Elon Musk tells advertisers he will not make Twitter a ‘free-for-all hellscape’

Musk addressed a letter to advertisers who are apparently ‘concerned’ about how the acquisition would look after it is completed.

Elon Musk dismissed speculation about why he bought Twitter and his thoughts on advertising in a tweet posted Thursday morning, writing, “The reason I acquired Twitter is that It is critical for the future of civilization to have a common digital town square where a wide range of opinions may be argued in a healthy and nonviolent manner.”

Musk stated in June statements to Twitter staff that he believes individuals should be permitted to “say really crazy things within the law,” but that they should not necessarily be amplified. Now, he tells advertisers, “Twitter definitely cannot become a free-for-all hellscape where everything is permitted.”

He also blamed hostility and division in society on “far right wing and far left-wing echo chambers,” as well as media outlets that he claims cater to them.

Without repeating last week’s Tesla results call a remark about overpaying, Musk now says of his upcoming acquisition, “I didn’t buy it because it would be easy.” I didn’t do it for the money. I did it to serve mankind, which I adore.” That message of love was allegedly also transmitted during Musk’s visit to Twitter HQ yesterday, as Bloomberg says he informed employees that he does not intend to lay off 75% of the employees.

According to the WSJ story, advertising accounted for 89 percent of Twitter’s $5 billion in income last year. While Musk has publicly floated the concept of redesigning the service to become a WeChat-style everything app and has apparently privately explored ideas about shifting away from advertisements as the primary revenue source, any moves in that direction would take time to accomplish.