Musk buys twit 2022

---

6 25

Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk - Wikipedia

:{:{Businessman and U.S. political figure Elon Musk initiated an acquisition of the American social media company Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022, and concluded it on October 27, 2022. Musk had begun buying shares of the company in January 2022, becoming its largest shareholder by April with a 9.1 percent ownership stake. Twitter invited Musk to join its board of directors, an offer he initially accepted before declining. }:

On April 14, Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company, to which Twitter's board responded with a "poison pill" strategy to resist a hostile takeover before unanimously accepting Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion on April 25. Musk stated that he planned to introduce new features to the platform, make its algorithms open-source, combat spambot accounts, and promote free speech, framing the acquisition as the cornerstone of X, an "everything app".}:

:{:{In July, Musk announced his intention to terminate the agreement, asserting that Twitter had breached their agreement by refusing to crack down on spambot accounts. The company filed a lawsuit against Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery shortly thereafter, with a trial scheduled for the week of October 17. Weeks before the trial was set to begin, Musk reversed course, announcing that he would move forward with the acquisition.}:

The deal was closed on October 28, with Musk immediately becoming Twitter's new owner and CEO. Twitter was taken private and merged into a new parent company named X Corp. Musk promptly fired several top executives, including previous CEO Parag Agrawal. Musk has since proposed several reforms to Twitter and laid off half of the company's workforce. Hundreds of employees then resigned from the company after Musk issued an ultimatum demanding they commit to "extremely hardcore" work. Linda Yaccarino was appointed CEO of X Corp. In July 2023, the Twitter service was rebranded as X.}:

Reactions to the buyout were mixed, with praise for Musk's planned reforms and vision for the company, particularly his calls for greater free speech, but criticism over fears of a potential rise in misinformation and disinformation, harassment, and hate speech on the platform. Within the United States, conservatives have largely supported the acquisition, while many liberals and former Twitter employees have voiced concerns about Musk's intentions. Since becoming owner, Musk has faced backlash for his handling of the company and account suspensions, including the December 2022 suspensions of ten journalists.

Prelude

Background

Early developments

:{:{Musk began purchasing Twitter stock on January 31, 2022.^[4] On April 4, he announced that he had acquired 9.2 percent of the company's shares totaling $2.64 billion,^[8] making him the company's largest shareholder.^[9] Following the announcement, Twitter's stock experienced its largest intraday surge since the company's initial public offering (IPO) in 2013, rising by as much as 27 percent.^[10] }:

The next day, Twitter invited Musk to join the company's board,^[11] which Musk accepted.^[12] This had been recommended to the board by Twitter's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee three days earlier, with some board members expressing concern about potential "adverse impacts on stockholder value".^[6] The position would have prohibited Musk from going beyond a 14.9 percent ownership stake and limited his ability to speak publicly about the company.^[13][6] That day, Musk phoned Dorsey, who declined Musk's suggestion for him to remain on the board.^[6]}:

On April 11, after publishing several tweets critical of the company, Musk announced he had decided not to join the board.^[14] Instead, he informed Twitter that he intended to make an offer to take the company private. On April 12, Twitter's board met with lawyers and financial advisors to deliberate the ramifications of such a deal as well as their options,^[6] while a company shareholder sued Musk for allegedly manipulating the company's stock price and violating Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules.^[15]

Buyout offer

Takeover bid

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

I made an offer

https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar...

April 14, 2022^[16]

On April 14, 2022, Musk made an unsolicited and non-binding offer to Twitter to purchase the company for $43 billion, or $54.20 per share, and take it private.^[17] Though the offer was made to company management, the bid was described as a hostile takeover attempt because of the implied threat to purchase the outstanding stock if management declined.^[18][19] The board responded that it would "carefully review the proposal".^[20]

In a TED interview, Musk said he aimed to make Twitter a "platform for free speech around the globe", hailing free speech as a "societal imperative for a functioning democracy" and insisting that he had not made the offer to increase his wealth.^[21][22] Critics noted that he showed more interest in altering Twitter's moderation policies than in fighting government censorship.^[23] According to The Washington Post, the banning of accounts such as The Babylon Bee had prompted Musk to initiate the acquisition.^[24] The price of $54.20 per share is believed to be a reference to 420, a slang term in cannabis culture for marijuana consumption.^[25]

On April 15, Twitter's board of directors announced a "poison pill" strategy which would allow shareholders to purchase additional stock in the event of a hostile takeover; the plan expired on April 14, 2023.^[26] On April 17, Taylor was urged by Twitter's largest institutional shareholders to "seriously consider" the offer.^[6] On April 20, Musk disclosed that he had secured financing provided by a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Barclays, MUFG, Société Générale, Mizuho Bank, and BNP Paribas, for a potential tender offer to acquire the company.^[27][28] The funding included $7 billion of senior secured bank loans; $6 billion in subordinated debt; $6.25 billion in bank loans to Musk personally, secured by $62.5 billion of his Tesla stock; $20 billion in cash equity from Musk, to be provided by sales of Tesla stock and other assets; and $7.1 billion in equity from 19 independent investors.^[29][30][31]

The initially proposed $13 billion in money borrowed by Twitter was equivalent to seven times the company's 2022 projected operating cash flow; some banks found that multiple too risky and opted to participate only in the $12.5 billion margin loan to Musk.^[32] The debt was estimated to cost Twitter approximately $1 billion in annual interest and fees.^[27] Two days after announcing his bid, Musk registered three holding companies under the name "X Holdings" in preparation for his takeover.^[33] Tesla shares fell 12 percent on the day after the acquisition was announced, amid smaller declines in the broader markets. Musk incurred a $21 billion paper loss that day.^[34]

Acquisition announcement

:{:{On April 23, Musk informed Taylor that his offer was "best and final", urging him to accept in a letter sent the following day.^[6] Multiple outlets subsequently reported that Twitter was in final negotiations to accept Musk's offer, with a deal expected to be reached by the next day,^[35][36][37] though Reuters cautioned that the deal could still fall apart.^[38] On April 25, Twitter shares rose by 5 percent following reports that Twitter was poised to accept Musk's offer.^[39] Twitter advisors Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase approved of the deal, deeming it fair from a financial perspective.^[6]}:

Twitter's board publicly and unanimously accepted the buyout offer for $44 billion, and Twitter was to become a private company once the transaction was completed sometime in 2022.^[40][41] Negotiations with Musk were led by the board's transaction committee, composed of Taylor, Martha Lane Fox, and Patrick Pichette.^[42] The deal would require shareholder and regulatory approval before it could be finalized,^[43] though analysts believed it was unlikely to be challenged by regulators.^[44]}:

Musk was barred from disparaging the company or its employees when tweeting about the acquisition before the transaction closed.^[45] The agreement also stipulated that if Musk failed to close the acquisition, he would be required to pay Twitter a $1 billion breakup fee.^[46][47] Agrawal was set to receive $39 million from the buyout, while Dorsey would receive $978 million.^[48] Musk had privately selected a new CEO to replace Agrawal upon completion of the acquisition,^[32] though he was expected to serve as interim CEO in the months after its completion.^[49] Tesla's stock sank by more than $125 billion the next market day, causing Musk to lose about $30 billion of his net worth.^[50][51] Within three days after Twitter agreed to be acquired, Musk had sold $8.5 billion of his Tesla shares.^[52]

:{:{After the acceptance was announced, Musk said that his first goal would be to make the algorithm that ranks tweets in the content feed open-sourced, in an effort to increase transparency. He has also stated that he intended to remove spambots and "authenticate all real humans",^[53] suggesting that he might convert Twitter's San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter.^[54][55]}:

Musk said he lacked confidence in Twitter's corporate management,^[56] telling banks that he had considered reducing executive and board pay.^[32] He published tweets critical of decisions made by Twitter executives such as Vijaya Gadde,^[57] who was subsequently harassed by Twitter users using racist and sexist language.^[58][59] On April 28, Twitter told advertising agencies that their work would not be seen next to offensive material.^[60] Musk also discussed with bankers with the ideas of cutting jobs and costs, encouraging influencers to be creative, and adding subscription services to Twitter.^[61][62]}:

:{:{On May 4, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom summoned Musk to discuss the effect of his buyout on free speech and "online harms".^[63] Musk secured another $7.1 billion in funding the next day, including from Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison, Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, as well as sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding.^[64][65]}:

The equity infusion reduced his original $12.5 billion personal bank loan to $6.25 billion and his required cash equity contribution from $21 billion to just under $20 billion.^[31][66] On May 11, The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had launched investigations into events leading to the acquisition.^[67] The next day, Agrawal fired Twitter general manager Kayvon Beykpour and revenue product lead Bruce Falck.^[68]}:

Attempted termination

Alleged hold

:{:{On May 13, Musk revealed that he had placed the deal "on hold" in the wake of reports that 5 percent of Twitter's daily active users were spam accounts,^[69] causing Twitter shares to drop more than 10 percent.^[70] Musk clarified that he remained committed to the acquisition,^[71] and Agrawal stated he expected the deal to close.^[72] In response to a May 16 Twitter thread in which Agrawal said an external review into the platform's users was impractical, Musk tweeted out a poop emoji.^[73] The following day, Musk reiterated that the acquisition could not "move forward" until Twitter could prove the aforementioned reports false,^[74][75] urging the SEC to investigate Twitter's daily user numbers.^[76]}:

The same day, Twitter filed new documents with the SEC, including a detailed timeline of Musk's purchase,^[6] and affirmed they would "enforce the merger agreement" regardless of Musk's actions.^[77] On May 25, Musk abandoned plans to partially fund the deal through margin loans against Tesla stock, instead opting to pledge an additional $6.25 billion in equity financing.^[78][79] Dorsey departed Twitter's board the same day,^[80] while Twitter investor William Heresniak filed a class-action lawsuit against Musk, alleging that he had violated corporate laws in California by manipulating the market.^[81] The lawsuit further declared that Musk was not permitted by the acquisition contract to place the deal on hold, and that Musk's misleading statements had contributed to declining Twitter stock prices.^[82][83]}:

Former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko claimed that the company had misled the public on its privacy and security woes.

