Twitter is up for sale. Big companies are circling around looking to buy. But what about us, Twitter users? We propose to explore turning one of the world’s most important platform utilities through democratic ownership. Read, spread, and organize! And visit the official campaign website.
Twitter shareholders:
[ VOTE YES ]
to Study an Exit to Democratic User Ownership
(Proposal 4 in the 2017 docket)
This year, Twitter shareholders will have the option to vote for a modest but radical proposal—that the company should commission a report on the opportunities for conversion to more democratic ownership, possibly in the form of a cooperative. It’s a historic opportunity to rethink the nature of the platform utilities we rely on.
Browse this folder to read documents including the proposal itself, Twitter’s attempt to suppress it, and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ruling on the proposal’s behalf.
Share your vision
What would you do if you were a co-owner of Twitter? Share your ideas with the hashtags #WeAreTwitter and/or #BuyTwitter. While you’re at it, follow @BuyThisPlatform.
Read + Spread
- Nathan Schneider, “Here’s my plan to save Twitter: let’s buy it” (The Guardian, 2016.09.29)
- Albert Wenger, “I would contribute to this idea by @ntnsndr in a heartbeat” (2016.09.29)
- “Twitter should huddle with the Green Bay Packers while weighing M&A options” (MarketWatch, 2016.09.30)
- Cory Doctorow, “Proposal: turn Twitter into a user-owned co-op” (Boing Boing, 2016.10.04)
- kieran, “#BuyTwitter: Could Twitter Become A Co-Operative Business?” (#now, 2016.10.04)
- “The Twitter we <3 is never going to make Wall Street happy. It’s a public service & should be a non-profit!” (@AnonyOps, 2016.10.05)
- Johnny Haeusler, “Was wäre, wenn Twitter uns gehören würde?” (Wired.de, 2016.10.10)
- “Nutzer träumen von Twitter-Übernahme” (Spiegel Online, 2016.10.12)
- Pauli Olavi Ojala, “Twitter could be the next Mozilla” (The Startup, 2016.10.14)
- “#buytwitter: turning Twitter into public utility” (Metafilter, 2016.10.15)
- Press release: “#WeAreTwitter Movement Wants to Acquire Twitter, Turn It Into User-Owned Cooperative” (October 19, 2016)
- #WeAreTwitter, “What If Twitter Were Owned by the Users Who Love It” (YES! Magazine, 2016.10.19)
- Ingo Dachwitz, “#WeAreTwitter: Initiative für ein Twitter in Nutzer*innenhand gestartet” (Netzpolitik.org, 2016.10.19)
- Valerie, “Encouraging Users To Invest In Twitter’s Future Together” (#now, 2016.10.20)
- Patricia Dickson, “#WeAreTwitter: User wollen Twitter kaufen” (SRF, 2016.10.20)
- Vincent Körner, “Kooperative statt Börse: Nutzer sollen Twitter kaufen” (Neues Deutschland, 2016.10.20)
- Bernardo Parrella, “Riprendiamoci Twitter, compriamolo tutti insieme: perché no?” (2016.10.20)
- Paul Tamburro, “Should Twitter Become User-Owned? #BuyTwitter Thinks So” (Crave, 2016.10.21)
- Elisa Braun, “Des internautes se portent candidats au rachat de Twitter” (Le Figaro, 2016.10.21)
- Giuseppe Tripod, “#WeAreTwitter: e se fossero gli utenti a comprare Twitter?” (SmartWorld, 2016.10.21)
- Mauro Sandrini, “#Twitter siamo noi. Compriamolo” (IlFattoQuotidiano, 2016.10.21)
- Thomas Euler, “The Case For #WeAreTwitter: Why Twitter-as-a-co-op might actually be a smart business idea” (2016.10.24)
- Leila Marchand, “Et si Twitter était racheté par ses utilisateurs?” (Les Echos, 2016.10.24)
- Carolina Schwarz, “Rettung oder Tod einer Plattform” (taz.de, 2016.10.25)
- Rafael A. F. Zanatta, “E se o Twitter fosse um bem comum?” (Outras Palavras, 2016.10.25)
- Daniele Gambetta, “#WeAreTwitter, la campagna per rendere Twitter una cooperativa in mano agli utenti” (Fanpage.it, 2016.10.26)
- Roberto Ceccarelli, “Occupy Twitter” (Prismo, 2016.10.26)
- Bernardo Parrella, “L’ascesa delle piattaforme cooperative – incluso Twitter?” (Collaboriamo, 2016.10.26)
- Emmanuelle Delsol, “#WeAreTwitter, et si les Twittos rachetaient Twitter?” (L’Usine Digitale, 2016.10.27)
- Monica Nickelsburg, “#WeAreTwitter campaign wants users to buy the platform and turn it into a co-op” (GeekWire, 2016.10.27)
- Thomas Doennebrink, “#BuyTwitter? German newspaper Taz has been there, done that.” (P2P Foundation Blog, 2016.10.31)
- Niκος Smyrnaios, “#WeAreTwitter ou comment sauver l’internet du capitalisme financier” (Ephemeron, 2016.11.01)
