Tonight, the world’s richest man, E.M is set to control one of the most influential social media platforms and both lawmakers and Wall Streets are waiting to see what happened next. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO worth two hundred and sixty-eight billion dollars and now he will take Twitter private. The outspoken billionaire says the platform isn’t living up to its potential as a place for free speech. Some are celebrating the deal; others are concerned a hands-off approach to content will make Twitter a haven for disinformation and hate speech. Musk has used the platform to bully critics and reporters who have written articles about him or his companies. The network has nearly four hundred million users, some are not on Twitter, D.T. A little over a year ago, the former President was banned from the site but even with new ownership, T told Fox news he would not rejoin and instead stick with his own social media platform.

It was a rocky courtship with threats and counter-threats. But if this deal ultimately goes through, E.M will have completely control of a huge social media platform already entrenched in a debate over free speech. It took eleven days before Twitter’s board unanimously approved billionaire E.M’s bid for the company. And E.M own Twitter could significantly different with fewer ads, less content oversight and some type of edit button. Owning Twitter will also give him the power to address one of his criticisms of the social media platform – its limits on free speech, which he addressed in his recent Ted Talk. M’s initial offer was met with resistance, Twitter even voted to even adopt what’s called a poison pill to prevent M from gaining a majority stake. But proof of financing and no better offers led to a deal.

:::tip haven

• : a place offering favorable opportunities or conditions. 避难所，安全港

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:::tip courtship

• : the act, process, or period of courting. 追求，求偶

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