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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Graeme Wearden

EU warns Elon Musk that Twitter must stick to digital rules – as it happened

Elon Musk Twitter Inc. Jack Dorsey United States Jeff Bezos Tesla Inc. China Elizabeth Warren Parag Agrawal
The world’s richest person is taking control of the influential social media platform in a $44bn deal
The world’s richest person is taking control of the influential social media platform in a $44bn deal Photograph: Stanislav Kogiku/AFLO/REX/Shutterstock

Closing post

Time to wrap up - here’s a round-up of our coverage of the Twitter takeover:

Goodnight. GW

Updated

This is (quite predictably) excellent:

Twitter shares have ended the day down 3.9% at $49.68 each, as the gap to Elon Musk’s agreed takeover offer widened.

Tesla kept sliding, and has closed 12% lower at $876, amid concerns that Musk might need to sell billions of dollars’ worth of shares in the carmaker to fund the deal.

Wall Street tumbles

Ouch. The Nasdaq Composite has closed at its lowest level since December 2020, in its worst session since September 2020.

The tech-focused Nasdaq shed almost 4%, as fears over rising interest rates and slowing global growth hit Wall Street.

It’s lost more than 20% so far this year, as inflationary worries hit growth stocks.

The broader S&P 500 also had a rough day, sinking by 2.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 large stocks shed 809 points, or over 2.3%.

As well as the tech sector, there were losses among companies reliant on discretionary consumer spending, communications firms, financial stocks and industrial companies.

Journalist Jon Ronson, who has spent many years investigating and reporting on conspiracy thories, fears ‘free speech absolutism’ will lead to a flood of misinformation on Twitter:

The libertarian counterargument, I think, is that false claims would be called out and exposed. But experience suggests that untrue or misleading content is propagated and reinforced within groups. Algorithms then feed people more of this content (as that’s what they’re interested in), ultimately giving it credibility and leading people to share it (etc etc).

It’s been a rather gloomy day in the tech space, with the Nasdaq Composite now sliding by 3.5% in late trading....

.. while bitcoin has dropped around 5% to around $38,000.

Investors are piling into the US dollar, on fears that Covid-19 lockdowns in China will slow the global economy, and in anticipation of aggressive interest rate hikes by America’s Federal Reserve.

This has sent the pound sprawling to its weakest level since summer 2020, down 1.2% at below $1.26 tonight.

Schumer: I hope Twitter doesn't get any darker under Musk

US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says he hopes Twitter doesn’t become an even ‘darker’ place under Elon Musk’s control.

Asked about Musk’s purchase of the social media company, Schumer gave a sobering verdict on the platform, telling reporters:

On Elon Musk I would say, look, in many ways Twitter has been a dark, dark place. I hope it doesn’t get any darker.

WHO warns of dangers of health misinformation

Since the start of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown the importance of reliable, trustworthy information online, and the risks created by false claims.

And one World Health Organization official has today warned of the dangers of health and vaccine misinformation on social media, Bloomberg reports:

Misinformation costs lives, Mike Ryan, executive director of the health emergencies program at the WHO, said Tuesday in response to a reporter’s question regarding the offer from Musk, a self-described free-speech absolutist, to buy Twitter for about $44 billion.

“When anyone reaches a position in life where they have so much influence over the way information is shared with communities, they take on a huge responsibility,” Ryan said at the media briefing in Geneva.

“We wish Mr. Musk luck with his endeavors to improve the quality of information we all receive.”

Ryan added that in the pandemic, good information is life-saving while “bad information sends you to some very bad places”. More here.

A report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) last year showed that Facebook, Google and Twitter had all failed to satisfactorily enforce policies against vaccine misinformation.

Just 12 people were responsible for a majority of Covid-19 anti-vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories, CCDH found.

Elon Musk has just tweeted, accusing critics of the deal of an ‘extreme antibody reaction’.

But as we’ve been covering through the day, groups such as Amnesty are very concerned that Twitter could tolerate violent and abusive speech against users, if Musk pushed through changes to moderation rules.

