{"id":22156,"date":"2022-04-26T11:12:30","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T18:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=22156"},"modified":"2022-04-26T11:12:31","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T18:12:31","slug":"a-real-threat-to-democracy-musk-buys-twitter-for-44-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/04\/26\/a-real-threat-to-democracy-musk-buys-twitter-for-44-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A Real Threat to Democracy’: Musk Buys Twitter for $44 Billion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion on April 25, 2022, is seen in Gr\u00fcnheide near Berlin, Germany. (Photo: Patrick Pleul\/ Pool\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This isn’t just some corporate takeover,” said one critic. “This is about a set of very specific moves that our oligarchs have been taking that have gradually concentrated economic, political, and discursive power in fewer and fewer hands.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JULIA CONLEY<\/a> April 25, 2022 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rights advocates, public health experts,<\/strong> and media critics were among those on Monday who warned that the purchase of  Twitter by mega-billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, creates a direct threat to democracy and the common good by putting the outsized power of the social media platform used by hundreds of millions worldwide into the hands of one man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The social media company accepted Musk’s offer<\/a> to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, or $54.20 per share\u2014leading some critics to note other ways the enormous sum of money could have been spent rather than on what Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.) called<\/a> “a vanity project boondoggle to silence” Musk’s critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n