By: Katie Scott, Business Reporter
On 25th April, the world’s richest person - and owner of Tesla - announced that control of the social media platform will soon be his. The deal has won the unanimous support of the Twitter Board despite initial hostility. It will now be put to shareholders but is expected to close within 2022.
The announcement came just weeks after Musk had tweeted that he was giving “serious thought” to creating a rival to the platform. This had followed a Tweeted poll in which Musk had criticized Twitter’s adherence to the principle of free speech. In a statement announcing the acquisition, Musk indicated that this remains a key mission for him: "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” he stated. What Musk’s Twitter will look like remains unknown but concerns have already been raised by human rights groups that the platform may see a rise in hate speech. There are also fears that banned individuals, including Donald Trump, may be given their accounts back.
"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated”
Musk has laid out some plans though stating: "I want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."
