The Elon Musk acquisition of Twitter has been a turbulent journey for the new CEO and the platform. Since he announced that he will be buying Twitter for a whopping amount of $44 billion, he had been vying for the changes that he envisioned to revamp the platform. But, since he acquired the platform, a lot of chaos has ensued and many critics of the Tesla owner have surfaced due to his radical decisions. One of them is the prolific writer Stephen King.
The South African billionaire is not new to the feuds. Over the years, he has publicly displayed his criticisms to other industry giants and celebrities as well. Be it the rivalry with Jeff Bezos over their space missions or his discontent towards Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. The most infamous or famous of them all is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), who has criticized Musk many times, but he seems to have supposed “witty” and flirtatious replies to them. Now, the newest addition to it is the “If It Bleeds” author Stephen King.
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Stephen King Praised Elon Musk For His Tesla Venture
The newly sparked animosity between Elon Musk and Stephen King is seen getting distilled. When Elon started his spree of radical decisions to align the platform with his vision, the writer was one of the critics that emerged to call him out. When the spaced owner acquired the microblogging platform, he fired the top-tier executives including the former CEO of Twitter Parag Agrawal. Then, he introduced a monthly subscription fee for the “Blue” tick, where people who have the verification mark have to pay $7.99.
We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
When he introduced the feature, he set the price at $20. But, this did not sit well with Stephen and he tweeted his disagreement. He said, “F*** that, they should pay me”. But, the “Chief Twit” reasoned on the introduction of the feature and negotiated. He said, “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?” However, after the implementation of the $7.99 subscription to get verified, it created mayhem. Many impersonating accounts with blue tick emerged and he stalled the subscription feature and gave an ultimatum to the impersonators to have their accounts blocked.
Pretty soon the only advertiser left on Twitter will be My Pillow.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 22, 2022
I think Elon Musk is a visionary. Almost singlehandedly, he’s changed the way Americans think about automobiles. I have a Tesla and love it. That said, he’s been a terrible fit for Twitter. He appears to be making it up as he goes along.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 26, 2022
The two have since gone back and forth on the platform. Recently, King said that if Musk keeps treating the platform lightly, the only advertiser left will be ‘My Pillow’. Now, Stephen King has come forward to praise the CEO, but not for Twitter. In the latest tweet, he said, “I think Elon Musk is a visionary. Almost single handedly, he’s changed the way Americans think about automobiles. I have a Tesla and love it.”
But The Writer Does Not Think He Is Suited For Twitter
When Elon Musk was in the process to buy the platform, he was a strong propagator of free speech. In April 2022, in a statement, he said, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated”. But, the case seems different since he bought the platform. He fired two of his engineers for publicly criticizing his decisions.
The goal is a trusted digital town square, where a wide range of views are tolerated, provided people don’t break the law or spam. For example, any incitement to violence will result in account suspension.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 26, 2022
So, Stephen King noted in the continuation of his tweet, “That said, he’s a terrible fit for Twitter. He appears to be making it up as he goes along”. Musk surprisingly didn’t reply snarky. Instead, he said, “Suggestions are welcome Mr. 👑”. He continued, “The goal is a trusted digital town square, where a wide range of views are tolerated, provided people don’t break the law or spam. For example, any incitement to violence will result in account suspension”.
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