Elon Musk reaches deal to buy Twitter for $44 bil

Pretty expensive just to hide where his private jet flies. https://twitter.com/elonjet

The free speech argument doesn't apply for non-govt organizations. Get over it. It is protection against the govt blocking it, not citizens or companies blocking it. It is a dead argument.

You are free in the US to go to any public park and talk to anyone there about topics you like ... unless you are a key employee at a public company (traded on a US stock exchange). Then there are SEC rules which limit what you can say in the interest of having a level field for all other investors to prevent any inside knowledge leaks. This is good for the investment community.

There are also limits on free speech when that speech can incite panic or violence. The common example used is that it is illegal in the US to yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theater, since that could cause harm if people panic. The SCOTUS ruled on this restriction.

Lying isn't directly illegal. And the resolution of lies current has to work through liable laws, which the US society has found to be much too cumbersome and delays resolution far too long. That loser wacko guy lied about killings of many children for years and only recently did he get found guilty, lose his business, file for bankruptcy, and I truly hope we never hear anything from that nasty human again.

All these far right people are supposed to be Christians. Isn't there a Commandment against lying about someone else? I'm certain there is. Yep. I'd say something Old Testament -like, but that would have this post removed.

I have Twitter shares not many, a few, soon after the offer, $28.00, a shot to nothing.

No, not really interested in explaining it to you when you already know what it is.

At the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said "no matter who owns or runs Twitter," President Joe Biden -- himself a Twitter user -- is "concerned about the power of large social media platforms."

well this is new. took all that election money from the other large social media guy. Was perfectly fine with the bans handed out any time someone talked "incorrectly" about the election results or spoke of his son's supposedly "discredited" laptop of Russian misinformation.

Flip, meet flop.

The timing of Tesla CEO Elon Musk buy out could be most delinquent, and ill-conceived hostile takeover of a tech stock in living memory.

Surly Musk legion of advisors would have fully comprehended, understood the impending.  

Shaping Europe’s digital future

The Digital Services Act package…….

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/digital-services-act-package

The financial risks to twitter current European business are incalculable.

The laws contained in both directives will have long reaching cost consequence to Twitter.

An impact assignment to counter such model change, states the prospect of a hybrid price point regional subscription models to negate the product risk profile.       

This is all before the political hurdles that await the discerning shareholders.

Whether left or right, Musk is standing in the middle of a political motorway with high-speed traffic able to run him over in either direction.   

Musk wittering’s to “defeat the spam bots” and “authenticate all humans”

“To enhance the product with new features”, will be subject to a costly bureaucratic form of legislative gatekeeper oversight.

you gave a poor reply to a serious question.

No, it was serious as a heart attack.

What do you mean by free speech?

Listen to even ask that question at this point doesn’t even need to be addressed or responded to. Where have you been all this time? Come on now.

It would seem by your limited reply, that free speech means any conservative making a tweet about anything they wish, true or false does not matter.

OK, then let’s make it a level and even playing field bus side should be held to the same standard and not just conservatives, if you’re gonna block or cancel conservatives do you need to do so as well with liberals, then it’s not a problem.

Does that include encouraging others to break the law?

are you referring to Maxine Waters, or Johnny Depp, or Madonna, or Kathy Griffin, Eric Holder or Hillary Clinton, the Ayatollah?

And the biggest irony of all is all those here going on about free speech, that live in Japan where the laws are far stricter the libel laws are hilariously restrictive to the point you can say the truth and facts but still be held lible!

If the fantasy "American" free speech is so important to you, then why do most of you live in a country that doesn't even come close to the minimum in your precious USA?

I just don't get it .

Does this mean that Trump has to cut his losses with TrumpBook. Does anyone actually use that platform. Does it even work? Trump can't even build a wall or manage a casino

the rest of us can have our free speech back without worrying about that.

Then what happened with TrumpBook?

Poor babies. Want a site that reflects “your” values? Then go build it. Isn’t that what the liberals said before?

that’s a boomerang.

So in Thailand the authorities can deal with individuals who break their laws while using the platform.

the rest of us can have our free speech back without worrying about that.

what is it you actually mean by free speech? You speak like America is the only country using Twitter.

