Fox News host Tucker Carlson returned to Twitter just hours after it was announced that billionaire Elon Musk bought the social med...
Fox News host Tucker Carlson returned to Twitter just hours after it was announced that billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media platform for $44billion.
'We're back,' the @TuckerCarlson account tweeted Monday night, shortly after the Tesla CEO successfully completed his takeover of the social media platform.
Carlson was suspended from the platform last month after Twitter determined he violated its rules by referring to Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, who is a transgender woman, as a man.
He tweeted in support of satirical conservative news website The Babylon Bee, whose account was suspended for a similar infraction.
The television host, seemingly celebrating Musk's acquisition on Monday's episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, alleged the SpaceX founder launched 'revolutionary posture' on the internet.
'The reason that today's sale of Twitter is big news—the reason it could turn out to be a pivot point in our history—is that Elon Musk does not agree with the rest of the billionaires in the tech business,' Carlson said. 'He thinks everyone should be allowed to talk. Including people who disagree with him.'
Fox News host Tucker Carlson returned to Twitter just hours after it was announced that billionaire Elon Musk bought the social media platform for $44billion
Carlson tweeted for the first time Monday since he was suspended from the platform last year
Carlson alleged that Musk, unlike the leaders of Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon, was a strong proponent of 'free speech' and could reverse restrictions against those who voice opinions that differ from that of the Biden Administration.
'That sounds like an entirely American sentiment,' Carlson said of Musk's tweet. 'But in this atmosphere, that is a revolutionary posture.... Before today, you didn't have a right to express your disagreement in public.'
Carlson was suspended from the platform after Twitter determined he violated its rules by referring to Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine (pictured May 2015), who is a transgender woman, as a man
Twitter claims the platform does not restrict users based on their political views, but prominent conservatives frequently complain of being banned or 'shadow-banned,' meaning their tweets become less visible.
Regardless, Carlson hailed Musk's purchased of the platform as the 'single biggest political development since Donald Trump's election in 2016.'
Anger among conservative social media users first spilled over when Twitter and Facebook permanently suspended Trump's accounts early last year following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In response to his suspension, Trump launched his own platform, Truth Social, which seemingly mirrors the Twitter interface.
Since Musk first expressed interest in the platform at the beginning of the month, Trump supporters urged the billionaire to reinstated Trump's account - something Twitter has vowed against doing.
The notion was resurrected during Carlson's show Monday night when Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who appeared as a guest, told he host he believed Musk was going to 'bring back Trump'.
'That's a lot of what people are freaking out about,' Portnoy said.
Carlson responded by saying, 'I think you're absolutely right.'
Tesla CEO Elon Musk (pictured in December 2020) stands to be the next owner of Twitter, having pledged roughly $44 billion to buy the social platform and take it private
However, Trump said Monday that he has no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated following the Musk deal.
He instead plans to stick to his own app, TRUTH Social, whose popularity sputtered after a surge of interest during its glitch-ridden debut on Apple's App Store. The app is still not available for Android users.
Despite not having posted since the platform's launch roughly two months ago, the ex-president told Fox News he'd be a regular user within as little as a week.
'I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH,' Trump told the outlet on Monday, ahead of news that Musk had purchased the platform.
'I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH.'
In a statement he posted announcing the purchase, Musk touted 'free speech' as 'the bedrock of a functioning democracy,' spurring hope among conservative users that he may reinstate Trump's banned account
Trump (left) said Monday that he has no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated following the Musk deal. He instead plans to stick to his own app, TRUTH Social, (right) whose popularity sputtered after a surge of interest during its glitch-ridden debut on Apple's App Store
A spokesman for Trump confirmed his intentions to DailyMail.com.
Trump claimed his app was getting a 'better' response than social media giant Twitter, though he did not appear to elaborate on how.
'We're taking in millions of people, and what we're finding is that the response on TRUTH is much better than being on Twitter,' the ex-president said. 'Twitter has bots and fake accounts, and we are doing everything we can.'
Musk, the world's wealthiest person and a self-described free-speech absolutist, previously said he wanted to buy and privatize Twitter because he believed it wasn't living up to its potential as a free speech platform.
In recent weeks, Musk has voiced a number of proposed changes for the company, including relaxing its content restrictions, and said he would be 'very reluctant' to delete content and cautious of permanent bans.
TWITTER SHARE PRICE MONDAY:
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After nearly a month of back-and-worth regarding Musk's intended role with the company, Twitter released a statement Monday saying it had reached an agreement with the tech tycoon in which he would buy the social media giant for $54.20 per share in cash, working out as about $44billion in total.
The deal means the company will be taken private when the transaction is completed, likely later this year.
He committed $21billion of his own money in the form of equity, $13billion from Morgan Stanley in debt facilities and another $12.5billion from the bank and others in margin loans.
But 'a portion' of his shares in Tesla have been put forward as collateral, which analysts feared could have a huge impact on the firm.
Shares in the electric vehicle manufacturer slid more than two percent immediately following news of Musk's acquisition of Twitter - a sign that experts say may signal shareholder worries that the technology tycoon is stretching himself too thin.
Under the terms of Musk's agreement with Twitter, stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of common stock they owned when the deal was struck.
It represents a 38 percent premium to Twitter's closing stock price on April 1 - the last trading day before Musk said he had taken on a nine percent stake.
The deal was cemented roughly two weeks after the billionaire first revealed a nine percent stake in the platform.
Musk said last week he had lined up $46.5billion in financing to buy Twitter, putting pressure on the company's board to negotiate a deal.
He had also been meeting with shareholders over the last few days, seeking support for his bid while saying the board had a 'yes-or-no' decision to make.
In an about-turn Monday, Twitter said the transaction was unanimously approved by its board of directors.
The 11-member board includes Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who has been planning to step down from the board in May.
Bosses said the deal is expected to close sometime this year and is subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders and regulators.
Shares of Twitter rose six percent Monday to $52 per share
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