Elon Musk is telling Twitter advertisers he’s shopping for the platform to “help humanity” and doesn’t need it to turn out to be a “free-for-all hellscape” the place something could be mentioned with no penalties. The message to advertisers posted Thursday on Twitter got here a day earlier than Musk’s deadline for closing his $44 billion deal to purchase the social-media firm and take it personal.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk wrote, in an unusually-long message for the billionaire Tesla CEO who usually initiatives his ideas in one-line tweets.
He continued: “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”The message displays issues amongst advertisers — Twitter’s chief income — that Musk’s plans to advertise free speech by chopping again on moderating content material will open the floodgates to extra on-line toxicity and drive away customers.
Musk informed advertisers Thursday he needs Twitter to be “the most respected advertising platform in the world.” He mentioned it needs to be “warm and welcoming to all” and allow customers to decide on the expertise they wish to have.“I didn’t do it to make money,” he mentioned of the pending acquisition. “I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility.”
Friday’s deadline to shut the deal was ordered by the Delaware Chancery Court in early October. It is the newest step in an epic battle throughout which Musk signed an April deal to accumulate Twitter, then tried to again out of it, main Twitter to sue the Tesla CEO to pressure him to conclude the deal. If the 2 sides don’t meet the Friday deadline, the subsequent step could possibly be a November trial that may doubtless result in a choose forcing Musk to finish the deal.
But Musk has been signaling that the deal goes by way of by Friday, paying a go to to Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters Wednesday and altering his Twitter profile to “Chief Twit.”And in a single day the New York Stock Exchange notified buyers that it’s going to droop buying and selling in shares of Twitter earlier than the opening bell Friday in anticipation of the corporate going personal beneath Musk.