African American billionaire Elon Musk has joined Twitter’s board today, according to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, after making headlines yesterday by buying 9.2% of the company for $3.5 billion.
Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, had previously polled his Twitter followers to ask whether they believed Twitter followed the First Amendment.
When his followers voted no, he asked what should be done. Many assumed Musk was considering founding his own social media company, and were surprised to see him become Twitter’s largest single shareholder.
“I’m excited to share that we’re appointing [Musk] to our board,” wrote still-new Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who took over for Twitter founder Jack Dorsey last year.
Agrawal called Musk “a passionate believer” in Twitter, but also an “intense critic of the service,” and suggested his presence on the board will “make us stronger in the long-term.”
He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
There have been reports that Twitter employees are very upset that Musk may begin exerting influence on the company, and this may be illustrated by another of Agrawal’s tweets.
When Musk launched another poll – this time asking if users want an “edit button” to fix typos and other errors in tweets after they’ve been published – Agrawal suggested that Twitter’s policies may now be decided by Musk and his followers.
“The consequences of this poll will be important,” wrote Agrawal. “Please vote carefully.”
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully. https://t.co/UDJIvznALB
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
Newsmax reported that Musk will be on the Board of Directors until at least 2024. “Musk will serve as a Class II director,” the outlet explained, “with the term expiring at Twitter’s 2024 annual meeting of stockholders.”
Twitter has been accused of trampling on the First Amendment by conservatives, who have been steadily banned by the platform since at least 2016, when conservative influencer Milo Yiannopoulos and a score of other popular Trump supporters were banned by the platform.
By 2020, many of the most popular conservatives from 2016 were banned. In January of 2021, Twitter began an unprecedented wave of censorship that peaked with the permanent ban of 45th President Donald Trump from the platform.
Most recently, Twitter censored an unknown number of high profile conservatives, including Christian satire site The Babylon Bee, for referring to transgender Admiral Rachel Levine a “man” or “Man of the Year.”
