Elon Musk became a hero of the Right when he announced he would purchase the social media platform Twitter. Many celebrated the news because it was believed Musk would bring free speech back to the platform that gained a reputation for censoring accounts aligned with the Right. That purchase seems in jeopardy after Musk said he was pulling out of the deal over concerns about the number of Twitter’s fake accounts and bots.
But did Musk just outfox all of Twitter? The tech giant did say it would take legal action against Musk for changing his mind. And many, including former President Donald Trump, criticized Musk as a conman who never had legitimate intentions of buying Twitter. But perhaps Musk was playing “four-dimensional chess” all along? According to Musk’s Twitter account, that just might be the case.
Musk posted a meme of himself in various stages of laughter juxtaposed with a chronology of the events of Musk’s purchase of Twitter.
“They said I couldn’t buy Twitter. Then they wouldn’t disclose bot info. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose bot info in court,” Musk’s meme said.
If this was indeed Musk’s strategy all along, it is genuinely brilliant. The number of bots and fake accounts on the social media platform has always been highly questionable. If Musk manipulated the events to expose Twitter for deception, he deserves a round of applause. He will have been able to do something that no other person has been able to do so far: put the company on record about the number of its actual users.
But if this is just Musk acting silly to distract from his cold feet in purchasing Twitter, then it is an embarrassing ploy. Hopefully, his intentions are noble. Unfortunately, with Musk, given his genius, his bold personality, and his penchant for humor, only time will tell.
