A journalist for one of the most powerful liberal media outlets around the world is having a meltdown over the $44 billion acquisition by Twitter’s richest man.
Lauren Silva Laughlin, Reuters U.S. Editor, regretted that Twitter, “its new owners, its creditors, and the rest of the planet are probably worse off” after Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, became Chief Twit. She was unhappy that Musk wouldn’t be as determined to silence free speech on Twitter like his famous predecessors.
“[I]f Musk reinstates divisive Tweeters like former U.S. president Donald Trump and fails crackdown on misinformation, then the rest of the globe will feel the consequences,” Laughlin wrote. More freedom of speech? Oh, the horror!
This absurd conniption should not be surprising since the same outlet once spent column space fact-checking an altered video in which President Joe Biden was seen following an ice cream truck while he gave a speech by his wife Jill.
Reuters reports that more than 1 billion people around the world see its coverage. This means that Laughlin’s Armageddon doom-mongering regarding a Musk-owned Twitter, and its effect on “the world”, could easily reach hundreds of million of readers, if it is not already.
Laughlin continued to criticize Musk’s apparent strategy of shifting the platform away from activist capitalism and toward a shareholder-driven business model. Laughlin stated that the company’s many stakeholders were left holding the bag. Musk has admitted that he was overpaid. He could still cause problems for the board, depending on what he finds when he opens Twitter’s books. The banks that agreed to lend $13 billion to Musk before credit markets dried up are likely to suffer significant losses. Musk and his co-investors can only save their investment by cutting costs, including long-suffering workers.
It would be horrible if Musk was more focused on profits than his ever-ending, woke leftist screeching. Vivek Ramaswamy, Strive Asset Management Executive Chairman, wrote in his 2022 book Woke, Inc., that “[u]nder [stakeholder capitalism], CEOs and large shareholders work with ideological activists in order to implement radical agendas they could not pass in Congress.”
According to reports, Musk is planning to lay off 75 per cent of Twitter’s workforce. He also fired Parag Agrawal (ex-Twitter CEO), Ned Segal, Twitter Chief Financial Officer, and Vijaya Gadde (Twitter Chief Legal Counsel) from their positions. Agrawal stated that Twitter’s stakeholder-focused role was “not bound by the First Amendment,” but to decide “who can hear.” Musk also fired Parag Agrawal, Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, Twitter Chief Legal Counsel. This effectively stomped Agrawal’s censorship-obsessed business model.
Laughlin, however, stated that capitalism is about maximising shareholder value, regardless of the consequences for other stakeholders. The Twitter saga supports that primacy.
She said, “It’s a victory in some ways, but it doesn’t leave feelings of encouragement.”
Conservatives are being attacked. Contact Reuters to demand that it ceases to censor social media platforms.
