10 | MAY 2022
NEWS
Hawkeye
ELON MUSK ACQUIRES TWITTER By Jakob Nakanaynay
ing points: decrease censorship to make it an open platform Twitter’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to accept for free speech, increase transparency by making the algoan offer by Tesla CEO Elon Musk for a $44 billion cash rithm open source, add an edit button and stop spam buyout of the company On Monday, April 25. bots. The acquisition comes after weeks of buildup, a Some users however, mostly on the left, have Security Exchange and Commision (SEC) violaquestioned what exactly Musk means by tion and hesitancy from Twitter’s board. It facilitating “free speech.” Following the could also be the start of massive changes to Jan. 8 riots in 2021, Twitter had permathe platform, from reduced censorship to nently banned the president at the time the addition of an edit button and greater Donald Trump. Decreasing censorship transparency. may mean figures like Trump may be As specified by the deal, Musk is buyallowed back on the platform, though ing the entire company, $54.20 a share, Trump specifically has stated he to take Twitter private. Musk has pubwishes to stay on Truth Social in an licly stated the deal is not economic, interview with Fox News. but rather to promote free speech on “The sale of Twitter to Elon Musk the platform, being a frequent user would be a victory for disinformawith a following of over 91 million. tion and the people who peddle SEC forms archives show Musk, on it,” Angelo Caruson, president of an almost daily basis, bought millions progressive watchdog group Media of shares of Twitter stock from Jan. 31 Matters said in a statement. “Musk through April 1. By March 14, he had could unleash a wave of toxicity and surpassed 5 percent ownership of the harassment and undo Twitter’s efforts company, forcing him to disclose informato increase quality engagement and make tion as per the SEC’s guidelines. By this its platform safer for users.” point, Musk could have either filed a schedule Musk’s point on ending spam bots has also 13G or 13D to the SEC. A 13G is a simpler form drawn criticism. College student Jack Sweeney meant for passive investors (people who don’t have created Twitter bots that used public flight data the intent of influencing or controlling the business to determine when and where private jets of some they’re investing in). By contrast, a 13D is a longer form famous billionaires, including Musk, had traveled to. revealing more information meant for active investors. This, despite Musk’s jet being registered under the FAA’s On April 4, Musk filed a 13G revealing to the public he Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed (LADD) program to hide had a 9.2 percent stake in the company, thus making him the PHUONG LAM | HAWKEYE his movements. It is still running under the username @ largest shareholder. The date this was issued was in vioElonJet. lation of SEC guidelines; he was supposed to file within In an interview with Protocol, Sweeney revealed Musk “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its ten days of passing the 5 percent threshold (which had sent a direct message asking Sweeney to stop for potential to be the platform for free speech would have been March 24) though it doesn’t seem $5,000. Sweeney then countered by asking Musk for around the globe, and I believe free speech Musk has received any punishment for doing so. $50,000, to which Musk said “he’d think about it,” is a societal imperative for a functioning The next day, Musk amended the form to a 13D to then didn’t make any subsequent replies. democracy.” reflect his intent for taking an active role in the comThe suggestion to make Twitter’s algorithm open pany. According to the form, Musk owned 9.1 percent source has also been pointed out as flawed. An article Elon Musk of Twitter at the time, with April 1 as the last specified by the Verge draws attention to the fact that Twitter ENTREPRENEUR date he had bought shares of Twitter. doesn’t have a singular algorithm that can be pointed The same day Musk amended the form, he was invited to party) buys a large stake in the company, all other sharehold- to that makes every decision for how content is provided join the Board of Directors set to take effect on April 9 and ers are given a massive discount to buy more shares, thus or censored. Additionally, it runs on multiple AI models cap his ownership of the company at 14.9 percent, to which diluting the stake of the hostile party. However, the board, trained on vast amounts of user data and is constantly evolvMusk accepted the offer. However, on the morning of the under pressure, eventually came around to Musk’s offer, ing. Someone looking for biases couldn’t just find it in the day Musk was set to join the board, he changed his mind. accepting the deal on April 25. code for the AI – the code would contain the instructions for “[The Board and I] were excited to collaborate and clear The deal is still awaiting approval by Twitter shareholders creating the instructions for parsing through tweets. It’s like about the risks,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in a state- and government regulators, though most analysts agree it how a dictionary contains all the words necessary for writing ment to the company which was also shared on his Twitter will go through successfully. a novel but doesn’t actually contain a novel within itself. account. While all the technical aspects of the acquisition were Amidst some of the confusion and debate surrounding “Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be ongoing, Musk was actively communicating with his followMusk’s acquisition of Twitter, MTHS senior Christopher joining the board. I believe this is for the best. We have and ers on the situation. Kelly remains cautious. will always value input from our shareholders whether they On March 24, he held a poll asking whether Twitter’s algo“I do believe that Elon Musk only bought Twitter because are on our board or not.” rithm should be open source; on March 25 he held another he intends on making changes to it regarding free speech on Five days later, Musk tweeted a link with his offer to buy poll asking if people believe Twitter rigorously adheres to the the public platform, since it is not particularly a smart finanTwitter. principle of free speech with the ominous words “the consecial move from my perspective.” Kelly said. “I know that a “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the quences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully”; good deal of Republicans and libertarians are frustrated with platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free then on April 4, he asked if Twitter should add an edit butthe supposed censorship that platforms like Twitter, and speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” ton. although Musk is an independent, making changes regarding Musk said in a letter to Chairman of the Board Bret Taylor. Musk had been an outspoken critic of the platform as well. censorship and banning of certain political figures is the only In that same letter, Musk wrote his intention to buy 100 On April 9, he quote-tweeted statistics on the top Twitter reason I can see for his purchase. I do wonder what form percent of Twitter, saying that the platform has incredible users stating, “Most of these ‘top’ accounts tweet rarely and those changes will present themselves as, because I believe potential, but must go through transformations first. post very little content. Is Twitter dying?” On April 27 he at least some things should never be said on social media. I The board, originally opposed to Musk’s attempt at a hostweeted “Truth Social (terrible name) exists because Twitter also wonder if, in the future, Musk intends to make Twitter tile takeover, deployed the “poison pill” tactic as a defense. censored free speech.” a publicly traded company again, and what effect that might Under a poison pill plan, if one shareholder (usually a hostile Musk’s plans for Twitter can be summarized in the followhave.” H HAWKEYE STAFF
