During an interview on Thursday, Elon Musk slammed Mark Zuckerberg’s long-term control of Meta.
During an interview at the TED conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Musk was asked about his latest offer to buy Twitter. Chris Anderson, the interviewer, questioned Musk if his position as the world’s richest man and one of the platform’s top influencers could create a conflict of interest.
Musk took advantage of the chance to make a dig at Zuckerberg.
“As for media sort of ownership, I mean, you’ve got Mark Zuckerberg owning Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp, and with a share ownership structure that will have Mark Zuckerberg the 14th still controlling those entities,” Musk stated .
“Like, literally,” Musk added to the audience’s laughs. “We won’t have that at Twitter.”
Musk’s statement could be referring to a lengthy line of Zuckerberg descendants in the future, or it could be a reference to King Louis XIV of France, who reigned for more than 72 years and is known as the world’s longest-reigning king.
The Tesla CEO was also referring to Facebook’s parent company, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg owns 55 percent of the company’s voting shares, thus giving him veto power over other owners when it comes to the company’s destiny.
The corporation features a dual-class stock structure that gives Zuckerberg, select executive management, and directors supervoting power because each of their shares is worth ten votes, whereas other shareholders have only one vote per share.
Insider reached out to Meta for comment, but no one responded right away.
Despite the fact that Tesla does not have a dual-class share structure, Musk nonetheless wields tremendous power. With a 17 percent stake in the electric vehicle manufacturer, he is the company’s largest individual shareholder. While Musk does not have the same level of influence over Tesla as Zuckerberg does with Meta, the firm does have supermajority voting procedures, which require two-thirds of shares to approve substantial changes, giving Musk veto power.
Musk added that if he were to buy Twitter, he would organize the company in such a way that there would be no appearance of a conflict of interest, including making the platform’s code publicly available.
Musk stated that his offer to purchase Twitter was “not a way to earn money,” but rather a way to safeguard free speech. The Tesla CEO also seemed to criticize Meta’s moderation efforts. On both sides of the aisle, the social media business has been chastised for its handling of COVID-19 disinformation and the Capitol siege. Musk appears to believe that it is better to err on the side of enabling information distribution if it is lawful in the nations where the platform operates.
Musk argued that buying Twitter was “not a way to earn money,” but rather a way to protect free speech. The Tesla CEO appeared to be critical of Meta’s moderation efforts as well. The social media industry has been blasted on both sides of the aisle for its handling of COVID-19 disinformation and the Capitol siege. Musk appears to think it’s better to err on the side of allowing information distribution if it’s legal in the countries where the platform operates.
