The world’s richest man is now accountable for one of many world’s largest social media platforms.
SpaceX CEO and billionaire Elon Musk formally took the helm of Twitter Thursday (Oct. 27) “with brutal effectivity”, according to Reuters (opens in new tab), together with firing CEO Parag Agrawal, chief monetary officer Ned Segal, and authorized affairs and coverage chief Vijaya Gadde.
Musk, who has referred to as himself a “free speech absolutist (opens in new tab)“, additionally plans mass layoffs at Twitter whereas additionally getting ready to ship a large Falcon Heavy rocket to orbit Monday (opens in new tab) (Nov. 1).
Associated: Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for a reported $43 billion in cash
“The chicken is freed,” Musk tweeted (opens in new tab) Thursday (Oct. 27), adding (opens in new tab) “let the great occasions roll” after closing the $44 billion acquisition he had fought in the summer. (Musk had been making an attempt to again out of a hostile takeover he initiated in April, alleging there have been too many bots on the platform.)
Musk made the $44 billion buy remaining on the eve of a deadline imposed by a Delaware Chancery Courtroom choose, who was overseeing litigation between Musk and Twitter regarding the deal. If Musk had not closed Twitter’s buy by in the present day (Oct. 28), the court docket was anticipated to provoke a date in November to start out a trial.
Musk agreed to restart his purchase deal on Oct. 4 amid reported “nice mistrust on each side” (to cite the Washington Post (opens in new tab)) between the billionaire and the corporate. The day earlier than, Musk tweeted out a proposal (opens in new tab) to convey Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to an finish and requested his followers to vote on the matter.
Musk’s acquisition will probably affect the Nov. 8 midterm elections, warned the Washington Post (opens in new tab) Thursday, stating the platform’s disproportionate affect in actions like #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, the Arab Spring and Donald Trump’s presidency.
Musk is anticipated to elevate lots of Twitter’s latest content material restrictions, together with inviting Trump again to the platform. The previous president was banned following the Jan. 6, 2021 invasion of the Capitol by rioters that resulted in 5 deaths.
This month, a Home committee issued a subpoena to Trump amid an investigation to find out the previous president’s function within the occasions. Trump’s legal professionals accepted service of the subpoena Wednesday (Oct. 27), according to CNN (opens in new tab), and have till Nov. 4 to show over requested paperwork and Nov. 14 to testify.
Associated: Elon Musk is a genius, Trump says
How Musk will form Twitter and its estimated 400 million customers, which in flip will affect how data is unfold in social media, the information cycle and politics, can also be a matter of controversy.
In June, Musk knowledgeable Twitter staff that they need to let “fairly outrageous issues” be tweeted so long as the data was not unlawful, a report in the Guardian (opens in new tab) stated on the time. A roundup of feedback on Vox (opens in new tab) Thursday (Oct. 27) additionally exhibits Musk promising to make Twitter a “free speech” platform.
Musk’s feedback on social media attracted adverse consideration at SpaceX just a few months in the past. A gaggle of anonymous employees stated their CEO’s “habits within the public sphere is a frequent supply of distraction and embarrassment for us”, in an open letter posted in an inside Microsoft Groups channel with greater than 2,600 staff, in keeping with a Verge report (opens in new tab) on June 16. Not less than 5 SpaceX staff had been fired after this incident, the New York Times reported (opens in new tab) the following day.
In June, Musk (additionally Time Journal’s 2021 person of the year) denied an allegation of sexual misconduct with a flight attendant in 2016, as first reported by Business Insider (opens in new tab). His habits on Twitter has included, in keeping with media studies, crude jokes (opens in new tab), insults (opens in new tab) and a 2018 incident during which he implied a person concerned in rescuing Thai boys from a flooded cave was a pedophile (opens in new tab).
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a e book about space medication. Observe her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
