Elon Musk Is on Twitter’s Board. What Could Go Wrong?

Elon Musk is one of the tech sector’s most inscrutable people—as evidenced by his current choice to endedupbeing Twitter’s biggest investor. On Tuesday, 4 weeks after he purchased a 9.2 percent stake in the social networking platform through the purchase of almost 73.5 million shares at a overall expense of around $2.4 billion, Musk signedupwith Twitter’s board, where he will stay through at least 2024.

Musk’s shift from passive investor to member of the board is big—and he now owns more than 4 times as much Twitter stock as the business’s creator, Jack Dorsey. (Musk’s stake was just revealed on Monday, which is outside the time frame needed by regulators, something specialists state is a “slam dunk” infraction of monetary law.) His relocation has likewise left numerous questioning what’s next for Twitter.

Musk signedupwith back in June 2009 and hasactually collected 80.7 million fans to date. But regardlessof such appeal on the platform, he has a longstanding love-hate relationship with it. In July 2016, he proclaimed his love for Twitter. Then in February 2017 he explained it as a “hater Hellscape.” By December 2017, he was back to caring it. In February 2019, Musk responded to Twitter creator Jack Dorsey to state that “Twitter rocks.” But in July 2020, he tweeted that Twitter “sucks,” simply months after stating that Dorsey had a excellent heart.

Musk’s hot and cold relationship with Twitter sheds little light on why he has purchased into the business and signedupwith its board, though theories areplentiful. Musk did not respond to a demand for remark.

One tip might be discovered in his current Twitter posts. The businessowner has long been an open book on the social network, stating in 2018 that “my tweets are actually what I’m believing at the minute, not thoroughly crafted business bs, which is truly simply banal propaganda.”

And current tweets haveactually been directed at the platform’s future instructions. Since purchasing his stake in the business, Musk hasactually surveyed his fans about whether Twitter oughtto open source its algorithm for analysis and whether the platform adheres to the concept of complimentary speech. He likewise stated in tweets to other users that he concerns about the effect Twitter’s algorithm will have on public discourse.

That rhetoric hasactually raised the hopes of conservative politicalleaders who haveactually been prohibited from the platform or seen their associates censored and sounded alarm bells for individuals worried that the strides Twitter hasactually made in shutting down hate speech might now be reversed.

“It’s quite apparent that Elon is attempting to make a play on complimentary speech,” states crypto financier Maya Zehavi, who hasactually held Twitter stock giventhat2019 “I think he would mostlikely attempt to utilize his power on the board to make sure that Twitter doesn’t shot to use more limiting censoring guidelines than they have to.” That thinking holds up for Adam C. Johnson, who is a teacher of law at the University of Michigan and specializes in business and securities law. “I wear’t believe there’s any big secret about why he’s made the financialinvestment,” he states. “His tweets would recommend he believes he has concepts that may enhance Twitter.”