• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 19, 2022

Florida governor Ron DeSantis said Tuesday the state was contemplating legal action against Twitter over its efforts to prevent Tesla CEO Elon Musk from taking over the company.

Musk last week offered to purchase Twitter for $43 billion, or $54.30 a share -- which was around 18% higher than the share price at the time. Twitter's board of directors responded by adopting a “poison pill” strategy aimed at preventing Musk from taking over the company. 

DeSantis, a frequent critic of Twitter over its content moderation policies, blasted the board for failing to accept Musk's offer.

“Why would you reject the 20% premium?” the Republican governor asked at a press conference. “They rejected it because they know that they can't control Elon Musk.”

He added: “We’re gonna be looking at ways the state of Florida potentially can be holding these Twitter board of directors accountable for breaching their fiduciary duty.”

Florida's pension fund holds shares of Twitter, which could give the state a legal basis to sue the company.

Musk's bid to acquire Twitter came after the billionaire criticized the tech company over its content policies, which include  suppressing speech that violates its terms of service.

At the same time, it's not entirely clear how Musk aims to revise Twitter's practices. He reportedly said this weekend, “Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it’s just really important that people have the, both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.”

But he added that the company wouldn't necessarily “promote” especially controversial tweets, and acknowledged that he doesn't have “all the answers."

DeSantis, however, predicted Tuesday that Musk would “liberate” Twitter “from being an agent of censorship to making it an actual open platform.”

DeSantis, like some other prominent Republicans, has frequently claimed that tech companies are biased against conservatives -- despite a lack of empirical proof.

Last year, DeSantis signed a bill that prohibits large web platforms from “de-platforming” political candidates by banning them for more than 14 days, or permanently deleting their accounts.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee blocked the bulk of that law, ruling it probably violated the 1st Amendment.

The state appealed that decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear arguments on April 28 in Montgomery, Alabama.