:{:{On June 3, the acquisition was cleared by U.S. antitrust review.^[84] In an email sent by Musk's attorney to Twitter three days later, Musk threatened to terminate his agreement with Twitter because the company had refused to give him data pertaining to its users.^[85][86] Twitter responded that they would continue to cooperate with Musk to ensure that the transaction was closed in accordance with their agreement.^[87]}:

On June 8, Twitter's board complied with Musk's demands, agreeing to provide him with a "firehose" data stream of tweets.^[88][89] A week later, the SEC asked Agrawal to provide information on how Twitter estimated its number of spam accounts, to which the company obliged; the SEC concluded its inquiry on July 27.^[90][91] Musk attended an all-hands meeting on June 16 to answer questions from Twitter employees,^[92] discussing Twitter's content moderation policy, freedom of speech, potential layoffs, remote work, and "the cosmic nature of Twitter".^[93][94][95] Musk also expressed his desire for Twitter to reach one billion active users,^[96] and pledged his commitment to advertising as a source of revenue for Twitter.^[97]}:

In a complaint filed by Whistleblower Aid with the SEC, U.S. Justice Department, and FTC on July 6, former Twitter security officer Peiter Zatko accused several Twitter executives, including Agrawal and certain board members, of making false or misleading statements about privacy, security, and content moderation on the platform in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 and SEC disclosure rules. These included misrepresentations to Musk made during the course of the acquisition bid, with the complaint specifically calling Agrawal's May 16 thread deceptive.^[98][99][100] In a July 7 conference call, Twitter revealed that over one million spam accounts were removed daily, and reiterated that it was impossible to externally determine the exact number of these accounts as it would involve private user data.^[101] That same day, The Washington Post reported that the deal was "in peril" amid a slowdown in discussions on funding.^[102]

Attempted withdrawal by Musk

:{:{On July 8, Musk announced his intention to terminate the proposed acquisition, claiming in a regulatory filing that Twitter was in "material breach" of several parts of the agreement by refusing to comply with Musk's requests for spambot account data and dismissing high-ranking employees.^[103][104] In response, Taylor pledged to pursue legal action against Musk at the Delaware Court of Chancery with the goal of completing the acquisition,^[105][106] with the ensuing lawsuit once again overseen by the Twitter board's transaction committee.^[42] Twitter's stock sank by 7 percent after the news, dropping by a further 11 percent the next day.^[107]}:

On July 10, Twitter hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to represent its case, including "key lawyers" William Savitt and Leo Strine,^[108] along with Potter Anderson & Corroon, Ballard Spahr, Kobre & Kim, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.^[109] Musk again employed the services of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan after previously doing so for Unsworth v. Musk and SEC v. Musk,^[108] including his personal lawyer Alex Spiro, as well as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.^[110]}:

Twitter formally launched its lawsuit against Musk at the Delaware Court of Chancery on July 12,^[110] with Musk tweeting in response, "Oh the irony lol".^[111] Twitter requested that the trial be held from September 19 through September 22,^[112] before the deal's originally scheduled "drop dead" date on October 24.^[113] Musk's legal team objected to this, asking for the trial to be held from February 13 through February 22, 2023.^[114] On July 19, judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled that the trial would last for five days in October,^[115][116] with Twitter seeking an October 10 start date.^[117] During its quarterly earnings investor call on July 22, Twitter cited the "chaos" caused by the proposal as the primary factor for its decline in revenue.^[118] In a letter to McCormick on July 26, Musk's lawyers complained that Twitter had hindered them from commencing the discovery process and requested an October 17 start date,^[117] which McCormick granted three days later with a duration of five days.^[119]

In a tweet on August 6, Musk challenged Agrawal to a public debate on Twitter's spambot accounts, before polling his followers on whether they believed that less than 5 percent of Twitter accounts were "fake/spam".^[120] On August 10, Musk sold 7.92 million Tesla shares worth a total of $6.9 billion as backup should he lose the lawsuit, despite previously stating he would no longer sell Tesla stock.^[121] The next week, McCormick ordered Twitter to produce documents from Beykpour, which Musk's team had requested along with files from 22 other Twitter employees and 41 "custodians".^[122] Shortly thereafter, Musk subpoenaed Dorsey.^[123] Other businessmen and investors subpoenaed include Marc Andreessen, Ellison, David Sacks, and Joe Lonsdale, while Twitter and Musk also subpoenaed Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Salesforce, Mastercard, and more. Sacks and Lonsdale were both irritated that they were being subpoenaed, with the former filing a failed motion to dismiss the subpoena. In total, lawyers for Twitter issued over 84 subpoenas, while Musk's lawyers issued more than 36.^[109]

Facing increasing pressure from Musk, Twitter announced that it would combine its health team, tasked with preventing non-consensual nudity and child sexual exploitation on the platform, with its anti-spam team.^[124] McCormick rejected much of Musk's team's "absurdly broad" request for data pertaining to all of Twitter's users, but ordered the company to produce data from 9,000 accounts it previously audit sampled.^[125] Musk filed a "termination letter" with the SEC on August 29, citing Zatko's claims as evidence Twitter breached their contract,^[126][127] before asking McCormick to delay the trial by a few weeks.^[128] McCormick rejected the request,^[129] and Musk's team sent a third termination letter to Twitter.^[130] On September 13, Zatko testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee,^{[131][132][133}] while Twitter shareholders voted in favor of the acquisition.^[134][135] Musk privately offered to purchase Twitter at the reduced prices of $31 billion and $39.6 billion, both of which the company rejected.^[136][137]

Revival and closing

Revitalization of bid

On October 3, Musk's legal team informed Twitter that Musk had changed his mind and decided to move forward with his proposed acquisition at the originally agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share, on the condition that Twitter drop its lawsuit.^[138] The reason for this reversal was attributed to concerns from Musk's team that they would not be able to prove that there was a material adverse effect justifying a break from contract. Musk and Agrawal's depositions were originally scheduled for October 6 and 10, respectively.^[139] Musk stated that his purchase of Twitter was part of his ambition to create an "everything app" called X, which would offer many different services.^[140] In response, McCormick asked both sides to propose to her how they should proceed. Twitter shares surged by 23 percent as a result of Musk's announcement.^[139] Neither Twitter nor Musk responded to McCormick's request, prompting her to announce that the trial would go forward as planned.^[141]

:{:{On October 6, McCormick agreed to a request by Musk to postpone the trial to October 28 so Musk could finalize his debt financing for the acquisition, adding that the trial would be rescheduled to November if the deal did not close by then.^[142][143] During this time, Musk deposited a $1 billion loan from his company SpaceX, paying back the loan with interest the following month.^[144][145] On October 13, court filings revealed that Musk was being investigated by the U.S. government for his conduct in the proposed buyout.^[146][147]}:

Musk later stated that he believed Twitter's long-term value would exceed the price of $54.20 per share, which he considered an overpayment.^[148] On October 20, The Washington Post reported that Musk intended to terminate 75 percent of Twitter's staff, and that Twitter executives were keen on selling the company to Musk so they could mitigate their planned payroll and infrastructure cuts.^[149][150] In an open letter, Twitter employees condemned Musk's intentions and warned of negative consequences on the future of Twitter.^[151][152] Bloomberg News and the Post further reported that officials in the Biden administration were considering a national security review of Musk's proposed acquisition and other ventures via the Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS),^[153][154] with the possibility of U.S. President Joe Biden blocking the purchase if need be;^[155] the White House denied the reports.^[156][157]}:

:{:{By October 21, both parties' bankers and lawyers were set to complete the paperwork for the acquisition by the end of the month, with the deal expected to close by then.^[158][159] The banks funding the acquisition were to hold the $13 billion worth of debt incurred as opposed to selling it.^[160][161] In a video call with banks who helped Musk fund the acquisition, Musk assured them he would complete the buyout by the deadline.^[162] Musk made a trip to Twitter's headquarters on October 26, tweeting a video of him jokingly carrying a kitchen sink at the site's lobby and changing his Twitter bio to "Chief Twit".^{[163][164][165}] Musk also told Twitter employees that while layoffs were still likely to happen, he did not intend to do so at the scale the Post had previously reported.^[166][167]}:

The next day, Musk wrote in an open letter to advertisers that Twitter would not become a "free-for-all hellscape", reiterating that his motives for the purchase were not based on greed but rather a desire to create "a common digital town square".^[168] He then asked Tesla engineers to meet with Twitter's product managers in order to assess the platform's codebase,^[169] which was frozen until November 1.^[170]}:

Completion of purchase

In the afternoon of October 27, Musk and Twitter closed the deal, with Musk tweeting "the bird is freed". Musk immediately became Twitter's new owner, summarily firing Agrawal, chief financial officer (CFO) Ned Segal, Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett,^{[171][172][173}] with the executives escorted out of the company's headquarters by security.^[174] This move came to the surprise of many involved, who had expected Musk to allow the executives to voluntarily resign; Agrawal had prepared a draft of his resignation letter before his access to his Twitter email account was cut off. According to Walter Isaacson's biography Elon Musk (2023), Musk "meticulously" changed his plans so "he could terminate their employment before their stock options would vest", seeking retribution for Agrawal's handling of the spambot incident.^[175]

Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde were set to receive "golden parachute" sums of $38.7 million, $25.4 million, and $12.5 million, respectively,^[176][177] but The New York Times reported that Musk was unlikely to make the payments because the executives had been dismissed for cause.^[178] According to the Financial Times, Musk's justification for this assertion was that the company had been mismanaged, and the executives were "weighing their legal options over the decision".^[179] Dorsey retained his $1 billion ownership stake,^[180][181] and several other executives departed Twitter in the ensuing days.^{[182][183][184}]

Musk assumed the position of CEO,^[185][186] merging the company with X Holdings and dissolving Twitter's board of directors.^[187] With this merger, Twitter ceased to be an independent company, with X Corp. later created in March 2023 to house the company.^[188][189] Musk uses the title "Chief Twit" to refer to his position as CEO.^[190] A "war room" was established at Twitter, with Musk meeting with Spiro, Sacks, and others to discuss his next steps.^[191] According to The New York Times, the group's two primary objectives were to reduce the size of Twitter's workforce and overhaul the platform's mobile app.^[192] Twitter employees were not formally informed of the change in management,^[193] with Musk originally said to be planning a town hall meeting with employees but ultimately not doing so.^[171][194] The next day, Twitter shares ceased trading in accordance with Musk's pledge to take the company private;^{[195][196][197}] the company's stock ticker was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 8.^[198]

Post-acquisition

Main article: Twitter under Elon Musk

Further information: SEC investigation into the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk

[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Linda_Yaccarino_by_James_Tamim_%28cropped%29.png)Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino CEO of X Corp., the successor to Twitter.

:{:{Since becoming owner, Musk has enacted a series of changes, including overhauling Twitter's verification system by requiring new applicants to purchase a Twitter Blue subscription.^[199] Many Twitter staff members were directed to extend their working hours in order to meet Musk's deadlines for his desired changes to the platform.^[200]}:

On November 4, Musk laid off roughly half of Twitter's workforce,^[201][202] and two weeks later, he issued an ultimatum to employees to commit to "extremely hardcore" work in order to realize Musk's vision of "Twitter 2.0", or leave.^[203][204] Hundreds of employees resigned in response.^[205][206] From the layoffs and resignations, the company went from close to 7,500 employees to approximately 1,500,^[207] a reduction of about 80%.}:

:{:{Meanwhile, Musk began restoring previously banned accounts such as Jordan Peterson, Kathy Griffin, The Babylon Bee, and Donald Trump,^[208][209] while suspending anti-fascist accounts at the urging of far-right figures,^[210] as well as accounts that parodied Musk.^[211][212] Musk also relaxed the platform's hate speech policies and removed its policy prohibiting COVID-19 misinformation,^[213][214] resulting in an increase in hate speech.^[215]}:

In December, Musk faced backlash after banning ElonJet, a Twitter bot account operated by Jack Sweeney which tracked Musk's private jet in real-time using publicly accessible data.^[216][217] These protests intensified when Musk suspended multiple journalists who had been covering the ElonJet incident.^{[218][219][220}] Days later, Musk conducted a Twitter poll asking users whether he should step down as CEO of Twitter,^[221][222] to which voters responded in the affirmative.^[223][224] Musk stated he would step down after selecting his replacement,^[225] and he was succeeded by NBCUniversal advertising sales chair Linda Yaccarino in June 2023.^[226]}:

Musk's acquisition of Twitter was principally responsible for the development of Threads, a social media platform which closely resembles Twitter, by rival company Meta Platforms. Work began on the service in November 2022, and it was released on July 5, 2023, amidst continued backlash to changes to Twitter enacted by Musk and Yaccarino.^[227][228] In response, Twitter threatened to sue Meta over intellectual property infringement.^[229] Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde filed a lawsuit against Twitter in April 2023, claiming that the company had failed to pay them for the legal fees they had incurred during their tenure.^[230] McCormick ruled in the executives' favor in October.^[231]

In June, X Corp. sued Wachtell to recoup a portion of the $90 million fee the law firm had paid, accusing the firm of "unjust enrichment" for charging a bonus fee on successful completion of the acquisition when the agreement with prior Twitter management stipulated billing only on an hourly basis.^[232][233] The Twitter app was rebranded as X in July, an unprecedented decision which has created confusion among users.^[234] In September, Musk failed to appear before the SEC in response to the agency's investigation into his purchasing of Twitter stock the year prior, prompting a lawsuit.^[235] The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2023 that the seven major banks that had provided Musk's acquisition loans failed to follow the standard practice of quickly selling down their exposure to other banks due to a lack of appetite for the debt since Musk took over, instead expected to mark down the debt by at least 15 percent in order to sell it.^[236]

The company's financial outlook improved in 2025, partly due to Musk's close relationship with President Donald Trump and the platform's move away from an advertising-only model toward user subscriptions and artificial intelligence, leading to a revival in investor interest and successful refinancing of the remaining debt. By April 2025, banks had sold off the last of the debt related to the company at about 98 cents on the dollar, in what Bloomberg News described as a remarkable turnaround.^[237] Earlier in March, Musk announced that xAI, the AI company he founded two years earlier, would acquire X in an all-stock transaction for a total enterprise value of $45 billion, a billion more that what he paid in 2022.^[238][239]

Reactions

Takeover bid

Following Musk's induction to Twitter's board of directors on April 5, Agrawal wrote that he believed Musk's appointment would bring long-term value to the company, while Dorsey wrote that Musk "cares deeply about our world and Twitter's role in it".^[12] Dorsey privately relayed his appreciation to Musk for his commitment, texting that he trusted Musk.^[7] On April 11, Agrawal stated that he believed Musk's withdrawal from the board was "for the best", noting that the company would "remain open to his input".^[14]

Musk's offer to take over Twitter was met with both praise and criticism.^[240] On April 14, Twitter employees expressed concern with Musk's views on free speech.^[241][242] Media outlets expressed concerns that his proposed changes to Twitter would result in an increase in disinformation and online harassment.^[240][243] Jim Cramer of CNBC opined that the Twitter board would have "no choice" but to reject Musk's offer due to potential personal liability faced by the board members.^[244] On April 19, the National Urban League urged Twitter to turn down Musk's takeover bid, warning of potentially negative consequences on users' civil rights.^[245]

Conservative and Republican commentators and politicians in the U.S. who believed Twitter discriminated against right-wing speech expressed enthusiasm for Musk's proposed changes.^[240][246] On April 22, U.S. House Republicans demanded that Twitter's board preserve all records pertaining to Musk's takeover proposal, which sets the stage for a potential congressional probe following the 2022 midterms.^[247] Jimmy Patronis, the Chief Financial Officer of Florida, praised Musk's offer and was critical of Twitter's "poison pill" strategy.^[248] According to a poll conducted by Harvard University's Center for American Political Studies (CAPS) and the Harris Poll, 57 percent of American voters approved of Musk's purchase of Twitter.^[249]

Acquisition announcement

Agrawal applauded the purchase and assured employees that no layoffs were planned at that time,^[250][251] adding he was proud of Twitter employees "despite the noise" around the company.^[57] He also led an all-hands meeting on April 29 to address concerns raised by employees.^[252] Dorsey endorsed the sale, saying that "taking [Twitter] back from Wall Street is the correct first step" and that he trusted Musk to be the owner of the company.^[253] Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo denounced Musk's criticism of the company.^[57] Gadde allegedly cried during a meeting about the announcement and was subjected to online trolling.^[254] Musk's June 17 meeting with employees was generally negatively received by participants, who found Musk's statements "incoherent" and "uninspiring".^[255] Musk was repeatedly derided and mocked by Twitter employees on their internal Slack channels after the deal was brokered.^[139]

:{:{Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Congress such as Jim Jordan, Yvette Herrell, Marsha Blackburn, and Ted Cruz praised the deal, calling it a restoration of free speech. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers such as Pramila Jayapal, [Jesús García](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jes%C3%BAs_%22Chuy%22_Garc%C3%ADa "Jesús "Chuy" García"), Marie Newman, Mark Pocan, and Elizabeth Warren criticized Musk and the buyout.^[256][257]}:

In June, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton launched an investigation into whether Twitter had misled authorities on its number of spambot accounts, alluding to prior claims made by Musk.^[258] Former U.S. President Donald Trump expressed approval with the deal but stated that he would not rejoin the platform, even if he is unbanned, due to his preference for his own social media platform, Truth Social;^[259] Musk later indicated his intention to reverse Twitter's ban on Trump.^[260] Mexican President Lopez Obrador stated that he hoped Musk would rid Twitter of "the corruption that's there, manipulation with bots".^[261] Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner Brendan Carr responded to calls for the agency to block the purchase by saying that it has no authority to do so, calling such requests "absurd".^[262] Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, emphasized that "any company operating in Europe needs to comply with [their] rules", while the European Union (EU) announced that new online rules would "overhaul" the digital market and Tech Giants.^[263]}:

By April 27, 30,000 new users had joined the decentralized network of servers running open-source Mastodon software.^[264] Conservative Twitter accounts experienced a significant increase in followers, while liberal ones experienced a slight decrease;^[265] additionally, thousands of left-leaning users deactivated their accounts following the buyout.^[266] LGBTQ+ users and activists expressed apprehension about the deal based on tweets by Musk mocking transgender people, fearing that the re-platforming of suspended Twitter accounts would lead to a rise in online harassment and hate speech.^[267][268] On June 3, a group of political advocacy groups which included the Center for Countering Digital Hate, GLAAD, and MediaJustice initiated a campaign to block the proposal by calling for a review of the deal by the government and a boycott of the platform by advertisers.^[269]

