Crying fowl: Twitter is now owned by Elon
A quick glance at Twitter - or any major (or minor) news outlet yesterday, or Twitter account, and you’d think something truly calamitous had transpired.
After frenzied speculation and many different paths, including formally joining the Twitter Board, then allegedly balking at the conditions, Elon Musk is now $44B USD lighter, and one “cursed bird app” heavier.
There is so much to unpack already, in the immediate aftermath of the acquisition. Some people in the know are genuinely shocked. Ramifications of this deal are making waves for everyone from the pedantic to the formerly presidential. Concerns are swirling that Elon will allow ‘Donald Trump of Truth Social’ infamy back onto the site, and many are understandably worried that he’ll use Twitter to mobilize in advance of 2024, when he could legally run for president again. Thing is, Twitter shouldn’t be tasked with keeping democracy safe, so maybe this highlights a greater issue.
For those convinced that a mass of users will take flight and abandon the nest, at least in the hours after the announcement, Twitter users actually went up.
But it’s just a social platform
Others are reminding us that Bezos owns the Washington Post; there are ample family-owned news outlets, and also, that Twitter is just a social network. However, Facebook is “just a social network” that was so impactful on elections that the US court had to force Mark Zuckerberg’s hand to put safety measures in place to prevent political misinformation and propaganda.
Perhaps a glimmer of hope that Musk’s ownership may actually improve the transparency, at least of individual Twitter users, many Blue Check Mark (and even every day average) users immediately reported large drops in their followers. This suggests that a purging of bots happened.
How it went down
At first, Twitter welcomed Musk, offering a board seat when it was revealed he had a 9.2% ownership stake. But - whether it was the background check or simply part of the game, Musk quickly backed out and took the “poison pill” route, preferring to buy Twitter outright than deal with the board. Or anyone questioning his decisions.
What does it mean? What do I do now?
How we got here will be dissected at length for the foreseeable future, but most people are wondering what will happen now? Will Twitter users be charged? Will they ever get an edit button? Will they exit in droves? Will they quit Twitter and move to Canada? For Twitter CEO Parag Agrawa, he just pocketed $39M for 5 months of work, since becoming Twitter’s CEO in November.
What we do now is watch. We recommend following Trung Phan, a Vancouverite who frequently engages directly with Musk, and is also incredibly spot on with predictions, and a fun person to follow. Watch the stock prices, watch regulation, and also - enjoy some of the memes.
For your average Twitter user, not much has changed, and at the end of the day, Twitter, like all social networks, is a platform you are coming to willingly. What you post is your choice, and there are ways that you can download your stored data, if you wish to because you’re leaving, or like us, just didn’t realize it was a thing until all the hand wringing started.