- Douglas Rushkoff, “Users trying to buy back Twitter from Wall Street. Long shot, but nice thought experiment” (2016.11.01)
- Didier Jansen, “Waarom Twitter door zijn gebruikers gekocht moet worden” (2016.11.01)
- Martín Steinhagen, “Die Twitter-Kooperative” (Frankfurter Rundschau, 2016.11.04)
- Antony McMullen, “Twitter catches a Platform Cooperative cab to New York?” (LinkedIn, 2016.11.06)
- Klint Finley, “Let’s Build the Next Twitter Like the Green Bay Packers” (WIRED, 2016.11.07)
- John Hockenberry, “Will Twitter Live to See the 2020 Election?” (The Takeaway, 2016.11.08)
- Bernardo Parrella, “Let’s Take Back Twitter, Please,” (Global Voices, 2016.11.11)
- Patrick Stegemann, “Wir kaufen uns Twitter” (Deutschlandradio, 2016.11.16)
- Mark Latham, “A global software users’ co-op could #BuyTwitter” (Votermedia Democracy Blog, 2016.11.18)
- Ben Wurdmuller, “Buying Twitter is a fairy tale. Here’s how a cooperative could build the next generation of social networks” (2016.11.26)
- Alice Bonasio, “Twitter is failing as a public company, but there are other ways to keep this bird aloft” (Quartz, 2016.12.21)
- Nithin Coca, “Organising a people’s movement to #BuyTwitter” (Mobilization Lab, 2017.01.06)
- Paul Mason, “Why social media is like the railways – and must be saved” (The Guardian, 2017.01.09)
- “Twitter shareholders voice benefits of a co-operative” (Financial Times, 2017.02.05) [pdf]
- “Twitter as a co-op? It is a dream that is worthy of consideration” (Financial Times, 2017.02.05)
- James McRitchie, “#WeAreTwitter Record Date Approaches” (Corporate Governance, 2017.03.24)
- Danny Fortson, “Twitter fights investor plan to turn it into co‑operative” (The Sunday Times, 2017.04.09) [pdf]
- Kurt Wagner, “Of course, a bunch of Twitter users want to buy the company and turn it into a co-op” (Recode, 2017.04.09)
- Rob Price, “Twitter shareholders will vote on turning the company into a cooperative owned by its users” (Business Insider, 2017.04.10)
- Lars Wienand, “Twitter im Eigentum der Nutzer? – Aktionäre stimmen ab” (Berliner Morgenpost, 2017.04.10)
- Maya Kosoff, “A Group of Die-Hard Twitter Users Wants to Buy the Company and Turn It into a Co-Op” (Vanity Fair, 2017.04.10)
- Maira Sutton, “Could Twitter Users Own the Platform One Day?” (Shareable, 2017.04.10)
- “Stockholder Proposal Regarding a Report on Users Owning the Twitter Platform” (Hacker News, 2017.04.10)
- MichaelTen, “A bunch of Twitter users want to buy the company and turn it into a co-op. Could this happen to Reddit?” (Reddit, 2017.04.10)
- Bret Kenwell, “Twitter Proposal Seeks to Turn Company Into a Co-Op — Tech Roundup” (The Street, 2017.04.10)
- “Giving the squeaky tweet some grease” (The Hustle, 2017.04.10)
- “Twitter’s annual shareholder meeting to discuss if users can buy the company” (Digit, 2017.04.10)
- Tim Maytom, “Twitter board set to vote on turning the company co-op” (Mobile Marketing, 2017.04.10)
- Dominik Bosnjak, “Report: Twitter Might Become A User-Owned Cooperative” (AndroidHeadlines, 2017.04.10)
- “Could Twitter become a user-owned cooperative?” (Cheddar, 2017.04.10)
- Sylvain Rollan, “Et si Twitter devenait une coopérative détenue par les twittos?” (La Tribune, 2017.04.11)
- James McRitchie, “#BuyThisPlatform: Twitter Explores Co-op Capitalism” (Corporate Governance, 2017.04.12)
- Margaret Heffernan, “How workers can profit by taking control of technology” (Financial Times, 2017.04.16) [cache]
- Samuele Bozzoni, “Twitter: una cooperativa di utenti deciderà il piano di marketing?” (Gli Stati Generali, 2017.04.19)
- Ralf W. Barkey, “Auf dem Weg zur „Twitter eG“?” (RWGV, 2017.04.21)
- Albert Wenger, “Time to Explore Alternative Ownership Structures for Network Effects Businesses including Twitter” (Continuations, 2017.04.24)
- Chuck, “The Twitter Vote May 22, and the Radical Co-op Challenge” (CoopMatters, 2017.04.30)
- Kyle White, “Is Twitter about to ‘Exit to Democratic User Ownership?‘” (Co-operatives First, 2017.05.01)
- “Facing the Facts” (Syncubate, 2017.05.07)
- Eric Tegethoff, “Could Twitter Become a User-Owned Co-op?” (Public News Service, 2017.05.08)
- James McRitchie, “A More Cooperative Based Twitter” (Corporate Governance, 2017.05.09)
- Danielle Potter, “#Twittercoop” (Contemplating Co-ops, 2017.05.09)
