Elon Musk and Twitter Reach Deal for Sale (Update: WSJ report details Musk’s relationship with Putin) (2 Viewers)

[SaintForLife]

Elon Musk struck a deal on Monday to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, in a victory by the world’s richest man to take over the influential social network frequented by world leaders, celebrities and cultural trendsetters.

Twitter agreed to sell itself to Mr. Musk for $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the company’s share price this month before he revealed he was the firm’s single largest shareholder. It would be the largest deal to take a company private — something Mr. Musk has said he will do with Twitter — in at least two decades, according to data compiled by Dealogic.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Mr. Musk said in a statement announcing the deal. “Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

The deal, which has been unanimously approved by Twitter’s board, is expected to close this year, subject to a vote of Twitter shareholders and certain regulatory approvals.

The blockbuster agreement caps what had seemed an improbable attempt by the famously mercurial Mr. Musk, 50, to buy the social media company — and immediately raises questions about what he will do with the platform and how his actions will affect online speech globally.

Elon Musk and Twitter Reach Deal for Sale

Twitter agreed to be taken over at $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the share price before it was revealed that Mr. Musk had been buying up the company’s stock.

www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org

If Musk does what he claims he wants to do it will be a big improvement and good for free speech.

 

[superchuck500]

Not dismiss, I worded it poorly. It stops the suit from proceeding, kind of suspends it, pending the sale going through. And Musk can now take his time putting the deal together. It was just someone’s opinion that I read, maybe they were wrong.

My response wasn't worded well either - what I was getting at is that the case doesn't just stop because he says he wants to go through with it. He could, I suppose, move the court to the stay the proceeding pending settlement, that's very common. But if Twitter opposes that relief, the court would typically be reluctant although it's possible he could get some period of time.

I think more likely is that there may be some kind of stay Twitter could agree to but it would be limited and structured. And only if Musk can made some objective demonstrations of intent and capability to close the deal.

 

[bluejersey14]

Still curious if this will actually go through -- and who will actually pay for it. The Saudis?

Elon is such a giant man-baby, the idea of him having hold over Twitter is sad, especially if he brings back bad actors like Tangerine Idi Amin. The snowflakes will be in charge. Free speech, my aunt Fanny.

BlueTowns.com: The voice of progressives in every town in America

 

[superchuck500]

My response wasn't worded well either - what I was getting at is that the case doesn't just stop because he says he wants to go through with it. He could, I suppose, move the court to the stay the proceeding pending settlement, that's very common. But if Twitter opposes that relief, the court would typically be reluctant although it's possible he could get some period of time.

I think more likely is that there may be some kind of stay Twitter could agree to but it would be limited and structured. And only if Musk can made some objective demonstrations of intent and capability to close the deal.

So apparently there was an attempt at stipulations for Twitter to support a stay, but the court just went ahead with a stay until October 28, which is quite short. I think its to give Musk the opportunity to put together what he needs to actually close in short order.

 

[superchuck500]

lol - dude it's actually way better

 

[coldseat]

When bigots and trolls celebrate your control, maybe you want to reconsider your approach .... or not if you're Musk, Chief Troll.

=========
An emboldened cast of anonymous trolls spewed racist slurs and Nazi memes onto Twitter in the hours after billionaire industrialist Elon Musk took over the social network Thursday, raising fears of how his pledge of unrestricted free speech could fuel a new wave of online hate.

Twitter has struggled to enforce its rules against harassment and extremism, and the company has not yet published any broad-scale changes to its content-moderation policies.

But Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has fiercely criticized the company’s previous leaders as overly rigid and suppressive and said he would work to overturn some of the company’s main enforcement mechanisms, such as indefinitely suspending accounts.

A wide range of anonymous Twitter accounts celebrated Musk’s takeover and argued it meant the old rules against bigotry no longer applied.

“Elon now controls twitter. Unleash the racial slurs. K---S AND N-----S,” said one account, using slurs for Jews and Black people. “I can freely express how much I hate n-----s … now, thank you elon,” another said.

In a tweeted letter Thursday, Musk had sought to soothe advertisers worried over the moderation changes by saying he did not want it to become a “free-for-all hellscape.”
But the first hours of his purchase have shown how difficult that promise could be. One account, created this month, included a Nazi swastika as its profile picture and retweeted quotes from Musk alongside antisemitic memes. Another tweet, showing a video montage glorifying Nazi Germany with the comment, “I hear that there have been some changes around here,” was liked more than 400 times.

