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The Street
The Street
Business
Rob Lenihan

Twitter Reacts to Elon Musk Buying Twitter

Okay, but how do you really feel?

People rarely hold back their emotions when they take to Twitter (TWTR)

The micro-blogging website may be known for many things, but subtlety is not one of them as commenters gleefully release their emotional krakens at the drop of a tweet.

Elon Musk's just-completed purchase of Twitter (TWTR), which the world's richest man has repeatedly described "as the de facto public town square" is no exception.

The Tesla (TSLA) CEO recently told the known universe that he had finally completed his $44 billion purchase after six months of sturm und drang by tweeting the words "The bird is freed," a nod to Twitter's mascot.

Musk Started By Dumping Twitter's CEO

The Musk era began with the ousters of CEO Parag Agrawal, who replaced co-founder Jack Dorsey last November, Chief financial officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal, policy and trust.

"Let the good times roll," Musk proclaimed on Oct. 28, and tweets about the acquisition came rolling in.

"Elon Musk has enough money to end world hunger and solve global warming single-handedly," one commenter said. "But what does he do instead? Buys twitter so he can reinstate all the Nazis. What an a--hole."

Did somebody say Nazis? Well, we have one poster who put up a video clip from "Darth Vader vs Adolf Hitler 2" featuring an actor going full-on fuhrer. 

"Elon Musk after he buys twitter," reads the caption.

"Elon Musk buys Twitter- that cheering you are hearing is from Neo Nazis, white supremacists and MAGA scum cheering their expected return to Twitter," another post read.

'Take Your Commie Crap Somewhere Else!"

Musk couldn't resist a Nazi reference himself earlier this year when he tweeted a meme linking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Hitler.

Conservative commenters picked up on liberal threats to abandon Twitter in the event of an extreme Musk-over. 

"Rob Reiner says if Elon Musk buys Twitter that he's leaving," one person tweeted, referring to the actor and film direction. "Maybe he'll go to Truth Social. NOPE...wait...Donald Trump owns that. Maybe he'll go to Parler. NOPE...wait...Kanye will own that. Maybe he'll go to.... * WHERE will poor Rob go?"

The post noted Trump's rival social media site and Kanye West's--aka Ye--move to buy  conservative social media platform Parler. It came with a photo of Reiner and the heart-warming message "Bye, Rob! Take your commie crap somewhere else!"  

Another poster addressed the abandon Twiter issue, likening it to threats to leave the country if "X candidate wins." 

"It's just an emotional outburst with lots of tears and foot stomping," the tweet read. "Nobody's really going anywhere."

'A Free-for-all Hellscape'

"The left is enraged that a billionaire Elon Musk buys twitter," another post stated. "So, the prior billionaire Jack Dorsey is okay with the left? Is just Elon the billionaire they don't like?"

Musk has said that he will reinstate former President Donald Trump, who was booted from Twitter following the Jan, 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol he instigated.

But Musk seems to have toned down his position since getting the keys to Twitter's front door. 

This may have something to do with reports that several companies plan to suspend ad spending on the platform should Trump return to tweet.

"Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" he said in a letter to advertisers. "Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise."

Sounds good, but you may want to keep those Nazi memes handy.

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