Just hours after Elon Musk began a new era at Twitter Inc, the billionaire owner was inundated with pleas and demands from banned account holders and world leaders.
The flood of requests highlights the challenge the CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) takes on, balancing a promise to restore free speech while preventing Twitter from falling into a “hellscape,” as he had promised in an open letter to advertisers on Thursday.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who was permanently banned from Twitter over allegations of instigating violence after the January 6, 2021 capitol riots, was glad about the takeover, but said little about a return to the platform.
“I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs who truly hate our country.”
Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and current deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, tweeted his congratulations:
“Good luck @elonmusk in overcoming political bias and ideological dictatorship on Twitter. And quit that Starlink in Ukraine business.”
Others requested Musk to reverse penalties imposed by the social media platform. In response to @catturd2, an anonymous account with 852,000 followers, known for being a huge supporter of Trump’s election fraud allegations, and who said it was “shadowbanned,” Musk tweeted:
“I will be digging in more today.”
The editor-in-chief of Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonyan, requested Musk to “unban RT and Sputnik accounts and take the shadow ban off mine as well?” The pressure is building up on Musk and Twitter as he is expected to address the Twitter staff on Friday after concluding the deal.
“Hey @ElonMusk, now that you own Twitter, will you help fight back against Trudeau’s online censorship bill C-11?” tweeted Canada Proud, an organization working to vote out Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“First I’ve heard,” Musk responded in a tweet on Friday.
Day One Of Elon Musk On Twitter
Some employees who spoke with Reuters on Friday said there had been no communication from management about what is to come. Musk was scheduled to address staff on Friday, but the employees said they had not gotten any notice by the late afternoon.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter said Musk’s teams were looking into Twitter’s code and inquiring about how aspects of the platform work. Musk seemed to have joined the company’s Slack channel by Friday, based on a screenshot seen by Reuters.
Musk also tweeted on Friday that Twitter will create a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints,” and that no significant decisions on moderation or account reinstatements will be agreed to before it meets.
Despite an appeal to advertisers on Thursday that he wanted to make Twitter “the most respected advertising platform in the world,” at least one top automaker – GM (GM.N) – said it temporarily suspended its advertising and was seeking to “understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership.”
Employees also continued to worry about the future of their jobs. Less than 10% of 266 Twitter employees who took part in a survey on messaging app Blind hoped to still have their jobs in three months. Blind enables employees to voice grievances anonymously after they sign up with corporate emails.
Elon Musk dismissed Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, according to people with knowledge of the matter. He had accused them of misinforming him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the social media platform.
Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters when the deal was finalized and were shown the door, the sources added.
Elon Musk, who also heads rocket company SpaceX, wants to become Twitter’s interim CEO according to a person with knowledge of the matter and following a previous report by Reuters. Musk also intends to reverse permanent bans on users, Bloomberg said, mentioning a person conversant with the matter.
Twitter, Musk, and the executives did not instantly reply to requests for comment.
‘Chief Twit’
Before finalizing the deal, Musk walked into Twitter’s headquarters on Wednesday with a big smile and a porcelain sink, later tweeting “let that sink in.” He changed his Twitter profile description to “Chief Twit.”
European regulators also renewed previous warnings that, under Musk’s leadership, Twitter must still conform to the region’s Digital Services Act, which levies massive fines on companies if they do not regulate illegal content.
“In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules,” EU industry Chief Thierry Breton tweeted on Friday morning.
Buy Crypto NowEuropean Parliament lawmaker and civil rights proponent Patrick Breyer proposed that people seek alternatives where privacy is a priority.
“Twitter already knows our personalities dangerously well due to its pervasive surveillance of our every click. Now, this knowledge will be falling into Musk’s hands.”
Musk has said he sees Twitter as a foundation for developing a “super app” that offers everything from shopping to money transfers and ride-hailing. But Twitter is grappling to engage its most active users who are crucial to the business. These “heavy tweeters” make up less than 10% of monthly overall users but create 90% of all tweets and half of global revenue.
Elon Musk will face a challenge boosting revenue “given that the controversial opinions he appears to want to give more of a free rein to are often unpalatable to advertisers,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.
As news of the deal became known, some Twitter users were quick to indicate their willingness to leave.
“I will be happy to leave in a heartbeat if Musk, well, acts as we all expect him to,” said a user with the @mustlovedogsxo account.