Henrik Fisker, co-founder of electric vehicle maker Fisker Inc. and a rival of Musk's, left Twitter shortly after the acquisition announcement.^[270] Amazon founder Jeff Bezos questioned whether Tesla's business interest in China would give the Chinese government leverage over Twitter via Musk, before answering that it would "probably not".^[271][272] Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates questioned if Musk would allow the spread of public health misinformation, including vaccine misinformation.^[273] Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales speculated that Twitter could either thrive or fall within five years under Musk's supervision.^[274] Bitcoin investor Roger Ver and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong welcomed the buyout, citing the potential for reduction of perceived censorship on Twitter.^[275] Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said that he hoped Twitter would improve over time due to its importance to society,^[276] while Facebook and Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed confusion and uncertainty over the proposed buyout.^[277]

Attempted termination

Edgett instructed employees not to share commentary on the purported cancellation; nonetheless, several Twitter employees posted humorous messages making light of the situation.^[278] Tesla shares rose 2.11 percent in the hours after Musk's announcement.^[279] Trump criticized Musk and called the acquisition "rotten",^[280] which led to a protracted feud between the two.^[281][282] With the exception of Trump, most conservatives sided with Musk, with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon attacking Twitter for allegedly lying about the prevalence of its spambot accounts and Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk musing that Musk may have been seeking to "expose" Twitter the whole time.^[283] In an email sent to Twitter's employees in response to Zatko's complaint, Agrawal sharply rejected the claims and called them a "false narrative".^[284]

Completion of purchase

Trump responded approvingly of the purchase after the deal was closed, saying that he was pleased Twitter was "in sane hands", rather than what he termed "radical left lunatics".^[285][286] Other Republican politicians, including Dan Crenshaw, Darrell Issa,^[287] Marjorie Taylor Greene,^[288] Marsha Blackburn,^[191] Anthony Sabatini, Amy Kremer,^[289] Lauren Boebert, Dick Black,^[290] Cruz,^[291] and Jordan applauded the purchase as well. Democrat Amy Klobuchar voiced her distrust of Musk and called for tighter government regulation of the platform,^[292] while Democrat Chris Murphy advocated for a federal investigation into the role of Saudi Arabia in the purchase.^[293] Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former President of Russia, was pleased with the news, stating that he hoped Twitter would eliminate "political bias and ideological dictatorship". Breton again emphasized that Twitter was bound by the EU's laws,^[294] alluding to the recently passed Digital Services Act.^[295]

:{:{Internally, Twitter employees expressed concern that Musk would lay off employees before they receive their compensation payments,^[177] among other messages criticizing Musk and voicing solidarity with each other.^[290] Amid conflicting reports on whether Musk was planning sweeping layoffs, many employees expressed uncertainty and fear on Slack, Discord, and LinkedIn.^[296][297] Women's rights activist Seyi Akiwowo tweeted her disappointment with Gadde's dismissal, while children's rights activist Beeban Kidron said that Musk's newfound power would not result in more free speech.^[295]}:

Podcaster Joe Rogan praised Musk for his aspirations,^[292] while right-wing Twitter account Libs of TikTok rejoiced over the news of the purchase.^[291] Media personality Stew Peters, who had been blocked from Twitter for months, attempted to circumvent the block after the purchase using a new account, which was later suspended.^[290] Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled RT broadcasting service, demanded that Musk lift her Twitter suspension.^[194] Bin Talal Al Saud congratulated Musk on the purchase,^[290] and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon urged Musk to eradicate spambot accounts.^[298] Tesla rival General Motors announced it would temporarily stop paid advertising on Twitter.^[294] Advertising agencies IPG Mediabrands and Omnicom Media Group recommended their clients temporarily pause advertising on Twitter due to safety and trust concerns over Musk's ownership.^[299][300] A slew of companies proceeded to do so, including Audi, Bentley, the Carlsberg Group, General Mills, Lamborghini, Mondelez International, Porsche, Pfizer, REI, and the Volkswagen Group.^[301][302] Media buying agency GroupM also advised its clients against procuring advertisements from Twitter.^[303] Alt-tech social media platform Parler welcomed Musk's purchase, while alt-tech platform Gettr was more skeptical, believing Twitter was "fundamentally broken".^[304] Similarities have been drawn between the acquisition and the 2022 film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, with some viewers comparing Musk to the character of Miles Bron, though director Rian Johnson stated that the similarities were purely coincidental.^[305][306]}:

:{:{Online reception to Musk's completion of the purchase was mixed.^[307] According to Memetica, a digital investigations company, several far-right figures experienced a significant increase in followers after the deal was finalized, while many progressives experienced a significant decrease, although it is unclear if Musk's takeover drove the changes in followers.^[308] Mastodon once again experienced a surge in sign-ups.^[309] Multiple celebrities in the entertainment industry announced their departure from the platform,^[310][311] while some left-wing influencers such as John Pavlovitz and Rob Reiner urged fellow leftists to remain on Twitter for the time being.^[310][308]}:

The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) observed a 500 percent spike in the use of the racial slur "nigger" in the 12 hours after Musk completed the acquisition, while The Washington Post noted an increase in pro-Nazi, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ+ tweets.^[194] Basketball player LeBron James expressed concern over the NCRI's report, condemning "unfit people saying hate speech is free speech".^[312] Twitter responded by saying that the accounts using racial slurs were part of a "trolling campaign" and would be banned summarily.^[313][314] The Center for Countering Digital Hate reported that anti-Black, anti-gay, and anti-transgender slurs had increased since Musk took control of Twitter, while the Anti-Defamation League reported an increase in antisemitic content.^[315]}:

Critical analysis

Takeover bid and acquisition announcement

:{:{Anticipating a takeover, Elizabeth Lopatto of The Verge predicted that it would lead to a mass employee exodus and a possible reinstatement of Trump's Twitter account.^[316] After the acquisition announcement, Alex Werpin of The Hollywood Reporter warned of widespread repercussions.^[317] Greg Bensinger of The New York Times argued that Musk's acquisition was "about controlling a megaphone" rather than free speech,^[318] while Elizabeth Dwoskin of The Washington Post remarked that Musk's free speech vision for Twitter was considered by technologists to be outdated and impractical.^[319]}:

:{:{Don Pittis of CBC News noted the controversy associated with the wealthy gaining control of media platforms.^[320] Brendan O'Neill of Spiked observed that Musk's purchase of Twitter and the resulting backlash represented a "battle for control of the Internet",^[321] with Business Insider's Ben Gilbert calling the purchase the latest "battleground" in the culture war between Democrats and Republicans.^[322] Michael Hiltzik of The Seattle Times commented that Musk's impact on Twitter would depend on his policies and how he chooses to implement them.^[323]}:

David Auerbach of UnHerd saw the purchase as indicative of a "major flashpoint" in the transition of society to "a more decentralized, chaotic, and devolved world".^[324] Paul R. La Monica of CNN Business suggested that Tesla's declining stock price indicated that Wall Street investors were doubtful on whether Musk's purchase would go through.^[325] CleanTechnica's Matt Pressman believed that Musk's purchase would benefit Tesla because owners of the company's cars often engaged on the platform,^[326] and Lindsey Bakes of Deseret News wrote that Musk could integrate cryptocurrency within Twitter.^[327]}:}:

:{:{Kevin D. Williamson of American conservative magazine National Review likened Musk's purchase of Twitter to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, labeling it a publicity stunt,^[328] his colleague Rich Lowry said that liberal politicians' strong reaction to Musk's purchase was an indication that Twitter's existing policies had "political consequences",^[329] and the editors of the publication wished Musk well in his quest to promote free speech on Twitter.^[330] Bonnie Kristian of evangelical magazine Christianity Today felt that the purchase would only "add to the confusion" surrounding the contentious debate on free speech,^[331] while Paris Marx of American socialist magazine Jacobin dismissed Musk's proclamations that he sought to protect free speech as an "example of his hubris".^[332]}:

Corbin K. Barthold of conservative public policy magazine City Journal believed it would be difficult but "worth the struggle" to end censorship on Twitter,^[333] while Peter van Buren of The Spectator World opined that Musk should simply take Twitter offline.^[334] Cathy Young of center-right news website The Bulwark felt that Musk's planned reforms to Twitter were "unlikely to succeed", further observing that commentators who opposed the purchase viewed it as right-wing backlash against "perceived left-wing social media bias".^[335] Robby Soave of American libertarian magazine Reason postulated that Musk's purchase would not threaten Twitter or democracy, suggesting that those overstating the importance of the platform were "Musk's critics in progressive and mainstream media",^[336] with James McElroy of The American Conservative further arguing that many journalists' condemnation of the acquisition was motivated by "professional anxiety".^[337]}:

:{:{Equity analyst Angelo Zino believed that Twitter's acceptance of Musk's proposal may have stemmed from its realization that alternative bidders would be unlikely to emerge due to social media companies' declining asset prices.}:^[56] Associate professor Brian Quinn of Boston College Law School noted that it would be difficult for Musk to arbitrarily pull out of the deal due to the contractual doctrines of fair dealing and good faith.^[338] Kate Klonick, a law professor at St. John's University, argued that to allow "all free speech" to exist on Twitter would open the door to the spread of pornography and hate speech.^[339]

Similarly, Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, stated that the lack of moderation on Twitter would lead to online harassment.^[340] Bill George, a senior fellow at Harvard Business School and former CEO of Medtronic, argued that Musk's purchase of Twitter would harm both society and Musk himself,^[341] while analyst Mike Proulx of Forrester Research cautioned that other companies may leave Twitter if Musk loosens its moderation policies.^[342] Proprietary trader Dennis Dick opined that Musk's spambot claims were tactics by him to lower the price of the purchase.^[343] Analysts noted that the involvement of foreign entities as independent investors could cause the transaction to face national security scrutiny by the CFIUS.^[344][345]

