Talk about breaking the internet.
The news of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter has excited many of Musk's devoted followers, especially those on the right.
But for many liberal-minded people, Musk's purchase indicates a coming return to the bad old days of Twitter when bigotry and extremism were allowed to proliferate unchecked. And some of them are ditching the platform in response.
The Good Place actor Jameela Jamil quit the platform with a goodbye tweet, seen below.
Along with photos of her and her dog Barold, Jamil wrote:
"Ah [Musk] got twitter."
"I would like this to be my what lies here as my last tweet. Just really *any* excuse to show pics of Barold."
"I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny. Best of luck. ❤️"
Among Musk's stated goals for purchasing Twitter is to return the platform to the haven of free speech he claims it once was.
But Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist" has a definition of "free speech" many find dangerous. Among many dalliances with the far-right, Musk has frequently sided with right-wing voices who claim Twitter's bans of far-right accounts for propagating COVID-19 misinformation, right-wing extremism and hate speech amount to a tyrannical violation of the freedom of speech.
Jamil is far from the only left-wing voice who isn't buying Musk's positive spin on his Twitter purchase and is dreading what a Musk-defined version of "free speech" might do to Twitter. But not all of them are planning to leave the platform.
New York Times columnist Charles Blow, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, journalist Joy Reid, The View co-host Sunny Hostin and comic book creator Erik Larsen shared Jamil's dark view of Twitter's new Musk-led era.
Meanwhile, the list of those who have been jubilant about Musk's purchase is a veritable who's who of right-wing extremists.
They include Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, White nationalist Nick Fuentes and Trump sycophant and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell, among scores of others.
Another group of people who share Jamil's lack of enthusiasm for Musk's takeover?
Stock market investors. Tesla's stock plummeted more than 12% following the announcement, wiping away more than $125 billion in the company's value.
That's nearly three times as much as Musk paid for Twitter, if you're keeping track.
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