What Elon Musk's Twitter Acquisition Could Mean for Users and Employees

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2022

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Twitter has reached a deal to sell the company to tech mogul Elon Musk for about $44 billion, valuing the company at $54.20 a share. If the sale goes through, Musk vows to make changes to the platform, most notably loosening speech guidelines and making Twitter’s algorithms open source. In a statement on Monday, Musk said 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.” Musk’s acquisition of the platform poses many questions around free speech, and some experts have predicted that Musk’s proposed changes could make it easier for spam, misinformation, and illicit content to spread. We’ll talk about what Twitter could look like under Musk’s ownership and what it means for its users and employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:33.7	From KQED.
0:37.4	You are listening to Forum.
0:39.4	I'm Mina Kim.
0:40.9	And this hour, we are looking at Twitter.
0:44.4	And Elon Musk, who has managed to put together a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
0:53.0	Whether you're on Twitter or not, things that are said on the social media platform can influence our culture of politics and power. And we want to hear your reaction to Twitter agreeing to sell the company to Musk or what questions it raises for you. You can call us at 866-736-
1:10.0	Again, 866-733-6786. You can post your thoughts on Twitter,
1:16.0	Facebook, or Instagram. You can email us forum at kQED.org. And joining me now is Bobby Allen,
1:24.1	a technology reporter for NPR. Bobby, thanks so much for being with us. Yeah, thanks for having me.
1:30.1	And first, just remind us of the nuts and bolts of this deal, which still requires
1:34.9	shareholder and regulatory approval, but what's on paper, basically? Yeah, so Elon will be taking
1:42.1	over the company, and like you said, we do have some approvals that we have to get through.
1:46.7	And, you know, he is putting a third of his Tesla stock.
1:50.6	You know, he's sort of leveraging that as a way to take the company over.
1:54.8	His plans, you know, some of them are kind of murky, but he has provided some clues as to what he hopes to do.
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