On Monday, May 22, Twitter shareholders met to vote on a number of items, among them a proposal to explore the feasibility of the popular social platform converting to a democratic user-owned cooperative. While the proposal was voted down; it did garner enough votes to be resubmitted at next year’s annual general meeting of Twitter shareholders.
U.S. Co-ops continues to support this initiative and remains committed to its role as the primary voice for people in the United States who use cooperatives to build a better world.
“Society is trending toward a more inclusive economy, where individuals have a say in the services and products they use. The co-op model is perfectly poised to provide a democratic and principled approach to user ownership,” said John Torres, Vice President of Communication at U.S. Co-ops. “We will continue to support the exploration of the use of cooperative businesses as a solution that is scalable, sustainable and democratic.”
Although expectation was low that the initiative would pass, this effort—organized by the #BuyTwitter initiative—worked to elevate the profile of the cooperative solution to a national and global stage.
Organizers and supports hope that the interest generated over the past five months will continue to grow, leading to greater support and a better understanding of the cooperative business model among Twitter shareholders and investors alike.
The #BuyTwitter campaign tweeted the following article summarizing Monday’s vote: https://news.vice.com/story/twitter-shareholders-see-community-ownership-as-a-way-to-save-the-platform