I never said, nor did I imply that, ever! I don’t care about other countries using Twitter, good for them. I care about Twitter silencing conservatives or any speech they don’t like, that’s pretty much came to an end. That’s what I care about and believe me, I’ll be on a roll on Twitter.

So then what will happen with Trump's TrumpBook social media platform. Will he ditch it? Because it doesn't work anyway

Free speech is about the government, and not companies.

You seem to be conflating free speech with censorship. Twitter needs to stop censoring, even if it hurts some Karens.

Did you even read what you wrote before posting?

You point out Free speech is about government not companies.

The complain "Twitter" a "COMPANY" needs to stop censoring!

Hey your own point makes it clear Twitter doesn't have to care about free speech.

The real Karens are those upset Twitter has it's own rules on what can or cannot be one its platform.

Look at the karens here that did nothing but yell about twitter not permitting free speech!

Twitter is more than America, I think there are only 76 million American users. The next country is Japan, with 56 million users. The youth have lost interest in it and have moved to other apps. Twitter's largest age group is 25-35 year-olds.

Now watch those numbers changed that free speech is allowed on the platform once again.

Anyone with a lick of sense knows that. 

Not so sure.

Tell it to the “I just tweeted about the election/trans/vaccine/something about liberals and nobody banned me” bizarre victory paraders who somehow think the world just changed.

You seem upset, it is a lot to digest, I get it.

Perhaps not "free speech", since that is somewhat of a misnomer. There are always some limits on speech- for example slander or libel, contract and business proprietary information, incitement to imminent violence. But Twitter will at least now have free-ER speech. No fear of overzealous censorship that leans a certain political direction.

Funny how Musk was a guest at a convention of Twitter employees waaaaaay back in 2020. He was applauded and cheered as a hero. Now? Probably most of them are worried about their pensions/stock options more than anything. A few are despondent that their efforts to control information are being thwarted.

People are hilarious and clueless about reality and history.

Please the *free speech" blah blah blah people, tell us when bhas any place in the world actually had Free speech?

The USA? Please, there have been restrictions on speech since day one.

Every single newspaper, radio station/network tv station/network, was or is owned by some rich or powerful person or corporation that "censored" what was published or reported and that all the way back to to the foundation of the USA, and Europe was the same.

You are dreaming if you believe that there was ever something that actually was what you people claim is free speech.

Musk will like all the rest limit what is said on his platform if it displeases him in the same was the old newspaper moguls did in the old days and most corporations do today.

So the challenge is simple tell us when and how ( what means( Free speech existed in the past?

Good luck.

You understand that although Musk has bought Twitter he hasn’t actually changed anything yet, right?

Good lord, it’s not even 24 hours that passed yet, it’s coming hold your horses.

Anyone with a lick of sense knows that.

Tell it to the “I just tweeted about the election/trans/vaccine/something about liberals and nobody banned me” bizarre victory paraders who somehow think the world just changed.

You should tweet that.

Heck yeah!!!

You know that Twitter today is exactly the same as it was yesterday, right? 

Yes, the company is the same, but the direction it politically went changed dramatically.

You understand that although Musk has bought Twitter he hasn’t actually changed anything yet, right?

Good lord, it’s not even 24 hours that passed yet, it’s coming hold your horses.

Lovely to see the deranged limousine liberals thrown into such a panic. Elon Musk, the most successful African-American immigrant in history, makes a generous gift to his adopted country by liberating an enslaved online service from the shackles of its bondage.

"I am deleting my Twitter account" will become the rallying cry, much like "I am moving to (Canada/France/Mars) if Trump wins the election" was in 2016. Equally unlikely, but entertaining. If only...

Some people have a lot of money to throw around. And there are still starving kids around the world.

I don't have a Twitter account and properly never will, but am cautiously optimistic about this. I hope one of Musk's priorities will be to dump the woke CEO and clear out the kidults filling its floors. Every shrink in the Bay Area will be booked out for years ahead.

And maybe we could interest him in taking over JT, too.

I wonder if those going on about free speech realise if Musk gets his anything goes platform, that also means, no more blocking China, Russia propaganda also.

