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TechElon Musk

Elon Musk wants 80% of Americans to be using Twitter—it’s currently less than 12%

By
Belinda Cao
Belinda Cao
,
Kurt Wagner
Kurt Wagner
, and
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Belinda Cao
Belinda Cao
,
Kurt Wagner
Kurt Wagner
, and
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 10, 2022, 6:19 AM ET

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk told employees at a meeting Wednesday that he is aiming for 80% of Americans to be on Twitter when he buys the social platform, according to an Electrek report.

At the meeting, when one of the Tesla employees asked Musk “how the Twitter drama affects people at Tesla and what he can do to shield them from it,” he thought about it for a second and said “Well, you know. Ignore Twitter. Ignore. Ignore,” Electrek said in the report.

Musk then continued his pitch for buying Twitter and trying to turn it into a free-speech platform. “In the case of Twitter, it’s about how can we assure that there’s a digital town square that is inclusive and as trusted as possible and where ideally, I don’t know, 80% of Americans are on it,” Musk said, according to the report. “They can speak their minds with reasonable freedom.”

The social media service had 39.6 million daily users in the U.S. in the first quarter. 

Twitter Inc.’s top lawyer told company employees that Musk’s $44 billion offer is progressing and a shareholder vote is expected in later July or early August, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

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