Stephen King Just Ripped Elon Musk With A Classic Literary Comparison—And It's Spot On

\u201cChief Twit's new theme song:\n\n "Money for nothin' and your checks for fee!"\u201d

— Paulette Feeney (@Paulette Feeney) 1667336326

\u201cMusk makes me think of Tom Sawyer, who is given the job of whitewashing a fence as punishment. Tom cons his friends into doing the chore for him, and getting them to pay for the privilege. That's what Musk wants to do with Twitter. No, no, no.\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@StephenKing @DonLew87 Yes, but Tom Sawyer was far more charming and had a soul.\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@StephenKing\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@Schnablonsky @Maggie_Nickson @StephenKing Maybe if Musk hadn\u2019t paid three times it\u2019s value for Twitter, he could make ends meet with advertising. But a bad business decision has him in a deep hole.\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@StephenKing @BlueMomofTwo He has a fundamental misunderstanding of social media. We, the users, are not customers. We, the users, are the product. The advertisers are the customers. He\u2019s working hard to lose both.\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@Pleightx @caslernoel @elonmusk\u201d

— NoelCaslerComedy\ud83c\udf19 (@NoelCaslerComedy\ud83c\udf19) 1667571275

\u201c@StephenKing Verification is needed for professionals, personalities and importantly journalists. It'll end up with people not being able to trust a source. \nI think he doesn't understand difference between twitter blue and twitter blue tick.\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@StephenKing I totally agree. Twitter relies on writers & journalists for \u201cfree\u201d credible content, breaking news etc. If people can pay for verification, I see no sense in having the blue check mark. I also won\u2019t contribute content to a platform I have to pay for. Maybe Twitter should pay us.\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@elonmusk\u201d

— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1667572100

\u201c@Merica_USA1 @StephenKing Stephen King writes books that millions want to read. Costco charges you for the book.\n\nStephen King writes tweets that millions want to read. Elon charges Stephen King for the tweets. \n\nSee the difference?\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@midnightriderV2 @StephenKing Stephen King doesn't care about paying $8, what worries him is that people like you or me have to pay it\nThat's called "empathy", you should learn to have it\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@kdollsweety @StephenKing If a checkmark got me 7M followers for $8/month I'd be all over it. He has 7M followers because he's STEPHEN KING and his ability to each 50M people is the moneymaker for Twitter, not his $8. That should be obvious\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201c@CoryAdams85 @StephenKing He is literally saying your tweets have greater impact and value if you pay. Which will devalue the power of \u201cfree speech\u201d\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967

\u201cIf it's true that accounts not paying $8/mo will be shadowbanned or deboosted, just remember you can always get your favorite content contributors sent straight to your notifications. Check the '\ud83d\udd14' in their profiles so you won't miss their latest tweets.\u201d

— Paul Leigh 'Some Rascal on the Internet' \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Paul Leigh 'Some Rascal on the Internet' \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1667408212

\u201c@aaron_kinney @StephenKing It\u2019s crazy looking back on when Starbucks gave drinks away for free, then suddenly charged $8 after removing the caffeine\u2026 oh\u2026 wait.\u201d

— Stephen King (@Stephen King) 1667436967