Left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America and think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute suggested that China could use its influence to extract political concessions or manipulate Twitter due to Musk's ties to the country.^[346][347] American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) executive director Anthony D. Romero warned of the potential danger of Musk wielding excessive power.^[348]}:

Attempted termination

Following Musk's announcement that he intended to terminate the agreement, legal experts generally agreed it would be difficult for him to do so.^[349] Law professor James Park of the University of California, Los Angeles found Musk's spambot argument weak and doubted it was material, while Case Western Reserve University business law professor Anat Alon-Beck observed that Twitter was compelled to enforce the merger so as to disprove Musk's allegations. Professor Jennifer Grygiel of Syracuse University mused that Musk may reverse course and revisit the deal.^[350] Tulane University Law School associate dean for faculty research Ann Lipton and mergers and acquisitions expert Julian Klymochko both expressed doubts that Musk could prove there was a material adverse effect.^[351][352]

Felix Salmon of Axios noted that a clause in the contract opened the door for a judge to grant specific performance and order Musk to move forward with the deal.^[353] CNBC's Jonathan Vanian described Musk's withdrawal as the product of months of buyer's remorse,^[354] while his colleague Alex Sherman observed that paying the stipulated breakup fee would not relieve Musk of compensations or sanctions.^[355] Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins Jr. questioned whether Musk had proposed the acquisition "out of mouth momentum or excessive enjoyment of the limelight or for some mysterious reason that causes an onlooker to throw up his hands".^[356] Various news publications believed that Zatko's complaint provided potential evidence in Musk's favor,^{[357][358][359}] though Bloomberg News columnist Matt Levine argued that the complaint confirmed Twitter's monetizable daily active users counts do not include spambots.^[360]

Revitalization of bid

Greg Varallo of the Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann law firm observed that if Musk failed to secure funding and close the acquisition, he could be barred from claiming that he can terminate the acquisition as per the legal doctrine of judicial estoppel.^[361] New York University's Center for Social Media and Politics executive director Zeve Sanderson cautioned that if Musk were to lay off 75 percent of Twitter's workforce, it would make it more difficult for the company to moderate its content. Professor David Kaye of the University of California, Irvine School of Law and Professor Eric Goldman of the Santa Clara University School of Law concurred, warning of a potential increase in misinformation and harassment on the platform. However, they noted that the layoffs could still be mitigated through an increase in automated content moderation.^[362]

Completion of purchase

Conservative commentators celebrated the purchase's closure.^{[288][291][363}] Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued that Musk's laissez-faire approach to moderation on Twitter would reshape American political discourse.^[363] Shapiro wrote that he hoped other social media platforms would implement Musk's proposals and called on Musk to reverse Peterson's suspension from Twitter.^{[288][291][363}] Political commentator Matt Walsh saw the purchase as an opportunity to rally opposition against the "trans agenda".^[194][363] Political columnist Benny Johnson called on Musk to reverse the suspensions of several prominent conservatives.^[288] Spiked's O'Neill claimed that liberals' negative reaction to the closure reflected their fear of freedom and liberty,^[364] while Washington Examiner's Christopher Tremoglie disapproved of Musk's idea for a moderation council as continued censorship.^[365]

:{:{Lauren Hirsch of The New York Times observed that Musk would face financial challenges in owning Twitter, including the company's difficulty in turning a profit.^[366] Richard Waters of the Financial Times echoed Hirsch's sentiments, adding that it would difficult for Musk to allow the right amount of free speech on the platform.^[367] Kate Ferguson of Deutsche Welle viewed Musk as unreliable and therefore unfit to operate Twitter,^[368] and Hamilton Nolan of The Guardian felt the purchase was an attempt by Musk to "control the conversation".^[369]}:

Barbara Ortutay, Tom Krisher and Matt O'Brien of the Associated Press noted Musk's contradictory and vague messages in the past regarding his vision for Twitter,^[370] while Ben Burgis of Jacobin criticized liberals' technocratic views and their downplaying of the importance of free speech in response to the purchase, though he remarked that Musk had a history of suppressing his critics.^[371] Also writing for The New York Times, Kate Conger, Ryan Mac, and Tiffany Hsu noted that Musk's meetings with civil rights activists and his plans for a content moderation council were reminiscent of the actions taken by Zuckerberg following backlash on Facebook's handling of the 2016 U.S. elections.^[372] Politico's Jack Shafer noted that media coverage of Musk's purchase foretold "chaos, greater political oversight, and outright failure."^[373]}:

Edward Niedermeyer, an author and critic of Musk, argued that Twitter may fail due to Musk's hubris.^[373] Scholars who studied the First Amendment, such as professor Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University Law School, praised Musk's plans to tone down content moderation on Twitter.^[298] New York University's Center for Business and Human Rights deputy director Paul M. Barrett speculated that a moderation council under Musk would face skepticism due to Musk's "erratic and imperious" behavior in the past.^[194] Alex Stamos of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation questioned how Musk would respond to foreign governments attempting to influence Twitter's userbase.^[194] Those in the cryptocurrency field, such as podcaster Bryce Paul and investor Cathie Wood, expressed excitement at the prospects of Musk's ownership.^[298]

:{:{Media Matters for America president Angela Carusone warned that Musk's leadership would lead to an increase in disinformation, conspiracy theories, and harassment on Twitter.^[374] Literary group PEN America opined that the midterm elections in November would serve as a test as to whether Musk would allow disinformation to spread rapidly on the platform,^[375] while American left-wing activist coalition Stop the Deal warned of real-world consequences if a rise in hate speech occurs on Twitter.^[294][194] Over 40 civil rights groups signed an open letter to 20 Twitter advertisers urging them to abandon the platform if Musk lifts its content moderation measures.^[182]}:

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the purchase, but expressed concerns over a potential rise in hate speech.^[374] Fight for the Future director Evan Greer appreciated Musk's idea for a moderation council, but noted that Musk had supreme authority on any decisions made.^[191] Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat believed that Musk's attempts to promote free speech would backfire under increased government regulation.^[287] LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign voiced concern at Twitter's new ownership and argued that Twitter has the responsibility to stop its platform from turning into a "dangerous media environment".^[194] The Guardian has also suspended submissions to X due to a number of far-right conspiracy theories and posts promoting racism.^[376]}:

Legacy

On the first anniversary of the acquisition, Musk valued the company at $19 billion, a 55 percent decrease from the buyout's $44 billion purchase price.^[377][378] Fidelity, which contributed $300 million to the acquisition, depressed the value by 65 percent.^[379] Statistics indicated a 30 percent decline in active users, 60 percent decline in advertising,^[380] 14 percent decline in website traffic,^[381] and 38 percent decline in app downloads.^[382] The company has denied this, claiming an increase in engagement.^[381] A nonfiction book about the acquisition, Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History, was announced by author Ben Mezrich in December 2022 and released in November 2023.^[383][384]

:{:{Many publications reflected on Twitter's first year under Musk's ownership. Journalists for The Washington Post, citing data from the University of Washington, wrote that the platform had "become a cacophony of misinformation and confusing reports", remarking on Twitter's stark shift toward conservatism.^[385] Pranav Dixit of The Guardian lambasted the changes and reforms Musk had instituted in the past year,^[386] while Miles Klee of Rolling Stone criticized Musk's alleged pandering to "right-wing extremists and peddlers of misinformation".^[387] }:

The Verge's Jay Peters pointed to Musk's radical changes and declining user numbers as evidence that the takeover was a "disaster",^[388] while Bloomberg's Aisha Counts zeroed in on the increase in misinformation and hate speech.^[389] Kate Conger of The New York Times and Alex Kirshner of Slate lamented that Musk's acquisition had fundamentally changed the meaning of Twitter.^[390][391] Annika Burgess of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation declared, "Twitter as the world knew it is dead".^[392] Musk has largely dismissed this negative commentary.^{[393][394][395}]}:

The Wall Street Journal opined in 2024 that the $13 billion Musk had borrowed to buy Twitter was "the worst merger-finance deal for banks" since the 2008 financial crisis, adding that the "allure" of banking Musk had proved "too attractive to pass up".^[396] The Washington Post reported that the company had lost $24 billion in equity value, "a vaporization of wealth that has little parallel outside the realm of economic or industry-specific crashes, or devastating corporate scandals."^[397]

Media reported that the Twitter takeover prefigured the attempted takeover of US federal agencies by Elon Musk in 2025.^[398]

References

---

6 25

Twitter under Elon Musk - Wikipedia

elon Musk completed the acquisition of Twitter in October 2022; Musk acted as CEO of Twitter until June 2023 when he was succeeded by Linda Yaccarino. In a move that, despite Yaccarino's accession, was widely attributed to Musk,^[1][2] Twitter was rebranded to X on July 23, 2023,^[3] and its domain name changed from twitter.com to x.com on May 17, 2024.^[4]

Now operating as X, the platform closely resembles its predecessor but includes additional features such as long-form texts,^[5] account monetization options,^[6] audio-video calls,^[7] integration with xAI's Grok chatbot,^[8] job search,^[9] and a repurposing of the platform's verification system as a subscription premium.^[10] Several legacy Twitter features were removed from the site after Musk acquired Twitter, including Circles,^[11] NFT profile pictures,^[12] and the experimental pronouns in profiles feature.^[13] Musk aims to transform X into an "everything app", akin to WeChat.^[14]

X has faced significant controversy post-rebranding. Issues such as the release of the Twitter Files, suspension of ten journalists' accounts, and temporary measures like labeling media outlets as "state-affiliated" and restricting their visibility have sparked criticism.^[15][16]

Despite Musk stepping down as CEO, X continues to struggle with challenges such as viral misinformation,^[17] hate speech, and antisemitism controversies.^[18][19] In response to allegations it deemed unfair, X Corp. has pursued legal action against nonprofit organizations Media Matters and the Center for Countering Digital Hate.^[15][20]...

