Elon Musk may be the proud owner of Twitter, but he isn’t looking to kick his haters off of the platform after spending $43 billion on it; in fact, he’s actually urging his critics to consider sticking around, despite his acquisition earlier today.
“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” the South African-born entrepreneur wrote this morning, earning him an impressive two million likes and counting.
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Just a few hours later, Musk shared a screenshot of a quote from himself, which has garnered nearly as much attention as his previous post. “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” he said.
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans.”
The 50-year-old went on to describe the website as something that holds “tremendous potential,” adding that he is “[looking] forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
Despite Musk’s promises, users still have their fears about his future plans, and they haven’t held back in expressing them. “I hope you won’t become a platform for spreading misinformation as that’s not what free speech means,” one person said.
“An African American owner of the largest social media company on Earth. This is historic,” another person celebrated. Check out more reactions to Elon Musk’s tweets below, and let us know what your thoughts are down in the comment section.