Racial slurs were posted rampantly overnight. One single-word tweet, showing a single racial slur in all capital letters, was retweeted more than 500 times and liked more than 4,000 times. It was tweeted at 9 p.m. Thursday night and remained online nearly 12 hours later.
==============

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/28/musk-twitter-racist-posts/

 

[samiam5211]

When bigots and trolls celebrate your control, maybe you want to reconsider your approach .... or not if you're Musk, Chief Troll.

=========
An emboldened cast of anonymous trolls spewed racist slurs and Nazi memes onto Twitter in the hours after billionaire industrialist Elon Musk took over the social network Thursday, raising fears of how his pledge of unrestricted free speech could fuel a new wave of online hate.

Twitter has struggled to enforce its rules against harassment and extremism, and the company has not yet published any broad-scale changes to its content-moderation policies.

But Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has fiercely criticized the company’s previous leaders as overly rigid and suppressive and said he would work to overturn some of the company’s main enforcement mechanisms, such as indefinitely suspending accounts.

A wide range of anonymous Twitter accounts celebrated Musk’s takeover and argued it meant the old rules against bigotry no longer applied.

“Elon now controls twitter. Unleash the racial slurs. K---S AND N-----S,” said one account, using slurs for Jews and Black people. “I can freely express how much I hate n-----s … now, thank you elon,” another said.

In a tweeted letter Thursday, Musk had sought to soothe advertisers worried over the moderation changes by saying he did not want it to become a “free-for-all hellscape.”
But the first hours of his purchase have shown how difficult that promise could be. One account, created this month, included a Nazi swastika as its profile picture and retweeted quotes from Musk alongside antisemitic memes. Another tweet, showing a video montage glorifying Nazi Germany with the comment, “I hear that there have been some changes around here,” was liked more than 400 times.

Racial slurs were posted rampantly overnight. One single-word tweet, showing a single racial slur in all capital letters, was retweeted more than 500 times and liked more than 4,000 times. It was tweeted at 9 p.m. Thursday night and remained online nearly 12 hours later.
==============

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/28/musk-twitter-racist-posts/

They will turn on him soon enough.


This is definitely going to end up as a "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss situation"

 

[UriUT]

I signed up for Twitter to follow the war in Ukraine. I deactivated my account yesterday.

 

[DaveXA]

I signed up for Twitter to follow the war in Ukraine. I deactivated my account yesterday.

I guess it's your prerogative and all, but aside from Musk taking over, what's changed? I was on Twitter today and I haven't noticed any issues yet.

 

[Farb]

It is a private company and he can do what he wants with it. If users don't like it, they can create their own platform or buy one.

 

[Bolo]

Musk owning twitter doesn't effect me in anyway. I don't know why people are freaking out, he just said they're not touching content policy or reinstating any accounts until they have a meeting about content and account policy first. Why not wait until there is something to freak out about?

Sounds like Musks team is currently in fact finding mode. Time will tell whether the platform improves or stays at its current rock bottom from the previous regime.

 

[UriUT]

I guess it's your prerogative and all, but aside from Musk taking over, what's changed? I was on Twitter today and I haven't noticed any issues yet.

It's obviously about Musk. This free speech absolutist hired an investigator to dig up supposedly pedo dirt on his critic. He personally hunted and cancelled an order of someone who wrote critical remarks on tesla. He attacked a worker and made their lives a personal he'll because they wanted to lead an union effort. He wanted to punish Ukrainians because they dared mocked his silly peace plan.

So If you believe your personal data is safe in his hands, by all means. If I am a public servant or journalist, I wouldnt trust communicating via dm.

 

[superchuck500]

It is a private company and he can do what he wants with it. If users don't like it, they can create their own platform or buy one.

Exactly.

That’s the way it was then and the way it is now.

 

[Peace]

Elon Musk struck a deal on Monday to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, in a victory by the world’s richest man to take over the influential social network frequented by world leaders, celebrities and cultural trendsetters.

