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What we feared finally happened: Elon Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter failed. Last Friday, the businessman announced that he would cancel the purchase, citing a lack of transparency on Twitter’s part. According to Musk, Twitter is withholding the total number of fake accounts on the platform, implying that what he was buying was not really what it is.
Unfortunately, this is a tremendous fiasco for free speech. The prospect of Elon Musk buying Twitter had become the big opportunity for the left’s near-complete dominance of Big Tech to finally be broken.
The eventual crumbling of the deal would mean a significant cost for Elon Musk, who would have to pay an alleged $1 billion breakup fee and would likely undergo a lengthy and grueling litigation process. However, some analysts believe that Musk’s announcement is only intended to put pressure on the company to either straighten up or be able to negotiate a much lower price. Now, if in the end it all falls apart and Musk does pull out, it would be the woke and totalitarian left that would be celebrating.
Under current management, Twitter has become a tremendous obstacle to free speech. Under a climate of censorship and harassment, the company corroded to a point of inertia where it is today (users of the platform are not increasing but, instead, dropping off). So, while Musk may have to bear a tremendous cost for the cancellation of the deal, the reality is that this was a much bigger opportunity for the company than for the businessman himself. As I read in a Wall Street Journal editorial, “the company might find it needed Mr. Musk more than he needed Twitter.”
On the other hand, I want to take this space to recognize the valuable and tireless work of the entire staff of El American. This week we surpassed 500,000 followers on Facebook. It is surreal that in less than two years, El American has already reached millions of users and that more than 700 thousand people follow us from all our platforms. If there is one project that never stops growing, unlike Twitter, it is El American, and it is very exciting!
This article originally appeared in El American’s newsletter on July 11, 2022. Subscribe for free here!
Orlando Avendaño is the co-editor-in-chief of El American. He is a Venezuelan journalist and has studies in the History of Venezuela. He is the author of the book Days of submission // Orlando Avendaño es el co-editor en Jefe de El American. Es periodista venezolano y cuenta con estudios en Historia de Venezuela. Es autor del libro Días de sumisión.