‘Bring Twitter to Texas’: Texans lay out the red carpet for Elon Musk
It’s only been a few days since billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk began his takeover of Twitter, dissolving the board of directors and firing top executives, but Texans have been on Musk’s heels pleading with him to bring the company to Texas. In fact, they’re trying to make it very easy by laying out the red carpet for the billionaire.
Influential Texans have asked Musk to move the company ever since he announced his intentions to purchase the bird app for $44 billion in April. It implies that if Musk does choose to bring it to Texas, they’re going to make it very easy for him.
‘Bring Twitter to Texas’
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was quick on Twitter, tagging the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire in a tweet asking him to bring the social media platform headquarters to Texas.
“Bring Twitter to Texas to join Tesla, SpaceX & the Boring company,” Abbott tweeted on April 25.
He wasn’t the only state official who pushed Musk to make the move. Texas state Representative Tan Parker told FOX Business in April that the state would literally “roll out the red carpet” for the billionaire.
“Elon made a tremendous decision, the right choice, when he brought Tesla to Texas, when he brought SpaceX to Texas,” Parker told FOX Business. “I think it’s no different in his decision making here for Twitter, he realizes that Texas is the most business friendly state in America, that we are open for business.”
It’s free real estate
Texas rancher Jim Schwertner chimed in on Twitter on October 28, after Musk had taken over, to say that the town of Schwertner, Texas was ready to host the company’s headquarters. Schwertner is a the owner of farm and ranch real estate company Capitol Land and Livestock. And yes, he is also a descendant of the town’s namesake, Bernard Schwertner.
In April, Schwertner offered up 100 acres of land in the town that is just north outside of Austin. He told FOX Business at the time that he was serious about the offer and the land was worth “millions of dollars.”
Schwertner appears ready to follow through on his offer, calling Texas the ” home of free speech.” People on Twitter excited for “free speech” seem to equate that with hate speech, with the use of the “N word” racial slur jumping by 500% on the platform since Musk took over.
Though Musk has not announced any plans to move the company anywhere, a new HQ in Texas could make sense given the billionaire’s goal of making Twitter a “de facto public town square” and the state’s goal of “prohibiting large social media companies from banning users’ posts based on their political viewpoints.”
In September, a new state law passed during the 2021 legislative session was cleared to do just that.
Per the Texas Tribune, Dan Paxton celebrated the lift by tweeting, “I just secured a MASSIVE victory for the constitution & Free speech in fed court #BigTech CANNOT censor the political voices of ANY texan!”