Updated

Moody's could downgrade Twitter over Musk deal

Rating agency Moody’s have put Twitter’s credit rating on review for a possible downgrade.

Moody’s is concerned that Elon Musk’s $44bn leveraged buyout would materially weaken Twitter’s ‘credit metrics’, due to the $12.5bn of extra debt which will be added to its balance sheet.

Twitter is currently rated as Ba2 by Moody’s, the second-highest junk (or non-investment grade) rating.

The review will focus on the new capital structure and its impact on credit metrics and cash flow. It will also consider Musk’s strategic changes to the social media platform, and whether it will have financial flexibility to grow.

Moody’s says:

Musk cited strategic objectives as part of his offer, including: “global free speech as a societal imperative for a functioning democracy;” “platform health and improving the signal-to noise ratio;” and “revamping Twitter Blue and exploring other non-advertising initiatives.” Moody’s believes that any success in improving the company’s operations and diversifying the company beyond its heavy reliance on advertising, from which it generates about 89% of revenue, would be credit positive.

Twitter’s governance risk is moderately negative (G-3). The company’s present management and board of directors have a track record of sustaining moderately conservative financial policies. However, the company faces challenging regulatory and political relationships, exhibits weak transparency and has no stated credit metric targets. Elon Musk plans to acquire all of Twitter and take the company private, making Musk the only shareholder. It is unclear what impact, if any, this will have on Twitter’s operating policies, but given the committed financing package, the company’s financial policies will be more aggressive and with a single shareholder, there is greater risk associated with a controlled board.

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter is at best a distraction for Tesla (-11%), and at worst a real business risk, our financial editor Nils Pratley writes:

One obvious risk is sales of Tesla stock by Musk to fund the $21bn equity portion of the $43bn Twitter takeover package. Another is spill-over political effects, in the US and elsewhere. Jeff Bezos, another tech tycoon turned media owner, referenced the latter mischievously. “Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?” tweeted Amazon’s founder.

Twitter is blocked in China because the social media company, rightly, refuses to bow to Beijing’s security laws on what can be said about, say, the strangulation of democracy in Hong Kong or the persecution of Uyghur Muslims.

But Musk, wearing his Tesla hat, is a beneficiary of Chinese largesse in the form of financial incentives to build cars in China. Rich Chinese consumers are also big buyers of Teslas and key kit for the batteries comes from the country. What would happen if Beijing were to suggest that Twitter might wish to give the Chinese Communist party an easier ride in the interest of smooth commercial relationships for Tesla? Chinese officialdom, one suspects, won’t distinguish between Musk’s ownership of Twitter (100%, if everything proceeds) and that of Tesla (17% currently).

Bezos’s answer to his own question was that “the more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter”. The first part of that guess should still sound scary to the car company’s shareholders. In extremis, would a “free speech absolutist”, as Musk describes himself, be prepared to close factories rather than concede an inch to Chinese bullies?

Here’s the full piece:

Tesla’s shares are now down 11%, as some traders ponder whether Musk might have to sell some of his stake to fund the Twitter deal (see earlier post).

That knocks around $100bn (or two Twitters!) off Tesla’s market capitalisation.

There’s also the possibility that Musk could be distracted from his duties at the electric car company once he has Twitter to deal with.

Plus, $12.5bn of the $44bn takeover deal is in loans secured against his Tesla stock.

Twitter’s shares remain lower today, now down 3% at around $50.

Scott Kessler, global lead analyst for TMT sector companies at research firm Third Bridge, suspects there could be job losses at Twitter after the deal.

Elon Musk’s push for ‘free speech’ could mean less content moderation, Kessler points out, although that could also scare off advertisers.

Also, Musk may need to use Twitter’s cash flow to service the debt he’s using to partly fund the deal.

