Innovator Says That, Unlike Traditional Media, Twitter Won’t Cater To Polarizing Extremes
October 27, 2022—A day ahead of closing a $44 billion deal to buy one of the world’s largest social media platforms, Elon Musk said he is acquiring Twitter to empower citizen journalism and make it a place where people from various views can come together to conduct health debate.
Twitter is one of the world’s most popular social media sites. While it is well behind Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, TikTok, WeChat, and Telegram in terms of users, it boasts of strong engagement among its monthly average users of around 436 million people.
Musk is known for his innovation, leadership, and tough managerial style. As a private company, he will have a freer reign to change the platform.
Private Company, New Leadership
Musk, CEO and Founder of SpaceX and Tesla, plans to take Twitter private. He is known for his innovation, leadership, and tough managerial style. As a private company, Musk will have a freer reign to change the platform. Commenting about his plans today, Musk said he intends to empower citizen journalism and healthy debate.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide society. In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.”
-Elon Musk message to advertisers and post on Twitter on October 27, 2022
After initially making an offer to buy the company, Musk had cold feet about following through. Now, he is full steam ahead. The deal is expected to close by 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday.
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