Twitter flooded with Elon Musk memes and reactions after sale to mogul is confirmed
Categories: US NEWS
After news broke Monday that Twitter's board had agreed to accept Elon Musk's $44 billion offer to buy the company, notable figures and meme artists quickly got to work reacting to the shake-up.In a statement after the sale was announced, Musk, one of Twitter's best-known personalities, said free speech is the "bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square."Musk, a prolific Twitter user, tweeted shortly before the announcement, "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means." Some began immediately advocating for the reinstatement of those who have been banned from the platform, including former President Donald Trump, as some users tweeted that free speech had prevailed and the slogan "Make Twitter Great Again" began trending.Trump, who was banned two days after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, told Fox News that he would not return to Twitter, opting instead to join his own Truth Social platform within the week, as originally planned. However, Trump said he expected Musk to improve Twitter. “I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on Truth,” Trump said. “I hope Elon buys Twitter, because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth.”"Today is an encouraging day for freedom of speech. I am hopeful that Elon Musk will help rein in Big Tech’s history of censoring users that have a different viewpoint," she tweeted.On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Musk’s purchase of Twitter “absolutely” gives him concern. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also appeared to back Musk's purchase, asking him to move the company's headquarters to the state."Bring Twitter to Texas to join Tesla, SpaceX & the Boring company," he tweeted, listing some of Musk’s other companies.Some organizations, including the NAACP, urged Musk to keep hate speech off the platform.