No one thought that he would do it. No one believed that he would actually go through with it. Some criticized him for the excessive amount of money that he was willing to spend on purchasing Twitter, but the loveable screwball Elon Musk finally purchased Twitter after he offered to buy it for $44 million nearly a year prior.
The story of Musk’s purchase of Twitter has been nothing but hilarity. When Twitter started removing Right Wing commentators, Conservative talking heads argued that this was a violation of free speech. Left-Wing talking heads hit back by claiming that Twitter is a private company and it can do as it wishes. After Musk purchased the platform, those who defended Twitter by claiming that it was a private company are now calling for the company to be publicly owned instead of privately owned. It seems rather hypocritical, although hypocrisy is nothing new in the world of Twitter.
Following the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump, former President of the United States who was famous for his tweets was banned from the platform. As everyone knows, some have blamed Trump for inciting the violent chaos at the Capitol and Twitter used this reasoning in their explanation of Trump’s permanent ban. Western social media companies have been deleting and censoring content that they deem to be misleading or extremist, Twitter being among them and they have been doing a poor job at it. People have been banned from Twitter for Covid skepticism, and yet Occupy Democrats remain on the platform with a verified checkmark, even though their specialty is yellow journalism.
If we were to forget Twitter’s hypocrisy for a minute, while defenders of pre-Musk Twitter stated that Twitter does not have to uphold the First Amendment as it is a private company, they often spoke of Twitter as a public square for all to speak their minds. Once Musk bought Twitter, the same people could not bear having to lose their echo chamber and share this public square with Right-Wing voices. Marina Sirtis, who is best known for her role as Troi on “Star Trek,” announced her departure from the platform, but stayed a few days to “say goodbye.”
All in all, it is just one big joke. Twitter is getting what it deserves right now. If it truly is a public forum, then it must be open to all voices. But if people are really going to get themselves worked up over social media, then they need to step outside for some fresh air. In the end, it is no big deal and it is not the end of the world.
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