Elon Musk has completed the acquisition of Twitter, saying the deal will help humanity.
The Pretoria-born billionaire concluded the acquisition of the microblogging platform ahead of the court mandated deadline of today after squabbling for weeks.
Bickering between Twitter and Musk came after the Tesla CEO made an about turn from an initial agreement to acquire the global social networking platform, leading to a courtroom showdown.
Trial judge then ordered the matter be stayed until 28 October, to allow Musk and Twitter conclude takeover agreement reached in April.
Yesterday, Musk announced to Twitter advertisers that the agreement had been reached between the parties.
He wrote: “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”
Musk cautioned in his letter that “there is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society”.
“In relentless pursuit of clicks, much of the traditional media has fuelled and catered those polarised extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.”
As a result of this, he said that’s why he bought Twitter: “I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognising that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility.”
That said, he added: “Twitter cannot become a free-for-all hells cape, where anything can be said with no consequences! In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.”
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