The billionaire new owner of the platform has been inundated with appeals and requests from account holders who have been banned from the social network and from world leaders.
“The bird has been released” and the “chief lifer”…Elon Musk no longer has a twitter account. He has twitter.
Hours after ushering in a new era at Twitter Inc, the platform’s billionaire new owner was inundated with appeals and requests from account holders banned from the social network and world leaders.
The flood of requests underscores the challenge facing the Tesla and SpaceX founder balancing a promise to restore free speech while preventing the platform from turning into a “hell,” he wrote Thursday in a message to advertisers.
“It is important for the future of culture to have a public online space where diverse opinions can be expressed in a healthy way, without resorting to violence,” Musk said. “That said, Twitter obviously can’t be a hellish place open to all, where anything can be said without consequence,” he added.
THE former US president, Donald Trumpwho has been permanently banned from Twitter over allegations of inciting violence following the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on Capitol Hill, today welcomed the buyout but said he would not return to Twitter. “I’m very happy that Twitter is now in good hands and will no longer be run by the lunatics of the radical left who truly loathe our country,” he wrote in a post on his own network, Truth Social. “I like Elon, but I’m sticking to the Truth,” Trump later said in an interview with Fox News, but did not specify whether he would post on Twitter if his ban from the platform was lifted.
THE Dmitry Medvedev, former president of Russia and current vice chairman of Russia’s Security Council, tweeted his congratulations: “Good luck Elon Musk in overcoming political bias and ideological dictatorship on Twitter. And leave Starlink’s operations in Ukraine.”
Others called for Musk to lift the penalties imposed by the social media platform. In response to @catturd2, an anonymous account with 852,000 followers who is known as a big supporter of Trump’s claims of voter fraud and who said he was blocked by many users, Musk tweeted: “I’m going to indulge more today.”
Pressure is mounting on Musk and Twitter as he is set to address the company’s staff later today after the deal closes.
“Hey Elon Musk, now that you own Twitter, will you help push back against Trudeau’s C-11 cyber censorship bill”? tweeted Canada Proud, an organization working to oust Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“First of all I heard (you),” Musk responded in a tweet today.
The billionaire has not given details on how he will achieve all this and who will run the company. It has said it plans to cut jobs, leaving Twitter’s 7,500 employees to worry about their future. He also said Thursday that he didn’t buy Twitter to make more money but “to try to help humanity, which I love.”
He sought to assuage fears among Twitter workers that layoffs were in the offing and reassured advertisers that his earlier criticism of Twitter’s content moderation rules would not hurt its appeal.
Fewer than 10% of 266 Twitter employees who took part in a poll for messaging app Blind expected to still have a job in three months. Blind allows employees to report their complaints anonymously after signing up with company emails.
After the tight-fisted negotiation ended with plenty of twists and turns, the world’s richest man immediately fired Twitter chief Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and head of legal affairs and policy Vijay Gandhi, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Musk had accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors about the number of fake accounts on the platform.
Agrawal and Segal were at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco when the deal closed and were escorted out of the building, the sources added.
The founder of the Tesla companies plans to become Twitter’s interim CEO, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. It plans to remove permanent bans on users, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
“Musk is in the uncomfortable position of getting senior executives to work for him on a platform that he has publicly discredited,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Eberg.
Twitter, Musk and executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Shooter Chief”
Before closing the deal, the eccentric SpaceX founder walked into Twitter’s headquarters Wednesday with a big smile carrying a porcelain sink, then tweeted “let it sink in.” Changed his Twitter profile description to “Chief Twit”
The European regulators repeated earlier warnings that, under Musk’s leadership, Twitter must comply with digital services laws that impose heavy fines on companies if they don’t police illegal content.
“In Europe, the bird will fly according to our European rules,” European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who had taken the initiative for this legislation, tweeted this morning, responding in the same vein to Musk.
MEP and civil rights campaigner Patrick Breyer suggested people look for alternatives where privacy is a priority.
“Twitter already knows our personalities dangerously well because of the pervasive tracking of our every click. Now that knowledge will fall into Musk’s hands.”
Musk has stated that he sees Twitter as a foundation for tthe creation of a “super electronic application» (super app) that offers everything from money transfers to shopping and road transport services.
But Twitter is struggling to attract its most active users who are vital to the business. These “heavy tweeters” represent less than 10% of monthly total users, but generate 90% of all tweets and half of global revenue.
Musk will face a challenge to generate revenue “given that the controversial views he seems to want to give more freedom to are often unpalatable to advertisers,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susanna Streeter.
“Experts we spoke with suggest that about 600 people at Twitter itself, along with thousands of contractors, are responsible for coordinating the platform,” said Scott Kessler of research center Third Bridge. “Musk has publicly advocated that these actions be driven by algorithms rather than humans,” he said.
As news of the deal spread, some Twitter users were quick to express their desire to leave.
“I’ll be happy to leave immediately if Musk, then, acts as we all expect,” said user @mustlovedogsxo.
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