More than a dozen advocacy groups have launched a campaign to stop Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, saying the microblogging site under his ownership would be "detrimental to society".
The effort, named "Stop The Deal", is a coalition of non-profit organisations and is being spearheaded by social media watchdog Accountable Tech. The group is questioning Mr Musk's erratic and "potentially unlawful behaviour", saying consummating the deal would "threaten the basic safeguards Twitter has established to mitigate the real-world harms it can drive".
The groups that have joined Accountable Tech are the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), Fair Vote UK, Friends of the Earth, Glaad, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, Media Matters for America, MediaJustice, MoveOn, Public Citizen, SumOfUs, The Sparrow Project and UltraViolet.
“Elon Musk is a wolf in expensive sheep’s clothing whose Twitter takeover is motivated by ego and grievance. Musk doesn’t care about Twitter’s users or employees; he doesn’t care about shareholders or advertisers; he doesn’t care about following the law or advancing the public good,” wrote Nicole Gill, executive director of Accountable Tech.
"Elon Musk only cares about Elon Musk. 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 timeline of the Twitter acquisition saga has been both a spectacle and, in true Mr Musk fashion, controversial.
Stop The Deal adds to the chorus of sceptics questioning Mr Musk's intentions and how he plans to run Twitter. Those who are against the deal argue that Mr Musk, who is a prolific Twitter user, could take his free-speech advocacy too far and transform Twitter into a playground for divisiveness.
Mr Musk became a major Twitter stockholder following his revelation that he purchased 73.5 million shares in early April. Less than two weeks later, he launched a hostile and surprise takeover bid. After initial wrangling — including employee unrest — Twitter's board caved in and agreed to the purchase.
Mr Musk then set off to secure financing for the acquisition, including selling his stocks in Tesla. He has also received commitments from several investors who had pledged up to $1bn in funding.
Then, in mid-May, Mr Musk said the deal "cannot move forward" unless Twitter provided proof that less than 5 per cent of its users are fake. Twitter bots amount to up to 12 per cent of visits on the platform, a study revealed this week. Critics have said that Mr Musk made the declaration so he could negotiate a smaller price.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission — with which Mr Musk has had repeated bouts and long-running animosity with — has asked him to explain why he did not disclose, within a required 10-day period, his increased stake in the company, especially if he was planning to buy it.
Accountable Tech said their campaign will tap any means necessary to stop the purchase, including legal and regulatory mechanisms, convince Twitter advertisers and investors, and education and mobilisation at the grassroots level.
“Elon Musk’s free speech fundamentalism forces women, people of colour, members of the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalised groups to pay the price for the ‘free’ speech of misogynists, white supremacists, bigots and so on,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the CCDH.
Others called on regulators to rein in hostile takeovers such as this, which demonstrate the power wealthy people can wield if they so wish to acquire an influential company.
“A billionaire entrepreneur whose head is in the clouds and who thinks free speech means free reach will now control one of the most influential tech platforms in the world — what could possibly go wrong?” said Vicky Wyatt, campaign director of San Francisco-based SumOfUs.
“It’s time lawmakers pass tough new regulations that stop these Big Tech oligarchs from destroying our democracies and creating serious harm."
Rahna Epting, executive director of US-based MoveOn, took aim at social media companies, describing them as "nothing more than toxic cesspools of disinformation".
“Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter will not lead to more ‘free speech’ on the platform. It will simply lead to more extreme voices exploiting the platform to stoke hate, violence and harassment."
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Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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