“Twitter is a public square and important to the future of civilization,” billionaire Elon Musk said at a TED event on Thursday, hours after announcing his bid to buy the social network for more than $40 billion. BRL 190 billion).
In an interview with TED organizer Chris Anderson, Musk said he wants to stamp out the spammers and bot armies that flood the platform. “If I had a crypto for every crypto scam I’ve ever seen…”, he said, laughing.
“I think that Twitter is important for the functioning of democracy and the functioning of the US as a free country and for other free countries as well,” he added.
He again defended his proposed purchase of the company as a defense of free speech. “People need to realize that they can speak freely within the limits of the law,” Musk said. “You will be free as much as reasonably possible.”
The billionaire also advocated that the network’s algorithm be exposed, as a way of informing users that a tweet has been altered to be promoted.
The Tesla and Space X owner offered $54.20 a share, according to a regulatory document released by Musk himself on the social network itself, on his account with more than 81 million followers.
The value is 38% higher than the share price on April 1. At 3 pm, the stock was trading at $45.73.
“It won’t be perfect. There will be some mistakes. And I hope it won’t be too ‘miserable’ [triste, mesquinho] like this,” he said, responding to Anderson’s question that, in the past, Musk had stated that he would never buy Twitter because it would be too “miserable”.
Asked if he has a plan B if the offer is rejected, he said yes, but declined to elaborate.
Musk has been Twitter’s biggest shareholder since late March, when he bought a more than 9% stake in the company. The network even announced him as a board member, but Musk rejected the offer.
Musk’s TED presentation took place in the last session of the event with very eclectic speakers.
The billionaire spoke after the monk Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, who taught the audience to meditate, and the Brazilian duo Leo Lanna and Lvcas Fiat, who spoke about different species of praying mantis recorded on night missions in Brazilian forests.
The reporter traveled at the invitation of TED.
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