Elon Musk takes over Twitter for $44 billion. What’s next?

Following a meeting with investors, Twitter announced the $54.20-per-share deal. The announcement of the acquisition comes just four days after Musk announced he would fund the deal.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, agreed to acquire Twitter for $44 billion on Monday, ending a drama that included hostile takeover attempts before handing him personal control of one of the world’s most popular social media sites.

Twitter notably functioned as a megaphone for former US President Donald Trump until the site banned him, and Musk, a self-described “free-speech absolutist” has indicated he wants to alter the network’s overzealous content management.

“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 said in a statement released by Twitter.”I also 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.”

What to expect next?

On Monday, the firm revealed that it had accepted Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion bid to take the company private. That implies the world’s richest individual, who enjoys theatrics and unpredictable conduct, is about to have the power to influence dialogue on a social network utilised by over 200 million people every day.

How may Musk use his newfound power?

Here are some of the ideas he’s had for Twitter.

Free speech

The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX refers to himself as a “free speech absolutist” and he has attacked what he regards as excessive regulation on internet platforms.

In his statement announcing the acquisition, he stated that “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 claimed that social media platforms should not delete offensive but lawful remarks. During a recent TED conference interview, he stated, “If it’s a grey area, let the tweet exist.”

Twitter presently prohibits harassment, abuse, and remarks wishing bodily harm to others. Other safeguards exist on the site, such as a restriction on misrepresentation about COVID-19.

Experts who study social networks are concerned about Musk’s attempt to relax Twitter’s engagement standards. They claim that this might provide harassers, trolls, and others who abuse the network permission to target people.

They are also concerned that loosening Twitter’s regulations may enable individuals wanting to exploit the site by disseminating disinformation, or outright falsehoods, regarding political events, government leaders, and public health and safety issues.

Edit button for users

An edit button is one of the most often requested product modifications by Twitter users.

Unlike Facebook, Instagram, and other social media applications, it is not possible to edit anything once it has been published on Twitter.

Musk has stated that he favours the ability for individuals to edit the content of their tweets, a suggestion that has sparked a heated dispute among academics, journalists, and other heavy users of the network.

Experts are concerned that introducing an edit button function would be weaponized by bad actors, who will use it to cover up abuse or harassment as if it never occurred, or to deceive or manipulate others.

Others, however, argue that safeguards could be put in place to allow tweets to be altered to remove mistakes while also displaying a history of how the tweet was edited to preserve the original message.

Open algorithm to public

Musk has stated that the software that governs what people see and how rapidly material travels on Twitter should be made public. He is in favour of putting Twitter’s algorithm on GitHub, a prominent website for programmers to share computer code.

While some proponents of increased transparency at social media businesses argue that disclosing Twitter’s thick and intricate algorithm to the public would do very little, others argue that it would accomplish very little.

Every day, a social network the size of Twitter processes billions of bits of material. How and why tweets go viral, as well as how Twitter’s recommendation system works, are so thick and sophisticated that even the company’s own software developers might be baffled by it.

Execute the Bots!

Another reform Musk favours is combating the spread of bots on Twitter, which are false accounts that are programmed to reply to tweets on specific themes.

Musk’s corporate empire has attracted its fair share of bots, including bots that favour his electric car firm Tesla and target Musk opponents.

He has not stated that he wishes to temper such bots, but he has proposed that scammy bots advertising bitcoin scams be cracked down on.

“If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!” Musk said in a tweet last week that he’d like to “authenticate all real humans.”

Ban advertisements

Currently, advertising accounts for about 90% of Twitter’s revenue, but the firm has struggled to lure advertisers to the site, which frequently devolves into political firestorms and nasty online brawls.

Because the firm is turning private, it will no longer be under the same kind of pressure from shareholders to constantly increase advertising income. Musk has stated that it should transition to a subscription model.

Twitter has already taken some steps in that direction, introducing Twitter Blue last year, a premium service that costs $2.99 a month for additional features such as an undo button that allows tweets to be recalled before they are posted.

Musk has stated that Twitter Blue should be less expensive, that users who pay should not be subjected to adverts, and that the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which began as a joke, should be accepted as payment for a Twitter membership.

Bring back Donald Trump?

Musk has not publicly stated if he would reinstate former President Donald Trump on the platform after the firm permanently barred him on Jan. 6 for using language that violated its rules and fueled the siege on the US Capitol.

Trump hailed Musk “a good man,” in an interview with Fox News on Monday, saying he was delighted with the billionaire’s acquisition, but Trump claimed he had no intentions to return to Twitter. Instead, Trump stated that he will concentrate on Truth Social, his alternative social network.

A Twitter employee questioned CEO Parag Agrawal whether Trump would be restored during an all-hands meeting on Monday afternoon. That was a query for Musk, according to Agrawal.