- Tom Cassauwers, “Twitter als coöperatie?” (datanews, 2017.05.12)
- Jared Spears, “Twitter users are trying to buy Twitter” (Thoughts on Journalism, 2017.05.15)
- Matt Cropp, “#BuyTwitter! Why (and How) Co-ops Should Support the Campaign” (Co-op Water Cooler, 2017.05.15)
- Ed Mayo, “Buy Twitter” (HuffPost, 2017.05.16)
- Erik Sherman, “There’s a Twitter User Plan to Buy the Company and It’s Not Completely Crazy” (Inc, 2017.05.18)
- Filene Research Institute, “We Can #BuyTwitter?” (Filene Fill-in, 2017.05.19)
- “The #cooperative sector offers to support Twitter if shareholders agree Monday to explore user ownership” (International Co-operative Alliance, 2017.05.19)
- Marissa Lang, “Twitter’s video push could leave some users out of the picture” (San Francisco Chronicle, 2017.05.19)
- Keith A. Spencer, “Twitter shareholders set to vote on whether to convert company into co-op” (Salon, 2017.05.21)
- Tim Worstall, “Twitter Is Not A Utility So It Shouldn’t Be Run Or Regulated As One” (Forbes, 2017.05.21)
- Co-operatives UK in support of #BuyTwitter (BBC News UK only, 2017.05.22)
- Lynsey Barber, “Twitter AGM: Should the social network become a co-operative? Two million Brits would back the idea as shareholders prepare to vote” (City A.M., 2017.05.22)
- Noah Kulwin, “Should Users Own Twitter?” (Vice, 2017.05.22)
- Queenie Wong, “Twitter shareholders reject proposal to study selling the company to its users” (SiliconBeat, 2017.05.22)
- Marissa Lang, “#BuyTwitter shareholder push fails, but supporters hold out hope” (San Francisco Chronicle, 2017.05.22)
- Maya Kosoff, “Twitter Is Considering a Way to Make Users Pay” (Vanity Fair, 2017.05.23)
- Robert Cyran, “Posting on the commune” (Reuters, 2017.05.23)
- Hannah Kuchler, “Twitter investors reject motion to explore conversion to user-owned co-op” (Financial Times, 2017.05.23)
- Sylvian Rolland, “Twitter rejette l’idée de devenir une coopérative mais envisage un modèle premium payant” (La Tribune, 2017.05.23)
- Jeff Thomas, “Twitter is Unlikely To Become A Co-operative Any Time Soon” (CCT News, 2017.05.24)
- Miles Hadfield, “Twitter shareholders reject calls to investigate co-operative ownership” (Co-operative News, 2017.05.24)
- “Twitter: non diventera’ una cooperativa, assemblea soci boccia proposta” (24 Ore Radiocor Plus, 2017.05.24)
- Victoria A. Rocha, “#BuyTwitter Fails—For Now” (America’s Electric Cooperatives, 2017.05.25)
- Angelo Young, “Meet the tech activists who want to turn Twitter into a user-owned co-op” (Salon, 2017.06.04)
- “Twitter should look at becoming a cooperative” (Clearwater Times, 2017.06.16)
- Joseph Blasi and Douglas Kruse, “Why Don’t Twitter’s Employees and Customers Buy the Company?” (Fortune, 2017.07.09)
- Jack Jenkins, “The grassroots effort to rescue Twitter from the grips of Wall Street (and internet trolls)” (Think Progress, 2017.07.14)
- Danny Spitzberg, “#GoCoop: How the #BuyTwitter Campaign Could Signal a New Co-op Economy” (The Cooperative Business Journal, 2017.summer)
Sign the petition
English, Deutsch, Francais, and Italiano; read the letter to Twitter in multiple languages
Organize
- Loomio group – Loomio is an open-source decision-making platform created by a New Zealand-based worker cooperative. Since the Guardian article, this is where discussions have started to form around certain action items, and where decisions are being made about the initial directions of the effort. It’s an open group that anyone can sign up for.
- Slack team – We’re using this for some more in-depth discussions and projects.
- Separately, Johnny Haeusler called for starting a Google Doc on “If we owned Twitter,” where people are gathering ideas focused on how Twitter could be organized once under the control of its participants.
- On December 16, 2016, we submitted this proposal to Twitter shareholders for studying the possibility of an exit to user ownership.
One of the most hopeful things about this campaign is that it’s a chance to flex our thinking and organizing around the ambitious idea of co-owning a major platform utility. Whatever becomes of Twitter, we can work in a way so that we’re better equipped for this kind of possibility in the future.
Questions? Write to the organizing team at [email protected].