DeSantis Praises Elon Musk for Offering to Buy Twitter: “Free Speech Can Thrive”

By Eric Daugherty

Published Apr. 25, 2022, 1:16 p.m. ET | Updated Jan. 2, 2023

Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking with attendees at the 2021 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla. (Photo/Gage Skidmore, Flickr)

April 25, 2022 Updated 1:16 P.M. ET

TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis Tweeted in support of the richest man in the world and CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, for attempting to purchase social media giant Twitter.

“@elonmusk’s offer to buy Twitter is a good deal for shareholders and raises the prospect that the platform will be a place where free speech can thrive, not a tool for narrative enforcement,” he said.

On April 20, 2022, Musk announced his $54.20-per-share offer, a nod to “4/20,” a day celebrating the usage of marijuana. The deal rounds out to around $43 billion in cash.

Reuters reported that Twitter Inc. is set to accept the sale to Musk. Tesla is not involved in the deal – Musk would own Twitter in a “personal capacity.”

Twitter has been under fire for several years since its cleansing of conservative personalities like Alex Jones, Marjorie Taylor Greene (personal account), and former President Donald Trump. Musk said that he wants a return of free speech the platform.

“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” Musk said on Monday.

Reuters reports that later Monday, a deal might be announced. However, a source said that the deal could “collapse at the last minute.”

If Musk buys that platform, Twitter would be allowed to accept an offer from another party if they pay Musk a “break-up fee,” Reuters added.

If and when the richest man obtains Twitter, many believe that figures like Trump and Jones will be allowed back on the platform due to their banning being related to viewpoint discrimination and not for illegal actions.

Trump was banned after the January 6th riots in 2021, and Jones was banned across major social media en masse in 2018.

The offer to buy Twitter comes as Musk criticized their leadership: “”The company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.”

According to Reuters, the board was going to reject Musk’s bid until he revealed the financing package.

If a deal is finalized, it will come only days after Musk went public on his ambition to purchase Twitter.

DeSantis signed S.B. 7072, Social Media Platforms, in May 2021 to “stop the censorship of Floridians by Big Tech.” The law provides that social media companies will face large daily fines of tens of thousands of dollars per day for deplatforming state candidates.