Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has backed Elon Musk’s controversial $ 44 billion (£ 34 billion) takeover of the microblogging platform, describing the billionaire as “the only solution I trust”.
The 45-year-old, who co-founded the company in 2006 and listed it on the New York Stock Exchange in 2013, said it was “owned” by Wall Street and that Musk’s deal Monday was private. was the “right first step.”
However, Dorsey, who stepped down as Twitter’s chief executive in November and will receive a payout of $ 978 million for his 2.4% stake when the deal is closed later this year, said that in the end “in principle no I believe that someone should own or manage Twitter. “
“He wants to be a public good at the protocol level, not a company,” he said in a series of tweets. “However, solving the problem is a company, Elon is the only solution I believe in. I trust in his mission to expand the light of consciousness. “
Parag Agraval, who took over from Dorsey as chief executive, told employees that their work was safe for only about six months, which would take to reach a deal.
“Once the deal is done, we don’t know which way the platform will go,” said Agraval, who is on the line for a $ 38.7 million pay package due to a “change of control” clause in his contract.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have expressed concern that hate speech may be allowed to flourish after the change of ownership. Musk, the world’s richest man, described himself as an “absolutist of free speech” and criticized Twitter’s moderation policies.
“As Elon Musk is a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and one of our most important supporters, there is a great danger that we have so much power in the hands of everyone,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero.
Dorsey tweeted that Musk’s plan to create a platform that is “as trusted and inclusive” as possible is “the right one.”
Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter after the Capitol riots in the United States last January, said he would not return to the platform even if Musk allowed it. Musk is said to prefer temporary “timeouts” for users who violate Twitter’s policies instead of bans.
Musk struck a $ 44 billion deal to buy Twitter after dramatic weeks of speculation about the platform’s future sparked by Musk’s emergence as its largest shareholder on April 4. He then announced a takeover bid on April 14, offering to buy all of the shares on Twitter for $ 54.20 each.
Initially, the Twitter board seemed against, introducing an anti-swallowing measure known as a “poison pill” that could make an attempt at swallowing prohibitively expensive. But his initial reluctance to accept the deal seems to be fading after Musk approved a financing package for the deal – including $ 21 billion in his own money, along with debt financing from Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions – and shareholders backed him.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest man, questioned whether China could pressure Twitter’s new owner to suppress criticism of the country on the platform.
Bezos was responding to a report by a New York Times reporter who pointed out China’s importance to Musk-led Tesla, including the fact that it is the second largest market for electric car makers.
“Interesting question,” tweeted Bezos. “Has the Chinese government just gained some influence over the town square?” Musk called Twitter a “digital town square” after concluding a deal on Monday.
Bezos later clarified his opinion, saying Chinese pressure was unlikely to lead to censorship. “My own answer to this question is probably not,” he said. “The more likely result in this regard is the complexity in China for Tesla, not censorship on Twitter. But we’ll see. Musk is extremely good at navigating this kind of complexity. “
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said there was no reason to speculate that Beijing might try to use levers on the electric car maker to influence the content of the social media site.
Ross Gerber, a Tesla investor described as close to Musk, tweeted that Musk was “more powerful than the countries now,” adding Twitter and its hundreds of millions of users to a portfolio that includes aerospace company Space X.
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Musk has promised to clear Twitter bots on the platform, which has been used to try to manipulate major events such as political elections.
However, Vivian Schiller, the former head of Twitter’s news and journalism partnerships, fears that Musk may not realize the challenges of moderating content.
“I think he may just not realize that the decisions that will have to be made, eventually contacting him, are incredibly complex,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today program. “I believe in freedom of speech,” but what do you do when you talk about incitement to violence, hate speech, or other forms of truly disturbing content?
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