Kessler explains:

  • Yesterday’s press release indicated that Musk would use more than $25bn in debt and margin loan financing to buy Twitter. It already has $6bn in debt. However, the company generated only around half a billion dollars in adjusted free cash flow over the past three years combined. Last year Twitter generated negative adjusted free cash flow of more than $350m. Pre-pandemic, in 2019, the company generated less than $800m in adjusted free cash flow. This suggests that Musk may look to layoffs to help generate cash flow.

  • Twitter has some 7,500 employees, and prioritizing free speech and open source algorithms could lead to considerable layoffs, especially around content moderation efforts. Musk would be able to build out his vision and save money at the same time. Experts we’ve spoken with have indicated that the health and safety initiatives within the company have taken up considerable resources.
  • However, the potential importance of cash flows could cause Musk to be less aggressive in terms of shifting Twitter’s business model from advertising to subscriptions. Nonetheless, less content moderation may prompt advertisers to pause or reduce their spending on Twitter.

Shares in Tesla have tumbled over 9% today as investors fret about the impact of the Twitter deal on the electric car maker.

Elon Musk’s financing package includes a $12.5bn loan secured against his Tesla stake. It also includes $21bn of cash, which has raised the possibility Musk might need to sell some Tesla shares to raise equity if he doesn’t line up other investors.

The FT has more details:

In morning trading on Tuesday, more than 18mn Tesla shares changed hands, worth more than $16bn. That was more than four times the level of the next highest traded stock by value: iPhone-maker Apple.

Musk and his bankers at Morgan Stanley have been sounding out other investors who may want to invest in a privately held Twitter alongside him, which would reduce the size of the cheque he ultimately has to write himself, according to people briefed on the matter.

Twitter shares dip in early trading

Shares in Twitter have dipped in early trading, away from Elon Musk’s deal price of $54.20.

Twitter shares are down 1.8% at $50.74, having yesterday jumped over 5.5% as news broke that Twitter was accepting Musk’s offer.

As flagged earlier, the gap between the stock price and Musk’s offer may reflect some risk that the deal doesn’t complete.

Tech shares are under pressure generally, though, with the Nasdaq Composite down 2% as investors brace for results from Big Tech firms such as Alphabet and Microsoft after the market close today, and Apple and Amazon later this week.

Updated

Could Donald Trump, Katie Hopkins, David Icke and Alex Jones all be welcomed back to Twitter once Musk has taken control?

These are just some of the Twitter accounts that could be reinstated if the platform’s new owner-in-waiting, “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk, practices what he preaches, our global technology editor Dan Milmo writes.

All of those accounts have been permanently suspended from the platform for infractions that include, most notoriously, the former US president’s alleged support for the Capitol riot on 6 January last year. Their reinstatement now appears to be back in play given that the world’s richest man has agreed a $44bn (£35bn) takeover of the platform that banned them and has stated that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy”.

Trump said on Monday he has no intention of rejoining Twitter and is sticking with his rival TRUTH Social network, but Musk may give him an opportunity to recover his more than 88 million followers.

Speaking at a TED conference this month, Musk said he was was “very cautious with permanent bans” and would prefer a timeout system for account holders who break Twitter’s conduct guidelines. Given that Hopkins, a British rightwing commentator, was permanently suspended for breaching the site’s “hateful conduct” policy, her readmission would immediately lessen the stringency of rules in place to prevent threats against people on the basis of “race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease”.

Here’s the full story:

EU warns Elon Musk that Twitter must stick to digital rules

Brussels has warned Elon Musk that Twitter must comply with the EU’s new digital rules under his ownership.

EU’s commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, says Elon Musk knows well that companies operating in Europe must stick to its rules, including the Digital Services Act which will force major technology firms to tackle illegal and harmful content online.

Failure to comply with the DSA, agreed last weekend, could mean a fine, or even a ban -- a sign that we could see a global regulatory battle over Twitter’s future.

