Hours after Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired Twitter Inc. in a $44 billion dollar bid, left-liberals, both in India and across the globe, had a prolonged meltdown on the micro-blogging platform.
American journalist Anand Giridhardas had claimed, “What Elon Musk is doing is what plutocrats have been doing: using money to buy power and power to protect their money, taking control of media to rig the discourse and hedge against resentment, and branding themselves the solution to the very problem they are.”
Law Professor-turned-Islamist Khaled Beydoun inquired whether the Tesla CEO would reinstate the Twitter accounts of separatists in Indian Kashmir, given that he is a ‘free speech absolutist.’
Elon Musk champions free speech purity. If he buys Twitter, will he move to reinstate the accounts of activists in Kashmir, India and other places where #Twitter has collaborated with authoritarian governments to crack down on dissent?
— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) April 25, 2022
Contributing Editor at The Print, Shivam Vij, had tweeted, “Save Twitter from Elon Musk.”
Amnesty International suggested that Twitter had turned ‘toxic’ after the takeover of the platform by Elon Musk.
Berkley Professor Robert Reich claimed that Twitter’s acquisition by Elon Musk has nothing to do with the ‘freedom of others’. He alleged, “His goal is the freedom to wield enormous power without having to be accountable to laws and regulations, shareholders, or market competition—which is why he’s dead set on owning Twitter.”
Elon Musk’s real goal has nothing to do with the freedom of others. His goal is the freedom to wield enormous power without having to be accountable to laws and regulations, shareholders, or market competition—which is why he’s dead set on owning Twitter.https://t.co/mS9wYLOrGn
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) April 25, 2022
Libs of TikTok pointed out how a teacher fed anti-capitalist propaganda used his position to brainwash students.
Enrique Sanchez running for public office in Rhode Island had tweeted, “Of course I explained to my students in all five of my classes today why Elon Musk buying off Twitter is the worse thing that could have happened. No individual and especially wealthy elites should be given these types of opportunities to buy off social media platforms.”
Teacher at @CentralHSPvd and candidate for public office taught his students anti-capitalism propaganda about Elon Musk buying Twitter. @EnriqueForRI did you also teach them about other billionaires owning social media platforms and media sites? pic.twitter.com/G06XMyV5Ge
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 26, 2022
‘Chinese connections’ and other allegations
Reporter Melissa Chan insinuated that the acquisition of Twitter by the Tesla CEO will empower Chinese disinformation bots on the micro-blogging platform.
“Elon Musk has a Tesla factory in China and he wants to sell more cars there, as many China observers note. What happens if Beijing leans on him about say, an Uyghur or Hong Kong activist account? Or about Chinese disinformation bots leveraging this platform?” she had claimed.
Elon Musk has a Tesla factory in China and he wants to sell more cars there, as many China observers note. What happens if Beijing leans on him about say, a Uyghur or Hong Kong activist account? Or about Chinese disinformation bots leveraging this platform?
— Melissa Chan (@melissakchan) April 25, 2022
Podcast host, Brian Tyler Cohen, accused Elon Musk of ingenuity and prioritising Twitter over solving world hunger.
“Elon Musk told the United Nations he would give them $6 billion to end world hunger if they showed him a detailed plan of how they would use the money. They called his bluff and gave him their plan— and then they never got the money. Now he’s buying Twitter for $45 billion,” he claimed.
Elon Musk told the United Nations he would give them $6 billion to end world hunger if they showed him a detailed plan of how they would use the money. They called his bluff and gave him their plan— and then they never got the money. Now he’s buying Twitter for $45 billion.
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 25, 2022
Actor Jameela Jamil posted a tweet saying that she would no longer tweet after Elon Musk bought the social media company. “I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny. Best of luck,” Jamil said in a tweet but she has since been a subject of mockery on Twitter with users claiming that she is too much of a narcissist and attention-seeker to abandon Twitter.
Ah he got twitter. I would like this to be my what lies here as my last tweet. Just really *any* excuse to show pics of Barold. I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny. Best of luck. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fBDOuEYI3e
— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) April 25, 2022
Propaganda and narrative building
Several Indian propagandists, miffed by Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, went on to use the opportunity for political vendetta.
Shiv Sena MP, Priyanka Chaturvedi, claimed that Indians are worried about Musk while the country is allegedly suffering from huge unemployment.
“Majority of India’s 900 Million Workforce Stop Looking for Jobs. The labour participation rate dropped from 46% to 40% in five years. Only 9% of Indian women are employed or looking for jobs. Let this not bother you, Elon Musk buying Twitter is the most important outrage,” she claimed.
Majority of India’s 900 Million Workforce Stop Looking for Jobs
— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) April 26, 2022
– Labor participation rate dropped from 46% to 40% in five years
– Only 9% of Indian women are employed or looking for jobs
Let this not bother you, Elon Musk buying Twitter is the most important outrage.
Twitter user Rofl Gandhi 2.0 claimed, “Twitter doesn’t arrest people, Modi does. So free speech in India will be guaranteed only if Elon Musk buys Modi instead of Twitter. But unfortunately, he is already owned by a couple of other billionaires.” While the tweet might have been a sarcastic dig at PM Modi, it nevertheless reveals the perverse antipathy that left-wing trolls harbour for the nation’s Prime Minister and Indian businessmen that something as disconnected as the business deal of a social media giant is being used to further their petty political agenda that entails demonising Indian conglomerates who play a crucial role in powering India’s growth engine.
Twitter doesn’t arrest people, Modi does. So free speech in India will be guaranteed only if Elon Musk buys Modi instead of Twitter. But unfortunately he is already owned by couple of other billionaires. pic.twitter.com/39PgafQtwc
— Rofl Gandhi 2.0 🏹 (@RoflGandhi_) April 25, 2022
The prolonged meltdown of wokes on Twitter comes from the belief that their hegemony over ‘free speech’ would end after the takeover. The cabal, which actively censors individuals for not toeing their line of speech under the pretext of hate, is now threatened by their sudden loss of power. It is thus obvious for the disgruntled users to lament the ‘sudden collapse of a democratic platform’.
Elon Musk takes over Twitter Inc.
Elon Musk, who was already the largest individual shareholder of Twitter holding 9.2% of the company, had earlier stated that he had no faith in the current management and couldn’t fulfil Twitter’s true potential under them. He aimed to make the company private so that he could have full control over it and could direct Twitter to fulfil its full potential.
Twitter’s board had tried its best to resist Elon Musk’s takeover bid, including trying to trigger the poison pill strategy. However, the price Musk offered coupled with the mood of the majority of Twitter shareholders eventually forced the Twitter board’s hand.
Elon Musk, who is already the CEO of electric vehicle giant Tesla and SpaceX, co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI as well as the founder of The Boring Company, is now the owner of the social media giant Twitter.
Following the takeover, Twitter Inc. has locked changes to its source code to prevent disgruntled employees from making unauthorised changes to the platform.
Disclaimer: An earlier version of this report had a tweet by Richard Hanania commenting on Musk’s intellect citing that he doesn’t even have a master’s degree. We understand that it was a satirical post. The line between reality and satire has blurred so much that we often see The Babylone Bee’s articles proving to be prophecies for the likes of CNN and NYT. The error is regretted.
