Risking economic poison for its own shareholders, Twitter is taking an imprudent stand against Elon Musk . Why?
Fear is the likely answer. Directors of the …
Risking economic poison for its own shareholders, Twitter is taking an imprudent stand against Elon Musk. Why? Fear is the likely answer. Directors of the board know that Musk will show them the door, as he should, for the incompetent way they have managed the world’s most powerful social media platform. Even the company’s founder Jack Dorsey who still sits on the board described it this weekend with the word, « dysfunction. » But perhaps it’s more complicated (and nefarious) than that. Maybe Twitter doesn’t want hidden algorithms to be exposed—computer formulas designed to diminish the prominence and frequency of tweets by conservatives. The company denies that it « shadow-bans » users, but the evidence persuades otherwise. Musk has stated that this material should be « open-sourced » or made available for public scrutiny. He advocates honesty and transparency in the name of fairness. Such a concept is anathema to Twitter which prefers to operate in the shadows. This would explain the company’s current panic. After establishing itself as the premier censorship enterprise in America, Twitter has now adopted what is derisively known as a « poison pill » strategy to foil Musk’s acquisition offer of $43 billion. His only real offense is a desire to rejuvenate the media platform to promote free speech, not stifle it. Meanwhile, the only thing the pill is managing to poison are the interests of the shareholders. Those same shareholders should now sue Twitter for embracing a plan that is both an illegitimate defensive mechanism and destructive in value. Instead of maximizing shareholder worth, the company’s board of directors seeks to dilute it while pretending that its stock owners will somehow benefit in the long run.
