Musk tweeted later Monday, “Oh hi lol”, greeting users of the social media app where he made many casual remarks, including news about Tesla, where he is the CEO.
Dan Ives, managing director of Wedbush Securities, says the passive stack of masks could just start. Instead of launching a competing social media platform, some predicted after the vote, “It looks like Elon has set his eye laser on Twitter.”
Ives predicts that the world’s richest man, Musk, will eventually pursue an active partnership, taking him to a “more aggressive ownership role” in the company. In an emailed comment to the Washington Post on Monday, Ives said, “We see this move as a mask to make his tent.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Post. The company does not usually respond to media requests after its public relations team disbanded in 2020.
Given that Twitter de facto acts as a public town square, failure to adhere to the principles of freedom of speech fundamentally undermines democracy.
What should be done? https://t.co/aPS9ycji37
– Elon Musk (lonelonmusk) March 26, 2022
In late March, Musk questioned whether Twitter “strictly adheres” to freedom of speech policies in a poll for its more than 80 million followers.
“Given that Twitter de facto acts as a public town square, failure to adhere to the principles of freedom of speech fundamentally undermines democracy,” he tweeted.
He then asked: “Need a new platform?”
Musk sold billions of billions of Tesla shares in 2021, making the most of its assets – previously tied to Tesla stock – liquidated for the first time. Musk sold the shares after he took to Twitter to survey whether his users should sell 10 percent of his stock, although a trading plan that saw him sell a lot of stock was adopted a few weeks ago, raising questions about the poll’s motives.
Earlier that year, Musk, apparently referring to Twitter’s decision to ban former President Donald Trump, wrote: “A lot of people are going to be very dissatisfied with the high technology on the West Coast, the de facto arbiter of freedom of speech.”
Following the January 6 Capitol riots, Trump was booted from the platform, citing the risk of further violence.
Musk recently accused the SEC of trying to “cool down the exercise of the First Amendment right” when a judge directed his tweets to drop a 2018 settlement agreement, alleging that he felt boxed by multiple sources of pressure at the time and entered it. To protect Tesla shareholders.
The settlement stems from a tweet in which Musk said he had “secured funds” to privately buy Tesla for $ 420 a share. Later, Musk clarified that the tweet was a joke. He said he chose the $ 420 number “because he had recently learned about the significance of the number in marijuana culture and thought his girlfriend would ‘find it funny, which is not a great reason to accept a price,'” according to the SEC.
Yet the joke skyrocketed Tesla’s stock, and Mask and Tesla were each fined $ 20 million. Musk additionally had to resign as chairman of the Tesla board and agreed to have his potential market-going contacts verified by an authorized securities lawyer.
I’m considering taking Tesla private for 420. Funds secured.
– Elon Musk (lonelonmusk) August 7, 2018
“Tesla was a less mature company and the SEC’s move threatened the company’s finances,” Musk said in a recent legal filing. “It was not in the interest of the company and its shareholders to defend against the SEC’s move through a lengthy lawsuit. As Tesla’s CEO and chairman at the time, I realized that the company and its shareholders would be at undue risk if I did not resolve the issue immediately. “
At the time, Musk said the $ 20 million weed joke was “worth it.” At that time he had only 22 million followers.
Tesla is very active on major Twitter, where he has tweeted more than 17,300 times. According to SocialTracker, he received an average of 125,181 likes per tweet.
