By Ejiofor Toochi Cynthia
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the richest man in the world, has successfully acquired Twitter for $44 billion. He updated his Twitter profile to read “Chief Twit” after taking control on Thursday night and tweeted, “the bird is free.”
As soon as he took over, Elon Musk was said to have sacked Twitter’s senior executives, including CEO Parag Agarawal, CFO Ned Segal, and head content moderator Vijaya Gadde, who was believed to have gotten Donald Trump banned.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN…
Musk’s intention to acquire Twitter didn’t begin in October; rather, it began in January when he gradually started buying shares until he had amassed a 5% share in the company. He became the largest shareholder by April. An agreement to purchase the company for $44 billion was finally reached, however this wasn’t public knowledge.
Elon reportedly changed his mind between May and July after learning that there were more phony accounts on the platform than Twitter had claimed. This is according to research by the BBC. He eventually relaunched his takeover efforts by early October.
WHAT SHOULD THE WORLD EXPECT FROM THIS CHANGE?
It may be claimed that Elon Musk’s acquisition will usher in a new age for one of the most powerful social media networks in the world.
One of the expectations is the return of previously suspended users. Donald Trump, the former US president who was barred after the Capitol riot in January 2021, may be among the suspended users whose bans Elon pledged to lift.
As part of the reason for purchasing Twitter, Musk said, “it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.” He plans to preserve the platform as a venue for free speech for humanity. He wants a warm and welcoming platform where people can freely and without sanctions, be expressive. A beautiful thing about Twitter is how it empowers citizen journalism – people are able to disseminate news without an establishment bias, He tweeted.
He also looks to tackle Twitter’s bot accounts by cleaning up spam accounts.
Other expectations users have include new features for the app, like the “Dislike” button.
