OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Elon Musk finally closed the deal. Twitter now belongs to him. And he has a four-word message for America.
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
“the bird is freed,” Musk Tweeted on late Thursday.
Elon Musk is expected to take on the Twitter CEO role. One of the first things Musk will do is reverse lifetime bans on Twitter users, Bloomberg News reported.
This set off an avalanche of tweets in response:
FREE SPEECH FEELS SO GOOD
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) October 28, 2022
“FREE SPEECH FEELS SO GOOD,” Liz Wheeler tweeted.
Yes — Now it’s time to Free Them All: pic.twitter.com/UmwxPMFkVF
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 28, 2022
“Yes — Now it’s time to Free Them All,” Benny Johnson tweeted along with a list of ban users, including Donald Trump.
Thank you, Elon! pic.twitter.com/Qa0JsMUMU4
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 28, 2022
“Thank you, Elon!” Libs of TikTok tweeted.
— drefanzor memes (@drefanzor) October 28, 2022
The memes kept pouring in.
— B.R. Sutton (@BraydenSutton) October 28, 2022
There is even a Spirit Halloween costume for ex-CEO Parag Agrawal.
— The London Husky🐺🇬🇧 (@RavePigeon) October 28, 2022
This meme pretty well sums it all up.
On Thursday night, CNBC reported that Twitter executives began leaving the company’s headquarters.
“Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and chief financial officer Ned Segal have left the company’s San Francisco headquarters and will not be returning,” CNBC reported.
As reported at the Washington Post, Elon Musk took control and immediately fired Twitter’s CEO, the CFO, and the head of legal policy, trust, and safety.
“As one of his first moves, he fired several top Twitter executives, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters,” the Post reported. “One of those confirmed the deal had closed.”
“CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety, were all fired, according to the people. Sean Edgett, the company’s general counsel, was also pushed out, one of the people said,” the report added.
Musk earlier provided comment to TMZ on his acquisition of the social media platform.
“Elon Musk is officially Twitter’s new daddy — at least according to Elon Musk — who says he hopes the platform will continue to be a digital town square for years to come,” TMZ reported.
Musk gave his reason for acquiring the social media platform: “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 in our society.”
“In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost,” he added.
“That is why I bought Twitter,” he continued. “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, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility.”
Musk also posted a message to Twitter Advertisers on Thursday:
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
On Wednesday, Elon Musk tweeted a video of himself walking triumphantly into Twitter headquarters ahead of his $44 billion takeover.
Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022
“Meeting a lot of cool people at Twitter today!” Musk tweeted. He also changed his bio to “Chief Twit.”
BREAKING: @ElonMusk has a new Twitter Bio pic.twitter.com/JGLY08bdrQ
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 26, 2022
There have been reports that Musk plans to axe 75% of the Twitter thought police who have suppressed, censored and banned conservatives on the platform for years. But Musk has downplayed such reports by saying cryptically that he doesn’t plan to cut 75% of the staff. But it could be 74.9% and it could be 80% — it is difficult to say with the tech CEO.
Musk plans to address Twitter’s Woke staff on Friday.
Matt Walsh, conservative pundit and author, gave his perspective on the matter.
Twitter employees have happily censored, deplatformed, and taken livelihoods away from people who did absolutely nothing wrong. I'm glad they're getting fired now. They get no sympathy from me. You all deserve this. Every bit of it. You've had it coming. Now it's here.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) October 28, 2022
“Twitter employees have happily censored, deplatformed, and taken livelihoods away from people who did absolutely nothing wrong. I’m glad they’re getting fired now,” Walsh said. “They get no sympathy from me. You all deserve this. Every bit of it. You’ve had it coming. Now it’s here.”
Jesse Watters of Fox News also weighed in on Musk’s Twitter takeover.
Jesse Watters: "Remember when Elon Musk said he wants to cut the work force by 75%, does it make sense now. And employees fired back with those open letters. Elon taking over twitter is a doomsday scenario form. Hence Musk is under two separate investigations now from SEC & FTC." pic.twitter.com/Hjo4kcVIsh
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) October 28, 2022
“Remember when Elon Musk said he wants to cut the work force by 75%, does it make sense now. And employees fired back with those open letters. Elon taking over twitter is a doomsday scenario form. Hence Musk is under two separate investigations now from SEC & FTC,” Watters said.
Tucker Carlson's Reaction To The Breaking News That @elonmusk Is Now In Control Of Twitter
"He bought it not to make money but to restore Free Speech to America. If he actually does that, this country will change forever." pic.twitter.com/JX3GV81AR2
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) October 28, 2022
“He bought it not to make money but to restore Free Speech to America,” Tucker Carlson said. “If he actually does that, this country will change forever.”
In many ways, Musk already has.
