Elon Musk just bought Twitter. These are the changes he may bring to the platform
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla Motors, will buy Twitter for $44 billion. The deal was struck early on Monday and makes history as one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals between an individual investor and a company.
The deal comes with a buyout of $54.20 per share for investors who own a piece of the company, according to a statement from Twitter Inc. Once the deal is finalized, Twitter will become a private company, wholly owned by Musk.
The buyout received a unanimous approval vote from the company’s board but users on the platform are left with questions about what it means for the future of the 16-year-old company that hosts around 217 million active accounts.
Could a Twitter edit button be coming?
Musk’s ideas for new policies and features range drastically from serious inquiries to trolling jabs. For instance, in two since-deleted tweets from April 9 and April 10, he proposed turning the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco into a homeless shelter and also asked his followers in a poll if they think the “W” in “Twitter” should be removed.
The only options for the poll were “Yes” and “Of course.”
However, less far-fetched ideas that Musk has expressed concern over could be building blocks for his plan to revitalize the platform.
In another poll published on April 4, Musk asked followers, “Do you want an edit button?” with purposely misspelled options “yse” for yes and “on” for no. More than 4.4 million users voted in the poll, with 73.6% of them supporting the idea.
Musk wants to bring back free speech
Another top talking point and area of concern for Musk is the idea of the platform’s troubled relationship with free speech.
In a statement released through Twitter, Musk said that “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.
“Twitter has tremendous potential,” he continued. “I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
Twitter’s struggle with users who say free speech is often attacked on the platform elevated when former President Donald Trump was permanently banned from the site last year. The suspension came after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, an attack that ultimately led to the deaths of five people, including four rioters and one police officer.
In a TED interview earlier this month, Musk expressed that he aims to reduce how often users are banned and decrease the number of individual tweets being taken down by the company.
Musk’s devotion to leveling the playing field was made more clear on Monday when he tweeted that he hopes his “worst critics” refrain from leaving the platform, noting “that’s what free speech means.”
There could be changes to Twitter Blue
In a series of tweets that have since been deleted by Musk, the billionaire posted in support of making Twitter Blue — the platform’s premium subscription service — more accessible. The monthly subscription-based feature launched in June 2021 and allows users to enjoy a customized app experience.
Musk’s ideas for Twitter Blue include a reduced monthly charge from the current $3 price tag, the addition of an “authentication checkmark” for users who sign up, and the ability for users to pay in their local currency instead of the uniform USD, Reuters reports.
In addition to these ideas, Musk also proposed an option for users to pay using the popular, meme-based cryptocurrency known as “dogecoin” as well as the elimination of ads.
“The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive,” he said.
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 10:58 AM.
