Billionaire Elon Musk officially bought 100 percent of Twitter shares by pouring funds of US $ 44 billion. So why do billionaires who already own electric car company Tesla and the most ambitious space corporation, SpaceX, still buy social media?
Musk himself seemed eager to buy Twitter by making the "best and last offer". He also admitted that he had prepared US$46.5 billion to finance the transaction. The Tesla CEO also admitted to having a Plan B should the offer fail, which is to meet privately with some of Twitter's big shareholders to convince the offer. Finally, on Monday, Twitter officially announced that the US$44 billion acquisition is expected to be completed this year. There are a number of statements by Elon and a number of experts who are thought to be the reason for the acquisition of Twitter.
1. Freedom of Opinion
Musk has said he wants to promote free speech online. According to him, social media platforms are important places to share views.
"Well, I think it's very important that Twitter can be an inclusive arena for free speech," he said.
"Twitter has de facto become a kind of city square (a place to exchange opinions), so it's very important to bring people that in reality and perception can speak freely within the limits of the law," he said.
Musk has also made it clear that his decision to take stock of Twitter is not about making money.
"My strong intuitive feeling is that having a public platform that is maximally trustworthy and broadly inclusive is critical to the future of civilization," he said.
"I do not care at all about the economy," said the man who is the richest person in the world.
2. Content Moderation
Twitter, like other social media platforms, has a policy of suspending or suspending accounts that violate content standards, including violence, hate speech, or harmful misinformation. One of the figures affected by this policy is former US President Donald Trump. Twitter suspended his account because Trump's tweets had provoked a crowd of supporters to storm into the trial to ratify US President Joe Biden's victory in the House and US Senate, 2019. Musk, in an interview with TED, acknowledged content moderation is not a black-and-white thing. He said Twitter should be very careful when it comes to deleting an account, and it's better to temporarily suspend it.
"I don't think we want to do anything wrong, if in doubt, let the opinion go. However, if it's a gray area, I would say let the tweet exist," Musk said.
"But obviously in cases where there may be a lot of controversy, you don't need to promote the tweet."
So far, Musk has not said whether he will lift the permanent ban Twitter has placed on Trump's account.
3. Not Selling to the Public
When making an offer to buy 100 percent of Twitter's shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Elon claimed, "since I started investing, I realized that the company could not serve social needs and could not continue to thrive if it maintained its current form.
"I believe that Twitter should transform into a limited private company," he continued.
The Washington Post said the changes might not take place as quickly as possible. Completion of a deal can take weeks or even months. Under federal law, Musk must notify regulators at the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice of his plans to buy Twitter. If regulators review the deal, its implementation could be delayed.
4. Feature changes
One of the things that Musk has been waiting for since the beginning to buy 9.2 percent of Twitter shares is to bring an edit button. In his own account, Elon also held a poll about this feature. As a result, 73.6 percent of the more than 4 million voters said they wanted the edit button. A day later, Twitter's communications team confirmed that they had been working on the feature for a long time, and were not inspired by Musk's poll.
"We didn't get the idea from the (Elon) poll," Twitter said.
Musk also said he wanted to make Twitter's algorithm more transparent, including letting people see if their tweets were promoted or deleted. He believes open source algorithms will help prevent behind-the-scenes manipulation. Researchers say the plan is far more complicated than Musk's proposal might suggest. Twitter has already considered it.
5. Existence
David Trainer, CEO of research firm New Constructs, said the purchase of 100 percent of Twitter shares reflects the desire that Musk, who has 84.5 billion followers, stay alive.
"Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter is a desperate attempt for Musk to attract attention. He only offered to buy Twitter because Twitter is where Musk is most popular," he said.
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