European Commission spokesperson Johannes Bahrke has echoed this point at a news briefing:

“Our Digital Services Act applies to all major platforms, to ensure their power over public debate is subject to democratically validated rules to better protect fundamental rights online,”

The DSA is expected to come into force in 2024, and includes:

  • Banning advertising aimed at children or based on sensitive data such as religion, gender, race and political opinions.
  • Allowing EU governments to request removal of illegal content, including material that promotes terrorism, child sexual abuse, hate speech and commercial scams.
  • Forcing social media platforms to allow users to flag illegal content in an “easy and effective way” so that it can be swiftly removed.

A company failing to comply could be fined up to 6% of its global turnover, or be banned from operating in the EU for repeatedly breaching the rules. Twitter posted annual revenues of $5bn last year, meaning it could be fined around $300m.

Breton has also told the Financial Times that Elon Musk must follow rules on moderating illegal and harmful content online.

Breton said he wanted to offer a “reality check” to Musk’s plans for less stringent moderation, saying:

“We welcome everyone. We are open but on our conditions. At least we know what to tell him: ‘Elon, there are rules. You are welcome but these are our rules. It’s not your rules which will apply here.’”

Updated

Responding to the news of Elon Musk’s deal, Downing Street said that “regardless of ownership, all social media platforms must be responsible”, PA Media reports.

“That includes protecting users from harm on their sites,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.

“It is too early to say what - if any - changes will be made to how Twitter operates.

“It remains an important tool, it’s used by world leaders, and we will continue to work with them to make sure it continues to improve.”

It was “entirely a matter for Twitter” whether former US president Donald Trump’s account was reactivated, the spokesman added.

Andy Burrows, the head of child safety online policy at children’s charity the NSPCC said urgent clarity was needed over what approach a Musk-led Twitter would take to tackling online abuse.

Burrows says ‘proper regulatory guardrails’ are needed, with appropriate checks and balances to ensure platforms tackle illegal behaviour:

Full story: Jack Dorsey says Elon Musk is ‘solution I trust’

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has backed Elon Musk’s controversial $44bn (£34bn) takeover of the micro-blogging platform, describing the billionaire as “the singular solution I trust”.

The 45-year-old, who co-founded the company in 2006 and floated it on the New York Stock Exchange in 2013, said it has been “owned” by Wall Street and that Musk’s deal struck on Monday to take it private was the “correct first step”.

However Dorsey, who stepped down as Twitter chief executive in November and will receive a $978m payout for his 2.4% stake when the deal is completed later this year, said that ultimately “in principle I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter”.

“It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company,” he said, in a series of tweets.

“Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.”

Parag Agrawal, who took over from Dorsey as chief executive, has told staff that their jobs are only safe for about the six months it will take to get the deal is done.

“Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go,” said Agrawal, who is in line for a $38.7m pay package due to a “change of control” clause in his contract.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has warned this morning that ‘free speech cannot mean a free pass for hatred’ - a sharp reminder of the importance of moderating online communities.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould also has a neat Wilde analogy for the Twitter deal:

“It isn’t a case of the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable, as Oscar Wilde once described fox-hunting, but Elon Musk’s campaign to buy Twitter could be seen as the unpredictable chasing down the unprofitable.

Twitter made a loss of $221m last year, dragged into the red by a litigation charge.

Mould adds:

“A price tag of $44 billion compares to forecast net profit of just $112m in 2023 and $324m for 2023, equivalent to a price/earnings ratio of well over 100 – a huge premium relative to a US equity market which trades on forward multiples of earnings in the mid-20s (and mid-30s, according to Professor Robert Shiller’s cyclically adjusted price earnings, or CAPE, ratio).

Analyst: still some risk to the deal

Although Twitter’s shares rallied over 5% yesterday to almost $52 each, they’re trading below Musk’s ‘best and final’ offer of $54.20 which Twitter has accepted.

That suggests there’s some scepticism that the deal will definitely complete, says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“The social media platform is currently trading at $51.92 despite the board agreeing to sell the company for $54.20 per share. This approximate 4% gap is the market’s way of saying there is still some risk to the deal.

