Minutes after it was officially announced that billionaire Elon Musk had bought Twitter for approximately $44 billion Monday afternoon, MSNBC continued to freak out over the news. Correspondent Jo Ling Kent hyped left-wing “critics” who claimed that their very “safety” was in jeopardy with Musk taking over the social media giant.
“We’ve also got some breaking news just in the last couple of minutes from the tech world, with Elon Musk, the world’s richest guy, agreeing to buy Twitter. This estimated $44 billion deal that will make the social media megaphone a private company,” anchor Hallie Jackson announced early in the 3:00 p.m. ET hour. She then turned to Kent for the details.
After running through the financial numbers of the multi-billion dollar deal, Kent cited: “Elon Musk saying this: ‘Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy,’ he goes right for it there in his opening statement, saying, ‘Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.’”
However, moments later, the reporter sounded the alarm:
Elon Musk saying he thinks that Twitter has tremendous potential here, but remember, this is a very controversial, polarizing owner of Twitter. A lot of the individuals and critics that we’ve been speaking to in recent weeks say they’re really concerned about safety and violence and threats, especially against women and people of color on Twitter. Several people I’ve spoken to today already saying no, they don’t trust safety and the, you know, goodness of Twitter if Elon Musk is the owner.
Kent added: “But Elon Musk tweeting today that he’s hoping that all of his critics will stay on the platform regardless, because of free speech, Hallie.”
Jackson went on to talk to New York Times technology correspondent Mike Isaac and quickly turned the conversation to politics:
One of the things that has been in the ether as it relates to something we cover on this show, which is politics, is former President Donald Trump, who was notoriously kicked off the platform after January 6th. He has apparently just told, and I’m citing Fox News here in what Fox is calling an exclusive interview, that he will not return to Twitter, even if Musk does go through with this purchase of Twitter....what Musk has said about free speech, kind of this crusader for free speech. That is something that has been taken up – a flag that’s been taken up by some conservatives in this country, too.
Isaac pointed out: “You know, Trump is not the only person that’s been banned from using Twitter over the years....You need to look at...all the high-profile accounts that have been banned over the past few years, specifically the ones on the right, as well as, you know, any on the left that might have been breaking the rules. And see who might be more eligible to come back.”
The notion that Musk taking over Twitter and having the platform adhere to lawful free speech practices would endanger the “safety” of users is quite the hysterical leap. However, earlier in the day, MSNBC was comparing Musk to “Dr. Evil,” so reasoned analysis is not exactly the left-wing cable channel’s specialty.
MSNBC’s latest panic over Musk’s Twitter buy-out was brought to viewers by Bayer and PC Matic. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a transcript of the April 25 coverage:
3:09 PM ET
HALLIE JACKSON: We’ve also got some breaking news just in the last couple of minutes from the tech world, with Elon Musk, the world’s richest guy, agreeing to buy Twitter. This estimated $44 billion deal that will make the social media megaphone a private company.
NBC’s Jo Ling Kent is in Los Angeles, we’re also joined by Mike Isaac, technology correspondent for The New York Times. It’s good to be with both of you.
And Jo, this just is happening in the last couple of minutes. Just confirmed by Twitter, I think, trading of Twitter stock halted, right? This announcement came out. Bring us up to speed.
JO LING KENT: Yeah, that’s right. The world’s richest man has now entered into a definitive agreement to buy Twitter. And it would be $44 billion if it goes through. Now, what matters here is how much more that is than the value of Twitter, so to speak, to Wall Street. It represents a 38% premium compared to the April 1st stock price. And that’s when Elon Musk first announced that he was owning about 9% of Twitter.
Now, the big deal here is that this is 20% of Elon Musk’s worth. And the company, like you said, is expected to go private if the deal goes through here. Now, the Twitter board chair saying that this was a unanimous vote by everyone on the board. He says – Brett Taylor says that “The Twitter board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal, with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing.”
He talked specifically about how much they are actually delivering that money that they’re going to make off of this deal from Elon Musk. And he calls it the best path forward for Twitter’s shareholders.
Now, importantly, what does Elon Musk have to say about this deal that he proposed? You know, we’re talking about $46.5 billion. Elon Musk saying this: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy,” he goes right for it there in his opening statement, saying, “Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
Now, as for what he’s going to do, Elon Musk is not being shy here in this initial statement as the almost-owner of Twitter, saying that he wants to enhance Twitter with new features. He wants to make the algorithm open-sourced to, what he says, increase trust. He wants to defeat spam bots, which are automated accounts that put out tweets across the platform inauthentically. And he wants to authenticate all humans.
Elon Musk saying he thinks that Twitter has tremendous potential here, but remember, this is a very controversial, polarizing owner of Twitter. A lot of the individuals and critics that we’ve been speaking to in recent weeks say they’re really concerned about safety and violence and threats, especially against women and people of color on Twitter. Several people I’ve spoken to today already saying no, they don’t trust safety and the, you know, goodness of Twitter if Elon Musk is the owner. But Elon Musk tweeting today that he’s hoping that all of his critics will stay on the platform regardless, because of free speech, Hallie.
(...)
3:13 PM ET
JACKSON: One of the things that has been in the ether as it relates to something we cover on this show, which is politics, is former President Donald Trump, who was notoriously kicked off the platform after January 6th. He has apparently just told, and I’m citing Fox News here in what Fox is calling an exclusive interview, that he will not return to Twitter, even if Musk does go through with this purchase of Twitter. Setting aside whether that actually ends up becoming true or not, right, what do we know about Musk’s thoughts on this kind of thing? I mean, Jo Ling Kent has laid out, I think really expertly here, what Musk has said about free speech, kind of this crusader for free speech. That is something that has been taken up – a flag that’s been taken up by some conservatives in this country, too.
MIKE ISAAC [NEW YORK TIMES TECH CORRESPONDENT]: Sure, I mean, I find that fascinating just because of Trump’s sort of initial issues with his Truth Social being – his own social network being pretty much, let’s say very difficult from the beginning, and how effectively he’s used Twitter in the past to get across his message, to rally supporters, and to basically dominate headlines with every tweet. So I would be really intrigued if he continues this position.
But I do think Elon, you know, he has looked at a number of the different bans. You know, Trump is not the only person that’s been banned from using Twitter over the years for controversial or breaking the rules in tweets. And so I think it’s not – someone pointed out to me earlier today, it’s not just Trump. You need to look at everyone, all the high-profile – excuse me, all the high-profile accounts that have been banned over the past few years, specifically the ones on the right, as well as, you know, any on the left that might have been breaking the rules. And see who might be more eligible to come back.
(...)
