Twitter has agreed to accept a $US44 billion ($61.3 billion) takeover bid from billionaire Elon Musk in a deal that’s set to shake up the social media platform as we know it (or haven’t known if you’ve been banned or blocked). Jokes.
Efforts to moderate free speech on Twitter are the talk of the town, and of course so is former US president Donald Trump.
Mr Musk has publicly criticised the platform’s moderation of speech on several occasions.
“Freedom of 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,” Mr Musk said in a statement.
So the question you’re all asking: is Trump coming back to a life of comedic tweets? (Let’s be honest, they made you laugh A LOT)
Sorry to disappoint some, but the answer is no. Mr Trump has promised not return to Twitter even if his account his re-instated.
Now instead of using Twitter, Trump says he will use his own social networking platform ‘Truth Social’, according to Fox News.
“We’re taking in millions of people and what we’re what we’re finding is that the response on Truth is much better than being on Twitter,” he told Fox.
“Twitter has bots and fake accounts.”
Even if you loathe the guy, he has a point.
“I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth.”
Mr Trump was barred from Twitter after the deadly January 6, 2021 insurrection, when protesters stormed the US Capitol building.
The next big question is: How will Twitter change for users?
Well at this point, not a whole lot.
Remember, the deal hasn’t closed yet.
However, Mr Musk has mentioned what he would like to change in a series of tweets over the past two weeks, these include:
- defeating spam bots
- human authentication
- new features
- making the algorithms open source
- implementing free speech on the platform.
He also posted a poll on Twitter on April 4, asking his followers if they’d like an edit button.
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So, who is Elon Musk?
Mr Musk is the world’s richest person, according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated net worth of $273.6bn mostly due to his shareholding in electric vehicle maker Tesla which he runs. He also leads the aerospace firm SpaceX.
What he’s most well known for:
- Being a space rocket mogul, an electric car salesman, a purveyor of satellite internet, and a madcap inventor.
- He’s also a celebrity entrepreneur, Twitter troll, and the guy who once dated Canadian musician Grimes.
- Oh, and he’s the world’s richest person.
- Elon Musk has done, or become, all these things in the space of a decade.
- If Google Trends is any guide, he came to the attention of many Australians in February 2018, when he launched a Tesla sports car into space, using a rocket from another of his companies, Space X.
Elon Reeve Musk was born in 1971 in South Africa to a wealthy family.
His Canadian mother was a professional dietician and model (her image graced cereal boxes) and his South African father was an engineer who once co-owned a Zambian emerald mine.
An awkward and introverted child who was severely bullied at high school in South Africa, he moved to Canada in 1989 with his mother, sister, and brother.
In 1995 he received his Bachelor in Physics and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and the rest well cover in another article (specifically designed to look at Musk’s life in depth).
Where did Elon Musk get his money to purchase Twitter?
On January 1, 2020, Elon Musk’s net worth was $US28 billion. Just a year later it was $US170 billion.
The reason for this increase is the Telsa share price, which has tripled in value to more than $US1 trillion over the past 18 months (his shares are worth about $US170 billion).
Mr Musk’s 48 per cent stake in the $US100 billion firm SpaceX makes up most of the rest of his fortune.
And the rest, they say is history! No matter if you love him or hate him, we’re all living in Elon Musk’s world now.
Disclaimer: Excerpts of this article are attributed to ABC and Channel 9 News Aus.
