Twitter Falls in the lap of Elon Musk. What’s Next?
The World’s Richest man and the CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk seal a deal to buy Twitter for approximately $44 billion. Elon Musk acquires Twitter agreeing to a 38% premium over the company’s share price at $54.20 per share. He officially becomes the firm’s single largest shareholder of this influential social platform that’s crowded with world leaders, influencers, trendsetters, and celebrities.
The former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey dropped tweets supporting the purchase soon after the sale was confirmed by Twitter officially.
I love Twitter. Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness.
— jack (@jack) April 26, 2022
The idea and service is all that matters to me, and I will do whatever it takes to protect both. Twitter as a company has always been my sole issue and my biggest regret. It has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it back from Wall Street is the correct first step.
— jack (@jack) April 26, 2022
In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.
— jack (@jack) April 26, 2022
Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive” is the right one. This is also @paraga’s goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path…I believe it with all my heart.
— jack (@jack) April 26, 2022
I’m so happy Twitter will continue to serve the public conversation. Around the world, and into the stars!
— jack (@jack) April 26, 2022
While announcing this deal, Elon Musk promised to make the platform more viable for free speech and reduce censorship. “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. Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” he said in a statement.
🚀💫♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️💫🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
But the Human Rights groups and a section of Twitter users and celebrities raised concerns over bringing down the censorship. According to them, the lack of moderation could flood the social networking app with hate speech and abuse. Also, confusion prevails if the Twitter accounts that are blocked previously would be brought back to life.
Two words: toxic twitter.
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) April 25, 2022
Deborah Brown, a digital rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch, wrote her concerns on the Twitter sale to Elon Musk to Reuters in an email.
“The last thing we need is a Twitter that wilfully turns a blind eye to violent and abusive speech against users, particularly those most disproportionately impacted, including women, non-binary persons, and others, ” she wrote.
Here are few other reactions on Twitter on Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter,
This deal is dangerous for our democracy. Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain. We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech accountable.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 25, 2022
My own answer to this question is probably not. The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 26, 2022
https://twitter.com/jameelajamil/status/1518676806261477386
For those who’ve asked: Yes, I’m staying on Twitter. There are still a lot of good people working at Twitter, and we have no idea what it will look like under Elon Musk’s ownership. What we *do* know is that if all the decent people leave, it’ll get bad here a whole lot faster.
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) April 25, 2022
There were trolls and funny tweets as well,
Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion while I'm looking for a house like… pic.twitter.com/0oGpvis0jv
— Backpacks, Controllers, and Ryan (He/Him) (@BkpksandCtrls) April 25, 2022
how does one have $44 billion to spend on a bird app? not million but billion !!??! https://t.co/Vku8njqXdQ pic.twitter.com/UXUwj7yNyk
— rona ☾ (@air6oll) April 25, 2022
I can think of a million other things I could spend $44 billion on and the bird app isn't one of them.
— 𝕁 𝔸 ℂ (@jac315ecu) April 25, 2022
Leaked image of Elon Musk Buying Twitter for 44 Billion dollars pic.twitter.com/3KfDfdMv48
— Steven Senpai (@StevenSenpai_) April 25, 2022
https://twitter.com/MadridBaIIers/status/1518673724131758085
Hate or abusive speech can never fall under the frame of free speech. Let’s Hope, Elon Musk and the Twitter team has a plan to uphold the freedom of decent speech while easing up the censorship. Fingers crossed ?
Twitter Ceo Jack Dorsey Steps Down as Chief of the Social Media Company
Dec 4, 2021
Jack Dorsey is no longer the CEO of Twitter as he has decided to leave his job as chief of the social media company. Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal, a 10-year veteran of the company, will replace Jack.
Dorsey stated in a statement, “I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders.” He further said, “My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I’m deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It’s his time to lead.” Dorsey will continue to work on the company’s board of directions till May 2022. He was appointed as Twitter’s founding CEO but resigned from the job once later after falling out with a fellow co-founder. He came back to the top job in 2015.
Since 2017, Agrawal has been working with Twitter since 2011 and he worked as a Chief Technology Officer(CTO). Parag Agrawal stated on Twitter on November 29, 2021, “Deep gratitude for @jack and our entire team, and so much excitement for the future. Here’s the note I sent to the company. Thank you all for your trust and support.”
As CTO, Agrawal is supposed to take care of the company’s technical strategy. He also supervised machine learning and AI. It’s been ten years since he joined. He has put a lot of effort into scaling Twitter Ads systems and also gave his best in re-accelerating user growth by changing home timeline relevance.
