Elon the King Maker? How Musk May Reshuffle Twitter and Hold Influence Over Political Players
19:19 GMT 05.04.2022 (Updated: 12:56 GMT 14.04.2023)
© AP Photo / Matt Rourke
Subscribe
Entrepreneur, business magnate and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter to become the social media's top shareholder. Musk has long questioned Big Tech's conduct and policies. Will he shake up the platform?
"The best way of influencing a company's policies is to buy a stake in it," says Dr. Binoy Kampmark, senior lecturer at RMIT University, Melbourne. "The larger the stake, the better the prospects of changing policies. I am not a soothsayer on Musk's intentions, but this move is no accident."
Prior to buying Twitter stakes, Musk polled his over 80 million followers on the platform in March 2022, asking them if they believe Twitter "rigorously adheres" to the concept of free speech. Over 70% of his followers said "no." After that, the magnate expressed his desire to start his own media platform.
"When the time comes, there is no reason why Musk will not establish another babbling digital platform to further some childish desire," notes Kampmark. "But why create a new mechanism or platform when you already have it, readymade, tested and easily bought?"
Having become Twitter's largest shareholder, Musk came up with yet another poll on 5 April, asking netizens whether they want an edit button. Many Twitter users have been asking for an edit button for years, according to Engadget. The poll is not being taken lightly, as Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has signaled that it would have important consequences. Parag Agrawal replaced Jack Dorsey after the latter resigned in November. According to Bloomberg, Agrawal vowed to "increase accountability, make decisions faster and to improve product execution." His major goal is to increase annual revenue to $7.5 billion and reach 315 million daily users by the end of 2023. Apparently, Agrawal and Musk are ready for some change for the sake of rapid growth.
"A lot of what Elon Musk does is economically motivated, and I don't think he would invest in this company to lose money," says Charles M. Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "Nobody would, who has a lot of money to invest. But I think obviously with him, there's a lot more going on than sometimes seems than simply an investment strategy. So my guess is he will be a pretty vocal shareholder and with his stake and his following, I would assume he'll have quite a bit of influence."
Elson has drawn attention to the fact that Twitter Inc. stock went up after Musk's investment. According to Bloomberg, Twitter shares surged as much as 27% while its stake is now worth about $2.89 billion.
"My bet would be that [Musk is] trying to force a change in policy and force some kind of an increase in the stock price," says the academic. "That's why he would have invested to begin with."
Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel also does not rule out that Musk might try to change Twitter's strategy "from within":
"Musk has agreed to limit his stake well under control and to serve on the board of directors of Twitter," Ortel says. "Board service will require his precious time but give him opportunities to showcase his considerable talents and influence. If those of us who share critical views of Twitter's unwise and unjust intolerance are lucky, Musk may succeed in reforming Twitter from within."
CEO Elon Musk departs from the justice center in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Testifying for a second day, Musk pushed back again Tuesday against a lawsuit that blames him for engineering Tesla’s 2016 acquisition of a financially precarious company called SolarCity that was marred by conflicts of interest and never generated the profits Musk insisted it would.
© AP Photo / Matt Rourke
Given that Donald Trump once masterfully exploited the Twitter platform to play politics, one might wonder whether Musk is considering a political career too.
"Who knows?" says Elson. "Indeed, if politics is name recognition, [Musk] certainly has it. Of course, Donald Trump was able to achieve both. So who knows? He's out of surprises."
According to Kampmark, Musk has already become a "political figure" despite not formally entering politics. "There are social intentions in his moves, but these come with political effects," the senior lecturer says, adding that "vanity is incurable" and that it is good to have a social media platform ready to do one's political bidding.
Even though Elon Musk is not eligible to be US president or vice president due to the fact that he was born to foreign parents outside the United States, he can certainly hold influence over many actors in the system, according to Ortel.
"As a guess, he will play king and queen maker for decades to come but not, himself, hold political office," the Wall Street analyst predicts.
