On Monday, Twitter announced that its board of directors unanimously agreed to Elon Musk's offer to buy the social network at a price of $44 billion. The deal brings one of the most influential online platforms under the control of one of the world's richest people.
Musk, who is a prolific Twitter user himself, tweeted the same day that he hopes "even my worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means."
He has repeatedly criticized efforts to moderate speech on the service, but many people are still unsure what the purchase means for the future of the company.
Scott Kessler, global sector lead for technology media at Third Bridge, for example, said in a statement, "It seems that major changes are ahead for Twitter if Musk succeeds, but the specifics at this point are pretty lacking."
So to paint you a better picture of what all of this means to the internet, we at Bored Panda put together a list of reactions the citizens of the techkingdom had to the news.
This post may include affiliate links.
Yo, stop giving him effing ideas! Infograph he’s totally going to shutdown Twitter that’s why he bought it. And if he doesn’t shut it down, he’ll change it so it’s sucks…the new name: Twatter
Reuters reported that political activists expect that a Musk regime will mean less moderation and reinstatement of banned individuals.
"Free speech is making a comeback," said U.S. Representative Jim Jordan, a member of the Freedom Caucus of conservative House Republicans.
Jordan and other Republicans have been critical of Twitter for banning former President Donald Trump and other notable conservatives.
He could single handedly improve the world and make such a difference to humanity. But he just wants to trend on Twitter. I swear to God obscene wealth is wasted on the rich
But human rights activists have already raised concerns that the deal could lead to unfettered hate speech.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a progressive and a critic of the tech platforms, called the deal "dangerous for our democracy."
"Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain. We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech accountable," she said.
The Wall Street Journal said that Twitter employees reacted to Musk's takeover with a mix of enthusiasm, fear, and humor, as people who work there tried to anticipate their future.
"It's a time of genuine discomfort and uncertainty," Edward Perez, director of product management for societal health at Twitter, said. "Most of us believe deeply that Twitter is much more than a tech platform; we have a deep responsibility to society. I hope our new owner gets that."
Other employees joked about the situation. One said "Send us all Teslas!" while another employee predicted the musician Grimes, mother to two children with Mr. Musk, will perform at the company's end-of-year party.
The UN also refused to show him exactly where the money was going once he handed it over.
Not really...If there are two options available and option 1 is buying something you can afford whereas option 2 is changing something about yourself, most of us are going to choose option 1. Just look at premium services. I can pay an affordable fee to rid myself of annoying ads, or I could become a more patient person that tolerates a 30 second wait. You'd best believe I paid the fee.
Discussions over the deal, which last week seemed uncertain, accelerated over the weekend after Musk wooed Twitter shareholders with financing details of his offer.
Under pressure, Twitter started negotiating with Musk to buy the company at his proposed $54.20 per share price.
Yo, Dan Rather basically just said he’s going to go outside and enjoy nature cause he can’t Twitter 👀. He’s already speaking in code
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey weighed in on the deal and thanked both Musk and current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal for "getting the company out of an impossible situation."
"Twitter as a company has always been my sole issue and my biggest regret. It has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it back from Wall Street is the correct first step," he said.
Twitter shares rose 5.7% on Monday to close at $51.70. The deal represents a near 40% premium to the closing price the day before Musk disclosed he had bought a more than 9% stake.
However, the offer is well below the $70 range where Twitter was trading last year.
As seen in an earlier one on this list, he also asked for proof of exactly where the money would be going and a detailed plan. If I remember right, the UN guy gave a 1 year "plan." So, yeah, as Kuba says, he called them out.
The UN did NOT produce a plan to end world hunger with $6 billion dollars, in fact, the UN never said that $6 billion would end world hunger. They said it would HELP SOLVE world hunger. Elon said that if they produce a plan where $6 billion dollars would END world hunger, he would sell tesla. They did not do so.
It was all in that specific wording. He never was going to give away that money because he knew it wasn't enough to end world hunger.
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Don't forget the 5 percent advertising their food deeds, 3 percent for travel and lodging expenses and 1 percent actually feeding people.
Load More Replies... Good point--if you think you can trust the UN, which has proved repeatedly that you can't.
