Musk wants to make Twitter a home for 'Free speech'
Published: 25th April 2022 | Source: Twitter | Author: Mark Campbell
Elon Musk's buying Twitter for $44 billion
Two weeks ago, Tesla Billionaire Elon Musk made Twitter an offer that they couldn't refuse. Musk offered to buy Twitter for $55.20 per share, which is roughly $44 billion (£34.5 billion) for the whole company. This price represents a 38% premium over Twitter's closing share price before Musk revealed that he had invested in Twitter.
After Musk's deal to buy Twitter closes, Twitter will become a privately owned company. This will give Musk the power to do what he wants with the platform, allowing him to attempt to unlocked the company's "tremendous potential".
In a recent Tweet, Musk stated that he wanted to make Twitter better by enhancing the site with new features, relaxing the sites content restrictions, and by taking measures to eradicate spam bots and fake accounts on the platform. Musk wants Twitter to be a "digital town square" for free speech, and hopes to increase trust in the platform by making its algorithms open source.
At this time, it is unclear who will lead Twitter under Elon Musk. While Elon Musk will be in charge of the company's direction, his attention will also be focused on his other enterprises. Musk has also stated in the past that he does not have confidence in Twitter's current management.
Financially, Twitter has not been as successful as other social media platforms, having failed to monetise its user base in the same way that Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat has. Whether or not Elon Musk will change that remains to be seen. Perhaps Musk will bring forward more premium features for Twitter, or ramp up the company's advertisement offerings.
All we know right now is that Elon Musk has made a deal the acquire Twitter, and that big changes will come to the platform as a result of that. Elon Musk's free speech ideals will have to fight against the legal realities that social media platforms face. Legislation like the EU's Digital Services Act and the UK's Online Safety Bill will require social media companies to do more to police their services. Whether or not Musk's acquisition of the platform is good or bad news for Twitter remains to be seen.
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