Although purchasing something like Twitter sounds and looks great on paper, the real-life rules look quite different. Here’s the truth on the Twitter purchase.

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Elon Musk is buying Twitter - but the world's richest man and Tesla mastermind has to abide by strict rules or the deal will fall through.

This has not appeared in all the media, as it is not interesting to know what is behind one of the most significant purchases of the year.

Like other social media platforms or even exchange platforms that offer a Bittrex trading bot as an investment tool, Twitter has its rules and governments even more.

Elon Musk Buys Twitter

Everyone has probably heard the news that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is now also becoming social media boss: After Twitter confirmed in mid-April that Musk had made an offer to buy his favorite social media platform, the deal was wrapped up on April 25.

The final Twitter acquisition on Musk's part is expected to be completed on Oct. 24, 2022. But this does not mean that Elon Musk can now do whatever he wants - on the contrary. 

The purchase of Twitter does not proceed without a contract that includes blatant etiquette rules and a muzzle for Musk.

Twitter Contract Over 70 Pages Long

The takeover contract, titled "AGREEMENT AND PLAN OF MERGER" is officially available on the Internet and is dated the day of the purchase, April 25, 2022. 

It states rules that both sides - Musk and Twitter - must abide by in order for the acquisition to be valid.

Musk Must Behave

Musk is actually known for his big mouth and cheeky tweets. For example, he has already tweeted about the imminent end of humanity or even called on Russia's President Putin in tweets to fight a duel over Ukraine.  

But there is one thing he is now (no longer) allowed to do: make negative comments on Twitter. For example, the contract states that Musk "may not disparage the company."

A few weeks ago, Musk reportedly deleted some old tweets in which he had criticized Twitter.

However, according to the contract, he may continue to "speak in public tweets about the merger or the transactions contemplated hereby."

Despite the fact that the billion-dollar deal has been criticized in some quarters, neither Musk nor Twitter are allowed to use public criticism on their own platform as a reason to let the deal fall through. Nor would possible cyberattacks or, say, a pandemic like COVID 19 be reasons to resign.

Billions of Dollars in Penalties

The Twitter contract also stipulates that a penalty of one billion dollars is to be paid to the other side if one of the parties wants to withdraw from the purchase agreement. 

Actually, this is almost a bargain - as a reminder: The purchase price is supposed to be 44 billion dollars.