Elon Musk now Twitter’s largest shareholder
A week after suggesting he might get financially involved in social media, Elon Musk has become Twitter’s largest shareholder, according to Bloomberg. As of Monday, the richest man in the world holds a 9.2% stake in Twitter Inc, worth about $2.89 billion and four times larger than that of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
Twitter shares jumped 26% after this development was revealed.
As reported last week by Frontline News, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was very critical recently of the Left-wing platform’s crackdown on free speech.
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?” Musk wrote, following up with, “Is a new platform needed?”
He also threw out a poll on Twitter asking users to weigh in on the platform, which regularly bans users for expressing conservative or alternative views.
The poll asked, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?” This was then followed up with another tweet. “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”
There were over 2 million respondents. 70.4% voted “No”, and 29.6% voted “Yes”.
Musk is known for being outspoken about his views, especially free speech. In February, the billionaire supplied Ukraine with 47 servers that would enable the country to link to SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites.
But he refused to interfere with free speech.
“Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist,” he tweeted last month.
The mogul has been frank about his other views as well, calling Biden a “damp sock puppet in human form”. He also publicly supported the 2022 Freedom Convoy that protested Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s harsh COVID-19 mandates. (According to internet folklore, the domain Liar.com, which redirects to Trudeau’s Wikipedia entry, is owned by Musk.)
On Saturday night, Musk made waves by criticizing “keyboard activists” who virtue signal with cliches in response to world events. In particular, he refused to enter a Berlin nightclub that had displayed the word “PEACE” in response to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“They wrote PEACE on the wall at Berghain! I refused enter.”
In a follow-up tweet, he added, “Peace. Peace? I hate the word. Those who do care about peace (myself aspirationally included) don’t need to hear it. And those who don’t care about peace? Well …”
Musk previously poked fun at keyboard activists who passionately support every media craze, whether it be masks, vaccines, or Ukraine.
