Conservatives celebrate Musk's Twitter stake as 'WIN' for free speech: 'Heroic and public serving'
Musk's purchase of Twitter could be 'perhaps the most heroic and public-serving action' of a billionaire
What are the effects of Elon Musk becoming Twitter's largest shareholder?
Heritage Foundation senior fellow Kara Frederick discusses Elon Musk becoming Twitter's largest shareholder on ‘The Evening Edit.’
Billionaire Elon Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder, sparking celebration from conservatives who predict freedom of speech will be ushered back onto the platform.
"If Musk helps restore @Twitter to its free speech roots and moves it away from its left-wing censorship regime, it will be perhaps the most heroic and public-serving action I have seen a billionaire take in my lifetime," Claremont Institute senior fellow Jeremy Carl posted to Twitter.
Reports first surfaced Monday that the Tesla CEO bought a 9.2% stake in the social media company. His shares dwarf that of former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who has over a 2% stake in the company, and other shareholders.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 27: Twitter headquarters is seen in San Francisco, California, United States on October 27, 2021. Twitter has been testing several new features for its mobile app recently. The company is now working on an option to custom (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Musk, who has described himself as a "free speech absolutist," now owns 73,486,938 shares of Twitter, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, valued at $2.89 billion based on Friday's closing price.
Twitter has long come under fire from conservatives and free speech advocates for censoring conservative viewpoints. The tech giant permanently banned former President Donald Trump from the platform in 2021, blocked the New York Post’s story in 2020 on Hunter Biden’s notorious laptop, and locked conservative satire site The Babylon Bee out of its Twitter account in March for awarding transgender Biden administration official Rachel Levine a fictitious "Man of the Year" award.
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Conservatives celebrated the announcement on Monday, urging for Trump’s return to the platform and lauding it as a turning point for free speech in big tech.
The purchase comes after Musk ran a public poll on the platform on March 25 asking: "Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?"
ELON MUSK TWEETS FIRST WORDS SINCE BECOMING TWITTER'S LARGEST SHAREHOLDER
"The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully," he said in a follow-up tweet.
Tesla founder Elon Musk / Getty Images (Getty / Getty Images)
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Some analysts believe that Musk has much more planned for the tech company than just a 9% stake, which is considered a passive investment.
"While a passive stake by Musk won't change TWTR's fundamentals, we do think his investment will drive greater interest from consumers," CFRA Research senior equity analyst Angelo Zino wrote in a note to clients on Monday. "Musk's actual investment (less than $3B) is a very small percentage of his wealth and an all-out buyout should not be ruled out."
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Wedbush Securities managing director of equity research, Daniel Ives, told FOX Business Monday that Musk's stake will not remain passive for long.
"We believe there is a better chance of us playing in the Masters this weekend than Musk staying a passive investor at 9%," Ives said. "The Street is reading this as a first move for Musk in an eventual active role at Twitter."
Fox News’ Lucas Manfredi contributed to this report.