do something about it .He originally contemplated setting up a rival platform like Trump is attempting .But he is well aware how the big tech monopoly can kneecap startup competition.
His purchase gets him a seat on the board of directors .Where he goes from here is hard to determine. Will he flex his muscle to change policy ? Will other shareholders gang up to outvote him ? Will there be a proxy fight for control? Will lefty billionaires put money into Twitter to negate Musk's power ? Would Musk double down and invest more ?
How will this affect the ongoing debate in Washington, with politicians on both sides of the divide looking to clip the wings of big tech's monopoly power and it's abuse of Section 230 ? All this is unknown . What we do know is that Twitter ;the defacto town square of 21st century 1st amendment speech has a new boss in town.
Now in the world of big tech this pales compared to the Facebook/Instagram monopoly under the new name of Meta. That is a $230 billion operation .
But Twitter has an oversized influence in the public square.
Twitter brazenly censored content it did not like as it catered to the preogressive left agenda . That included shutting down the account of the sitting President of the United States while allowing state sponsors of terrorism like the Ayatollah Asshola in Tehran to keep his. Hundreds of conservative Twitter users saw followers disappear with no explanation Many of those users would face suspensions and bans of their own if they wrote tweets that countered the accepted party line. The censored topics included not only the electoral politics . It included pandemic related topics ;school curriculum ;transformer's agendas etc.
Musk was an active Twitter user and became increasingly angry and frustrated about it .One tweet he wrote said “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?”
Unlike other users, Musk has the means to do something about it .He originally contemplated setting up a rival platform like Trump is attempting .But he is well aware how the big tech monopoly can kneecap startup competition.
His purchase gets him a seat on the board of directors .Where he goes from here is hard to determine. Will he flex his muscle to change policy ? Will other shareholders gang up to outvote him ? Will there be a proxy fight for control? Will lefty billionaires put money into Twitter to negate Musk's power ? Would Musk double down and invest more ?
How will this affect the ongoing debate in Washington, with politicians on both sides of the divide looking to clip the wings of big tech's monopoly power and it's abuse of Section 230 ? All this is unknown . What we do know is that Twitter ;the defacto town square of 21st century 1st amendment speech has a new boss in town.