Musk making ‘charitable contribution’ to democracy with Twitter deal: Mark Tepper
‘Outnumbered’ discusses the impending Twitter takeover and weighs what the future of the social media platform will look like under Elon Musk’s control.
In response to Elon Musk’s letter to Twitter advertisers promising good will to humanity through his purchase of the platform, prominent Twitter liberals reacted with scorn, derision, and naysaying.
On Thursday, the world’s richest man and owner of Tesla shared a letter to Twitter that he addressed to the site’s advertisers. The letter featured an optimistic Musk clarifying his intentions behind purchasing the company and sharing his vision for the platform that he believes will benefit users, advertisers, and humanity as a whole.
He wrote, "The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner without resorting to violence."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at the Offshore Northern Seas 2022 (ONS) meeting in Stavanger, Norway on August 29, 2022.
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Elsewhere, he said, "That is why I bought Twitter. I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love."
The billionaire, whose deadline to finalize purchasing the platform is this week, assured advertisers in his belief that Twitter "cannot become a free-for-all hellscape." He added, "our platform must be warm and welcoming to all."
Though liberals on the platform blasted the letter’s message of goodwill, insisting that Musk is just looking to acquire Twitter for his own power.
The Intercept writer Jon Schwarz mocked Musk’s words, tweeting, "’It is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square.’ This would be the traditional kind of town square that's owned by one guy and funded by huge corporate advertisers."
RawStory reporter Matthew Chapman doubted Musk’s ability to accomplish his vision for the platform, tweeting, "Ah, so now he's back to the free speech thing. If he's really still buying Twitter for this, he's quickly going to find out Twitter's existing leaders have already been working on trying to strike exactly this balance for years and it is not easy."
Deadline Hollywood associate editor Valerie Complex tweeted, "Im glad I already started distancing myself from Twitter so when this is finalized I can be at peace being on here even less."
Condé-Nast legal affairs editor Luke Zaleski mocked the billionaire as having authoritarian ambitions, writing, "What’s the point of being the richest man in the world if you can’t own free speech?"
Many on the left are sounding the alarm about Elon Musk’s potential Twitter takeover. (FOX)
Zaleski posted another tweet deriding Musk’s letter, which stated, "The world’s richest man’s takin over sole possession of a global social media platform used by the world’s journalists, scientists, governments, private citizens, businesses, religions, militaries and health/emergency services to share all vital information and it’s only Thursday."
Financial Times technology business editor Katie Prescott knocked Musk, writing, "An attempt to create confidence in Twitter, after months of trashing its reputation? Don't break the vase you're buying?"
The Prospect managing editor Ryan Cooper predicted doomsday for Twitter under Musk, tweeting, "sounds like curtains for this place."
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Miming an authoritarian caricature of Musk, Author and film critic John Scalzi tweeted, "DEAR ADVERTISERS I AM TOTALLY NOT A FASH-CURIOUS SUPER VILLAIN BWA HA HA HA OH WAIT DID TEXT TO SPEECH RECORD MY EVIL LAUGH DELETE DELETE DELETE."
Daily Kos writer Christopher Reeves said, "Reminder: @ElonMusk remains an anti-union dude-bro who's employees accused him of exposing himself. Just free speech."