The showdown between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter’s leadership shows the hard left will go to extreme lengths to make sure it maintains supremacy over online political discourse. Last week, it was revealed Twitter’s board of directors would use a “poison pill” to prevent Musk from buying the company. This means they would lower the value of Twitter’s shares so that other shareholders can buy more if Musk buys more than a 15 percent interest in the company.
CNBC reported:
Under the new structure, if any person or group acquires beneficial ownership of at least 15% of Twitter’s outstanding common stock without the board’s approval, other shareholders will be allowed to purchase additional shares at a discount.
The plan is set to expire on April 14, 2023.
Such a move is a common way to fend off a potential hostile takeover by diluting the stake of the entity eying the takeover.
Twitter’s board is not only willing to devalue its shares, it ready to face possible legal troubles as well. Boards have a fiduciary duty to act in ways that are best for shareholders. Rejecting Musk’s offer of $54 per share, which is 38 percent more than what the company’s stock is currently worth, is not exactly the best way to benefit its owners. Indeed, journalist Jonathan Turley pointed out:
Another problem is that Twitter long sought a private buyer under former CEO Jack Dorsey. If Musk increases his bid closer to $60, the board could face liability in putting its interests ahead of the company’s shareholders.
While speaking at a TED event in Vancouver, Canada last week, Musk explained that his motivation for buying Twitter is not about making a profit, but about promoting free speech and reducing the “civilizational risk” resulting from the company’s one-sided censorship practices.
“It’s just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law,” Musk said.
He argued that Twitter’s policies “should match the laws of the country” and indicated he would support certain restrictions on speech like incitement to violence or crying “fire” in a movie theater. He continued:
“But going beyond that and having it be unclear who’s making what changes to where, having tweets mysteriously be promoted and demoted with no insight into what’s going on, having a black box algorithm promote some things and not other things, I think this can be quite dangerous.”
Unfortunately, Twitter, along with other Big Tech companies, does not share Musk’s views on free speech. Over the years, it has diminished conservative voices on its platform while allowing progressives to get away with violating its terms and conditions. It has suspended or banned users for expressing right-leaning views on global warming, gender identity, the COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccines. It even suspended an account called Libs of Tik Tok for “hateful conduct,” which was particularly odd because the account only reposted videos that leftists had already published on various platforms.
The company also tried to influence the 2020 presidential election by suppressing a bombshell story about Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, and his shady foreign business ties. It has become clear the company’s leadership is motivated more by politics than by profit.
Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agrawal blatantly dismissed the idea of preserving free speech on its platform. When asked about the issue, he said the company is “not to be bound by the First Amendment” and that it would regulate content as “reflective of things that we believe lead to a healthier public conversation.”
We know what that means, right?
The translation: “We will make sure progressive views are promoted while conservative opinions are suppressed as much as possible.”
The extent to which leftists like the ones running Twitter are willing to go to curtail speech with which they disagree further demonstrates that the idea of conversation and debate is anathema to them. They are terrified at the possibility of a level playing field with their political opposition and will do anything to maintain their edge. They are literally willing to shoot themselves in the foot if it means they can continue stacking the deck in their favor.
Musk’s bid to buy Twitter will likely fall through. But if this situation has shown us anything, it is that these progressive true believers will stop at nothing to make sure their opposition does not have as much of a voice as the left. Perhaps they are not as confident in their ideas as they would have us believe?
