On 27 March, Elon Musk tweeted what is perhaps his clearest statement of intent for Twitter: “Seize the memes of production!” Musk knew at the time that he was the platform’s biggest shareholder, but the rest of the world didn’t. Since this information became public he has increased his efforts to take control of Twitter, securing $46.5bn (including a margin loan secured by most of his Tesla stock) to launch a takeover bid.
This is a lot to spend on Musk’s stated aim of protecting freedom of speech on one social media website. It’s not clear why someone who has used Twitter to call someone a “pedo”, to advocate overthrowing a government for profit, and to threaten adverse consequences for unionised employees, all with apparently little or no consequences, thinks there is any risk to free speech on the platform. It’s even possible that the CEO of a company that has accused the BBC and the New York Times of fabricating critical reviews of its products doesn’t care about free speech quite as much as he’d have us believe.
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