Elon Musk: Tucker, Twitter Have Not Signed a Deal

Elon Musk is chiming in after Tucker Carlson this week went on Musk's platform, Twitter, to announce that after being fired by Fox News he would bring a form of his popular program there.

There aren't many platforms left that allow free speech," Carlson said in a video announcing his plan following his April 24 firing by Fox News. It has been viewed well over 106 million times.

"The last big one remaining in the world, the only one, is Twitter, where we are now," he added. "Twitter has long served as the place where our national conversation incubates and develops. Twitter is not a partisan site, everybody's allowed here, and we think that's a good thing."

Lest things race too far ahead of actual movement on a deal, Musk issued a tweet on Tuesday. In it, he noted that "unlike the one-way street of broadcast," Twitter users "interact, critique and refute whatever is said" and "anything misleading" is labeled with community notes. This lets Twitter users add context or correct errors below other tweets.

"I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules and rewards of all content creators," Musk said.

Acccording to the Wall Street Journal, there are some  potential hurdles to clear between Carlson and Twitter. It said several ad buyers insisted that Carlson's arrival would make it harder for Twitter to win back advertisers who've already bolted from the platform since Musk took over as CEO. Some of those advertisers had concerns about Musk moving the platform more to the political right —  even before the potential addition of the highly conservative Carlson.

"Tucker’s transition to Twitter will terrify advertisers,” said Brendan Gahan, chief social officer at digital-ad agency Mekanism, the paper reported. Carlson’s move will “likely further taint Twitter’s image and keep advertisers away,” Gahan said.

Musk has said he hopes other commentators will consider following the trail being blazed by Carlson, and he has already invited anchor Don Lemon fresh from his recent firing from CNN.