:{:{...The rebrand was described as unusual, given that Twitter's brand was already strong internationally, with words like "tweet" having entered common language.^[42] The rebranding was criticized on the basis that the trademarkability of the name and logo is weak: there are almost 900 companies in the U.S. that own an X trademark,^[43] including an existing social media-related logo owned by Meta Platforms.^[44] The X logo uses a blackboard bold X, a character that has appeared in mathematical textbooks since the 1970s and that is included in Unicode as U+1D54F 𝕏 MATHEMATICAL DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL X.^[45][46] }:

A few days after the rebrand took effect, an AP Stylebook update recommended that journalists refer to the platform as "X, formerly known as Twitter".^[47] By September 2023, Ad Age, citing The Harris Poll, noted that the rebranding had not publicly caught on, with the majority of users still referring to X as "Twitter".^[48] On May 17, 2024, Musk announced that the URL was officially changed from twitter.com to x.com,^[4][49] with the domain transition being one of the more awkward aspects of Musk's rebranding the company.^[50]}:

:{Social media sites including Twitter came under questioning for their handing of disinformation related to the 2024 United Kingdom riots.^[51][52] Musk criticised UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer amid the riots, saying "Shouldn't you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?".^[53] :{Responding to a tweet with footage of the disorder that said the riots were due to the "effects of mass migration and open borders", Musk tweeted "Civil war is inevitable", and his comments were condemned by Starmer's official spokesman.}:

Having previously restored Tommy Robinson's account, Musk interacted with him on the platform,^{[54][55][56][57}] and went on to refer to Starmer as "two-tier Keir" and ask the protection of communities in Britain.^[58][56] Musk also promoted a conspiracy theory that the UK government was planning to build detainments camps in the Falkland Islands to hold rioters.^[57] The UK's Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle said that in practice dealing with large tech companies and their leaders can be more like negotiating with foreign states than normal businesses.^[59]}:

In December 2024, the X website was redesigned, giving it a more modern and simplified look alongside removing the last elements of the Twitter branding (such as blue colors).^[60] Musk argued in February 2025 that X's Community Notes "is increasingly being gamed by governments & legacy media", and that he was taking steps to "fix" it.^[61][62][63] The statement came after Community Notes contradicted Musk's claims on astronauts and legacy media, and also contradicted claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was unpopular among Ukrainians.^[61][62]

In 2025 the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had used the platform to solicit an influencer he had never met in person to have his child. Following their rejection of his offer he unfollowed their account and their impressions and revenue declined sharply.^[64][65]

Layoffs and mass resignations

For the immediate events following the buyout, see Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk § Completion of purchase.

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

Regarding Twitter's reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.

Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.

November 4, 2022^[66][67]

On November 4, 2022, Musk and Twitter began laying off a substantial portion of the company's workforce and Twitter temporarily closed its offices,^[68][69][70] with The New York Times estimating that roughly half of employees had been let go.^[71][72] The night before the layoffs, five Twitter employees based in San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts, filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that mass layoffs would violate federal and California WARN Acts.^[73][74] Musk explained that the layoffs were a cost-cutting measure and stated that the company had been losing over $4 million a day,^[72][75] and criticized activist groups who had called on advertisers to cease doing business with the company. The Times described the layoffs as "haphazard",^[72] Twitter's internal directory, Birdhouse, was taken offline and Twitter offices worldwide were closed for the weekend.^[76]

:{On November 6, Twitter asked some employees who had been laid off to return to the company.^[77] Days after the layoffs, Twitter terminated a large number of its contractors,^[78][79] and Musk fired a series of employees who criticized him publicly or within the company.^[80] On November 16, Musk delivered an ultimatum to employees via email: commit to "extremely hardcore" work in order to realize Musk's vision of "Twitter 2.0", or leave.^[81][82] In response, hundreds of Twitter employees resigned the next day, hours before the deadline to respond to Musk's email.^[83][84] Business Insider reported that fewer than 2,000 employees remained at the company.^[85]

Musk and his advisers met with several employees to dissuade them from leaving the company,^[86] while Twitter offices were once again closed until November 21.^[87] Despite the closures, Musk summoned all Twitter software engineers to Twitter's headquarters on November 18, seeking greater insight into the platform's solution stack.^[88] Additional layoffs occurred later that month,^[89] and the company resumed hiring.^[90] Musk continued laying off employees in February 2023,^[91][92] promising substantial "performance-based stock awards" to employees who remained at the company.^[93]}:

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

press@twitter.com now auto responds with 💩

March 19, 2023^[94]

In November 2022, Axios reported that Twitter had fired almost all of its communications team, leaving only one member.^[95] From November 2022 to March 2023, Twitter's communications team was "effectively silent" and not responding to press inquiries, reported NPR. In March 2023, Musk personally announced a new Twitter policy, which brought Twitter in-line with Musk's other businesses which do not have press or communications departments.^[96] During the April 2023 controversy, NPR confirmed that a press inquiry it sent to Twitter was responded to by Twitter with an emoji of feces.^[97] In April 2023, Musk told the BBC that he had reduced staff from around 8,000 to under 1,500.^[98] In June 2023, trust and safety chief Ella Irwin resigned,^[99][100] hours after Musk undid a company moderation decision by unrestricting and reposting The Daily Wire's anti-trans documentary What Is a Woman?.^[101]

Resignation poll

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.

| | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | Yes | | 57.5% | | No | | 42.5% | | 17,502,391 votes · Final results | |

| --- |

December 18, 2022^[102][103]

On November 16, 2022, Musk stated that he planned to eventually appoint a new CEO to oversee Twitter,^[104] shortly thereafter beginning the process of searching for his successor.^[105] On December 18, amid growing public discontent surrounding the ElonJet and Mastodon controversies, Musk conducted an open-access Twitter poll asking whether he should resign from his position as Twitter CEO, claiming that he would "abide by the results".^[106][107] The poll resolved to "yes" after 57.5 percent of 17.5 million users voted in favor of him stepping down.^[108][109]

After this result, Musk responded "interesting" to unfounded theories that the result of the resignation poll had been influenced by bots, agreeing with a user's suggestion to restrict future polls on policy changes to paid Twitter Blue subscribers.^{[110][111][112}] On December 20, he announced he would step down as CEO as soon as his replacement was selected, but would continue to lead Twitter's software and server teams.^[113] On April 11, 2023, he told the BBC that he had stepped down and appointed his dog as CEO.^[114]

On May 11, 2023, Musk announced he had found a person to succeed him in the CEO position;^[115] the following day, he named Linda Yaccarino, former head of ad sales for NBCUniversal, to succeed him as CEO.^[116]

Corporate value

One year after the Musk acquisition, company documents related to employee restricted stock grants showed the company had estimated its own valuation at about $19 billion, down about 55% from Musk's purchase price.^[117][118] A lower estimate was reported in October 2023 from Fidelity at about the same time, estimating the company to be down 65% from its purchase price.^[119] Fidelity estimated in October 2024 that the company's value was down 79% from Musk's original purchase price, 24% lower than what Fidelity had estimated two months earlier.^[120] In February 2025, Musk was reportedly in talks for a new round of financing at a $44 billion valuation, thus returning to the valuation at the time of purchase.^[121]

Fines

In August 2023, X was fined US$350,000 for failing to meet two deadlines to comply with a U.S. Department of Justice search warrant for the account of former president Donald Trump.^[122][123] In October 2024, the Supreme Court declined to hear X's appeal.^[124] In October 2023, X was fined AU$610,500 by Australia's e-Safety Commission for failing to properly disclose information about how it polices child abuse content.^[125][126] As of 2023 other fines were being considered.^[127][128]

Appearance and features

...

Content moderation

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

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.

October 28, 2022^[159]

Initial reforms

On October 28, 2022, Musk announced that a "content moderation council" with diversified viewpoints would be established to inform the platform's "content policy", and declared a moratorium in "major content decisions or account reinstatements" until then.^[160] The council was never formed; Musk claimed that it had been part of a deal made with activists who had failed to honor it.^[161] He also signaled an intention to do away with lifetime account suspensions and unban those suspended for "minor [or] dubious reasons".^{[162][163][164}] Musk later stated that he would not alter Twitter's content policies or restore banned accounts until after the midterm elections.^[165][166]

In June 2023, Musk defended the approach to content moderation as "freedom of speech, not freedom of reach", but went against his own policies, restricting the use of the terms "cis" and "cisgender" arguing that they are slurs,^[167] and describing the platform as having liberal bias.^[168] In September 2023, X subsequently scrapped the feature for users to report misleading posts, instead relying exclusively on Community Notes to combat misinformation on the platform.^[169]

Handling of misinformation and disinformation

Further information: Community Notes § Criticisms and analysis

In November 2022, X announced it would no longer enforce its policy prohibiting COVID-19 misinformation.^[170] Algorithm changes promoted viral disinformation about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and led to significant gains in followers for media outlets affiliated with Russia, China and Iran.^[171][172] Twitter, like Meta, Twitch, and Alphabet, laid off a significant portion of its content moderators in 2023.^[173]