“After all, Musk is one of the most unpredictable characters in business today and while his offer to buy the company came out of the blue and was recommended by the board in only a matter of weeks, this is not a done deal until he’s secured all the necessary support from shareholders and the money has been wired from his account.

Twitter’s shares had already rallied since Musk revealed his 9% stake in the company three weeks ago. His offer was almost a 40% premium to the closing price the day before that disclosure, although it’s below Twitter’s all-time high of $77 set in February 2021.

Mould also sees risks in Musk’s push for more freedom of speech on Twitter:

“Twitter has a lot of passionate users and the company will have to work hard to try and retain them and attract new users if Musk lays out a regime that changes the way the platform operates.

“Suggestions there will be a clamp down on bot accounts would be beneficial to users, but not everyone likes the idea of complete freedom of speech. An unmoderated platform could foster a toxic environment and see users leave in droves.”

Wealth manager Ross Gerber has a much more positive view of the takeover.

Gerber, an investor in Tesla described as close to Elon Musk, told the Today programme that Musk wants to protect the ‘integrity’ of Twitter for the sake of society.

This is really about control of a critically important asset for society.

The manipulation of social media is one of the most detrimental things to have happened to society in the last five or seven years, Gerber says, leading to elections in the US, UK and elsewhere being deliberately manipulated by foreign actors such as Saudi Arabia (a Twitter investor) and Russia.

The reason Elon’s getting involved isn’t per se free speech, it’s about protecting our democracy, it’s a bigger issue.

Gerber says cleaning up Twitter of bots, as Musk has pledged, will address this issue, and that it’s misguided to think Musk will now be in charge of moderation at Twitter.

What he really cares about is transparency on the platform to what is being decided.

Gerber also argues that Musk’s critics should “give the guy a chance”, claiming Twitter’s current management are doing a “horrendous job” on moderation and social manipulation.

Gerber, who bought more Twitter shares after Musk made his offer earlier this month, insists that Musk will add lots of value to the company.

Gerber also told the Washington Post overnight that Musk is “more powerful than countries now,” as he adds Twitter to a portfolio including Tesla and rocket company SpaceX.

“He has the most important technology asset in America … probably one of the most strategic military assets in the world … and now he has one of the most important communications tools in the world.”

Musk 'may not realise' challenges of content moderation

Vivian Schiller, former head of news and journalism partnerships at Twitter, fears that Elon Musk doesn’t understand the nuance of content moderation.

Schiller told Radio 4’s Today Programme that she felt ‘existential dread’ when the deal was announced, and is worried about what Musk imagines a free speech platform looks like.

Schiller, now an executive director at the Aspen Institute, explained that content moderation -- deciding what to leave up, take down, block, suspend or amplify -- is an “incredibly nuanced, complicated and very imperfect art”.

Even though Twitter “screws a lot of things up” and makes some inconsistent decisions, Schiller says its current management are trying to balance free expression against potential harms.

Those harms could include threats to individuals, race or gender-based hate speech, or threats to democracy (such as the insurrection at the United States Capitol which led to Donald Trump’s Twitter ban).

Schiller, who is also a director of the Scott Trust,the owner of the Guardian, also suggests Musk’s ideas for protecting free speech on Twitter are superficial or naive, given the challenges of moderation.

I think he may just not realise that the kind of decisions that are going to have to be made, ultimately rolling up to him, are incredibly complicated.

It’s easy to say ‘I believe in free speech’, Schiller adds, but what do you do when you’re talking about incitement to violence, hate speech or other forms of really troubling content?

Incidentally, CNBC points out that Musk’s commitment to free speech hasn’t extended to departing Tesla staff:

When it comes to his employees’ free speech, Musk demonstrates little tolerance.

Under his leadership, when Tesla has laid off employees, it’s asked them to sign separation agreements including a strong non-disparagement clause with no end-date. These kinds of agreements are not uncommon in the industry, but Musk is far from a free-speech absolutist here.

