DALLAS — Elon Musk has finalized a deal to purchase Twitter for approximately $44 billion and turn the social media platform into a privately held company.
Hours after the sale was made public, Texas Governor Greg Abbott lobbied Musk in a tweet to do what he’s done with his other companies and move Twitter to Texas.
Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company are all owned by Musk and all headquartered in the Lone Star State.
Abbott’s office did not respond when asked if the governor had reached out or planned to reach out to Musk in any more formal way than a tweet.
No one from Twitter or Musk’s other companies responded to inquiries about whether a move to Texas has been discussed.
In a statement about the purchase, Musk said, "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
He said he would enhance Twitter by making algorithms open source and defeating spam, but the future of what the app will and won’t allow is unclear.
“Free speech on Twitter will be whatever Elon Musk thinks free speech is,” said Jared Schroeder, an associate professor of journalism at SMU.
Schroeder has published research on social media, ethics, and the first amendment.
Schroeder said Twitter has proven itself as a platform that plays an “outsized role” in diplomacy and democracy.
“He has now purchased a part of where democracy happens,” Schroeder said.
Musk seems to agree.
“My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilizations,” he said during a conversation with the head of TED Talks in mid-April.
Part of the conversation was recorded in Texas.
“A good sign as to whether there is free speech is – is someone you don’t like allowed to say something you don’t like?” Musk said.
Twitter currently has a list of rules for users.
“We’ll just have to see how much he changes it,” Schroeder said. “You know, he’s said a lot of things. The key is he won’t have to answer to anybody. It’s like he didn’t like how it was being run, so he just bought the house and now he will run the house.”