As the proposed purchase of Twitter cleared antitrust clearance, advocacy organizations launched a campaign on Friday to stop Elon Musk from buying the company.
With the passing of a timeframe for it to be challenged under a US antitrust law, Twitter claimed the deal for Musk to acquire the firm was a step closer to being finalized.
Other regulators are still reviewing the Tesla CEO’s $44 billion agreement to take the one-to-many messaging network private, and shareholders must accept it.
A consortium of charity organizations has launched a “Stop The Deal” campaign to prevent the takeover.
“Elon Musk is a wolf in expensive sheep´s clothing whose Twitter takeover is motivated by ego and grievance,” Accountable Tech executive director Nicole Gill said in a release.
“If we don´t stop this deal, he´ll hand a megaphone to demagogues and extremists, who will cheer him as they incite more hate, harm, and harassment.”
The campaign will focus on getting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulatory bodies to thoroughly investigate the takeover bid.
The group will also try to persuade Twitter shareholders and advertisers to oppose Musk’s purchase of the San Francisco-based digital company.
MoveOn, SumOfUs, Media Matters for America, and the Center for Countering Digital Hate are among the more than a dozen organizations engaging in the effort.
Musk became a major Twitter stockholder after purchasing 73.5 million shares in early April, and he launched a hostile takeover effort less than two weeks later.
The SEC has urged Musk to explain why he didn’t report his increasing position on Twitter inside the statutory 10-day period, especially if he intended to buy it.
“Your response should address, among other things, your recent public statements on the Twitter platform regarding Twitter, including statements questioning whether Twitter rigorously adheres to free speech principles,” regulators said in a letter.
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