As of September 2023, Twitter relied exclusively on its Community Notes program to combat misinformation,^[169] leading to failures in labeling misinformation.^{[174][175][176}] The program has become responsible for spreading misinformation^{[177][178][179}] as well as delays in fact-checking.^[180] A European Commission study found that disinformation was most prevalent and received the highest relative engagement on Twitter, compared to other major social networks,^[181][182] leading to warnings of a potential ban or fines by the EU for non-compliance with the Digital Services Act.^[183][184]

In October 2023, media outlets and experts observed significant disinformation related to the war in Gaza.^{[185][181][186}] A BBC journalist described a "deluge" of false information, including by "blue tick" accounts,^[185] and CNBC found that while some videos were flagged as "misleading or false", identical re-posts remained unflagged. Despite Hamas being banned on Twitter as a terrorist organization, some of its propaganda videos have circulated on the platform.^[181]

An analysis from NewsGuard found that Verified users, described as "superspreaders of misinformation", produced 74% of the most viral misinformation related to the Gaza war during the first week of the conflict. The study analyzed 250 of the most-engaged posts on Twitter, based on the most popular false or unsubstantiated claims, that had received over 100 million views and one million engagements from users.^{[174][175][176}] On December 18, 2023, the European Union announced it would be taking action against Twitter over the spread of disinformation.^{[187][188][189][190}]

In August 2024, several Labour MPs in the United Kingdom reduced their use of Twitter or left the platform due to concerns about misinformation and hate speech under Musk's ownership. Some explored alternatives like Threads and Bluesky, while the British government continued to use X, focusing on implementing stronger online safety regulations.^[191]

Increase in hate speech

Following Musk's acquisition of Twitter, multiple organizations reported a rise in hate speech on the platform, including the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the Anti-Defamation League, and a research group at Tufts University.^[192][193] The CCDH report found that anti-Black slurs appeared on Twitter at nearly three times the rate they had prior to the acquisition and that homophobic and transphobic slurs had risen by 52% and 62% respectively.^[192][194] Academics and researchers studied the spread of hate speech on Twitter primarily by accessing the Twitter API, which was shut down in February 2023. According to a Reuters survey, this removal led to the modification or cancellation of more than 100 ongoing studies.^[195]

According to the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD), from June 2022 to February 2023, the number of anti-semitic tweets doubled on the platform, with removal of such content also increasing, while the number of Islamic State accounts had also increased by 70%.^[196] A further showed that in the period up to June 2023, the weekly rate of hate speech was approximately 50% higher than when Musk took over, and the number of likes received by hate posts had doubled.^[197] In March, a study from the BBC found a third of the 1,100 reinstated accounts appeared to have violated Twitter guidelines.^[196] Twitter insiders told BBC Panorama they were struggling to protect users from trolling and harassment, including misogynistic online hate, and the targeting of rape survivors.^[198]

From a study of over 1 million tweets since 2022, the CCDH reported that posts associating LGBT people with "grooming" increased by 119 percent since October 2022, with advertising also appearing alongside what many deemed anti-LGBT rhetoric. The study featured five high-profile accounts including Libs of TikTok, Christopher Rufo, Tim Pool, and James Lindsay.^{[199][200][201}] Media monitoring group GLAAD described Twitter as "the most dangerous platform for LGBTQ people" with X ranking lowest on its Social Media Safety Index.^{[202][203][204}]

In November 2023, the CCDH released a new report claiming 98% of misinformation, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other hate speech, in relation to the Gaza war, remained on X after 7 days of reporting, generating over 24 million views. X responded by detailing the removal of 3,000 accounts and taking action against 325,000 pieces of content, such as restricting the reach of a post.^{[205][206][207}] On November 24, the European Union halted advertisements on X referring to an "alarming increase" in hate speech and misinformation. A spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed that X is affected by the EU rules, and has advised European institutions to abstain from advertising on the platform.^[208]

Following the Dublin riots in Ireland on November 23, X faced criticism for allowing "vile messages" on the platform, described as hate speech, while other social media platforms, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, complied with Garda requests for taking down content.^[209][210] After Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called for incitement to hatred legislation to be updated, Musk responded by stating "the Irish PM hates the Irish people".^[211][212]

Child sexual abuse material

In August 2023, it was reported that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Twitter was still an issue, despite statements by Musk that removing it was a top priority.^[213][214] As of June 2023, an investigation by the Stanford Internet Observatory at Stanford University reported "a lapse in basic enforcement" against CSAM by Twitter within "recent months".^[215][216] The number of staff on Twitter's trust and safety teams were reduced, for example, leaving one full-time staffer to handle all child sexual abuse material in the Asia-Pacific region in November 2022.^{[217][218][219}] A 2023 investigation by BBC Panorama found concerns that child sexual abuse was rising, following the layoffs and changes at Twitter since Musk's takeover.^[198]

According to the Australian Financial Review, the Australian government's eSafety Commission reported in March 2023 that, since Musk's acquisition of the platform, "the proactive detection of child sexual exploitation material [on Twitter] fell from 90 per cent to 75 per cent."^[220] In 2024, the company unsuccessfully attempted to avoid the imposition of fines in Australia regarding the government's inquiries about child safety enforcement; X Corp reportedly said they had no obligation to respond to the inquiries since they were addressed to "Twitter Inc", which X Corp argued had "ceased to exist".^[220][221]

Elon Musk was criticized in July 2023 for intervening to unban political influencer "Dom Lucre".^[222][218] Lucre had, according to Forbes, "posted a screenshot of a video depicting child sexual abuse on July 22 reportedly connected to Peter Scully, an Australian man sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing children as young as 18 months, whose video was reportedly created on the dark web."^[222] The Washington Post reported that the Twitter post by Lucre was viewed 3 million times, and was "an image of a toddler being tortured."^[218] Musk stated the platform would "delete those posts and reinstate the account."^[222]

In June 2025, NBC reported about the status of child protection on Twitter under Elon Musk as of that date. The report stated: "Many aspects of the child exploitation ads issue, which NBC News first reported on in January 2023, remain the same on the platform. Sellers of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) continue to use hashtags based on sexual keywords to advertise to people looking to buy CSAM."^[223] Lloyd Richardson, of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, said the platform's response "has been woefully insufficient".^[223] The child protection organization Thorn stated: "We recently terminated our contract with X due to nonpayment. And that was after months and months of outreach, flexibility, trying to make it work. And ultimately we had to stop the contract."^[223]

Malicious and fake accounts

In March 2024, The Intelligencer reported on the proliferation of spam posts containing the phrase "░P░U░S░S░Y░I░N░B░I░O░", or similar references to pornographic content appearing in the poster's bio, apparently formatted so as to evade counter-spam measures.^[224] The commonality of "pussy in bio" or "PIB" spam made it fodder for jokes, including one posted by Elon Musk himself.^[224] The Intelligencer further noted that most of the accounts that posted this spam were short-lived throwaway accounts, and that links provided by the accounts typically routed users through several layers of redirecting websites, ultimately landing on a provider of simulated sex chats.^[224]

Policy changes

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.

Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.

You won't find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.

November 18, 2022^[225]

In December 2022, Twitter dissolved the Trust and Safety Council responsible for Twitter's policies on hate speech, child sexual exploitation, and self-harm content.^[226] This occurred while evidence showed an increase in hate speech following Musk's acquisition.^[227] The new head of Trust and Safety, Ella Irwin, announced that Twitter had moved towards more automation to moderate content, in order to restrict diffusion,^[228] later described by Musk as "freedom of speech, not freedom of reach".^[167]

Twitter adopted an updated zero-tolerance policy on "violent speech" on February 28, 2023, described by The Verge as both "more specific and more vague" than the prior version.^[229][230] As of April 2023 there was no evidence of policy changes that had decreased the overall number of bots, although there was some evidence that spambots had decreased slightly.^[227]

Account suspensions and reinstatements

Main article: Twitter suspensions

Within hours of the takeover in October 2022, the far-right Britain First account, previously banned in 2017, was reinstated.^[231][232] Account bans continued to be lifted in late November 2022, beginning with Jordan Peterson, Kathy Griffin, The Babylon Bee, and Donald Trump.^[233][234] Multiple accounts were suspended, many of which had been named by far-right figures who urged Musk to take action. Among those banned include a group that provided security to LGBTQ+ events, and several accounts parodying Musk.^[235][236] Twitter has also suspended the accounts of Musk/Tesla critic Aaron Greenspan and his legal transparency company PlainSite,^[237] and several journalists and left-leaning accounts, including Ken Klippenstein.^[238]

In November, Twitter analytics firm Bot Sentinel calculated that around 877,000 accounts were deactivated and 497,000 were suspended between October 28 and November 1, over double the usual number.^[239][240] In December, neo-Nazi and founder of The Daily Stormer Andrew Anglin was reinstated,^[241] within 24 hours of Kanye West's suspension after posting an antisemitic tweet.^[242] with his account later restored in July 2023.^[243][244]

In August 2024, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge cautioned that X might face suspension if Musk did not appoint a new legal representative for Brazil within 24 hours, in relation to issues over the reinstatement of Brazilian accounts that had been suspended under a court order. Musk had earlier paused X's business operations in the country and criticized Judge Alexandre de Moraes for his efforts against disinformation. The with platform suspended in late August temporarily,^[245] the platform blocked the accounts as requested in October.^[246]

ElonJet and journalists suspended

Main article: December 2022 Twitter suspensions

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.

Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn't a safety problem, so is ok.

