Elon Musk tweeted his approach onto Twitter’s board — now what?

Ahahahahahaha effective. Longtime shitposter Elon Musk, who has a aspect gig because the CEO of Tesla, is on the board of Twitter, a newly minted meme stonk, after submitting the improper kind with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tremendous content.

A distinct type of billionaire would possibly elect to purchase a nationwide newspaper with a storied previous and re-invest in it, similar to he would possibly secretly take a look at his dick-shaped rocket for a few years earlier than publicly taking a trip on it. But regardless of proudly owning Amazon, Jeff Bezos is one way or the other much less internet-poisoned than the meme lord of Dogecoin. The true platform for mind worms isn’t The Washington Post, regardless of its op-ed writers’ finest efforts. It’s Twitter.

Now, clearly, Musk has a long and storied history with Twitter, from SEC violations to defamation lawsuits to threatening journalists to stealing memes. Do you suppose Twitter is ever gonna efficiently average its largest shareholder and board member? Like, certain, Twitter spokesperson Adrian Zamora says they’re “committed to impartiality in the development and enforcement of its policies and rules” and that “our day to day operations and decisions are made by Twitter management and employees.” As a sensible matter, we’ll discover out if our good friend Adrian is telling the reality, gained’t we?

Because right here’s the factor: I discover Musk is already doing some light trolling about Twitter merchandise, with a helpful help from Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal! Specifically, Musk is polling to ask if Twitter should add an edit button, and Agrawal has stated the ballot may have important consequences. I imply, that’s not tweeting disinformation or anybody’s dwelling deal with or something that’s an apparent ToS violation — nevertheless it does recommend that some operations and choices, um, could also be made by Musk, truly. The platform’s prime shitposter already has the keys to the fort, and he’s gotten them in a approach that’s particularly a thumb within the eye of the SEC. We like to have enjoyable on Twitter dot com!

Let’s speak about that kind for a second. If you might be, let’s say, Elliott Capital Management, and also you’ve purchased into Twitter to institute some shareholder activism, you fill out a kind 13D, through which you disclose the aim of your purchase (e.g., kicking out Jack Dorsey, making Twitter extra worthwhile). But if you’re a big institutional investor from, let’s say, the imaginary agency Ride the Lightning Capital, and also you’re simply going to personal a piece of Twitter passively, you fill out a kind 13G. Musk’s purchase was disclosed on a form 13G he filed the identical day as he signed the paperwork to affix the board.

Now, I can’t communicate to Musk’s intent. Maybe that was an sincere mistake, I don’t know! I do know that he’s tweeted that SEC is an acronym, and the E stands for “Elon’s.” He’s not above tweaking the SEC — he’s gone on 60 Minutes to tell us he doesn’t respect it, you realize?

If Musk is trolling, although, that is sharp. Like, maybe he’ll get a fine or something, however the SEC’s job is to guard shareholders, proper? It’s why Musk and Tesla bought fined for his “funding secured” tweets however Musk remained as CEO — eradicating him would arguably hurt shareholders greater than letting Musk yolo his little coronary heart out. Musk is efficacious! The disclosure of his stake in Twitter sent shares up 27 percent, a cute lil pop for a social media firm that’s getting completely clobbered by TikTok and the corporate previously often called Facebook. So if the SEC is like, “haha, you are definitely not going to be on the board of Twitter,” it’s most likely smart to imagine the inventory will fall! And shareholders will get damage!

See, Twitter now has a fandom: Musk’s. Musk has wandered into Twitter properly after it turned a public firm, is a prolific — one would possibly even say flagrant — consumer of its product, and presumably brings numerous retail buyers trailing him. It’s not simply that. CNN reporter Brian Fung noted that Musk additionally has the liberty to choose fights with Twitter’s enemies below the duvet of “Elon being Elon.”

Well, I anticipate Twitter to double down on being Twitter. Spaces has been an incredible success, particularly with the cryptocurrency-curious. There’s additionally the NFT profile pics. Musk, after all, is understood for being enamored of Dogecoin, to say nothing of Tesla’s transient foray into Bitcoin funds for its automobiles. Perhaps now that Dorsey is not CEO, Musk can get Twitter to simply accept Bitcoin as cost for ads. Maybe this would be the impetus Twitter lastly must eliminate Musk-related cryptocurrency rip-off spam!

I’m wondering if Twitter will now think about cryptocurrency customers its essential constituency, significantly if they’re extra more likely to pay for its merchandise. Rather than specializing in buying extra customers, Twitter could attempt to extract cash from its most profitable customers. This isn’t that bizarre of a technique — truly, Musk’s outdated firm, PayPal, outlined something similar on its last earnings call.

On a sensible stage: Musk has additionally stated that he wants less moderation on Twitter, which, like, is probably not nice for shareholder worth, Platformer’s Casey Newton factors out. (Most customers like moderation, it seems.) But now that Twitter is a meme inventory, conventional measures of shareholder worth, um, could not apply. It’s attainable Musk’s involvement will make journalists less likely to use the platform, given his historical past of sparring with journalists online. I’m certain there are some individuals on the market questioning if Musk’s place on the board means he would possibly have the ability to get entry to their DMs.

Which is kind of the crux of the factor, I assume? On the one hand: Musk has a fandom, and now Twitter has a fandom, too. On the opposite: Twitter is infamous as a platform for harassment, and Musk has indicated that he desires even much less moderation. On some theoretical third hand: the SEC is looming within the background. Regardless of whether or not individuals’s worst fears come to move, that is revolutionary new territory for shitposters in every single place. Musk doesn’t simply have the ear of the CEO — he will get to do his efficiency evaluations!

Still, while you make your hobbies your job, you run the chance of constructing one thing that was as soon as enjoyable really feel like drudgery. One attainable consequence is that Musk’s place on the board makes him again away from shitposting for the precise motive many individuals spend numerous time on Twitter within the first place: he desires to keep away from doing work.