Musk also memorably cut off an analyst asking about Tesla’s capital requirements on an earnings call in 2018, saying: “Excuse me, next, next. Boring, bonehead questions are not cool”. More here.

Updated

What the analysts say

Freetrade senior analyst Dan Lane has warned that Musk’s takeover of Twitter could be ‘a disaster waiting to happen’, which could distract him from running Tesla.

At what feels like an inflection point, with the war in Ukraine bringing into sharp view the need to push further into renewables, Musk could be about to instead leap into the biggest vanity project the world has ever seen.

Away from grand ideas about promoting free speech, what Musk actually sees is a special situation here, in much the same way as any other value-minded investor. But it will take time, resources and a learning curve before he can enact any serious plans he has in mind and, crucially, unlock any hidden value.

Then there is the cultural chasm between working at Tesla and Twitter. Will Musk’s new employees buy into the plans? Have they been waiting for a new direction or will the reception be as hostile as the bid?

The point here is the market doesn’t quite know if it’s arrogance leading the way or genius.

Musk flits between both regularly, let’s see which one this is and if taking his eye off the Tesla ball for a while is worth it.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, says Musk could improve Twitter’s usability and monetise the site better (an area where previous management have struggled).

There are big questions ahead about what Musk’s leadership will mean for the company. There is the possibility that its headquarters could be moved to Austin, headcount could face cuts and there is likely to be a ideological shift in terms of the company’s focus away from content moderation and towards free speech instead. However despite speculation, Fox News is reporting that Donald Trump will not be returning to Twitter as he is using his own Truth Social platform instead.

Overall stakeholders will be hoping that Musk can inject some of his Tesla-style magic to improve usability as well as monetisation, two things that Twitter has struggled with for a long time and more than most of its rivals.

Meanwhile Tesla shares are under pressure with rising investor nervousness that its CEO will now be spread too thinly, distracted from electric vehicles by his new role as a social media mogul.”

Neil Campling, head of TMT Research at Mirabaud Equity Research, said Musk is ‘flaunting his power’ with the deal, but could also be wasting money.

Musk is flaunting his power. Musk is flaunting his influence. Musk’s deal Tweet is that “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”.

But this Tweet could also face an argument that Twitter is not a digital town square but more like a small digital village with Musk as the town crier who is making public proclamations just like the original town criers – shouting in the streets to those that hear it, but the majority are outside of the village where most can’t hear, and find many other villages, towns and cities that offer other debates.

Musk is also wasting a vast sum of dollar capital and intellectual capital on a glorified mass messaging platform that has never been able to reach monetisation scale, with no discernible moat.

China has dismissed the idea it may try to influence Twitter via Tesla.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin says there was no basis to speculation that Beijing could try to use leverage over the electric car maker to influence content on the social media site.

Human rights groups voice hate speech conerns

Human rights groups has voiced concerns that Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter could lead to an increase in hate speech on the platform.

Deborah Brown, a digital rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters in an email.

“Regardless of who owns Twitter, the company has human rights responsibilities to respect the rights of people around the world who rely on the platform.

Changes to its policies, features, and algorithms, big and small, can have disproportionate and sometimes devastating impacts, including offline violence.”

“Freedom of expression is not an absolute right, which is why Twitter needs to invest in efforts to keep its most vulnerable users safe on the platform.

Michael Kleinman, director of technology and human rights at Amnesty International USA, also warned against eroding policies and mechanisms to protect against hate speech.

“The last thing we need is a Twitter that willfully turns a blind eye to violent and abusive speech against users, particularly those most disproportionately impacted, including women, non-binary persons, and others.

Amnesty International’s tech director Rasha Abdul Rahim warned that Twitter has not made enough progress on tackling hateful and abusive speech against women:

Anthony Romero, executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union, also flagged the risks:

“While Elon Musk is an ACLU card-carrying member and one of our most significant supporters, there’s a lot of danger having so much power in the hands of any one individual,

More here: Human rights groups raise hate speech concerns after Musk’s takeover of Twitter

Jeff Bezos has questioned whether China will lean on Elon Musk’s Tesla business to quell criticism of the country on Twitter.

