New Twitter owner Elon Musk delivers brutal first act

It’s official: Elon Musk is the proud new owner of Twitter. And he hit the ground running with a savage first directive for his team.

He’s the new owner of Twitter – and Elon Musk hasn’t dillydallied in implementing his plans for the social networking platform.

The Tesla CEO has co-opted part of his team of engineers at the electric car manufacturer to instead turn their focus to the elusive Twitter code in a bid to identify what can be changed at the social site.

The move has meant Twitter’s own engineers can no longer make any changes to the code as part of “an effort to ensure that nothing about the product changes ahead of the deal closing”, Daily Wire reported.

Twitter HQ in San Francisco has a new boss – billionaire Elon Musk. Picture: Constanza Hevia/AFP

It’s been a long road for the eccentric billionaire to become the new Twitter boss, enduring his original deal faltering, followed by a six-month legal battle with the company.

In the end, he paid around $US44 billion ($A69 billion) for the site – matching the price he originally offered earlier this year.

Musk officially took the reins on Thursday night and in two days has already been busy making changes.

One of the first things he did was change his own Twitter profile to read: “Chief Twit”.

Elon Musk has changed his Twitter profile to read ‘Chief Twit’. Picture: Twitter

While he was doing that though, left-leaning CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and head of legal policy Vijaya Gadde were packing up their desks after being fired by the new owner.

The company’s general counsel, Sean Edgett, was also reportedly escorted out of the building.

Musk has said he is planning to do away with permanent bans on any users, arguing that he “doesn’t believe in lifelong prohibitions”, reported Bloomberg News.

This means some people – such as former US president Donald Trump, Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos and rapper Kanye West – could soon be seen back on the site.

However, Mr Trump has previously said he would not return to Twitter should his ban be lifted.

Musk tweeted, though, that any decision on reinstating accounts wouldn’t take place until after a “content moderation council” convened.

Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.

No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022

Platform won’t become a ‘hellscape’

Musk’s first tweet as owner was to simply say: “The bird is free.” But he also calmed advertisers by sending them a message on Thursday night assuring them that the social media site was not going to become a “free-for-all hellscape”.

Instead, he described his vision for the site as a “digital town square”.

“I wanted to reach out personally to share my motivation in acquiring Twitter,” Musk wrote to the advertisers. “There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising. Most of it has been wrong,” he said.

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.

The Tesla and Space X founder has assured advertisers Twitter won’t become a ‘hellscape’. Picture: Philip Pacheco/AFP

“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society,” he wrote.

“In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fuelled and catered to those polarised extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.

“That is why I bought Twitter. I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognising that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility,” he wrote.

“That said, Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.

“In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.”

the bird is freed

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022

Having some fun as number one

Since taking control, the Space X and Tesla founder has been having fun with his tweets on the site.

His first tweet read: “The bird is freed.” After that, he has been enjoying his latest purchase.

Today he tweeted that “fresh baked bread and pastries are some of the great joys of life”, followed by another tweet: “Finally, the truth that carbs are amazing can be said on this platform! #FreeSpeech.”

He also tweeted: “Comedy is now legal on Twitter.”

And soon after his deal closed, he wrote: “Let the good times roll.”