Late last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed his intention to start a social media platform that will be free from censorship and propaganda. Musk suggested that Twitter, his platform of choice, does no longer promote free speech.
In the polls he conducted to get people’s view, majority of respondents agreed with him, even supporting his idea that Twitter algorithm should be made open source.
While many were expecting Musk to delve into the social media industry from the scratch, the news that he has taken the largest stake in Twitter – 9.2% at $3 billion, according to filings made to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, broke, taking everyone by surprise.
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The tech prodigy, who has more than 80 million followers on Twitter, apparently has a smarter plan to achieve his aim of making the microblogging app less censored. on Monday, after he has been established as the highest stakeholder in Twitter, Musk tweeted another poll asking his followers whether they would want an edit button.
Do you want an edit button?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
Minutes later, Parag Agrawal, the new Twitter CEO, quoted the poll, urging people to vote carefully as the consequence of the poll will be very important.
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully. https://t.co/UDJIvznALB
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
It all sounded like a new dawn on the social media platform. Whatever happens after this poll will likely pave way for further changes in Twitter policies in the near future. Twitter users for long, have been clamoring for an edit button, a clamor which fell on deaf ears of Twitter founder and former CEO, Jack Dorsey. Though Twitter tweeted on April 1 that “We are working on edit button,” Musk’s ability to make an edit button a topic that Agrawal is keenly following up on just hours after he’s announced as the highest stakeholder, suggests the amount of influence he will be wielding in the company and the changes he would bring about with it.
Agrawal announced on Tuesday afternoon that Musk has been appointed to Twitter: “I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board,” he tweeted.
He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
Musk responded to the tweet saying that he is “Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”
It is believed that Musk’s next line of action would be to ease as much as possible, the alleged censorship policies, which will see banned users like former US President Donald Trump, returning to Twitter. But that may not come easily. Twitter’s shares hierarchy has a list of important names whose opinions cannot be dismissed. Besides Musk with a 9.2% stake, there is Vanguard with 8.8%, Morgan Stanley 8.4%, Blackrock 6.5% among others.
