He said it is important to have an inclusive arena for free speech. Twitter has become the de facto town square.
"an inclusive arena for free speech"
Was buying Twitter worth it?
Q1024 answers2022-2026
Short answer
Acquiring Twitter (and helping elect Trump) angered people but he thinks it was good for civilization.
All 24 answers, oldest to newest
2022 · 11 answers
He said he loves Twitter — he has tweeted that — and uses it to communicate directly with people instead of through the media.
"i love twitter in fact i literally have tweeted i love twitter"
He says the most essential task after the takeover was to cut the burn rate so Twitter would not go bankrupt the next year.
"The most essential thing to be done at Twitter was to cut the burn rate so that Twitter does not just go bankrupt next year."
After cutting the burn rate and building subscriptions, he said he now thought Twitter would be okay the next year.
"I now think that Twitter will in fact be okay next year."
He says Twitter faced about $3 billion a year of negative cash flow with $1 billion in cash, so he spent five weeks cutting costs.
"that's why I spent the last five weeks cutting costs like crazy."
He says his sometimes odd actions are because Twitter was in an emergency.
"We have an emergency fired roll on our hands."
He admits Twitter may have gone too far cutting costs on lunch.
"I admit we may have gone too far in cost cutting with respect to the lunch that, that could be the case."
He says without changes Twitter faced net cash outflow of about $6–6.5 billion the next year.
"net cash outflow if you didn't make any changes of on the order of like 6, 6.5 billion next year"
He says the $12.5 billion acquisition debt and rising rates mean about $1.5 billion a year in debt servicing.
"there's on the order of a billion and a half ish of debt servicing that's required."
In late 2022 he said he expected Twitter to be roughly cash-flow break-even the following year.
"I think we will be about, hopefully, sort of roughly cash flow break even. That's what I expect for next year."
He says Twitter went from close to 8,000 people to a little over 2,000 and the site is still running.
"We were at close to 8,000 people. The site is still running as evidenced by us being on it."
2023 · 4 answers
He calls Twitter an incredibly powerful tool for driving demand for Tesla and urges other companies to use it more.
"I think Twitter is actually an incredibly powerful tool for driving demand for Tesla."
He did not buy Twitter as a lucrative gold mine; it has been arduous. He did it because without a strong foundation of free speech he fears for civilization.
"that's why I did it"
He said i acquired the company fka Twitter out of concern for civilizational risk. All bets are off if civilization collapses.
"I acquired the company fka Twitter out of concern for civilizational risk. All bets are off if civilization collapses."
He says X accomplished more in a year than Twitter had in the prior five years.
"We've accomplished more advancements in a year than I think Twitter had done in the prior, at least five years."
2024 · 1 answer
Freedom of speech is the bedrock of democracy and the First Amendment; once you lose it you lose democracy. That is why he bought Twitter. He was the most-interacted-with user before the acquisition and saw the system changing, including deplatforming a sitting president.
"that's why I bought Twitter"
2025 · 7 answers
Without the purchase his own account would have been suspended and Trump wouldn't have come back; he's trying to keep civilization going.
"my account would have been suspended long ago for sure"
People said he was an idiot because he bought it for $44 billion and it was supposedly worth 8 cents; he said it was essentially to buy freedom of expression.
"buy freedom of expression"
At Twitter they reduced staff by 80% while improving the site's functionality, a corporate turnaround at much larger scale for government.
"we reduced the staff by 80%"
He said he completed the purchase because he was told he would not get a fair hearing from Delaware judge Kathleen McCormick, whom he believed had a strong bias against him.
"I did not believe I would receive a fair hearing"
He bought Twitter because it was causing destruction at a civilizational level — a "wormtongue" pushing a nihilistic mind virus. The purchase was a huge pain and made him a pin cushion of attacks, but he felt it was critical.
"causing destruction at a civilizational level"
Yes; old Twitter amplified far-left ideology and suspended people on the right, so it needed rebalancing.
"I think it was important"
Not really. He bought Twitter because he thought it was having a negative, anti-civilizational effect after being captured by the far left, and wanted a public square with real free speech.
"I I just bought Twitter because I thought it was um having a negative effect on civilization"
2026 · 1 answer
Acquiring Twitter (and helping elect Trump) angered people but he thinks it was good for civilization.
"I think those actions were good for civilization"