Elon Musk has officially taken ownership of Twitter, reportedly ousting the CEO and CFO as well as the head of legal policy, trust and safety after a months-long ordeal that has upheaved the social media company. The company’s stock will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange next month.
Here’s what to watch for now that the world’s richest man—or “Chief Twit”—has completed his US$44-billion takeover:
#Tighteningbelts: The leadership change comes as Big Tech stocks—particularly social media firms—have been hit hard amid concerns over the struggling online ad market. Musk’s reputation as a hard-driving boss—and concerns about layoffs—aren’t helping morale, even as Musk tweeted he would “let the good times roll.”
According to internal messages obtained by Platformer’s Casey Newton, Musk plans to overhaul Twitter’s business model, including making subscriptions 50 per cent of the company’s revenue, “working with foreign governments” on content moderation and using his Starlink internet service to Iran and Russia as an opportunity for Twitter.
King of the banned: Musk reportedly plans to take over as CEO and restore access of accounts that had lifetime bans, a list that includes “Pharma Bro” and convicted fraudster Martin Shkreli, white supremacist David Duke and former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Musk said a content moderation council with “widely diverse viewpoints” will convene before any content decisions or account reinstatements commence.
The transition raises questions on how Musk will make Twitter “warm and welcoming,” and how he will handle countries with unique speech restrictions, like Germany or India.
“I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands,” said Trump in a statement, without confirming whether he would return to the platform.
A bird’s cage: While Musk tweeted that “the bird is freed,” European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton tweeted that “In Europe, the bird will fly by our 🇪🇺 [EU] rules.”
Musk reportedly studied up on a U.S. law, Section 230, which shields websites that host content from being considered publishers. He tweeted Friday that he had not yet heard of Canada’s Bill C-11, which would impose Canadian-content rules on streaming services like YouTube.
Who’s at the wheel? Musk said he wants Twitter to “be the most respected advertising platform in the world,” and Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, for one, called the ad philosophy “well articulated.”
What’s not clear is whether other automakers will still consider Twitter a way to “strengthen” their brands with ad dollars, now that Tesla engineers are looking at Twitter’s code internally. “Hello to the social media platform owned by one of our competitors,” tweeted French auto designer Citroën.