There’s been a flurry of activity at Twitter this week as exocentric billionaire Elon Musk bought enough shares to make him the largest single investor on Monday, and Tuesday saw him join the company’s board of directors with the promise of “significant improvements” on the way. But while conservatives and libertarians rejoiced, CNN’s Brian Stelter was busy on his CNN+ show, Reliable Sources Daily stoking the “fear” and “weariness” people on the left had about the situation.
After news of Musk’s acquisition of shares broke, Stelter brought on CNN Business writers Clare Duffy and Sara O’Brien to discuss. According to Stelter, there’s “fear I think sometimes or weariness” with this notion of “so here’s the richest man on the planet who just bought a big chunk of one of our most important communications tools.”
To seemingly complete his cartoon of Musk as a movie villain, Stelter noted Musk is “one of the largest owners of satellites in the world.” “So, he’s incredibly powerful,” he warned as he showed a trepidation “to use the word ‘strange’ when talking about Elon Musk[.]”
Duffy and Stelter shared a laugh about Musk’s “colorful history” with Twitter and his tweeting:
DUFFY: I mean; he does have a very colorful history.
STELTER: He’s out tweeting in Berlin about nightclubs. Yeah.
DUFFY: Yeah, colorful history on Twitter in particular.
STELTER: Colorful history.
“I think the potential for him to make significant changes there is big,” Duffy said. “It’s definitely there. Yeah,” Stelter agreed.
And with Musk joining Twitter’s board of directors, Stelter seemed to be a bit concerned by a tweet where the billionaire said he was “Looking forward to working with Parag and the Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months.”
Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
“What do you think those ‘significant improvements to Twitter’ are going to be,” he asked Alex Heath, senior reporter for The Verge. After sharing a laugh about Heath saying he had “no idea,” Heath scoffed at Musk’s desire to have Twitter “adhere to principles of free speech”:
I mean, Elon has talked about Twitter needs to adhere to principles of free speech more, but what does that mean? Right? Elon has arguably pushed the boundaries of what a public figure can tweet more than anyone. So, if there’s anyone who’s actually benefitted from Twitter’s kind of lax content moderation policies over the years it’s Elon. So, I’m not really sure what he wants.
“Lax content moderation” on Twitter? What? This is the company that conducted a Soviet-style purge of the Hunter Biden laptop story that was falsely labeled “Russian misinformation.” People were banned for simply sharing the New York Post story breaking the bombshell. And Stelter has still not addressed it on any of his shows.
Citing Heath’s reporting on Twitter releasing a statement saying “Our policy decisions are not determined by the board or shareholders,” Stelter suggested, “it sounds like what Twitter’s trying to communicate right now is, Elon Musk isn’t going to be allowed to come in and rewrite the rules.”
Heath agreed but thought Musk brought benefits to the table since he’s “an engineering CEO”:
Twitter could actually use a shot in the arm here in terms of shipping code faster, taking bigger risks with what it does to the actual product. And Elon joining the board, he uses the product more than anyone. He’s definitely the most influential member of the board who actually uses Twitter now.
So, he could benefit them actually to have someone who’s a power-user on the platform.
“That’s a great point: it is important to have board members who actually use the app, use the product,” Stelter agreed.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN+’s Reliable Sources Daily
April 4, 2022(…)
BRIAN STELTER: There’s interest in billionaires. There’s celebration of the Musk. There’s also fear I think sometimes, or weariness of, “okay, so here’s the richest man on the planet who just bought a big chunk of one of our most important communications tools.” And as one of the earlier programs today, Go There pointed out: he’s also like one of the largest owners of satellites in the world. So, he’s incredibly powerful, incredibly – I don’t know, am I allowed to use the word ‘strange’ when talking about Elon Musk?
CLARE DUFFY: I mean; he does have a very colorful history.
STELTER: He’s out tweeting in Berlin about nightclubs. Yeah.
DUFFY: Yeah, colorful history on Twitter in particular.
STELTER: Colorful history.
DUFFY: You know, in 2018, the SEC charged him with fraud. And as part of his settlement agreement, he had to agree to have Tesla executives review all of his tweets about Tesla. So, you know, I think he certainly has a complicated history with Twitter, he has a huge following on Twitter, and so, I think the potential for him to make significant changes there is big.
STELTER: It’s definitely there. Yeah.
(…)
April 5, 2022
STELTER: Big headline of the day, Elon Musk joining the Twitter board of directors. Everyone wondering what’s that going to mean. Here’s the statement from Elon and from the Twitter CEO. They’re saying they’re excited; this is going to be a journey. Here’s Musk saying, “Looking forward to working with Parag and the Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months.”
So, before we get to your breaking news, what do you think those “significant improvements to Twitter” are going to be?
ALEX HEATH: Brian, I have no idea. And I’m not sure Twitter does either--
STELTER: That’s the best answer on TV. I love that. That’s so honest. We have no idea.
HEATH: I mean, Elon has talked about Twitter needs to adhere to principles of free speech more, but what does that mean? Right? Elon has arguably pushed the boundaries of what a public figure can tweet more than anyone. So, if there’s anyone who’s actually benefitted from Twitter’s kind of lax content moderation policies over the years it’s Elon. So, I’m not really sure what he wants.
STELTER: Here’s what you just posted. This is from Twitter today saying, “Our policy decisions are not determined by the board or shareholders.” So, it sounds like what Twitter’s trying to communicate right now is, Elon Musk isn’t going to be allowed to come in and rewrite the rules.
HEATH: That’s what they’re trying to say. I mean, they obviously don’t want it to look like this guy who just came in and straight out of secession bought 10 percent of the company is now going to be influencing specific content moderation policies. I would want to give them the benefit of the doubt on that, but it’s clear they feel the need to clarify that.
If I had to guess, you know, Elon is an engineering CEO. Twitter could actually use a shot in the arm here in terms of shipping code faster, taking bigger risks with what it does to the actual product. And Elon joining the board, he uses the product more than anyone. He’s definitely the most influential member of the board who actually uses Twitter now.
So, he could benefit them actually to have someone who’s a power-user on the platform
STELTER: That’s a great point: it is important to have board members who actually use the app, use the product.
(…)
