This is precisely what I feared when I decided to leave Twitter after the Musk acquisition. The new owner and CEO of Twitter is immediately using Twitter to publicly endorse a political party literally the day before an election.
Ask yourself why Larry Ellison, who has tweeted exactly once ever 10 years ago https://twitter.com/larryellison but is a well-known Republican activist and funder, was thrilled to give Musk practically a blank check, name your price, $1 billion, $2 billion, whatever, to help Musk buy Twitter. https://danluu.com/elon-twitter-texts/
A lot of Musk's acquisition funders and associates are well-known Republican activists.
Can anyone tell me with a straight face that the Twitter CEO saying "I recommend voting for a Republican Congress" on Twitter is keeping Twitter politically neutral?
There is practically no separation now between Musk's Twitter account and Twitter itself. There's no public/private distinction, because Twitter is now a private company. And Musk is announcing Twitter policy with his personal account. He's the top, official representative of the company.
Don't forget Saudi Arabia, and the close ties the Republicans have with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. He was the second largest investor.
Elon Musk not only doesn't care about democracy, it's in his way. He sees all the oligarchs getting away scot free with everything in the world and he wants the same treatment, the same power. He probably justifies it by telling himself that he is leading the human race to the next stage, but he is completely misguided.
Or reject the partisan binary and vote third party. But in all honesty, I don't care how Elon or others vote. Just shouldn't project it onto users and try to sway people during election season as the owner of the platform.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 31.2 ms ] threadAsk yourself why Larry Ellison, who has tweeted exactly once ever 10 years ago https://twitter.com/larryellison but is a well-known Republican activist and funder, was thrilled to give Musk practically a blank check, name your price, $1 billion, $2 billion, whatever, to help Musk buy Twitter. https://danluu.com/elon-twitter-texts/
A lot of Musk's acquisition funders and associates are well-known Republican activists.
"For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral" https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1519415674111672325
Can anyone tell me with a straight face that the Twitter CEO saying "I recommend voting for a Republican Congress" on Twitter is keeping Twitter politically neutral?
There is practically no separation now between Musk's Twitter account and Twitter itself. There's no public/private distinction, because Twitter is now a private company. And Musk is announcing Twitter policy with his personal account. He's the top, official representative of the company.
Elon Musk not only doesn't care about democracy, it's in his way. He sees all the oligarchs getting away scot free with everything in the world and he wants the same treatment, the same power. He probably justifies it by telling himself that he is leading the human race to the next stage, but he is completely misguided.