New revelations in the case of the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk. On Friday, September 30, the Court of Delaware published private exchanges between the billionaire and some of his friends, including influential businessmen. As BFMTV points out, the first transcriptions date from January 2022, but it is those from March that challenge. Fervent defender of freedom of expression, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX comments on the blocking of the Russian state channel RT in Europe, after the invasion of Ukraine. “I find their info pretty entertaining. There’s a lot of bullshit in it, but also good stuff. Freedom of speech is all the more important when it comes to someone you hate who talks nonsense to you “, launches Elon Musk to one of his friends.
On March 24, 2022, an SMS from one of his relatives reasoned as the trigger for the project to buy Twitter by the billionaire. “Can you buy Twitter and make it disappear?” asks this friend. A request to which Elon Musk responds: “Maybe redeem him and make sure he better respects freedom of expression?”
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Two days later, it is with the former leader of the social network, Jack Dorsey, that Elon Musk exchanges a few SMS. “You need a new platform, but not a company. That’s why I left,” explains the co-founder of Twitter, putting forward the idea of a social network without advertising to avoid interference “from advertisers and governments”. To which Elon Musk replies to be ready to help.
“Is Twitter dying?”
The next day, the CEO of Tesla integrates several Twitter executives into the conversation, including his new director Parag Agrawal. The following days, everyone exchanged ideas for the future of Twitter. But the discussions tense on April 9 when Elon Musk tweets: “Is Twitter dying?” A sentence that will be badly perceived by the leaders of the social network. “It is my responsibility to tell you that it does not help me to improve Twitter in the current context,” Parag Agrawal wrote to him. The billionaire then replies that he will not join the board of directors of the social network. “It’s a waste of time.”
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The question of fake accounts, at the origin of the withdrawal of the takeover offer of Twitter by Elon Musk will be addressed during these exchanges, even before the proposal to take over the social network by the billionaire. “Removing fake users will lead to catastrophic numbers,” he said on April 9. This will be followed by messages evoking the outlines of the takeover project, until June 17, 2022, i.e. one month after the announcement of the suspension of the operation and three weeks before the final withdrawal of the offer.