After half a year of offers, changes of heart, arguments and accusations, Elon Musk is finally the official owner of Twitter. The billionaire paid $44 billion to own the famous social network, and his first actions at the company were to fire four Twitter leaders, including CEO Parag Agarwal and CFO Ned Segal. There are reports that one of those fired had to be escorted out by building security for refusing to leave.
Twitter will undergo major changes in the coming years
Elon Musk marked the moment with a tweet on his personal profile, where he announced that “The Bird has been released,” suggesting that Twitter was until now run in an environment that held its potential limited. Elon Musk also assured partner companies on the ad side that the network would not become a “Hell where everyone can say anything”, suggesting that he would not completely eliminate content moderation and best practice regulation.
Musk said he was unhappy with the way Twitter’s old management approached content moderation and felt they were against free speech, constantly blocking accounts of individuals who did not follow the rules. One of these was Donald Trump, who has been blocked on Twitter and most social media for over a year and a half. Musk has promised to unblock Trump’s account once he takes over the social network.
the bird is freed
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
Musk has said in the past that Twitter is a first step toward creating a universal social network. The billionaire has in the past praised WeChat, the Chinese app that includes not just social and chat, but also online stores, payment systems at any store, news and pretty much anything you need. At the same time WeChat is a massively censored app by the Chinese Communist Party, with all the unpermitted content easily blocked in one place. Musk wants to create a Western alternative to WeChat, which he’s currently calling X.
Elon Musk has previously promised that by 2028, Twitter will reach annual revenues of 26.4 billion, with much of the revenue coming from users. In 2021, Twitter only grossed $5 billion, so it’s expected to grow more than fivefold over the next five years.