Elon Musk takes control of Twitter. How will 'free speech absolutist' jibe with users of social platform?

Elon Musk walks a sink through the lobby at Twitter last week, shortly after he took over the popular social platform for $44 billion.

BBC/British Broadcasting Corporation
As many heard last week, the world's richest man, Elon Musk, has completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, according to a filing with the U.S. Government.

Musk tweeted “the bird is freed” and later said “let the good times roll.”

A number of top executives, including the boss, Parag Agrawal, have reportedly been fired.

Agrawal and two other executives were escorted out of Twitter's San Francisco headquarters last Thursday evening, said Reuters.

The completion of the deal brings to an end months of legal wrangling but it has prompted questions over the platform's future direction.

A filing was made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, confirming the takeover.

The New York Stock Exchange said on Friday that trading in Twitter's shares had been suspended, giving the reason as “merger effective.”

Musk, a self-styled "free speech absolutist", has been critical of Twitter's management and its moderation policies.He has also said he would reverse bans on suspended users, which could include former U.S. President Donald Trump, who was excluded following the Capitol riot in January 2021.

Earlier this week, Mr Musk said that he doesn't want the platform to become an echo chamber for hate and division. "Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hell-scape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" he tweeted.

There are fears that more lenient free speech policies would mean people banned for hate speech or disinformation may be invited back to the platform. As well as Trump, that could include political extremists, QAnon loyalists and Covid-19 deniers. MORE