Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter after a protracted legal battle and months of uncertainty. The question now is with the social media platform.
Musk gave one indication of where he's headed in a tweet Friday, saying no decisions on content or reinstating of accounts will be made until a 鈥渃ontent moderation council鈥� is put in place. The council, he wrote, would have diverse viewpoints.
Major personnel shakeups are widely expected, with Musk ousting on Thursday. A fourth confirmed his departure, in a tweet.
But Musk, the tech guru and self-proclaimed 鈥淐hief Twit,鈥� has otherwise made contradictory statements about his vision for the company 鈥� and shared few concrete plans for
That has left Twitter's users, advertisers and employees to parse his every move in an effort to guess where he might take the company. Many are looking to see if he will welcome back a number of influential conservative figures banned for violating Twitter鈥檚 rules 鈥� speculation that is only heightened by upcoming elections in Brazil, the U.S. and elsewhere.
鈥淚 will be digging in more today,鈥� he tweeted early Friday, in response to a conservative political podcaster who has complained that the platform favors liberals and secretively downgrades conservative voices.
Former President Donald Trump, an avid tweeter before he was banned, said Friday he was 鈥渧ery happy that Twitter is now in sane hands鈥� but promoted his own social media site, Truth Social, that he launched after being blocked from the more widely used platform.
Trump was banned two days after the Jan. 6 attacks for a pair of tweets that the company said continued to on the legitimacy of the presidential election and raised risks for the presidential inauguration that Trump said he would not be attending.
Trump has repeatedly said that he will not return to Twitter even if his account is reinstated, though some allies wonder if he鈥檒l be able to resist as he moves closer to announcing another expected presidential campaign. His Twitter account remained suspended Friday.
Meanwhile, conservative personalities on the site began recirculating long-debunked conspiracy theories, including about COVID-19 and the 2020 election, in a tongue-in-cheek attempt to 鈥渢est鈥� whether Twitter鈥檚 policies on misinformation were still being enforced.
The has not made it easy to anticipate what he'll do.
He has criticized Twitter鈥檚 dependence on advertisers, but made a statement Thursday that seemed aimed at soothing their fears. He has complained about restrictions on speech on the platform 鈥� but then vowed he wouldn鈥檛 let it become a 鈥渉ellscape.鈥� And for months it wasn鈥檛 even clear if he wanted to control the company at all.
After Musk to acquire Twitter in April, he tried to back out of it, leading the company to sue him to force him to go through with the acquisition. A had ordered that the deal be finalized by Friday.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives estimated that Musk and his investors overpaid. Even Musk has said the $44 billion price tag for Twitter was too high but that the company had great potential.
The payment 鈥渨ill go down as one of the most overpaid tech acquisitions in the history of M&A deals on the Street, in our opinion,鈥� Ives wrote in a note to investors. 鈥淲ith fair value that we would peg at roughly $25 billion, Musk buying Twitter remains a major head scratcher that ultimately he could not get out of once the Delaware Courts got involved.鈥�
After months of uncertainty, a series of moves by Musk this week signaled that the deal would in fact go through.
On Wednesday, he strolled into the company鈥檚 San Francisco headquarters carrying a porcelain sink and 鈥淓ntering Twitter HQ 鈥� let that sink in!鈥� Then on Thursday, he tweeted, 鈥渢he bird is freed,鈥� a reference to Twitter鈥檚 logo.
The same day, Musk fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and Chief Legal Counsel Vijaya Gadde. Sean Edgett, who had been Twitter鈥檚 general counsel, confirmed on Twitter Friday that he鈥檚 also out of a job, posting that the company is full of the most amazing people. 鈥淜eep taking good care of this place, Tweagle,鈥� he added, referring to the company name for Twitter's legal department. Gadde, meanwhile, removed all references to her former employer from her Twitter bio, while trolls continued to post thousands abusive messages in replies to her most recent tweet.
As concerns rise about the direction of Twitter鈥檚 content moderation, European Union Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted to Musk on Friday that 鈥淚n Europe, the bird will fly by our rules.鈥�
Breton and Musk met in May and appeared in a video together in which Musk said he agreed with the 27-nation bloc鈥檚 strict new online regulations. Its Digital Services Act threatens big tech companies with billions in fines if they don鈥檛 police platforms more strictly for illegal or harmful content such as hate speech and disinformation.
Musk has also and making sometimes conflicting pronouncements about Twitter鈥檚 problems and how to fix them.
He posted a note Thursday aimed at addressing concerns that his plans to promote free speech by cutting back on moderating content will open the floodgates to more online toxicity and drive away users. It showed a newfound emphasis on ad revenue, especially a need for Twitter to provide more 鈥渞elevant ads鈥� 鈥� which typically means targeted ads that rely on collecting and analyzing users鈥� personal information.
About 90% of Twitter's revenue comes from advertising, but it's far from being the biggest digital marketing platform. Google, Amazon and Meta account for about 75% of digital ads. Twitter was just 1% of global digital ad spending in 2022, according to an Insider Intelligence projection.
Lou Paskalis, former head of media for Bank of America, said Twitter鈥檚 most loyal advertisers, many Fortune 100 companies, believe in the platform and probably won鈥檛 leave unless 鈥渟ome really untoward things鈥� happen. On Friday, General Motors announced that it had temporarily paused its Twitter advertising while it works to 鈥渦nderstand the direction of the platform鈥� under Musk's ownership. GM described the pause as a normal step it takes when a media platform undergoes 鈥渟ignificant change.鈥�
The takeover means Twitter is becoming a private company. Trading of its shares was suspended Friday, and they will be pulled from the New York Stock Exchange next month.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Mae Anderson contributed to this story from New York. Follow AP's coverage of Elon Musk:
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This story has been updated to correct the language in the tweet by Musk to 鈥渢he bird is freed,鈥� not 鈥渢he bird has been freed.鈥�
Barbara Ortutay, Tom Krisher And Matt O'brien, The Associated Press
