Elon Musk might buy Twitter, internet thrilled
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggested he might buy Twitter on Friday after throwing out a poll on the social media platform.
The poll asked, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?” The richest man in the world then followed up with another tweet: “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”
As of this writing, there were over 2 million respondents. 70.4% voted “No”, and 29.6% voted “Yes”.
“Buy Twitter,” replied Cernovich. “If you’re a leftist making death threats against conservatives. or organizing riots, Twitter respects your freedom of speech. Twitter also respects the freedom of speech for media hoaxes like when every major outlet framed an innocent Covington high school kid."
“Doesn’t sound very balanced,” replied Musk.
Musk has continued to tweet about the issue in recent hours.
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?” he wrote yesterday, following up with: “Is a new platform needed?”
Users have noted that Musk’s net worth is $267.3 billion, while Twitter’s market cap is $30.90 billion.
“Hey @elonmusk will you please buy @twitter, free @TheBabylonBee & return the true marketplace of ideas to this site? We need you to make it happen,” wrote radio and TV host Clay Travis.
“Elon, buy Twitter,” wrote journalist Tim Pool.
“Elon Musk should buy Twitter and delete it,” tweeted another user.
Musk has long been an avid free speech advocate. Last month, the billionaire supplied Ukraine with 47 servers that would enable the country to link to SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites.
Yet still, Musk refused to interfere with free speech.
“Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist,” he tweeted earlier this month.
Musk has become more outspoken regarding his conservative views, calling President Joe Biden a “damp sock puppet in human form” in January and trolling Netflix for the corporation’s ultra-woke agenda.
And while the space tycoon has been clear that he supports Ukraine, he has poked fun at those who passionately support every media craze, whether it be masks, vaccines, or Ukraine.
