•Assures social media platform will continue to serve public conversation
Peter Uzoho with agency report
Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, yesterday gave reasons why he sold the microblogging app to United States’ billionaire and World’s richest man, Elon Musk for a deal that was put at $44 billion.
In series of Tweets yesterday, Dorsey explained that selling the social media platform to the Tesla Chief Executive Officer was the only solution to achieving the purpose of Twitter being run for the public good.
He wrote: “I’m so happy Twitter will continue to serve the public conversation. Around the world, and into the stars! I love Twitter. Twitter is the closest thing we have to global consciousness. The idea and service is all that matters to me, and I will do whatever it takes to protect both. Twitter as a company has always been my sole issue and my biggest regret. It has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it back from Wall Street is the correct first step.
“In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving the problem of it being a company, however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.
“Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is ‘maximally trusted and broadly inclusive’ is the right one. This is also @paraga’s goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path…I believe it with all my heart.”
The outspoken Tesla CEO had said he wants to buy Twitter because he thinks it’s not living up to its potential as a platform for “free speech.”
He had said it needs to be transformed as a private company in order to build trust with users and do better at serving what he calls the “societal imperative” of free speech.
“Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world,” its CEO Parag Agrawal had said in a tweet.
“Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”
Musk had described himself as a “free-speech absolutist,” although he hasn’t been exactly clear what he means by that.
In a recent TED interview, the billionaire had said he’d like to see Twitter err on the side of allowing speech instead of moderating it. He said he’d be “very reluctant” to delete tweets and would generally be cautious about permanent bans. He also acknowledged that Twitter would have to abide by national laws governing speech in markets around the world.
The 50-year-old entrepreneur, who is also CEO of rocket developer SpaceX, had said he wants to combat trolls on Twitter and proposed changes to the Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price and banning advertising.
The billionaire, a vocal advocate of cryptocurrencies, had also suggested adding dogecoin as a payment option on Twitter.
He had said Twitter’s current leadership team was incapable of getting the company’s stock to his offer price on its own, but stopped short of saying it needs to be replaced.
“The company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form,” Musk said in his offer letter last week.
Musk unveiled his intention to buy Twitter on April 14, and take it private via a financing package comprised of equity and debt.
