Photo: Elon Musk on Twitter
Elon Musk eventually decided to go through with buying Twitter for around $44 billion, even though he tried to pull out of the deal. His offer was too good to be refused, considering a 38% premium was included. Now, after a series of changes that brought confusion on the social media platform, the tycoon is at odds with an elected U.S. official. Here’s what’s going on.
Known for his involvement in Tesla’s success, Elon Musk decided to not stop there and continued to explore other business opportunities. Today, the man runs a total of five companies – Twitter, SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and the Boring Company. As it seems, changing the conservative auto industry and making reusable rockets was not enough for the prolific entrepreneur.
But running a social media company that has yet to implement the same or better features as its competitors that are raking in most of the advertising money is proving to be a little difficult. Musk says he wants Twitter to “pursue the goal of elevating citizen journalism,” but his idea to charge $8 for a verified badge was met with a lot of pushback or, better said, inflammatory and insincere actions from users. Some have even managed to cause serious stock volatility.
While private companies can deal with these sorts of issues through their backchannels, a U.S. state senator did not wait long to ask for explanations from Elon Musk. The politician was impersonated by a journalist on Twitter, and he did not like it at all. So, he asked Elon Musk four very serious questions in a formal letter.
The CEO’s response came after two days on Twitter. Musk said the U.S. senator was probably very easy to impersonate because his “real account sounds like a parody.” Packaged as a dismissive question, this answer was not taken lightly by the politician. Massachusetts’ Ed Markey replied and told Twitter’s CEO that he has some more work to do. After pointing out a couple of issues, the U.S. senator advised Musk to “fix” his companies. Otherwise, “Congress will.” The executive did not reply to this strong public message yet.
But running a social media company that has yet to implement the same or better features as its competitors that are raking in most of the advertising money is proving to be a little difficult. Musk says he wants Twitter to “pursue the goal of elevating citizen journalism,” but his idea to charge $8 for a verified badge was met with a lot of pushback or, better said, inflammatory and insincere actions from users. Some have even managed to cause serious stock volatility.
While private companies can deal with these sorts of issues through their backchannels, a U.S. state senator did not wait long to ask for explanations from Elon Musk. The politician was impersonated by a journalist on Twitter, and he did not like it at all. So, he asked Elon Musk four very serious questions in a formal letter.
The CEO’s response came after two days on Twitter. Musk said the U.S. senator was probably very easy to impersonate because his “real account sounds like a parody.” Packaged as a dismissive question, this answer was not taken lightly by the politician. Massachusetts’ Ed Markey replied and told Twitter’s CEO that he has some more work to do. After pointing out a couple of issues, the U.S. senator advised Musk to “fix” his companies. Otherwise, “Congress will.” The executive did not reply to this strong public message yet.
Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022
One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will. https://t.co/lE178gPRoM
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 13, 2022
Google News