Jokes, cheers and dire warnings: Twitter reacts to Musk’s takeover
Elon Musk’s $44bn deal to buy Twitter has elicited cheers, concern, and lots of questions for the future, most of them issued on, well, Twitter.
Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist”, reached a deal with the company on Monday in a takeover that will eventually give him control of the social network, which has more than 200 million users.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>I love TwitterThe Tesla chief executive is a longtime, highly active, and at times controversial user of the platform, where he has 83m followers. It remains unclear where Musk wants to take the company. Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, said Twitter’s future under Musk was unclear. “Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go,” he said.
But Musk has offered glimpses into his plans in recent weeks: his proposals include relaxing content restrictions, combatting fake and automated accounts, and shifting away from an advertising-based revenue model.
On Monday, critics and supporters weighed in on what could lie ahead.
The Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, who has been a prominent critic of big tech, warned the deal is “dangerous for democracy”.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>This deal is dangerous for our democracy. Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain. We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech accountable.The Republican senator Marsha Blackburn said she was hopeful about Musk’s deal to buy Twitter, calling it an “encouraging day for freedom of speech”.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>Today is an encouraging day for freedom of speech. I am hopeful that Elon Musk will help rein in Big Tech’s history of Read more on theguardian.com
