Will Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, succeed in taking complete control over Twitter? And if he does then how will this really impact Twitter. These questions have been dominating the media ever since the news of Musk’s ambitious plan of hostile takeover of Twitter become official. For all those who don’t know Musk already owns 9.2% stake and is now the largest stakeholder in the company. But the tech billionaire is hungry for more. He is now gunning for a much bigger prize. He wants to now own Twitter all by himself.
But we strongly believe that musk’s ambitious plan to own Twitter will spell huge disaster for the microblogging platform. We are of the opinion that Twitter should do everything possible to throttle Musk’s plan of a hostile takeover. In this story, we’ll share some convincing reasons as to why Musk must be stopped from buying Twitter.
Reason: 1
Musk’s poor track record in respecting freedom of speech
Musk claims that he wants to buy Twitter because the platform is not fulfilling its potential as a platform for free speech. Well, his big talks about free speech looks pretty hypocritical since Musk’s own track record in respecting freedom of speech is pretty shambolic.
In the past, Musk has unleashed barrage of nasty tweets against his critics or anyone who does not agree to his views. For instance, in 2018 Musk openly called a British cave expert ‘paedophile’ on Twitter only because the latter flatly refused to take Musk’s help in his rescue mission.
Musk has been equally unforgiving with his tweets while targeting high profile politicians. As early as this year February Musk uploaded a controversial meme on Twitter that compared Canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau with Adolf Hitler. Musk took the extreme step of comparing Trudeau with Hitler only because he did not agree with Canadian Prime minister’s vaccine policy.
The tech billionaire is equally notorious in blocking his detractors and critics on Twitter.
All these clearly proves that Musk lacks the personal capability of transforming Twitter into an idealistic platform for free speech. If anything he could very well end up trampling the speech of his critics and detractors on Twitter.
Reason: 2
Musk can wreck havoc on his company’s investors
Tesla and SpaceX investors surely won’t be among the happiest people if Musk gets a complete control of Twitter Inc. And they have a do reason to believe so. After all, Musk’s tweets in the past have ended up wiping out his investor’s massive wealth. In this respect, two particular instances from the past clearly stand out.
In 2018, Musk jokingly tweeted about his plan to delist Tesla stocks and having already secured funds for this purpose. This particular tweet, which was supposedly a small joke, drained out huge amount wealth from Tesla’s investors.
Musk once again took his investors for a ride in May 2020 when he tweeted that ‘Tesla stock prices are currently trading very high.’ No sooner than Musk tweeted this Tesla’s stock price registered a massive fall, wiping nearly $14 Bn from Tesla’s market Valuation in a single day.
Such instances clearly reflects Musk’s immaturity as well as arrogance. And there is every possibility that Musk’s erratic behaviour may implode once he has a complete control over Twitter. A reason why we believe that Musk buying Twitter can end up causing havoc for Tesla and even SpaceX investors.
Reason: 3
A billionaire owning Twitter spells a bad news for global democracy
Should a tech billionaire be allowed to own one of the biggest social media companies in the world? This question is worth pondering especially when social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have gained notorious reputation for posing huge threat to the global democracy.
While it is true that many famous billionaires already own big media houses, owning a popular social media all by one man is still a big deal and also dangerous. And when that particular man happens to be Elon Musk then the social media platform can very well become a frankenstein monster for democracies across the world.
Musk’s polarising views on several contentious issues and his barrage of past tweets that reeks of intolerance clearly shows his anti-democratic behaviour. Lastly, if Musk does own Twitter in future then he is likely to misuse the platform to promote his business interest. Musk, who runs billion dollar businesses like Tesla and SpaceX, will pose a potent threat to any democratic views and opinions that hurts his profit motive.
Reason: 4
Musk has unhealthy addiction with Twitter
Musk happens to be one of the most prolific users of Twitter, which has helped him earn nearly 80 Mn Twitter followers across the world. But Musk’s critics claim that he barely uses Twitter for promoting any social causes among his 80 Mn followers. Rather it seems that the platform has become a enjoyable distraction for the tech billionaire. A platform where Musk expresses his personal vanity and continuously uses his power to sway and influence public opinion as per his whim.
Worse, there is still no sign that Musk wants to reduce his obsession with Twitter. An addiction that potentially threatens to reduce Twitter as a personal toy of Musk if he does ends up buying the company. A toy that the tech billionaire can use as per his personal wish & desire – without any control and restrictions. As frightening as this appears to be, such scenario cannot be ruled out given the highly unpredictable and erratic nature of Elon Musk.