A bit of a red herring here. There are already ways to eliminate fake accounts, bots, etc. The current billionaire owners of Twitter went well beyond that, censoring views they don't like from actual people, even elected officials. This was an extreme threat to democracy. If authentic people (not bots or tweet mills) want to push Chinese or Russian propaganda, that's fine. The whole point of free speech is that people can hear all sides and decide for themselves what the truth is. As opposed to shadow rulers deciding for them.

This is big.

I just tweeted that the 2020 US general election was stolen, Trans men are not men, and the vaccines have failed. 

Nothing. 

No suspension, no Twitter jail, not even a "fact check".

Just dialogue.

You know that Twitter today is exactly the same as it was yesterday, right?

You understand that although Musk has bought Twitter he hasn’t actually changed anything yet, right?

It's time to delete one's Twitter account!!! There will be more trash than ever on there, every psychopath and fascist will be spewing their poison all over it. Putin will fill right at home on there!!!

This is big.

I just tweeted that the 2020 US general election was stolen, Trans men are not men, and the vaccines have failed. 

Nothing. 

No suspension, no Twitter jail, not even a "fact check".

Just dialogue.

That’s amazing!

I guess you have to be someone important for anyone to notice.

Just imagine how it will be once Musk is actually in charge. Do you imagine it will be any different?

This is big.

I just tweeted that the 2020 US general election was stolen, Trans men are not men, and the vaccines have failed.

Nothing.

No suspension, no Twitter jail, not even a "fact check".

Just dialogue.

The main thing is once he’s back on, the left won’t get to decide what is a lie or what is the truth, they won’t be able to impose what they think. Now the platform is back to what it originally was designed to be, now both sides can express their opinions freely without having to worry about being blocked.

You should tweet that.

Admitting he’s a liar. Awesome!

Depends on who you’re asking. Some may think like that and others might not. The main thing is once he’s back on, the left won’t get to decide what is a lie or what is the truth, they won’t be able to impose what they think. Now the platform is back to what it originally was designed to be, now both sides can express their opinions freely without having to worry about being blocked.

Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, except when talking about his hair implants and surgeries or facelifts. Thousand of hits on Google, but verboten!

It’s hardly off topic. Extensive implants and facelifts are a sign of egotistic and a narcissistic personality.

I wonder if those going on about free speech realise if Musk gets his anything goes platform, that also means, no more blocking China, Russia propaganda also.

So right now Twitter blocks 90% of the pro Russian posters, under the "Musk plan" they will be back and back in force.

Like I say going to be a wild wild ride!

@zichi

Musk will turn it into a subscription site.

Really? Just yesterday you predicted, "Musk will fail with his takeover bid." I hope you are not putting money on your predictions.

ZorotoToday  09:19 am JST

Good. Now let's get that non-American censorship-promoting CEO out there along with the rest of the BOD

I would rather has a fish as a CEO that an American CEO, the developed country with the highest number of millionaires and billionaires worst medical care, most expensive medical care, highest poverty, highest murder rate, highest portion of it population in prison, etc...

Yeah America the greatest at everything wrong, now ad Twitter to the list.

The idea of it being about free speech though strikes me as complete nonsense. Having big privately-owned chunks is diametrically opposite to the original ideals of the Internet.

The original ideals of the internet have already been obliterated by billionaires. Google, Facebook, and almost all of the media is owned and controlled by billionaires already - most of them against free speech. So, a billionaire who generally supports free speech taking over just one of these platforms is an improvement - though obviously far from ideal.

And anyone worried about the original ideals of the internet should have been already outraged by the abuses of billionaire media, tech and government cronies already. Elon Musk is late to the party, and the only reason people claim to be worried about such things now is because now there's finally a plutocrat who might not do what they like. This is always the case when authoritarianism moves in - people love it at first because they agree with the ends. Then, inevitably, the ends change and these same people are stuck with the system they cheered.

So will he have the tittle of head twit?

I don't have twitter, never had twitter and I suspect I never will for sure now.

It is going to be a wild ride if he really does as he says because once the bullying online starts up again and people kill themselves over it, twitter will be finding itself in court 24/7 around the world especially with EU countries saying they will hold the platforms responsible.

This is going to be a great time for a safer start-up to get a lot of new users.

One of the reasons LINE is so popular in Japan over other messaging platforms is the fact it is strict on identification of users in order to stop abuse. Basically it is safer for many.

