'I Did It To Try To Help Humanity': Elon Musk Pens Open Letter About Twitter Deal, Says Failure Is A 'Very Real Possibility'
The billionaire has until 5 p.m. EST on Friday to close on his acquisition of the social media platform.
By Emily Rella •
After Wednesday's public spectacle — entering Twitter's HQ with a kitchen sink, videotaping it, and then posting it on the internet — Elon Musk is now taking a more serious tone about his acquisition of the social media company.
In an open letter to Twitter Advertisers, Musk explained his motivation for wanting to acquire the platform, saying that most of the blotter surrounding why he wanted to purchase it was wrong.
"It is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence," Musk wrote. "There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society."
Musk went on to try to assure advertisers that Twitter won't turn into a "free-for-all hellscape" — there will still be consequences for violating the terms, he said, and users will still have to adhere to the "laws of the land."
"I didn't do it because it would be easy. I didn't do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love," he wrote. "And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility."
He told advertisers that his goal was to create a better user experience by sourcing and serving ads that are relevant to each individual user.
"Let us build something extraordinary together," he said.
The ongoing legal battle surrounding the deal began when Musk attempted to back out of his $44 billion bid to purchase the company on the grounds that Twitter had allegedly been dishonest about the number of bot and spam accounts on the platform.
Twitter and Musk were set to go to trial this month, but that came to a halt when Musk agreed to go forward with the merger after all.
Twitter shares are reportedly set to freeze on Friday pending Musk's acquisition, which must close by 5 p.m. EST to avoid trial.
Twitter was down a mere 1.5% in a one-year period as of Thursday morning.
Read Musk's full letter below.
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
