Elon Musk has taken over Twitter Inc with ruthless efficiency, firing top executives while providing little clarity on how he plans to achieve the ambitious goals he has set for the influential social media platform.
"The bird is freed," he tweeted after he completed his $44 billion acquisition on Thursday, referencing Twitter's bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on content that can be posted.
Tesla Inc CEO and self-described free speech absolutist Elon Musk has said he wants to keep the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.
Other goals include "defeating" spam bots on Twitter and making public the algorithms that determine how content is presented to its users.
Musk, however, has not provided details on how he will accomplish all of this or who will lead the company. He has stated that he intends to lay off employees, leaving Twitter's 7,500 employees concerned about their future. He also stated on Thursday that he purchased Twitter not to make more money, but rather to "try to help humanity, whom I love."
Less than 10% of 266 Twitter employees polled on the messaging app Blind expected to be employed in three months. After signing up for corporate emails, Blind allows employees to air their grievances anonymously.
According to people familiar with the situation, Musk fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. He accused them of deceiving him and Twitter investors about the number of bogus accounts on the platform.
According to the sources, Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter's San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out.
Musk, who also owns the rocket company SpaceX, intends to take over as interim CEO of Twitter, according to a person familiar with the situation and in line with an earlier report by Reuters. Musk also intends to end permanent user bans, according to Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Requests for comment from Twitter, Musk, and the executives were not immediately returned.
Musk walked into Twitter's headquarters on Wednesday with a big grin and a porcelain sink, later tweeting, "let that sink in." He changed the title of his Twitter profile to "Chief Twit."
Musk stated in May that he would lift Twitter's ban on Donald Trump, whose account was suspended following the attack on the US Capitol.
Musk attempted to assuage Twitter employees' fears of mass layoffs by assuring advertisers that his previous criticism of Twitter's content moderation rules would not harm the company's appeal.
"Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" Musk said in an open letter to advertisers on Thursday.
As word of the deal spread, some Twitter users expressed their willingness to walk away.
"I will be happy to leave in a heartbeat if Musk, well, acts as we all expect him to," said a user with the @mustlovedogsxo account.
European regulators also reiterated previous warnings that, under Musk's leadership, Twitter must still comply with the region's Digital Services Act, which imposes heavy fines on companies that fail to control illegal content.
"In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules," EU industry chief Thierry Breton tweeted on Friday morning.
Patrick Breyer, a European Parliament lawmaker and civil rights advocate, suggested that people look for alternatives where privacy is a priority.
"Twitter already knows our personalities dangerously well due to its pervasive surveillance of our every click. Now this knowledge will be falling into Musk's hands."
(Source:www.reuters.com)
"The bird is freed," he tweeted after he completed his $44 billion acquisition on Thursday, referencing Twitter's bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on content that can be posted.
Tesla Inc CEO and self-described free speech absolutist Elon Musk has said he wants to keep the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.
Other goals include "defeating" spam bots on Twitter and making public the algorithms that determine how content is presented to its users.
Musk, however, has not provided details on how he will accomplish all of this or who will lead the company. He has stated that he intends to lay off employees, leaving Twitter's 7,500 employees concerned about their future. He also stated on Thursday that he purchased Twitter not to make more money, but rather to "try to help humanity, whom I love."
Less than 10% of 266 Twitter employees polled on the messaging app Blind expected to be employed in three months. After signing up for corporate emails, Blind allows employees to air their grievances anonymously.
According to people familiar with the situation, Musk fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. He accused them of deceiving him and Twitter investors about the number of bogus accounts on the platform.
According to the sources, Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter's San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out.
Musk, who also owns the rocket company SpaceX, intends to take over as interim CEO of Twitter, according to a person familiar with the situation and in line with an earlier report by Reuters. Musk also intends to end permanent user bans, according to Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Requests for comment from Twitter, Musk, and the executives were not immediately returned.
Musk walked into Twitter's headquarters on Wednesday with a big grin and a porcelain sink, later tweeting, "let that sink in." He changed the title of his Twitter profile to "Chief Twit."
Musk stated in May that he would lift Twitter's ban on Donald Trump, whose account was suspended following the attack on the US Capitol.
Musk attempted to assuage Twitter employees' fears of mass layoffs by assuring advertisers that his previous criticism of Twitter's content moderation rules would not harm the company's appeal.
"Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" Musk said in an open letter to advertisers on Thursday.
As word of the deal spread, some Twitter users expressed their willingness to walk away.
"I will be happy to leave in a heartbeat if Musk, well, acts as we all expect him to," said a user with the @mustlovedogsxo account.
European regulators also reiterated previous warnings that, under Musk's leadership, Twitter must still comply with the region's Digital Services Act, which imposes heavy fines on companies that fail to control illegal content.
"In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules," EU industry chief Thierry Breton tweeted on Friday morning.
Patrick Breyer, a European Parliament lawmaker and civil rights advocate, suggested that people look for alternatives where privacy is a priority.
"Twitter already knows our personalities dangerously well due to its pervasive surveillance of our every click. Now this knowledge will be falling into Musk's hands."
(Source:www.reuters.com)
