OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Twitter announced that it has no plans to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s permanently suspended account.
Soon after Tesla CEO Elon Musk became the largest shareholder of Twitter, some conservatives urged him to restore Trump’s account on the left-leaning social media platform.
In an announcement, Twitter poured cold water on that.
“Twitter is committed to impartiality in the development and enforcement of its policies and rules,” the company told the Daily Mail.
“Our policy decisions are not determined by the Board or shareholders, and we have no plans to reverse any policy decisions. As always our Board plays an important advisory and feedback role across the entirety of our service. Our day-to-day operations and decisions are made by Twitter management and employees,” the company added.
Musk, who was appointed as a board member this week, asked users if they want to see the platform add an “edit” button.
Musk first tweeted, “Oh hi lol,” to his 80.4 million followers, which racked up more than 900,000 likes by publication time.
He then put up a poll that asked, “Do you want an edit button?” the poll read, with the options intentionally misspelled as “yse” and “on.”
An edit button is something that many users on the left-wing platform have striven for.
Do you want an edit button?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
The CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, took to the platform on Monday to announce that the Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink CEO became the largest shareholder in the company and that he would be added to its board of directors.
“I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board,” he said in a tweet thread.
“He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!” he said.
He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
Musk responded to the tweets: “Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”
Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
Musk bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the largest shareholder of the left-leaning social media platform.
“Musk owns 73.5 million Twitter shares, valuing his passive stake in the company at up to $2.9 billion based on the stock’s Friday close. The shares are held by the Elon Musk Revocable Trust,” Newsmax reported.
“Musk, a prolific user of Twitter, has over 80 million followers on the site since joining in 2009 and has used the platform to make several announcements, including teasing a go-private deal for Tesla that landed him in regulatory scrutiny. He, however, has been critical of the social media platform and its policies of late and has said the company is undermining democracy by failing to adhere to free speech principles,” the report noted further.
