NBC News ‘disinformation’ reporter cowers over news Musk might propose buying Twitter again

NBC News "disinformation" and "extremism" reporter Ben Collins expressed fear and lamentation over a new report that world’s richest man Elon Musk is proposing to buy Twitter again.

After hearing the news, Collins composed a lengthy Twitter rant about how Musk’s potential acquisition of the Big Tech company will "change" the social media platform "pretty dramatically," remove current "guardrails," potentially "affect midterms" in November, and could allow former President Donald Trump back on the site.

Collins’ worried response followed recent news that Musk may be looking to re-propose purchasing Twitter. Fox Business reported on Tuesday, "Twitter shares soared Tuesday on a report that Elon Musk is proposing to acquire the social media giant for his original offer of $54.20 per share."

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Twitter had accepted the offer in April, though the billionaire "notified Twitter in July that he was planning to terminate the deal after claiming the company breached its obligations by misrepresenting the number of spam and fake accounts on the platform."

In the wake of Musk’s plan to end his bid, Twitter sued him for refusing to honor their original deal. Musk counter sued and now "news of Musk's latest proposal comes as the two parties have been gearing up for a legal showdown" which begins later this month. 

Fretting about the news, Collins tweeted that the site under Musk could change quickly and actually affect the political landscape. 

He wrote, "For those of you asking: Yes, I do think this site can and will change pretty dramatically if Musk gets full control over it. No, there is no immediate replacement. If it gets done early enough, based on the people he's aligned with, yes, it could actually affect midterms."

His subsequent post lamented the thought of Twitter becoming a private company. "If Musk is really taking this site private, there are no real guardrails anymore. Rulemaking can be capricious. He can elevate any idea or person he wants through recommendations and UX choices and there will be no oversight on this as a private company."

Collins also expressed fear about Musk hiring Twitter employees friendly to bringing Trump back to the platform. He added, "We know from Musk's private texts he talks with people who want to let Trump back on and make a ‘Blake Masters type’ a ‘VP of enforcement.’ Masters is a far-right Senate candidate backed by Facebook founder and Trump donor Peter Thiel."

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Collins provided images of these texts evidenced in Twitter’s suit against the Tesla CEO. Further describing them, he added, "In those Musk texts, the redacted senders and recipients lay the groundwork for a ‘war’ and ‘battle’ after Musk takes over Twitter — a ‘coordinated pressure campaign’ that will lead to deplatforming of political enemies."

He then wrote that because of this, fake news will spread on the platform which will benefit "authoritarian governments." "What does this look like in the short term? Abandonment of traditional moderation policies. Stuff like Pizzagate — pushed by bots and liars — will be protected. Disinfo campaigns will top trending topics and drive news cycles. Authoritarian governments will have a field day."

Concluding his thread, Collins declared, "In the longterm, Musk's plans for this website are a suicide bomb. Very few people want to use a moderation-free app saturated with lies by design. We know this from the dozens of Twitter clones who've tried and failed. But he seems deadset on taking bad advice from bad people."

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