Franklin Graham Praises the World's Richest Man for Pro-Free Speech Stance
This week, Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion. The blockbuster announcement was made Monday, capping off a tense battle between the world's richest man and Twitter's board of directors. If Musk keeps his promise to stand for free speech, this could be a major win for Christians.
The battle for control of Twitter was not only for the company but also for free speech itself, since Twitter is widely considered "a global town square." This defining acquisition comes just days after Rev. Franklin Graham, CEO and president of Samaritan's Purse and CEO and president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said that he welcomes the famous entrepreneur-billionaire and investor, known for Tesla and SpaceX, getting engaged to lead the charge to transform Twitter.
"I'm glad to see someone who cares so much about free speech get involved with this platform," said Rev. Graham in a public statement. "Twitter is still one of the most influential platforms in the world, and I'm grateful to be on it to share my faith and values, but it has become a place where people are banned or blocked if they make statements that Twitter doesn't find acceptable This concerns me as a Christian."
"There are people who may disagree with our beliefs and our faith in Jesus Christ, but just like people of other religions, we have a right to share our beliefs even when they may not be popular. This is how a public square is supposed to work," Rev. Graham told Fox News Digital.
"It's a place where ideas and opinions and beliefs should be shared openly and freely," he added. "I hope Twitter comes to see the value of free speech like this and starts celebrating it instead of censoring it."
With Monday's announcement that Twitter has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk for $54.20 per share in cash, one of the first things that the billionaire emphasized was free speech.
As soon as the big news was announced, Musk said in a statement: "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."
When the acquisition is completed later this year, the company will become a private entity. 
Anthony Hart is a freelance writer for Charisma Media.
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