by Andrew Moran at The Epoch Times
Elon Musk responded on May 1 to a report from The Wall Street Journal, based on anonymous sources, that said the world’s richest man had been persuaded to buy Twitter by a “shadow crew.”
Marc Andreessen, general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, shared a screenshot of the story on Twitter, prompting a response from Musk.
“My Shadow Crew is sickkk! Also, who are they again?” Musk wrote on Twitter.
“Sell Shadow Crew merch to buy Twitter?” Musk later asked in the same thread.
Musk has been highly critical of Twitter’s content moderation policies for months. He has taken to the social media platform to lambast the company’s performance, from censorship claims to shadowbans. At the end of March 2022, Musk polled his followers: “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
Most respondents replied no.
The Journal report claimed that many people had nudged the Tesla CEO to get involved in the struggling tech firm. The newspaper referred to this group as a “shadow crew” that includes Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, billionaire investor Peter Thiel, entrepreneur David Sacks, and early Tesla investor and venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson. Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk, also advocated for Musk to purchase a stake in the microblogging website, the report claims.
Musk declined to be interviewed for the story, and the Journal conceded early in its report that “it isn’t clear whether he took any of their advice to heart or merely followed his own gut.”
Musk couldn’t be reached by The Epoch Times for comment.
In March, according to the article, Musk contacted Seth Dillon, the CEO of conservative satirical news outlet The Babylon Bee. Musk had inquired whether the publication had been suspended from Twitter following a tweet that referred to the U.S. assistant secretary for health, a transgender woman, as “Man of the Year.”
Musk had reportedly quipped to Dillon that he might need to purchase Twitter…
Continue Reading