A Harbinger of the Return of 'Fair' Speech to Twitter?
 

Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter, offering $54.20 per share of outstanding common stock: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1514564966564651008

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/d...8d1_sc13da.htm

Yes, I read that too. People probably won't comment because they think it is a political topic.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/14/elon...e-company.html

https://www.bloombergquint.com/busin...ver-of-twitter

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-20-share.html

I have never understood the importance of Twitter, nor of "social media" in general. I have never participated in any such services, nor do I ever intend to do so. If Elon Musk thinks that it's worth millions of dollars, well, he has the money to spend.

Having said that ... there is also no television in my house. Haven't had one for thirty years. But every room is filled with bookshelves. When I want to watch a movie or a television show in my house, I simply buy a download ... commercial-free.

Took me a while to understand the phrasing of the title... boooo!

Anybody. People who view the forum. Why did you think you? Were not suppose to talk about political stuff. So just articles about it.

You aren't the only one. Close as I get, is a few forums like this one :) . But I know people that feel Facebook, etc. are the 'greatest' thing on Earth for sharing their personal/family life with everyone..... Don't get it and I guess I don't need too :) .

That's fair enough. I don't necessarily see any 'importance' in Twitter but by 'following' people in many divergent fields of science and tech I do find links to articles that I almost certainly would never run across if I only frequented this and the 4 or 5 other forums I visit regularly.

Though I participate in Facebook, but not Twitter, et. al., I agree with you. It's a trap. I became a FB member back around 2014, after finding a long-lost cousin, and desiring to maintain contact. As would be, influence spread and more family and friends found me. These days, while I still maintain connection with people, I primarily like to use it for tech and science groups. Has it enriched me? Maybe ... somewhat.

But I feel the pull (addiction?) to it, and find myself blindly using it at random times when my hands are idle. Pretty ridiculous of me, for sure. I know it.

I am appalled by the rise of "cancel culture" in our society. And the worst offenders seem to be colleges and universities. What ever happened to academic freedom and free speech? What happened to the attitude of "I disagree with what X said but I defend his right to say it."? So I think that the censorship on twitter and other social media is horribly wrong. Whether Elon Musk will make the situation better or worse is anybody's guess.

I expect that if anybody cleans the free speech mess up it will be the Supreme Court.

From an economic standpoint: Elon Musk became one of the richest men in the world with Tesla. He found himself with almost all of his assets tied up in Tesla. To insure that he remain wealthy for the rest of his life he decided to diversify his holdings. He sold several billion dollars worth of Tesla stock and paid a large tax bill on his gains. Now he is investing in twitter. What are his intentions with twitter? I suspect that his foremost objective is investment diversity. I can't hazard a guess as to what else he may intend.

He should just make his own instead of buying that. If his is superior then that one will go into the dustbin of history.

which explains why you are free to think your own thoughts.

... yeah, even though I have directly contributed source materials to many "media projects" over these many years, my evenings typically consist of herbal tea and books.

Sounds nice.

It's a strategic move:

1) They now have to hold a vote among shareholders
2) If they do not hold a vote then the CEO/BOD are in violation of their fiduciary responsibilities to the shareholders and would face SEC fines/charges, also would be removed from their positions.
3) Only way they can stop what Elon is proposing is to hope or arrange for another bid from another company/individual etc... and choose that option.

Either way Elon's move just set the stage for Twitter to be bought out or have their stock crash. Keep in mind that if he were to sell all of his Twitter stock, let's say by the end of next week, that would/could also crash the shares.

Even companies cannot outrun Karma for long.

PS: I also have no interest in Social Media outside of fora like LQ et al.

I have only one thing to say: "social" media isn't.