Shaun King claims that Elon Musk's desire to buy Twitter is 'about white power'

While billionaire business tycoon Elon Musk has indicated that he thinks Twitter can serve as a platform that enables people around the world to engage in free speech, Shaun King has claimed that Musk's bid to buy Twitter is "about white power."

"At its root, @ElonMusk wanting to purchase Twitter is not about left vs right. It’s about white power. The man was raised in Apartheid by a white nationalist. He’s upset that Twitter won’t allow white nationalists to target/harass people. That’s his definition of free speech," King tweeted.

"Elon Musk has openly called himself a 'free speech absolutist' and said that he wants to create a space where anything can be said about anyone. That’s why white nationalists are giddy today. Here on Twitter and other platforms that I track daily. It’s dangerous," King added. "And listen, I don’t even like the Democratic Party. So for me, this isn’t about left vs right. Not at all. It’s about how the richest man in the world, a son of Apartheid, raised by a white nationalist, wants to be sure his speech, and that of other white men, isn’t censored."

Musk has previously said that he grew up in South Africa, but departed when he was 17-years-old, "in part, in order to avoid conscription" — he noted that "spending two years suppressing black people didn't seem" like a good utilization of time.

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Twitter has announced that it struck an agreement with Musk, who will acquire the social media company.

A Twitter press release noted that the company "has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company."

Some people have been critical of the platform for engaging in censorship, but it appears that Musk is poised to make free speech a priority for the big tech company.

"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," Musk said, according to the press release. "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."