This is an outright lie. They already have a budget larger than this and hunger still exists.
They wouldn't show him where the money was going after he was to hand it over. I wouldnt give those f*****g imbeciles 6 B either.
That isn't true. The UN didn't show him how they would spend the money effectively and you would think that if the UN could end world hunger for only the price of a couple aircraft carriers they would have done so by now.
But they didn't actually give him any kind of plan. Because they couldn't.
Over 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. The UN plan calls for $6.6 billion to buy, distribute and serve food to only 42 million of them. Even if all of the money went directly to the people they would each get only $150 worth of food. How does that end world hunger????
42 out of 800 is a tiny fraction - but do realize $150 is a year's wages for many - who might be able to set themselves up in a business for $135, after soending $15 for a month worth of food for the fam.
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That behavior doesn`t seem to represent an advocate for free speech?!?
"I think if the company [was] given enough time to transform, [it] would have made substantially more than what Musk is currently offering," said Jonathan Boyar, managing director at Boyar Value Group, which holds a stake in Twitter.
Coming back to the public, a survey of 2,000 Americans by Preply.com found that 2 in 3 people did not want Musk to take control of Twitter. In another survey done by platform OnePulse, 55.4% of 1,000 Americans believe Musk has his own interests in mind about buying Twitter.
Awwwwwww snap. Don't forget Elon was on Jeff Epstein's flight logs also.
yes of course. individual rights today are provided by a billionaire!!!!
Gaetz is a corrupt sack of s**t. I couldn't care less about his Twitter experience.
Note: this post originally had 53 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Elon Musk is trying his best to win the Twatbasket of the year, decade and century awards. Time to give him a Lifetime Achievement Award in Twatbasketry.
I know it's crazy, but I knew there was a reason I never used Twitter. Just never have. I'm just as happy as I was before.
I remember Donald Trump claiming there should be free speech on social media but also saying he should be allowed to sue people if they say bad things about him.
Trump's idea of free speech is being able to lie about whatever he wants, without consequences.
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Let's point out that the SEC has to review each and everyone of Elon musk's text because of how many times he screwed up. He's under that order at this moment. So all his babbling about free speech is nonsense.
Down voting it won't make it not true Trump Trash. And it won't win you an election either. Neither will a rally. Just so you know.
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Hehehe everyone should stop using Twitter so it becomes a worthless purchase for him :-)
If he lets Trump back on, 90% of the decent people on Twitter will leave. And he will be left with nothing but illiterate Trump Trash who only want to start a war.
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If Musk will publish Twitter's algorithm and policies, it will help combat misinformation. Instead of the platform blindly banning accounts that they run into by a chance, experts and general public will get to understand what it is about social media that makes spreading misinformation so easy the whole issue can be tackled. Or at least, it will be a first step to solution after other social media will (hopefully) follow. And authorizing all users will help to hold people accountable for misinformation and hate they spread. This is good. (At least for society, I do feel bad for the employees. But it has to start somewhere). Naturally, it is possible that Musk is leading us on and has his own agenda, but I am kinda hopeful. As far as I understand what's going on.
Let me point out one of the thing: because of Elon musk smoking a joint while on video tape broadcasting on a podcast, the SEC must oversee all of his social media and tweets. There's no such thing as freedom of speech in Elon musk's world. As a matter fact the SEC is investigating him right now for the stock pump and dump he did on Twitter. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/06/musk-twitter-sec/
And let's not forget also that this is who Amber heard was banging when she was cheating on Johnny Depp.
I say let's test his "free speech commitment". Everyone should start including the hash tag #TeslasSux, and #SpaceXsux
Countries which disadvantage women much have now high male to female ratio: Top 1-3 are in the arab peninsula Qatar: 300:100 UAE: 222:100 Oman: 193:100
Mr. Musk, Why to buy Twitter for large amount of money when you could get it for free on the playstore?
Instead of making a fuss about what Elon does with his money, let's create a new platform and abandon Twitter. Everyone should leave Twitter at once and let this 44billion toy implode by itself!
A brain. Common sense. Childcare for his workers.
