Elon Musk hails free speech in first tweet after Twitter acquisition

Elon Musk hailed free speech in his first tweet after the acquisition of Twitter. In a post, he said that he wants to enhance the social media platform by introducing new features and doing away with spam bots. 

“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…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. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” said Musk in a statement.

Late Monday night, billionaire Elon Musk signed a deal to buy the microblogging site for $44 billion. Discussions over the deal started last week but things appeared uncertain. However it accelerated over the weekend after Musk wooed the shareholders with his offer.

Twitter then negotiated with Musk, under pressure from shareholders, to buy the company at the proposed price of  $54.20 per share. 

The deal will end Twitter’s run as a public company, following its initial public offering in 2013, and will shift the reins of the company to the world’s richest person. 

Twitter's shares were up about 6% following the announcement.

However, CEO Parag Agrawal told his employees that the future of the platform is uncertain. "Once the deal closes, we don't know which direction the platform will go. I believe when we have an opportunity to speak with Elon, it's a question we should address with him,” he said at a company-wide town hall meeting. He said that there were no plans for layoff. 

Furthermore, Agrawal said in a separate tweet: "Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important."

Also read: Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion

Also read: Twitter's future in the dark under Musk, CEO Parag Agrawal tells employees