Elon Musk buys 9.2% Twitter stake worth $2.9B despite recent criticism & past reservations

The world’s wealthiest man Elon Musk has purchased a massive 9.2% stake in Twitter Inc., a Securities and Exchange Commission 13G filing revealed on Monday. This comes weeks after the billionaire criticised the micro-blogging site for compromising on free speech and had flaunted the idea of launching his own social media. Interestingly, the share prices of Twitter have witnessed a steep climb of over 25% after reports of Musk buying Twitter stakes surfaced. According to CNBC, the tech mogul owns 7,34,86,938 shares which amount to over $2.89 billion and would increase with the increment in Twitter’s share price. What's more, is that Musk has now become the biggest outside shareholder in the company. 

'Is a new platform needed?' Musk questions

The news about Musk's ownership in Twitter comes as a surprise since he has raised questions about the site's free speech policy. Recently, he even conducted a Twitter poll wherein he asked users if Twitter strictly adheres to the principles of the right to expression and questioned if a new platform is needed. Following the poll, which showed that 70% of the 2,035,924 voters said 'no', the Tesla boss asked "What should be done" and stated that "Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy". 

Interestingly, one of Musk's followers asked if he is thinking of launching his own social media platform where free speech is a priority and there is no place for propaganda, the former said that he is giving "serious thought to it". This move can also be considered as Musk accepting the idea of his followers who suggested he either buy Twitter or build a new one. 

Musk is known to be a staunch promoter of fundamental rights including free speech, an example of which was seen when he refused to block Russian media houses on its Starlink satellite system citing freedom of expression. Musk had said that he was asked by some governments to block the broadcasting of Russian media on SpaceX's internet system but he said that won't happen "unless at gunpoint". At the same time, Musk has been known to hold the opinion that the craze towards social media, particularly from a research and development point of view is suboptimal and he has generally viewed his own efforts towards solving more traditional problems, like low-cost space travel, colonising space, building vast networks of underground transport networks, electric cars, advanced power generation and storage, global internet connectivity and others, as being more worthwhile.

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