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The sun gives off enough energy to power 5000+ Earths for a whole year in just an hour, so we need less than a 5 millionth of that to be completely solar-powered for a year, and Elon just spent 44 billion on Twitter? He could have donated that to solar power research.
ITT: Lots of woke brainless servants crying in fear of someone fixing their playground.
All this outburst as we logically speak is illogical why? 1)just because he has money doesn't mean he is obligated to fix their problem 2) we are going to forget about it in a week or so 3) we all don't care about the homeless or poor until a rich is spending their money 4) social issues are only talked about when they are trending on the internet
It's crazy that this world has gone so insane that a billionaire had to buy a social media platform for there to be ANY hope even of it allowing free speech or flow of ideas. The ultimate question is will the leftists who cherish censorship leave and try to form their own new platform? "If you don't like it, start your own" as they would say...
Elon Musk is trying his best to win the Twatbasket of the year, decade and century awards. Time to give him a Lifetime Achievement Award in Twatbasketry.
I know it's crazy, but I knew there was a reason I never used Twitter. Just never have. I'm just as happy as I was before.
I remember Donald Trump claiming there should be free speech on social media but also saying he should be allowed to sue people if they say bad things about him.
Trump's idea of free speech is being able to lie about whatever he wants, without consequences.
Load More Replies... Let's point out that the SEC has to review each and everyone of Elon musk's text because of how many times he screwed up. He's under that order at this moment. So all his babbling about free speech is nonsense.
Down voting it won't make it not true Trump Trash. And it won't win you an election either. Neither will a rally. Just so you know.
Load More Replies... Hehehe everyone should stop using Twitter so it becomes a worthless purchase for him :-)
If he lets Trump back on, 90% of the decent people on Twitter will leave. And he will be left with nothing but illiterate Trump Trash who only want to start a war.
Load More Replies... If Musk will publish Twitter's algorithm and policies, it will help combat misinformation. Instead of the platform blindly banning accounts that they run into by a chance, experts and general public will get to understand what it is about social media that makes spreading misinformation so easy the whole issue can be tackled. Or at least, it will be a first step to solution after other social media will (hopefully) follow. And authorizing all users will help to hold people accountable for misinformation and hate they spread. This is good. (At least for society, I do feel bad for the employees. But it has to start somewhere). Naturally, it is possible that Musk is leading us on and has his own agenda, but I am kinda hopeful. As far as I understand what's going on.
Let me point out one of the thing: because of Elon musk smoking a joint while on video tape broadcasting on a podcast, the SEC must oversee all of his social media and tweets. There's no such thing as freedom of speech in Elon musk's world. As a matter fact the SEC is investigating him right now for the stock pump and dump he did on Twitter. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/06/musk-twitter-sec/
And let's not forget also that this is who Amber heard was banging when she was cheating on Johnny Depp.
I say let's test his "free speech commitment". Everyone should start including the hash tag #TeslasSux, and #SpaceXsux
Countries which disadvantage women much have now high male to female ratio: Top 1-3 are in the arab peninsula Qatar: 300:100 UAE: 222:100 Oman: 193:100
Mr. Musk, Why to buy Twitter for large amount of money when you could get it for free on the playstore?
Instead of making a fuss about what Elon does with his money, let's create a new platform and abandon Twitter. Everyone should leave Twitter at once and let this 44billion toy implode by itself!
A brain. Common sense. Childcare for his workers.
Load More Replies... The sun gives off enough energy to power 5000+ Earths for a whole year in just an hour, so we need less than a 5 millionth of that to be completely solar-powered for a year, and Elon just spent 44 billion on Twitter? He could have donated that to solar power research.
ITT: Lots of woke brainless servants crying in fear of someone fixing their playground.
All this outburst as we logically speak is illogical why? 1)just because he has money doesn't mean he is obligated to fix their problem 2) we are going to forget about it in a week or so 3) we all don't care about the homeless or poor until a rich is spending their money 4) social issues are only talked about when they are trending on the internet
It's crazy that this world has gone so insane that a billionaire had to buy a social media platform for there to be ANY hope even of it allowing free speech or flow of ideas. The ultimate question is will the leftists who cherish censorship leave and try to form their own new platform? "If you don't like it, start your own" as they would say...
