Yahoo Finance Media mogul Byron Allen hopes Elon Musk uses Twitter 'for the greater good'
Elon Musk is buying Twitter (TWTR) for $44 billion, pending the appropriate shareholder and regulatory approvals.
The bombshell announcement sent shockwaves through the media and business world with Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos suggesting the decision could give China leverage over the social media company.
Byron Allen, medial mogul and the founder and CEO of Entertainment Studios, also weighed in on the surprise announcement, telling Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer that he hopes Musk will use his power "for the greater good."
"[Twitter] has significant influence...Elon is going to do what he's going to do, but at the end of the day, hopefully he is using that platform to bring us together and not divide us, because there are plenty of media companies out there that work to divide us and this country is too great to be divided," Allen said.
Since Twitter's board agreed to sell the company to Musk for $54.20 per share, Musk has said he plans to ease content moderation on the platform, raising fears that it will be inundated with hate speech, disinformation, and harassment — a problem for both users and advertisers, alike.
Musk has tweeted critical remarks about Twitter and its moderation decisions in the past, although the Tesla CEO has remained staunch on his free speech stance, doubling down amid increased criticisms and warnings.
"The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all," he previously tweeted.
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
"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," Musk said in a statement following the deal's announcement.
"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."
Overall, it is not fully known what exactly Musk will do once he officially takes the company private, but the move underscores his power as a businessman as Twitter joins an impressive portfolio of other Musk-led firms including Tesla (TSLA), SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Neuralink.
Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Food Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193 or email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com
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