People continue to have mixed reactions as news continues to cover the effects of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter’s stock.
On Monday April 4, news in the business world reported that Twitter had 9.2% of its stock bought by Billionaire Elon Musk. This made him the biggest shareholder of Twitter and many wonder what his intentions are for Twitter.
Twitter Stock has continued to remain higher than it was before news came out of Elon Musk’s action. Google Finance showed that in the past five days, the stock increased by over 30% or roughly $12.
The intentions behind this choice has remained unspoken but many speculate that he will be pushing for more free speech on the social media platform.
It is well known that Elon Musk has been a big critic of Twitter for not being more open to free speech and having more censorship on topics he believes should be open for discussion. NBC News wrote in a similar way, “The stock-buying revelation comes as Musk emerges as one of the loudest and most prominent critics of Twitter’s moderation efforts, which in recent years have cracked down on everything from harassment and death threats to misinformation and conspiracy theories.”
Last month, he posted a tweet expressing his opinion on the matter.
Just the previous day, he tweeted a poll asking his followers on whether they believe Twitter is upholding the principle of free speech. He added in the comment section that people should choose wisely because their vote will have consequences.
In the end, over 2 million people voted with 70% percent voting no and under 30% voting yes.
Some now believe that he will be a big voice in changing Twitter. Dan Ives, a tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in an interview for CNN, “I think he intends to go active and force change at Twitter.”
Then on Tuesday, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced in a tweet that Elon Musk will be joining Twitter’s board of directors.
He added another post sharing that Twitter needs a great critic to help make improvements.
Elon Musk replied that he was happy to work with them and bring some improvements to the platform.
The Verge wrote that “Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, expressed that he’s “happy” that Musk is joining the Twitter board, citing that “he cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s role in it.” Dorsey stepped down as CEO in November 2021 but will still remain on the board until sometime in May.”
Click On Detroit’s report added, “Musk’s role as both a board member and Twitter’s largest shareholder certainly gives him an outsized voice in the company’s future. He’s been publicly praised this week by the CEO and other board members, a sign that Twitter leadership is likely to take his ideas seriously.”
While Elon Musk begins to play a role in Twitter’s future, some have voiced concerns about all of this. Newsweek pointed out that some of the employees like the Global Head of Partners Lara Cohern, and Leader of the 0→1 Team Haraldur Thorleifsson have voiced concerns and negative comments about all of this.
Both Cohen and Thorleifsson tweeted just after the news announced Elon Musk’s action.
And it hasn’t been just the employees voicing concerns. Fox News interviewed two local residents in San Francisco which is the home base of Twitter where both shared differing opinions.
One resident named Michael said, “He has not executed flawlessly, but he’s never quite been wrong,” he continued. “So, I would have to believe that he has a strong motivation or he wouldn’t have sunk a couple of billion dollars … of his net worth into Twitter.”
Another resident named Gabriel stated, “I do think it is concerning. He’s been very vocal on Twitter, just in general, so him owning 10% of one of the most popular social networks in the world is kind of just concerning all the way around.”
Now that Musk has rejected a spot on Twitter’s board, it is unclear what he plans to do next.