Stelter: Allowing Free Speech on Twitter Will Be Playing in the ‘Gutter’

On Monday’s edition of Trustworthy Sources Everyday on CNN+, host and media janitor Brian Stelter praised the Twitter board for putting a “poison pill” in place to temporarily slow down billionaire Elon Musk’s bid to buy the company in a hostile takeover. He and others have reacted to other market moves. New York TimesLauren Hirsch, business reporter, suggested that investors would love this move. They also suggested that if Musk implemented policies more respectful of free speech, it would turn Twitter into a “gutter.”

At one point in their conversation, Stelter was fascinated by Hirsch’s recent piece where she questioned: “What is an ‘uncensored’ Twitter worth?” Elaborating, she said the folks at Twitter support free speech crackdowns because they “would argue … improvements to moderation helped user engagement helped revenue. So, from just a pure financial perspective, moderation has been good for business.”

Stelter was adamant and agreed to the idea, then began shouting about what Stelter had done. “people don’t play in the gutter! Most people don’t want to send their kids to play in the gutter!”

Even defending arbitrary bans was something he believed necessary for the greater good.

And I think if you’re a random user that gets suspended for no good reason, you feel that and that’s a big deal and that’s a big problem. Investors would see the argument for making Twitter less chaotic as a loss.

Stelter will be supporting the Soviet-style purge and crackdown that Twitter used to try and suppress the negative Hunter Biden laptop story. This was done in order to help Joe Biden win 2020. Hunter’s the one playing around in the gutter and the media don’t want you to see.

At the top of the show, Stelter praised “the Twitter board adopting a so-called ‘poison pill’ provision trying to drive Musk back from his hostile takeover bid.” And despite this praise, Stelter scoffed at Musk responding to a tweet suggesting “his bid would only be rejected if the system is rigged.”

Stelter referred to the criticisms as Musk “trolling” and acting “very Trumpian.”

Musk has been announcing that he purchased more than nine percent of Twitter’s stock since then. The price of Twitter stock continued to rise, as small investors also followed his lead. Stelter and Hirsch believe that the Monday increase was evidence investors approve of the poison pill.

STELTER: Twitter stocks up and down. This week’s trading week is upon us. What are we to do?

HIRSCH: Twitter stock has risen. As you said, they put the poison pill on Friday. The stock market was closed because it was holiday. So this is the first time we’re seeing investors’ reactions to the pill. And they seem to like it, which indicates they’re not necessarily in Elon Musk’s camp.

STELTER: So, what you’re saying is this investor action would suggest it’s getting even harder for Musk?

HIRSCH: Absolutely.

That was all they believed and rejected any other explanations.

Just, for example, someone might invest with the idea that if Musk does buy the company they’ll get a nice return over what they spent. Perhaps someone buys shares to ensure they have future stock options. In these cases, they’re following financial incentives.

You can find the transcript below. To read it, please click on “expand”.

CNN+’s Trustworthy Sources Everyday
April 18, 2022
Eastern, 11:01:39

BRIAN STELTER – What’s Elon Musk’s next move? Musk’s Twitter account is the focus of all attention right now, as he pushes forward with this bid worth $41 Billion.

Over the weekend the Twitter board adopting a so-called “poison pill” provision trying to drive Musk back from his hostile takeover bid. This poison pill allows for more shares to be released at a lower price than other shareholders. Musk’s stake in the company would then be less appealing since it would be dilute.

Tech giant spent the entire weekend trolling Twitter. He made one suggestion, implying that his bid could only be refused if the system was corrupt. We’ve seen that kind of rhetoric before. It’s very Trumpian. There’s been plenty of that on Twitter in the past few years.

(…)

Eastern at 11:02 a.m.

STELTER: Twitter stocks up and down. This week’s trading week is upon us. What are we to do?

LAUREN HIRSCH – Well, Twitter stock has risen. As you said, they put the poison pill on Friday. It was Friday, which was also a holiday in the stock markets so there was no market. So this is the first time we’re seeing investors’ reactions to the pill. And they seem to like it, which indicates they’re not necessarily in Elon Musk’s camp.

STELTER: So, what you’re saying is this investor action would suggest it’s getting even harder for Musk?

HIRSCH: Absolutely. He was kind of taunting over the weekend that he might do what’s called a hostile bid. And in doing that you would need to go to Twitter shareholders and basically say, ‘the board is not doing the deal, come on my side and take my offer.’ Obviously, to do that you would need the support of investors. But if investors are now cheering Twitter’s defensive move, it indicates they might not so willing to do that.

(…)

Eastern at 11:04 a.m.

STELTER: I’ve got to imagine other companies or other billionaires would be interested in buying Twitter. This is what it might all be.

HIRSCH: I will tell you, I’ve been the phone all morning all afternoon trying to find out. There’s a lot of noise out there. There’s –

STELTER: What do you mean there’s a lot of noise out there?

HIRSCH – There’s a lot speculation. And there’s always speculation and interest when these kind of situations are happening. You know, there’s a difference between interest and pen-to-paper putting through an offer. I suspect over the next couple of days that’s what myself and a lot of journalists are going to be paying a lot of attention to.

STELTER: This is what my gut tells me will change Twitter. Someone’s going to end up owing Twitter in a different structure but maybe not Elon Musk.

HIRSCH: It’s very possible. And there’s been talk for years that Twitter would be better as a private company. Two years ago, it was in a dispute with Elliot the activist investor. You know, it’s been a tough run for it.

So, maybe a private equity firm, maybe someone else that they’re potentially more amenable to will take them private and kind of get rid of these distractions.

STELTER: This distraction.

(…)

Eastern, 11:06:18

HIRSCH: But if you talk to people around the company, they will say, ‘look at what happened in 2015 and 2016’ when they were resistant to moderation: users were down, revenue stagnated. Their argument is that improvements in moderation have increased user engagement and helped increase revenue. Moderation is good for business, even if it’s only financially.

STELTER: Right! People don’t play in the gutter! Most people don’t want to send their kids to play in the gutter! Twitter’s tried to clean it up. Still – still – still got a lot of complaints from a lot of people about how Twitter does that.

And I think if you’re a random user that gets suspended for no good reason, you feel that and that’s a big deal and that’s a big problem. From an investor’s perspective, the argument that Twitter should be more chaotic seems to lose.

(…)