After Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, the very American cause of free speech made a comeback. “Elon Musk’s sunlight on Twitter’s backroom censorship dealings,” wrote Paul Jacob on December 22 of that year, “has cast a black shadow upon the U.S. Government.” But that sunlight offered enlightenment, as well.
We learned just how bad it had gotten under Biden’s first two years in office. “In sum, the federal government made Twitter its b … uh … disinformation agent.”
The triumph of freer speech had ramifications, from the amusing — leftists leaving Twitter (now X.com) for alternatives such as BlueSky, where they did not have to interact with those whom they disagree — to the momentous — the return of Donald Trump to the presidency.
Elon and Twitter/X get much of the credit.
Now the latest news: “Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence firm has acquired his social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, for $33 billion (€30.5 billion),” writes Srinivas Mazumdaru. “Musk announced the transaction in a post on X, saying: ‘The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt).’
“xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” he wrote. “Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent. This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.”
Much of the deal’s specifics remained unclear. Both companies are privately held, so they are not required to disclose their finances to the public.
It’s also not clear if the move will change anything for X users.
“Elon Musk sells X to his AI company xAI,” DW, March 28, 2025.
Let’s hope speech on X — and on the Internet generally — becomes even freer.