Elon Musk outlines his vision for Twitter in an open letter to advertisers
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who is also one the world's richest individuals, now officially owns Twitter
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Musk now owns Twitter
🐥 Elon Musk took to Twitter to address advertisers ahead of his pending takeover
🤝 Musk promised Twitter wouldn’t become a “free-for-all hellscape”
😏 Musk’s Twitter acquisition was in doubt after he tried to backtrack on the deal
🆓 Musk later tweeted “the bird is freed” to his 110.6 million followers
Billionaire Elon Musk has officially completed his prolonged takeover of Twitter after he initially tried to back out of the $44 billion acquisition.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX took to Twitter on the eve of the deal closing to address advertisers and announce his intentions for the social media platform, which Musk described as being “important to the future of civilization.”
Musk said that speculation about his motivations for buying Twitter has mostly “been wrong”. The South African billionaire said he acquired Twitter because it’s “important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”
Musk highlighted that social media has divided into two groups and said “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
That’s hard to disagree with, as we’ve seen several right-wing focused platforms appear in recent years, including Donald Trump’s Truth Social and Parler, which has been bought by Kanye West.
Musk went on to say that he didn’t buy Twitter “to make more money” but instead to “try and help humanity, whom I love”. He stressed that Twitter would not “become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences” and that the platform would adhere to “the laws of the land” but also be “warm and welcoming to all.”
To achieve this, it seems like Musk will endeavor to make Twitter more customizable when it comes so that you can specifically choose what you’ll see. Musk said users should be able to “…choose your desired experience according to preferences, just as you choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.”
In terms of advertising, Musk is confident the platform can get it right when it comes to what ads users will be served. “I also very much believe that advertising, when done right, can delight, entertain and inform you; it can show you a service or product or medical treatment that you never knew existed, but is right for you,” wrote Musk.
Finally, Musk ended his statement by saying "Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise. To everyone who has partnered with us, I thank you. Let us build something extraordinary together.”
Musk has since tweeted “the bird is freed” to his 110.6 million followers, which has almost amassed more than a million likes, and has already fired several top Twitter executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and policy head Vijaya Gadde.
Musk has also promised to scrap lifelong bans on users, the most infamous of whom is Donald Trump, leading many to vow to quit the platform entirely. Others are advising followers to make use of Twitter’s tools which let you limit replies, block users, and mute words of your choosing.
It remains to be seen exactly what direction Twitter will take now that Musk is in charge, but there will be plenty of healthy (and not-so-healthy) discussions about every single aspect of the deal and the platform’s future. I guess some things will never change.