[Safiya Noble,Rashad Robinson] Under Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, who will protect users?
Korea HeraldMAR 19 2022
Report: Musk Considering Taking Twitter Public Again
Image copyright: Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock [via The Guardian]
The Spin
Narrative A
Musk is a billionaire, but he's also a man of the people as proven by his plan to monetize Twitter by only charging those who can afford to pay. By the time he takes Twitter public again, his bastion of free speech will be profitable and no one will want to change it back to its restrictive past.
Narrative B
Musk says he's pursuing Twitter to restore the principles of free speech to the platform, but his promising of a public offering to potential investors in three years, along with his plans to charge some people for using the site, seem to indicate he's more likely pursuing profits over anything else.
Narrative C
A three-year timeline to take Twitter public again may be overly optimistic. Private-equity firms usually take at least five years to restructure a company before taking it public once more, and Musk's prior track record of missing production deadlines is a good indication that this could take longer than estimated.