Elon Musk: Twitter's (Supposed) New Addition

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Over the last month, Twitter's superstar - Elon Musk - took the virtual world away by storm by lobbying numerous app critiques. One critique included Musk questioning Twitter's "de facto public town square role that fails free speech principles that fundamentally undermines democracy." Musk has also been vocal about appealing to users about prospective moves from turning Twitter's San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter and adding an edit button for tweets, winning the support of high-profile personalities like Jeff Bezos. Not long after, app users and Musk fans who watched events unfold heard about the news of Musk buying a 9.2% passive stake in the company or 73,486,938 shares of Twitter. As a result, the Twitter stock surged by more than 27%.

Elon’s Twitter Reach

With over 80 million Twitter followers, Musk is a sure Twitter influencer. Aside from his frequent criticisms of Twitter's control over freedom of speech, Musk has been significant in influencing the 25 to 34-year-old age range to embrace crypto and e-commerce. For example, after the Tesla owner tweeted that he does not plan on selling his Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin, all three digital coins saw a positive increase in prices. Before its positive price increase, Bitcoin fell as much as 2.9%; Dogecoin recorded the highest gain among cryptocurrencies, with a 3.8% gain. On the other hand, Musk boosted Ether's already 2.3% gain. Beyond crypto, Musk has played a significant role in the stock activity of Tesla's collaborating company. In November 2021, after Musk tweeted "No Contract Has Been Signed Yet" with Hertz, shares of Hertz fell. Musk's Twitter activities have demonstrated the extraordinary power of the platform by using it to build his own personal and business brands. In fact, in October 2020, Tesla decided to dissolve its PR department, instead deciding to use its social media channels to communicate with customers. 

What happens now? 

A day after Musk reportedly bought the Twitter stake, the company released a statement that Musk would be part of its board. However, analysts were worried that Musk's problematic track record of using social media irresponsibly should raise huge questions about whether he will ensure that the platform will address the potentially deadly misinformation that threatens the world. For instance, back in 2018, Musk was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for tweeting that he had "funding secured" for Tesla to become a private company, to which Musk later on denied. Twitter employees were also worried about Musk's stance on transgender issues disrupting Twitter’s diversity agenda. On another account, Tesla recently faced a lawsuit from a California agency for tolerating discrimination  and harrassment against its Black workers.

In a twist of events, one week after buying the shares, Musk announced that he would not join the Twitter board despite being the largest shareholder. As of writing, Musk has released no announcement about why he refused to join Twitter's board.