Last Monday, Twitter accepted Elon Musk's offer of US$44 billion cash to acquire the social media giant.
This decision definitely will give the world's richest man control over the social media platform populated by million of users and global leaders.
If the takeover goes through, it would be one of the biggest acquisitions in tech history and will likely affect how billions of people use social media for years to come.
"Free speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters concerning to the future of humanity are debated," said Elon Musk.
What's Next for Twitter?
- SpaceX and Tesla chief executive officer, Elon Musk intends to take Twitter private as part of the deal.
- A less strict moderation could reinstate banned individuals including former US President, Donald Trump, former White House adviser, Steve Bannon and popular conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones.
- However, human rights activists fear that with less moderation and more focus on free speech could also cause a rise in hate speech.
- Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey commented with a series of tweets that thanked both Musk and current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal for "getting the company out of an impossible situation."
- Dorsey also added that Musk's decision to "take Twitter back from Wall Street" is the correct first step.
Previous Highlights
- Elon Musk tweeted on 27 March that he was considering on building a new social media platform while previously criticising Twitter of failing to adhere to free speech principles.
- Early April, after a filing revealed that Musk has purchased a substantial stake in Twitter, the social media platform’s shares rose more than 25%.
- Elon Musk previously holds a 9.2% stake in Twitter, 4x more than Twitter's co-founder himself, Jack Dorsey, who currently owns 2.25%.
- On 11 April, chief executive officer of Twitter, Parag Agrawal has announced that Elon Musk has made his decision on not joining the social media platform’s board.
- Tesla and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk has submitted a "best and final" offer to buy Twitter mid-April.
