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Elon Musk Is Now On Twitter's Board Of Directors, So What Happens Next?

April 5th, 2022 - 1:01 PM EDT by Aidan Walker

3 comments

(Twitter / @greg_price11, @elonmusk)

Elon Musk has gotten himself a seat on Twitter's board of directors following an agreement that legally prevents him from buying more than 14.9 percent of the company’s stock. The agreement, which might be interpreted as a defensive measure by Twitter to avoid a total buyout and takeover by Musk, appoints him as a "Class II Director" who will hold a seat on the board until 2024.

In the past few days, Musk (the world’s richest man) has become Twitter's largest shareholder, now owning 9.2 percent of the company according to documents from the SEC.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who also happens to be one of the most-followed people on the platform, is now polling his followers about what they would like to see change on Twitter. Presumably, Musk is seeking proof of public support for features he purportedly wishes to implement, such as an “edit” button, which he noted in a viral tweet last night.

The edit button poll joins a long string of recent sentiments and inquiries tweeted by Musk in recent weeks, perhaps most notably the discussion on free speech that sirred up Twitter earlier last week.

The current team that runs Twitter seemed to welcome Musk to the board, with CEO Parag Agrawal and former CEO Jack Dorsey both tweeting their welcomes to Musk. Agrawal even went so far as to promote Musk’s poll about an edit button, implying that Twitter could make a decision based off its result.

Musk has long complained about Twitter’s content moderation policy, and his posts and trolling in the past have often been contentious among users. His latest action has thrown him right into the thicket of content moderation rather than on the sidelines where he has heckled for so long, leading many to speculate about what the self-described "half-Democrat, half-Republican" South African billionaire may bring to the table.

Many commentators on the political right called for Musk to reinstate the account of former President Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter in the aftermath of the January 6th insurrection. Trump was notably accused of inciting the insurrection and was impeached (although not removed from office) over it, and Twitter’s unilateral action to ban him from the platform was controversial at the time — leading to much discussion about the amount of power Twitter (along with other social media platforms) yields and how it chooses to use that power.

Trump’s own foray into the social media space with Truth Social has been flailing so far, according to observers on both the right and left.

Commentators on the other side of the aisle voiced their opposition to Musk’s vision of the platform as a “public square” and speculated that his actions are as motivated by profit as they are by ideology. Musk, reportedly, has made at least a billion dollars through his highly hyped acquisition of Twitter stock.

This wouldn’t be the first time Musk has used his outsized Twitter presence as a way to make money, as his heavy promotion and advertisement of both his companies and pet projects like DogeCoin have reportedly been key to their success.

Elon Musk was also mercilessly mocked, as is almost always the case, by some Twitter users for his personality and general vibe amid the discussion recently.

Elon Musk’s play for control of Twitter seems set to change the social media platform, ushering in a new era with mixed reactions from current users. But whether Musk will have the capacity to really resolve the problems around content moderation and free speech online, which he has made a reputation out of complaining about, remains to be seen. Regardless, his stake in Twitter certainly increases his clout.

Musk’s intervention adds a new dimension to what is already a complex conversation about what big social media platforms mean for our society, and how we should go about understanding and perhaps regulating their influence. Twitter has the power not only to raise memes from obscure subcultures to the mainstream, but also to broadcast political views, shape what gets covered in the news and help determine what makes money in the markets.

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Comments 3 total

Brian91jn

Apr 05, 2022 at 06:41PM EDT

New people, new features.

0

Sumarios

Apr 05, 2022 at 03:10PM EDT

My guess is that he's doing this so he can discreetly signal boost/suppress whatever stocks he's interested in at the moment. But if he also manages to implement a more genuinely liberal approach to speech moderation (meaning: less moderation) then I guess we can call that a silver lining.

1

King Crimson

Apr 05, 2022 at 03:02PM EDT

He really couldn't make Twitter any worse than it already is. Either he'll miraculously turn it around or he'll drive the site to its grave. Either outcome is fine with me.

4

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