It’s on. Elon Musk has formally filed to kill his personal Twitter acquisition, and Twitter is looking his bluff. They’ll see Musk in courtroom. And whereas it’s solely going to get messier from right here, one necessary verdict has already been rendered by Elon Musk himself: he doesn’t have what it takes to run Twitter. And that’s a damning blow to his personal central mythology.
We’ll have a look at the specifics of Musk’s formal SEC submitting in a minute, however first it’s necessary to recollect what he’s mentioned in regards to the deal and why he needed to do it within the first place. It’s not just like the world compelled the acquisition of a comparatively small social community on the world’s richest man. And Musk’s conduct surrounding the deal has been marked by numerous apparent troll conduct. An affordable individual would conclude he was by no means critical about it to start with, which is already resulting in numerous Musk stans and Twitter haters divining a 4D-chess narrative that makes his blunder appear intentional. However.
There are some issues Musk mentioned within the frenzy of the Twitter takeover that may’t be ignored. That’s as a result of they strike on the coronary heart of what constructed his authentic status: as a visionary, a daring industrialist, a futurist, and possibly even the man who would clear up local weather change and multi-planetary civilization. Positive, these days he works tirelessly to draw an enormous base of social reactionaries and numerous right-wingers who care extra about his trolling than the missions of SpaceX or Tesla. However Musk’s actual credibility — if he ever had any — was being the face of genuinely enormous and bold efforts to alter the world and make it higher.
He in all probability didn’t have to, however he introduced that very same world-saving vitality to the Twitter deal:
- Musk mentioned he was motivated by the truth that Twitter had change into a “de facto city sq.” and that it’s “actually necessary that folks have each the truth and the notion that they’re capable of converse freely.” (He talked about “free speech” lots throughout this time.)
- Talking at a TED convention, Musk mentioned the deal is just not a solution to make cash. A few of his precise phrases: “it’s about the way forward for civilization, however you don’t care in regards to the economics in any respect.”
- Later, talking internally to staff of Twitter, Musk mentioned “I need Twitter to contribute to a greater, long-lasting civilization the place we higher perceive the character of actuality.”
- Musk: “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I’ll unlock it.”
These statements stand out above all the things else as a result of (a) issues which are necessary to the way forward for human life should not belongings you usually troll folks about, and (b) that ought to be very true in case you are Elon Musk, who has spent his whole trendy profession since Tesla cultivating the concept he’s on a mission to save lots of the way forward for humanity and unfold civilization throughout the celebrities. Does he tweet dumb memes lots? Sure. Did he ship a automobile into house as a joke? Positive. However the missions of his corporations are lifeless critical. Tesla’s mission is “to speed up the world’s transition to sustainable vitality.” Neuralink desires to construct gadgets that assist folks with paralysis to “regain independence.” And SpaceX? That’s about nothing lower than “enabling folks to stay on different planets.”
So: Musk has deliberately spent his profession leaning into a few of the world’s most difficult-to-solve issues. He provides a number of keynotes, throws massive concepts on the board, and makes a number of guarantees. By the way, this marketing campaign to save lots of the world earned him one of many largest and most energetic fanbases on Twitter. And let’s be actual: the person likes to tweet. The one individual on the earth who would possibly love tweeting greater than Elon Musk has been banned from the platform and impeached twice by the US Congress.
However bear in mind: Musk didn’t say “I wish to purchase Twitter as a result of I really like tweeting and I command a military of customers right here.” He mentioned Twitter was necessary to the way forward for human civilization. And so, spiritually, the deal joined the ranks of the Teslas and the SpaceXs of the world.
What sort of issues would stop this man from unlocking Twitter’s true potential? To assist steer it and, alongside along with his different corporations, assist humanity flourish sooner or later? He solely actually makes two assertions in his SEC submitting:
- Twitter gained’t give him knowledge obligatory for him to determine what number of spam bots are on the platform.
- Twitter fired some folks and misplaced some executives.
That is weak crybaby stuff.
Musk has been happening in regards to the alleged bot situation for some time, even entering into public beefs with the CEO of Twitter about it. I’m not going to unpack this complete spat — the Delaware Court of Chancery is about to look at that in some element — however the TL;DR is that Musk desires to tank an enormous deal over an issue identified to each social media firm on the planet, who’ve all devoted huge quantities of assets towards fixing over a number of many years. It’s only a basically unserious place from a man who’s keen to resolve world-shaking issues like local weather change
However let’s assume only for enjoyable that Musk is correct. After he began the deal and regarded underneath the hood and laid out his plans for Twitter’s employees, he found Twitter’s bot inhabitants is extra like 20% than 5%. So what? What’s a variety of 90 million customers when TikTok and Fb are forward of you by billions? In case your place is that Mark Zuckerberg is an unelected tyrant of speech, how is abandoning Twitter going that will help you take him on? And why would you argue in your SEC submitting that income from energetic customers is at stake? That doesn’t sound like “not caring in regards to the economics in any respect.” That feels like solely caring in regards to the economics.
And as for blowing the deal as a result of just a few Twitter execs fired employees whereas persevering with to function usually and roll out new options (hello, co-tweeting!) — get actual. You’re shopping for Twitter for $44 billion. It’s yours now. You possibly can clear home if you wish to and proper or reverse the entire ill-advised selections that introduced the platform inside your sights initially. No one will cease you! The SEC couldn’t even get you to cease tweeting!
There are a lot of attainable theories for why Musk put himself, Twitter, and the world via this charade. However in the long run, Musk wrote a examine his fable couldn’t money.
We’re left with two potentialities. Both Musk doesn’t assume he can do the job he promised at Twitter, and he’s not the world-changing pressure he’s been made out to be. Or, he was mendacity in regards to the sorts of lofty beliefs and visions that constructed his corporations and his picture.
What sort of man trolls the world about a greater future?