Elon Musk has recently expressed his intention of creating a new social media platform.
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk further tweeted.
On Friday, he put out a Twitter poll asking users if they thought Twitter adhered to the principle of free speech. Over 70% of respondents voted “no”.
“The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully,” he further said, adding that “free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.”
In August 2018, Musk posted on Twitter that he might take Tesla private. At the time, observers simply saw it to annoy short-sellers, but the announcement soon gathered some pretty serious consequences sending investors scrambling, causing regulators to fine Tesla $20 million, and creating a class-action lawsuit.
Events like these kept rolling over till 2022. The tweet claimed that Musk could take Tesla private with a stock value of $420 per share as the CEO had “funding secured” to buy the shares from everyone who didn’t want to stay committed to the firm. This caused Tesla stocks to soar and then return to normal.
In the Tesla SEC filing, the company wrote that the commission issued a subpoena on November 16, 2021, because of another tweet by Musk, wherein he discussed plans to sell 10 percent of his stake in the company.
But federal regulators, who had been following the CEO’s comments on Twitter about his company’s finances for years apparently felt they had enough cause to investigate further. SEC and Tesla agreed on a settlement in 2019 that placed enumerated restrictions on Musk’s tweeting about specific company information but did not push for further sanctions.
But in February of 2022, the organization released a new subpoena. This might explain why Musk is so enthusiastic about creating a new platform.