The world’s second richest man posted a tweet raising concerns over potential Beijing influence on Twitter several hours after the Tesla CEO, and current holder of the number one wealth spot, reached a $44bn deal with the Twitter board to buy the influential social media platform.

Bezos quoted a post from a New York Times reporter that listed the importance of China to Tesla’s business, including the fact that it is the electric car maker’s second largest business. The tweet said China may now have a way of holding leverage over Twitter.

Dorsey: Elon is the singular solution I trust

Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey has given his backing to Musk’s deal, tweeting that “Elon is the singular solution I trust.”

In a series of tweets, Dorsey argued that taking the service private was for the best.

Dorsey, who took the company public in 2013, said Twitter has been “owned” by Wall Street and that taking it private was the “correct first step”.

However, he also argued that “in principle”, he didn’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter.....

Introduction: Twitter facing uncertainty after Musk's $44bn deal agreed

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the world economy and the financial markets.

Twitter, and its users, are facing an uncertain future after Elon Musk secured a momentous deal to take the social media company private.

The world’s richest man has shaken up Silicon Valley with one of the most astounding takeover deals in recent times, with Twitter’s board agreeing to sell the company to Musk.

The deal, worth around $44bn, has been been hailed by Twitter’s critics, often from the conservative side, but criticised by those who fear it could lead to a rise in hate speech and misinformation on the platform.

Announcing the deal, Musk said that Twitter has “tremendous potential”, and that he looked forward to working with the company and its users to unlock it

Musk declared:

“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.”

Musk, who has described himself as free speech absolutist, has criticized Twitter’s moderation polities, and called for Twitter’s algorithm to be made public so people can see why certain tweets are prioritised.

Musk’s commitment to free speech (which he recently said meant someone you don’t like being allowed to say something you don’t like) is expected to mean lighter moderation policies, and could mean fewer controls to protect users.

In a Twitter thread last night, Amnesty International warned that it could mean Twitter turns a blind eye to violent and abusive speech.

“We are concerned with any steps that Twitter might take to erode enforcement of the policies and mechanisms designed to protect users.

Twitter’s chief executive, Parag Agrawal, has warned employees on Monday that the future of the social media firm is uncertain.

Speaking at a town hall meeting last night, Agrawal explained:

“Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go.”

The deal, once finalised, could turn the world’s richest person into a new age media baron, owning a platform relied on by millions of people for news and social interaction, and used by politicians, businesses, organisations, celebrities and news networks worldwide.

Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has already sounded alarm, warning that the “deal is dangerous for our democracy”, and calling for a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech to account.

Amazon chief Jeff Bezos has also flagged concerns that Musk’s takeover of Twitter could give China influence over the social media company, given his business interests in China.

Bezos quote-tweeted a tweet higlighting that China was Tesla’s largest market last year, adding:

“Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?”

But Bezos then added that the deal could create ‘complexity’ for Tesla in China, rather then censorship.

The US govermnent wouldn’t comment on the deal directly, but voiced wider concerns over social media.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters:

“The president has long talked about his concerns about the power of social media platforms, including Twitter and others, to spread misinformation.”

Also coming up today

European stock markets are set for a rebound, after sliding on Monday on fears of new lockdowns in China.

Musk’s deal to buy Twitter helped lift Wall Street last night, with the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite rising 1.3%.

We’ve also got the latest UK public finances this morning, which show that government borrowing more than halved in the latest financial year but remained the third highest on record at nearly £152bn.

The agenda

  • 7am BST: UK public finances for March
  • 1.30pm BST: US durable goods orders for March
  • 2pm BST: US house price index
  • 3pm BST: US consumer confidence
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TikTok strikes again with its avocado sleep hack – but does it actually work?
T3
T3
Cher was ‘shocked’ to discover her legal name after birth certificate mix-up
Pop icon had gone for years without knowing what was written on her birth certificate
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
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