Image Credit: Kevin Dietsch; JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images 
After billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter, some people welcomed the changes as a new hope for free speech; others, however, suggested that the new ownership will mark the beginning of the platform’s dark days.
New Twitter owner Elon Musk told Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to “stop hitting on” him after she took issue with how the social media platform is now controlled by “some billionaire with an ego problem”.
“Stop hitting on me, I’m really shy,” Musk responded to AOC’s tweet, in which she lamented how “tired” she was to “collectively stress about what explosion of hate crimes is happening bc some billionaire with an ego problem unilaterally controls a massive communication platform and skews it because Tucker Carlson or Peter Thiel took him to dinner and made him feel special.”
Ocasio-Cortez then responded to him with “I was talking about Zuckerberg but ok”, but then deleted the tweet, to the disappointment of the users who flocked to the thread to observe the exchange.
Shortly after Musk responded, the hashtag #AOCLovesElon slid into the US Twitter trends, with users mercilessly mocking Ocasio-Cortez’ “shot” at Elon and rolling out memes about how he won’t return her calls.
“He won’t return any of my calls!!!” #AOCLovesElon pic.twitter.com/pKgyO0E7Bx
— 1776 Julia
(@Jules31415) April 29, 2022
AOC at the parking lot watching Elon drive off in his Tesla….#AOCLovesElon pic.twitter.com/HCqMth97tY
— Coop (@ClownPopper) April 30, 2022
Musk purchased Twitter for some $44 million, later informing the users that he is on a mission to unleash the platform’s “tremendous potential” and urging everyone to “make Twitter maximum fun”.
He also said that “for Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally.”
Elon Musk Says He Doesn’t Like The Far Right, But What Does that Mean?