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Elon Musk joins Twitter board, promising ‘significant improvements’

Musk's board seat sets the stage for an election-year confrontation between conservatives who want the company to be more libertarian and company executives who oppose misinformation.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right), Brandenburg State Premier Dietmar Woidke (second from the right) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (center) attend the official opening of the new Tesla electric car manufacturing plant on March 22, 2022, near Gruenheide, Germany.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right), Brandenburg State Premier Dietmar Woidke (second from the right) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (center) attend the official opening of the new Tesla electric car manufacturing plant on March 22, 2022, near Gruenheide, Germany.Read moreChristian Marquardt/Pool / MCT

Elon Musk has been appointed to Twitter’s board of directors, the company announced Tuesday, a day after regulatory filings revealed the Tesla chief had become the social media platform’s biggest investor.

"Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board," Twitter's CEO Parag Agrawal said Tuesday in a tweet. "He's both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term."

Musk's term on the board will extend through 2024, according to a regulatory filing dated Monday. Musk, who's amassed a 9.2% passive stake in Twitter, now valued at nearly $4 billion, is one of the platform's most popular users. He has more than 80 million followers.

"Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months," Musk tweeted Tuesday.

The elevation of Musk to the board sets the stage for an election-year political confrontation between conservatives who believe that the company should take a more libertarian approach to policing speech on its service, and many executives within the company who have championed stronger actions to reduce misinformation and harm. It also risks drawing the company's management into further chaos after years of investor activism and the sudden departure of former chief executive Jack Dorsey late last year. The company is already at a critical juncture ahead of the 2022 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

Twitter inflamed conservatives when it kicked former President Donald Trump off its platform last year after his comments that appeared to promote the Capitol insurrection. At the time, Musk indicated in his own tweets that he disagreed with the decision by social media companies, and has referred to himself as a free speech defender.

"Musk understands attention better than almost any politician or business leader," said Emerson Brooking, resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensics Lab at the Atlantic Council. "He has made his fortune largely on the manipulation of attention in the public interest, not making electric cars."

Brooking said he thinks that Musk could make moves to restore Trump's account and to push the company to go softer on the right.

Musk’s board seat ensures that the world’s richest person will have a say in the future of a platform that plays a leading role in shaping public conversation. While Twitter’s financial results haven’t always matched its cultural influence, word of Musk’s involvement has sent its stock soaring since markets opened on Monday. But the addition of the mercurial Musk could also augur turmoil for a company that has a new CEO and a host of new products in development. Twitter’s shares closed at $50.98, up 2%, Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

As recently as late March, Musk was publicly musing over the possibility of starting his own social media platform. But now it seems he is doubling down on the platform that has elevated his profile. Within hours of the announcement of his passive stake in Twitter, Musk was polling users about the possibility of adding an edit button, a longtime source of contention among the app's users and leadership.

Last month, Musk launched the poll on whether Twitter "rigorously adheres" to the principles of free speech, remarking that the poll's consequences will be "important."

"Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy," he tweeted.

It’s landed him in trouble repeatedly, including for a 2018 tweet in which he claimed to have “Funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share. Later, Musk clarified that the tweet had been a joke.

He said he chose the number $420 "because he had recently learned about the number's significance in marijuana culture and thought his girlfriend would find it funny, which admittedly is not a great reason to pick a price," according to the federal complaint.

The joke nonetheless caused Tesla shares to skyrocket, and Musk and Tesla were each fined $20 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk additionally had to step down as Tesla board chairman and agreed to have his communications vetted by an approved securities lawyer.