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Elon Musk Continues To Dismantle Parts Of Twitter

Photo of Martin Walsh Martin WalshNovember 28, 2022
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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.

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New Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been making moves since becoming “the sole director” of Twitter. Musk has disbanded the disband the social media company’s board of directors, taken action to limit employees’ power, and looked into alleged censorship against certain political figures.

“Twitter’s board of directors was dissolved following Elon Musk’s takeover of the company, according to a securities filing on Monday. The company filing states that all previous members of Twitter’s board, including recently ousted CEO Parag Agrawal and chairman Bret Taylor, are no longer directors ‘in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement,'” CNN reported.

“Musk, according to the filing, became ‘the sole director of Twitter.’ The move, while unsurprising, highlights how the world’s richest man has quickly cemented his control over one of the world’s most influential platforms, with few if any checks on his power over the company. Almost immediately after Musk completed his $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter, Musk terminated at least four of its top executives, including Agrawal,” the report added.

Musk also took action to limit the ability of Twitter employees to moderate content and enforce that platform’s often criticized rules.

Bloomberg News reported that “most” of Twitter’s Trust and Safety team is “unable to alter or penalize accounts that break rules around misleading information, offensive posts and hate speech,” except for circumstances in which real-world harm could happen if action is not taken.

Musk went viral over the weekend when he responded to a tweet from far-left Hollywood actress Alyssa Milano after she tweeted that she had traded in her Tesla for a Volkswagen electric vehicle in protest against Musk.

“I gave back my Tesla,” Milano said. “I bought the VW ev. I love it. I’m not sure how advertisers can buy space on Twitter. Publicly traded company’s products being pushed in alignment with hate and white supremacy doesn’t seem to be a winning business model.”

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“Volkswagen was literally founded by the Nazi’s and Hitler,” the Hodge Twins said, to which Musk responded with the 100 emoji and laughing emoji.

“Wait till you learn who founded Volkswagen!” Political strategist Pete D’Abrosca said.

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But Musk has not been in the habit of making many friends in recent times.

Musk has given his stamp of approval for one Republican candidate in the next presidential election as he tore into the administration of President Joe Biden.

It started when Tim Young shared a story and captioned it “It’s been a week since @elonmusk brought Trump back… and without him even tweeting once… The left can’t handle it.”

That set off a firestorm of tweets by Musk who opined on the former president not tweeting and on who he would vote for in 2024.

“I’m fine with Trump not tweeting. The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service. Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America,” he said.

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“As a reminder, I was a significant supporter of the Obama-Biden presidency and (reluctantly) voted for Biden over Trump.

“But freedom of speech is the bedrock of a strong democracy and must take precedence. My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far,” he said.

In another tweet a Twitter user said “Would you support Ron DeSantis in 2024, Elon?” to which Musk responded “Yes” and that sent DeSantis’ name straight to the trending topics on Twitter.

“But Twitter as a platform must be fair to all,” he said.

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Photo of Martin Walsh Martin WalshNovember 28, 2022