Tesla Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk plans to take charge as the CEO of Twitter Inc, news agency Bloomberg said on Friday. The world’s richest man, Musk, will be at the helm of the social media platform after completing his $44-billion acquisition. He also leads Tesla Inc. and SpaceX.
Citing a source privy to the development Bloomberg said that Musk intends to replace Parag Agrawal, who was fired along with other major executives upon completion of the takeover. The billionaire is expected to remain CEO in the interim but may eventually cede the role in the longer term, the source added. Twitter representatives, however, declined to Bloomberg’s request for comment.
Twitter acquisition by Musk puts the world’s richest man in charge of a struggling social network after six months of public and legal wrangling. Among Musk’s first moves: changing the leadership. Departures include Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal, policy and trust; Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, who joined Twitter in 2017; and Sean Edgett, who has been general counsel at Twitter since 2012. Edgett was escorted out of the building.
The report mentioned that Musk also intends to do away with permanent bans on users because he doesn’t believe in lifelong prohibitions, the source said. That means people previously booted off the platform may be allowed to return, a category that would include former president Donald Trump, the person said. It’s unclear however if Trump would be allowed back on Twitter in the near term.
Musk will bring immediate disruption to Twitter’s operations, in part because many of his ideas for how to change the company are at odds with how it has been run for years. He’s said he wants to ensure “free speech” on the social network.
Twitter banned Trump days after the 2021 Capitol insurrection, citing the “risk of further incitement of violence.” With the former president widely expected to make another run for the White House in 2024, a return to Twitter could grant him an opportunity to turbocharge his message.
Musk’s initiatives threaten to undo years of Twitter’s efforts to reduce bullying and abuse on the platform.
The prospect of less restrictive content moderation under Musk’s leadership has prompted concerns that dialogue on the social network will deteriorate, eroding years of efforts by the company and its “trust and safety” team to limit offensive or dangerous posts.
On Thursday, Musk posted a note to advertisers seeking to reassure them he doesn’t want Twitter to become a “free-for-all hellscape.”
As the October 28 deadline neared, he began putting his stamp on the company, posting a video of himself walking into the headquarters in San Francisco.
Musk arrived at the company’s headquarters on Wednesday and had been meeting with engineers and advertising executives. He also updated his Twitter description to “Chief Twit.”
The 51-year-old has promised to transform Twitter by loosening the service’s content moderation rules, making its algorithm more transparent and nurturing subscription businesses, as well as laying off employees.
He also arranged meetings between Tesla engineers and product leadership at Twitter, and he planned to address the staff on Friday, sources have pointed out.
Twitter’s engineers now could no longer make changes to code as of noon Thursday in San Francisco, part of an effort to ensure that nothing about the product changes ahead of the deal closing.
In April, Twitter accepted Musk’s proposal to buy the social media service and take it private. However, Musk soon began sowing doubt about his intentions to follow through with the agreement, alleging that the company failed to adequately disclose the number of spam and fake accounts on the service.