Elon Musk and his incessant drama: Why it means bad news for Twitter in every possible way

Ever since it was agreed upon that Elon Musk would be allowed to buy Twitter for $44 billion, the billionaire has been on a rampage. From criticising the platform’s past decisions to trolling top lawyer Vijaya Gadde, it looks like Musk is doing everything he can to veto the deal. If the deal is terminated, Musk has to pay up $1 billion.

He still saves $43 billion and can always flex that he COULD HAVE BOUGHT Twitter, but he didn’t. Maybe that won’t be such a bad thing for the platform, if one thinks about it.

Employees initially breathed a sigh of relief when CEO Parag Agrawal announced that Musk was not joining the Twitter board, but there was worse coming up. If the deal goes through, Musk will serve as interim CEO before further decisions are made.

He has already talked about wanting to kill the spam bots, mentioned that he is against permanent bans on the platform prompting many to believe that Donald Trump would mark his comeback, and he’s been yelling about free speech forever. The same was confirmed by Musk when he categorically pointed out that banning Trump was 'morally wrong', and that once the takeover is complete, he would reverse the ban.

Also Read: Elon Musk says Twitter deal is on hold at 3AM Pacific Time: What the hell is going on

On May 12, two top Twitter executives exited the company and one of them tweeted that they were asked to leave, contrary to the narrative being shared by Agrawal and the company.

Agrawal has mentioned that his role is not in jeopardy, but at this point anything and everything seems probable.

Musk is Twitter’s one of most prolific users. There are a lot of people out there, including ex-CEO Jack Dorsey, who feel that Musk could be a good thing for the platform. Sure, free speech sounds great, but if free speech means allowing hate speech and abuse, particularly from a certain political faction, there is a problem. Musk, through a bunch of random retweets and tweets has more or less established how he stands, politically, and it is not good news.

Also Read: Parag Agrawal fires Twitter's head of product and revenue, freezes hiring

Any company owner or CEO is allowed to have his/her/their political affiliations out in the open, but as Twitter’s owner and/or interim CEO, a platform that is built on multiple voices, expression, news dissemination and more - it is of utmost importance that you do not take sides. Musk has been taking sides for years now.

Many people are of the opinion that since Musk has done great with Tesla, SpaceX, and even The Boring Company, he’s do well for Twitter. But Twitter has nothing in common with Tesla, SpaceX, or The Boring Company. It’s easy to deal with hardware, it is almost a no-brainer. But dealing with software that controls and accommodates voices of millions is a whole different ballgame and Musk is not suited for it.

Musk’s constant shitposting and criticism is also steadily chipping away at everything Twitter stands for. The platform has more credibility than other popular social media platforms and has been instrumental for journalists, politicians, change makers, and common users who have been using it to make their voices heard and also to seek the help, support they need. Musk with all his volatility and the air that he takes nothing seriously, will extensively damage Twitter’s reputation. It would be hard to turn to platform whose CEO wants to turn up at meetings ‘lit’.

Also Read: ‘This is the way’: Jack Dorsey on Elon Musk’s chronological tweets suggestion