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Twitter gives Elon Musk board seat. Is an edit button next?

Apr 05, 2022

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Elon Musk now has a seat at Twitter’s table. The company announced Tuesday it will appoint the world’s richest man to its board, one day after the world learned Musk bought 9.2% of the social media company.

The stock purchase makes Musk, who’s often critical of Twitter, the company’s largest shareholder.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted, “He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on Twitter, and in the boardroom.”

Musk replied that he’s looking forward to making “significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”

The board seat does come with some handcuffs, notably capping Musk, as an individual or member of a group, from owning more than 14.9% of Twitter while he serves the board and for 90 days after. His term will expire in two years.

Still, the seat gives the Tesla and SpaceX founder a lot of influence over a company he accuses of undermining democracy.

But is free speech really Musk’s first order of business? It looks like he has an edit button in his sights after asking his 80 million Twitter followers if they want one Monday night. By midday Tuesday, the poll had more than 3.5 million voters, with 73% voting yes, or “yse.” Musk purposely misspelled yes and no.

Twitter, for its part, had tweeted, “we are working on an edit button,” before all of the Musk news erupted, but the tweet was sent on April Fools’ Day and believed to be a joke.

SIMONE DEL ROSARIO: YOU’RE LOOKING AT THE NEWEST BOARD MEMBER OF TWITTER!

A DAY AFTER THE WORLD LEARNED ELON MUSK BOUGHT 9.2% OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY, TWITTER ANNOUNCED ITS GIVING ITS LARGEST SHAREHOLDER A SEAT AT THE TABLE.

TWITTER’S CEO SAYS MUSK’S both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need.

WHILE MUSK REPLIED THAT HE’S LOOKING FORWARD TO MAKING SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COMING MONTHS.

THE BOARD SEAT COMES WITH SOME HANDCUFFS – IT CAPS MUSK FROM OWNING MORE THAN 14.9% OF TWITTER.

BUT IT STILL GIVES THE BILLIONAIRE A LOT OF INFLUENCE OVER A COMPANY HE ACCUSES OF UNDERMINING DEMOCRACY.

BUT IS FREE SPEECH REALLY FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS FOR THE WORLD’S RICHEST MAN?

LOOKS LIKE HE’S GOT AN EDIT BUTTON IN HIS SIGHTS – ASKING HIS 80 MILLION FOLLOWERS IF THEY WANT ONE.

WITH MORE THAN THREE MILLION VOTES AND COUNTING, THE CONSENSUS IS OVERWHELMINGLY “YES,” OR “Y-S-E,” AS HE PURPOSELY MISSPELLED YES AND NO.

TWITTER, FOR ITS PART, TEASED AN EDIT BUTTON…BUT… ON APRIL FOOLS DAY.

IN NEW YORK FOR JUST BUSINESS I’M SIMONE DEL ROSARIO.