Prominent DeFi protocol Aave’s founder Stani Kulechov’s Twitter account was permanently suspended after he jokingly tweeted that he was joining Twitter as interim CEO. This came the same week as Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced his acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion.
Kulechov’s verified Twitter account with about 90,000 followers was banned due to the confusion created after his tweet. Musk’s deal to take over Twitter is expected to close later this year. However, the news has created uncertainty on who will now run the platform.
Musk’s Free Speech Statement Fails The Test Of Time
Meanwhile, earlier this month, while speaking at TED 2022 conference in Vancouver, Musk said in an interview that he wanted to buy Twitter to provide a platform that encourages and enables free speech. Nevertheless, the Kulechov incident displayed otherwise.
Musk said, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy. Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
He added that “Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square. So it’s just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they’re able to speak freely within the bounds of the law”.
Following this, the current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal confirmed that he would remain CEO of the company until the acquisition process is complete, which will tentatively happen this year itself after the approval from regulators and shareholders. However, according to The Verge, earlier this week, Parag noted that “there is indeed uncertainty about what will happen after the deal closes”.