I suspect if Musk does as he claims, twitter will become a wild West shootout on a regular basis and people will go where it is more civilised.

Bad news, not a good future for Twitter.

Cool, go find a platform where opinions you disagree with are censored.

Bob Fosse- $600 billion won't end world hunger because 99% of the money will end up in the pockets of corrupt officials.

Victory for free speech, so our CCP friends here will not be happy.

He said the same thing about never going to Fox News again after the election and then what happened he’s back on fox again, I take that with a grain of salt.

Admitting he’s a liar. Awesome!

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, predicted earlier in the day that since the board could not find another buyer, it would likely accept his offer.

The board finally realized that their fiduciary responsibilities and accountability could threaten their own personal fortunes if they did not in the best interests of all the shareholders.

If Musk is going to be successful with this, he will need to make real changes.

Awesome!

He said the same thing about never going to Fox News again after the election and then what happened he’s back on fox again, I take that with a grain of salt.

If he’s really tech savvy he’ll make Twitter available only in North America, only on iOS, require a phone number to register and put all potential users on a waiting list for 6 months.

You're all missing the point. The real reason for the purchase is to train Tesla's AI about humans. It's so obvious, but no one can see it in front of their eyes. Amazing.

Yes. Some Silicon Valley experts have complained that their machine learning on big data sets cannot compete with the Chinese surveillance dragnet pulling n data to train their models now.

With that kind of money, he could literally pull several nations out of their economic woes

It only costs $6 billion to end world hunger apparently. But only if it is tax deductible.

I'm happy to read comments and analysis about whether this makes business sense.

The idea of it being about free speech though strikes me as complete nonsense. Having big privately-owned chunks is diametrically opposite to the original ideals of the Internet.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/04/twitter-has-new-owner-heres-what-he-should-do

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said "I am not going on Twitter," preferring instead to stay on his "Truth Social" media network.

Awesome!

So Musk can finally ban the guy that was tracking his jet because "security"?

He overpaid for that garbage. It not even worth half that amount. Is literally just a app for people to post a quick picture, video and text. With that kind of money, he could literally pull several nations out of their economic woes

Actually, it was buying it. He bought it because he had enough of a one-sided platform the largest that didn’t allow for equal freedom of speech and that also become the political mouthpiece for this White House. He wanted and rightfully so, to level the playing field

Musk will turn it into a subscription site.

No, he won’t

A great day for proponents of free speech and a slap in the face of the woke left. All in all - a beautiful day to be a Twitter user.

and b y the way Hiro: He overpaid for that garbage. It not even worth half that amount. Is literally just a app for people to post a quick picture, video and text. With that kind of money, he could literally pull several nations out of their economic woes.

You clearly don't use Twitter at all if that is what you believe.

Well that didn't take long

He overpaid for that garbage. It not even worth half that amount. Is literally just a app for people to post a quick picture, video and text. With that kind of money, he could literally pull several nations out of their economic woes.

You're all missing the point. The real reason for the purchase is to train Tesla's AI about humans. It's so obvious, but no one can see it in front of their eyes. Amazing.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said in a statement released by Twitter.

If Musk can make it like in the Culture novels of Iain Banks which he professes to love and admire: free voices with tolerance and a live and let live approach. Equal voices on matters of import to society on the matters of the day. And yes some social shunning of violence and hate.

The he might be able to make something of Twitter. If it is possible at this stage of human social and technological development.

Bad news, not a good future for Twitter..

"The sale of Twitter to Elon Musk would be a victory for disinformation and the people who peddle it. Musk could unleash a wave of toxicity and harassment and undo Twitter's efforts to increase quality engagement and make its platform safer for users," Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, said in a statement.

The whole truth..

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said "I am not going on Twitter," preferring instead to stay on his "Truth Social" media network.

"Truth Social" media network., Pathetic, LOOOOOL !!..

Only fanatics with little education are going to believe their media of hate, lies and fascism...

Twitter should be free and open, people say what they like, and others are free to agree or disagree.

Musk -- a self-proclaimed "free-speech absolutist"

What hypocrisy. The man has a team who try to silence on line and print personal and business criticism.

It will be very interesting to see if he makes the algorithms public.