Calling out @ElonMusk

There’s business and then there’s what’s right

Personal to Elon: you don’t know me, you’ve likely never even heard of me. That’s okay. I’m going to say this anyway. After you made your play to buy Twitter, I came back on the platform. And I bought some Twitter shares myself. Why?

I came back to Twitter in hopes of joining what could be a resurgence of free speech in big tech. Bluntly put, I was never all that into Twitter or social media at all for that matter. I’m still not enthralled with any of it. However I do see value in a platform where anyone can speak their mind in a few words. Now about my financial involvement.

Don’t get too excited. I bought ten shares. One would be a fool to think any significant financial gain could be made from this. I’d like to think I’m not that foolish. My purchase was principled. I was already an advocate of owning pieces of corporations in order to say a say. For the first time I put my money where my mouth was… in Twitter. In addition, while I admired your example, I was never all that thrilled to see Twitter being solely owned and controlled by any individual or group, including you and yours. Sorry, but I’m convinced the more of us who have skin in the game, the better chance we have of making it fair for all.

Of course my minuscule crumb is dwarfed by yours, but imagine if millions of my fellow citizens ponied up and bought their own crumbs. Eventually we could put them together for a piece large enough to be noticed. Should we band together, we could actually make an impact. That was my idea, for better or worse.

Now… what about you Elon? When you made your move you stated some lofty ideas. Ideas like promoting free speech and so forth. Was that all a ruse? Or did you mean it? If you meant it then what are you doing now? What happened to those ideals? To put it bluntly, you come across as a total fraud. Ironic isn’t it?

I do not doubt the folks at Twitter have not been forthcoming. Let’s face it, there’s a good chance they have fudged the books. I say let’s deal with it. Such actions are grounds for dismissal. We can wipe the slate, or the board clean. But we can only do this if you keep your skin in the game.

As far as the deal you are backing out of, I really do understand, to a point. You made an offer based on what you felt was a fair value for the company. What was that value based upon? Did you have access to the information you say is misleading when you devised your offer? If not then I would say your contention that they misled you holds no water. On the other hand, I cannot fathom someone making such a humongous offer without a great deal of due diligence. Thus, as a stockholder, I now wonder whether I and my fellow stockholders have cause for action against Twitter. If the price of the stock is inflated due to fraudulent records then I suspect so, though I am not a lawyer.

While you may or may not have cause for back out of the purchase offer, your actions have some disconcerting consequences. Least of all is the chance that Twitter may now feel free to revert to their draconian ways. All I’m asking is that you do not forget why you jumped into this quagmire to begin with, assuming your intentions were honorable.

To that end, I’d like to suggest a new strategy. It has been my own goal from the beginning, however I doubt I have the clout, not to mention the name recognition to breath life into it. Again, a platform such as Twitter should ideally be owned by millions of citizens, many who also use the platform. With your help, I believe this can be accomplished. Maybe it’s time to shift gears and change direction. So I’m asking you to embrace my idea and put your support behind it.

As for Twitter’s metrics, I don’t care. I don’t care about what they’ve done so far concerning a lot of things. What I do care about is the potential for Twitter becoming a sounding board for all who have something to say. In other words, a bastion of free speech in a high tech world of control freaks yearning for god-like powers.

So I’m calling you out Elon Musk. Show us you are the man you seem to be – someone who thinks outside the box and encourages others to stretch their imaginations and speak them without fear of reprisal. You’ve said you believe in free speech. Let’s make it happen.