Twitter agreed to sell itself to Mr. Musk for $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the company’s share price this month before he revealed he was the firm’s single largest shareholder. It would be the largest deal to take a company private — something Mr. Musk has said he will do with Twitter — in at least two decades, according to data compiled by Dealogic.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Mr. Musk said in a statement announcing the deal. “Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

The deal, which has been unanimously approved by Twitter’s board, is expected to close this year, subject to a vote of Twitter shareholders and certain regulatory approvals.

The blockbuster agreement caps what had seemed an improbable attempt by the famously mercurial Mr. Musk, 50, to buy the social media company — and immediately raises questions about what he will do with the platform and how his actions will affect online speech globally.

Elon Musk and Twitter Reach Deal for Sale

Twitter agreed to be taken over at $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the share price before it was revealed that Mr. Musk had been buying up the company’s stock.

www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org

If Musk does what he claims he wants to do it will be a big improvement and good for free speech.

Love it. I might just get a Twitter account now.

 

[Farb]

Love it. I might just get a Twitter account now.

I got one recently, it is wild out there, stay safe!

 

[superchuck500]

It's obviously about Musk. This free speech absolutist hired an investigator to dig up supposedly pedo dirt on his critic. He personally hunted and cancelled an order of someone who wrote critical remarks on tesla. He attacked a worker and made their lives a personal he'll because they wanted to lead an union effort. He wanted to punish Ukrainians because they dared mocked his silly peace plan.

So If you believe your personal data is safe in his hands, by all means. If I am a public servant or journalist, I wouldnt trust communicating via dm.

Wonder if the Saudi government being the second largest shareholder will bear on content moderation? The Saudis haven’t been known for being passive.

 

[UriUT]

Im most certain. Private communication would concern me more. Imagine past conversations that are now accessible...to be fair I dont know the encryption level. I read somewhere but can't verify that they are not encrypted where only the user has access.

I did wonder where he would get his funding after an american group dropped out.

As a tangent since you brought up foreign influences via our free market. We have China buying numerous farms in the us, some near our nuclear silos. British pilots now training Chinese pilots on how to combat western jets. China has already cornered the rare earths market after buying an american firm; used its technique and shut that company down. They ve even used that monopoly as leverage against Japan. China were just allowed to buy a good portion of a port in germany, which poses security risks per almost all german ministers but sholtz. They're even allowed to buy some German chip company. And here the pga is getting assaulted bc the Saudi funds are unlimited. And now we have twitter. I may be an alarmist but this feels like germany's dependence on Russian energy and the corruption it created in the german government.

The west once boast that our free market will set the world towards liberalism. Now I wonder if the road isnt both ways.

 

[DaveXA]

Im most certain. Private communication would concern me more. Imagine past conversations that are now accessible...to be fair I dont know the encryption level. I read somewhere but can't verify that they are not encrypted where only the user has access.

I did wonder where he would get his funding after an american group dropped out.

As a tangent since you brought up foreign influences via our free market. We have China buying numerous farms in the us, some near our nuclear silos. British pilots now training Chinese pilots on how to combat western jets. China has already cornered the rare earths market after buying an american firm; used its technique and shut that company down. They ve even used that monopoly as leverage against Japan. China were just allowed to buy a good portion of a port in germany, which poses security risks per almost all german ministers but sholtz. They're even allowed to buy some German chip company. And here the pga is getting assaulted bc the Saudi funds are unlimited. And now we have twitter. I may be an alarmist but this feels like germany's dependence on Russian energy and the corruption it created in the german government.

The west once boast that our free market will set the world towards liberalism. Now I wonder if the road isnt both ways.

Fwiw, I've never once used twitter to message anyone. I'd be surprised if the level of encryption isn't very good for their private messaging, but I don't know how good it is either.

 

[UriUT]

Fwiw, I've never once used twitter to message anyone. I'd be surprised if the level of encryption isn't very good for their private messaging, but I don't know how good it is either.

This isnt about me. I do not use private msging nor worry about browsing history. It is more about more prominent users. My protest is about Musk. He has shown that he can and will abuse his position of power. Another example, after his comment on Taiwan, China gave him a tax break for Tesla. And who knows what China enticed him regarding other matters of Tesla. To make matters worse he received financing from SA, which begs the question why the "richest man" on earth needed financing and the Saudis as the 2nd largest owner. As Chuck pointed out, this MSB is ruthless and uses his power not only to moderate but to manipulate, to murder and corrupt.

Twitter is a powerful tool.