Elon Musk Talks Social Media Policy Amid Bid to Take Over Twitter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk (C) attends the official opening of the new Tesla electric car manufacturing plant near Gruenheide, Germany, on March 22, 2022. (Christian Marquardt/Pool/Getty Images)

Billionaire Elon Musk appeared to share how he would improve Twitter’s performance on Tuesday amid his bid to take over the company.

The Tesla CEO took to the social media platform to share his philosophy on social media policy, writing: “A social media platform’s policies are good if the most extreme 10 percent on left and right are equally unhappy.”

Musk has offered to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share in cash, which would amount to $43 billion.

The billionaire businessman, who became Twitter’s largest individual shareholder earlier this month after taking a 9.2 percent stake in the platform, said it was his “best and final” offer.

Twitter’s board said last week that Musk’s offer is under consideration and that it would “carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders.”

However, the board later announced it was adopting a limited duration shareholder rights plan, a tactic known in the financial world as a “poison pill” after an “unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire Twitter.”

This would effectively make it more financially challenging for the potential acquirer, and effectively signaled the board’s opposition to Musk’s bid.

Specifically, the shareholder plan “will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders,” Twitter said.

The Epoch Times reached out to Twitter and a Musk spokesperson for comment but received no response.

Musk has been vocal in his criticism of Twitter and has previously questioned its commitment to free speech, stating that he believes it is a “societal imperative for a functioning democracy.”

Speaking at a TED event in Vancouver on April 14, the businessman referred to Twitter as the “de facto town square,“ and stressed the importance of there being an ”inclusive arena for free speech.”

“One of the things that I believe Twitter should do is open source the algorithm and make any changes to people’s tweets, or if they emphasized or de-emphasized, that action should be made apparent so anyone can see that an action has been taken so there’s no sort of behind-the-scenes manipulation, either algorithmically or manually,” he explained.

Twitter has been accused by some Republicans of censoring free speech and minority or politically conservative viewpoints, and shadowbanning users who it deems to have violated its community guidelines or user policies.

The company denies it has censored free speech.

At that same TED event last week, the tech mogul hinted that he has a backup plan if his bid to take over Twitter fails while admitting: “I am not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it.”

While the entrepreneur did not provide further details regarding his backup plan, he insisted he has “sufficient assets” to follow through on his bid for the company should it be approved.