Elon Musk spreads his wings at Twitter

The Future. Elon Musk officially has control of Twitter, somehow prevailing in a seven-month acquisition rollercoaster that had more twists and turns than an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Changes are already afoot, and Musk’s assertion of being a free-speech absolutist may chafe against the need to keep advertisers happy… just as Twitter has to contend with billions in debt and the exodus of top tweeters.

Rebuilding the nest
In just three days, here are some of the seven-month acquisition rollercoaster that Musk has made at Twitter:

• WSJ reports that he fired CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal, head of legal, policy, and trust Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top legal and policy executive, and general counsel Sean Edgett… and installed himself as CEO (ahem, Chief Twit).
• He’s delisting the company from the New York Stock Exchange on November 8, the first step in his promise to take the company private.
• He’s forming a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints,” with the assertion that “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes” (such as his signaling to reverse some lifetime bans).

Unsurprisingly, many of these changes were announced on Twitter.

The X factor
Of course, the question on the minds of users and advertisers is how Twitter will change in the long term.

• Although Musk continually flip-flops on the issue, a large percentage of the workforce could be laid off (with rumors as high as 75%) to cut costs. Most analysts say such a purge would make content moderation impossible.
• But considering the need to cut costs and boost revenue, Musk has made overtures to advertisers to assure them that the platform won’t become a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.”
• Musk knows that some of his content decisions may be controversial or, at least, laxer than what users are used to, so he said people may soon be able to “choose your desired experience according to your preferences.”

And then there’s the biggest moonshot of all — the creation of X, Musk’s proposed WeChat-style everything app. The company Musk bought Twitter under is called X Holdings I Inc. after all…