It didn't take long for the oligarchy to crush the dream of free speech. The asset management group Vanguard upped its shares of stock to compete with Musk. As the Daily Mail writes, "Elon Musk is no longer Twitter's biggest shareholder after the Vanguard Group upped its stake to 10.3%: Investment firm is unlikely to back his takeover bid.
Elon Musk this morning announced his intention to buy Twitter. Speaking at the TED2022 Conference in Vancouver on Thursday afternoon, defended his offer, saying he was motivated to transform Twitter into a bastion of free speech.
"This is not about the economics," Musk said. "My strong intuitive sense is having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is important to the future of civilization."
The Twitter checkmarks were livid. Max Boot, who writes for the Washington Post Tweeted, "I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter. He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less."
And Robert Reich criticized Musk, "Musk's hostile takeover of Twitter isn't about freedom.
It's about power: his power to determine what people can say, especially about him.
No oligarch should have this much power over our democracy."
Musk also claimed he had a plan B should he not be able to purchase Twitter however, we do not know what exactly Musk has in mind. Musk could sell his Twitter shares and open a new social media site where free speech is allowed.
Twitter shares closed down 1.68 percent on Thursday after a volatile session, ending the shortened trading week at $45.08 -- well below Musk's offer price of $54.20, in a sign that markets do not view his bid as likely to succeed.
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