December 15, 2022^[247]

On December 14, Musk suspended ElonJet, a Twitter bot account operated by Jack Sweeney which tracked Musk's private jet in real-time using publicly accessible data, in addition to several of Sweeney's other accounts. He had previously stated, "My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk." Defending his decision to suspend the accounts, Musk declared a ban on doxxing real-time location data, and Twitter followed suit by updating its policies page.^[248][249]

The next day, Twitter banned the accounts of multiple journalists who had been covering the ElonJet incident,^{[250][251][252}] as well as the Mastodon account on Twitter,^[253][254] on the grounds that they had violated the new doxing policy.^[255] Some of the suspended journalists joined a Twitter Spaces mass audio call with Musk, where Musk was asked about their suspensions; Musk quit the call, and the call was abruptly ended before the entire Twitter Spaces service was temporarily taken down. Musk attributed the shutdown to a software bug, while a Twitter senior software engineer said that Spaces had been "taken offline".^{[256][257][258}] Most suspended journalists were later reinstated, but found themselves unable to post new tweets until their policy-violating tweets had been taken down.^[259][260]

State-affiliated media labeling

:{:{In April 2023, Twitter designated National Public Radio's main account as "US state-affiliated media", a label that was typically reserved for foreign media outlets that directly represented the point of view of their respective governments, like Russia's RT and China's Xinhua.^[261] Twitter's decision was controversial; though established by an act of Congress, NPR is an independent news organization that only receives a fraction of its funding through government programs. }:

Twitter's previous policy had explicitly mentioned NPR, as well as the United Kingdom's BBC, as examples of networks that were not considered state-affiliated due to their editorial independence.^[262][263] NPR ceased activity on its main Twitter account in response to the designation.^[264] As of October 2023, NPR still no longer uses Twitter, with the media outlet describing the effects on traffic as negligible.^{[265][266][267}]}:

NPR labeled state-affiliated media

On April 8, 2023, Twitter changed the designation of NPR's account from "state-affiliated" to "government-funded".^[268] On April 10, after managing to get in contact with Musk himself, NPR reporter Bobby Allyn tweeted that Musk said he was relying on a list accessible through a Wikipedia category page, named "Category:Publicly funded broadcasters", to determine which news organizations' accounts should be deemed as "government-funded media".^[269][270] Twitter then added the label to other sources such as PBS, the BBC, and Voice of America, which all three objected to.^[271][272]

On April 12, NPR announced that its accounts would no longer be active on Twitter,^{[269][273][274}] citing the platform's "inaccurate and misleading" labeling of NPR as "government-funded media" despite the fact that it receives "less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget" from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.^{[269][273][275}] As their last post on the platform, the network shared links to their alternative newsletters, websites and social media profiles.^[273][276] In an email to the staff explaining the decision, CEO John Lansing allowed individual NPR journalists and staffers to choose for themselves whether to keep using Twitter, while noting that remaining on the site "would be a disservice to the serious work you all do here".^[269][274]

On April 17, Canadian public broadcaster CBC was designated as "government-funded media" by Twitter, in response to a letter from Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre. On April 18, the label was changed to "70% government-funded media", referring to outdated data from the CBC's 2020–2021 report; shortly afterwards, Musk tweaked the percentage in the label to "69%". Musk tweeted "Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they're 'less than 70% government-funded', so we corrected the label".^{[277][278][279}] In response, CBC announced they would pause Twitter activity.^[278][280] Four days later, Twitter stopped labeling state-affiliated media entirely, with neither Western publicly funded outlets such as NPR, BBC and CBC, nor China's Xinhua and Russia's RT, displaying the label on their accounts.^[281][282]

Hateful conduct and language regarding transgender people

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions.

The words "cis" or "cisgender" are considered slurs on this platform.

June 21, 2023^[283]

After previously indicating his intention to review Twitter's policy against "misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals",^[284] Musk relaxed the platform's hate speech policies in November 2022, with Gizmodo describing the policy protecting transgender people as "effectively dead".^[285] While previously tweets would be removed, Twitter announced it would instead place warning labels on tweets that are "potentially" in violation of its hateful conduct policy in April 2023.^{[286][287][288}]

In June, on the first day of Pride Month, Musk confirmed that a policy against misgendering wouldn't be enforced, and that in his opinion "Whether or not you agree with using someone's preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws".^[289] He also promoted the film What Is a Woman? by The Daily Wire, after a Twitter review determined the content promoted hateful conduct, and was therefore in violation of abuse and harassment policies. Musk claimed the objection to the film was "a mistake", but that it wouldn't be promoted across the platform. After a pressure campaign from users, the restrictions were reduced to simply not being placed next to advertising.^[290] Shortly after, Musk declared that the words "cis" and "cisgender" are considered slurs on Twitter, within the context of repeated and targeted harassment.^{[291][292][293}] In October, the ability to report allegations of transphobic abuse had been scrapped.^[294][295]

In November, PragerU would buy a "timeline takeover" advertising spot, which forces an advertisement and accompanying hashtag to be seen by most Twitter users regardless of demographics or preferences for 24 hours, to promote their short film Detrans: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care; the "timeline takeover" spot was part of PragerU's estimated $1 million marketing budget for the short film.^[296][297] The Nation describes "anti-trans hatred" as one of Twitter's "core features".^[298]

Aggressive monetization of access

In January 2023, Twitter abruptly cut off many third-party Twitter clients from the site's application programming interface (API),^[299][300] and had retroactively updated its developer agreement, barring developers from creating products similar to Twitter's own app.^[301] In February, Twitter announced it would be removing the free tier of its API and replacing it with a "basic paid tier".^[302] while excluding "good content" bot accounts.^[303]

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we've applied the following temporary limits:

Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts/day

Unverified accounts to 600 posts/day

New unverified accounts to 300/day

July 1, 2023^[304]

In July 2023, Twitter temporarily blocked unregistered users from viewing tweets or profiles.^[305] The following day further measures were implemented with temporary limits to the number of tweets a user could see per day, with different limits for verified and unverified users, as well as newly created users,^[306] and thousands of users reported Twitter issues to the website Downdetector.^[307] Soon after, the limit was increased again.^[307][306] Twitter also limited the number of direct messages (DMs) that unverified users could send per day.^[308]

...

changes to the algorithm

"For You" feed

Under Elon Musk, Twitter's "Newsfeed" tab was split into two new tabs: "For You" and "Following".^[336] While the latter, like "Newsfeed", only displays activity from accounts followed by the user, "For You" displays an algorithmically curated feed similar to that of TikTok.^[336] With a paid subscription to Twitter Blue, users can have their tweets boosted by this algorithm.^[336] This change was blamed for a rise in disinformation on the platform, with some paying accounts being used to spread fake news, notably pro-Kremlin propaganda related to the Russo-Ukrainian War.^[171]

Promotion of Elon Musk's tweets

On February 7, 2023, Elon Musk convened a meeting of Twitter engineers and advisors to address the decline in engagement with his own tweets.^[337] One of the company's two principal engineers, after suggesting that public interest in Musk was waning following a peak during his acquisition of the platform, was fired.^[337] A Google Trends chart presented by employees had shown a decline in popularity.^[337] The following week, after the Super Bowl LVII, Twitter employee James Musk, who is Elon's paternal cousin, sent a message to the company's engineers concerning a "high urgency" matter: that Elon Musk's tweet about the Super Bowl had received less impressions than one sent by US president Joe Biden.^[338] By that afternoon, Twitter's algorithm had been altered to artificially boost Musk's tweets by a factor of 1,000.^[338] Many users observed an overwhelming promotion of his posts in the "For You" tab.^[338] Following criticism, the boost was lessened to a smaller factor.^[338]

Promotion of state-controlled media

On April 6, 2023, Twitter reversed its official policy stating that the platform would not "recommend or amplify" the content of state-controlled media entities.^[172] According to an analysis by the Digital Forensic Research Lab, the change had already taken effect since around March 29, when Twitter stopped filtering government accounts in Russia, China and Iran.^[172] These accounts, such as those managed by Russia's RT, have a significant presence on the platform.^[172] Following the change, which enabled the accounts to be algorithmically promoted by Twitter, their follower count quickly rose.^[172]

Promotion of conservative content

A computational analysis published on November 1, 2024, found potential algorithmic bias on Twitter in favour of Republican Party supporters.^[339][340] The study, which looked at more than 56,000 posts, identified a system-wide "structural break" on the platform around July 13, 2024, a date which coincides with Elon Musk's endorsement of Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential election.^[340] From that point on, Elon Musk and other Republican commentators saw increased visibility for their tweets.^[340] According to the researchers behind the study, this "could imply an algorithmic adjustment".^[340] On January 17, 2025, the European Commission requested to see Twitter's internal documentation about its algorithms "and any recent changes made to it", following accusations of manipulation benefitting far-right viewpoints.^[341]

...

Major developments

Verification

Further information: Twitter verification § Since November 2022

Badge for verified organizations

Badge for government accounts

On November 5, 2022,^[342] Twitter required users to purchase a Twitter Blue subscription to indicate they were "verified" on the platform,^[343][344] which was then delayed until after the U.S. midterm elections due to concerns of potential election interference.^[345] Twitter's Trust and Safety team assessed the potential for impersonation of official accounts and increasing the credibility of scammers with their highest risk categorization.^[346]

On November 9, one day after the United States Election Day, Twitter launched its revamped verification program on iOS devices for all users.^[347] To distinguish between those who had been verified before the change and those who received the checkmark via Twitter Blue.^[348][349] Twitter then halted new verifications via Twitter Blue amid a spike in impersonator accounts,^[350][351] before relaunching the program on December 12, with gold checkmarks for businesses and gray checkmarks for government accounts.^[352] Musk also met with advertisers via Twitter Spaces to outline his plans to fulfill his pre-acquisition pledges, previewing forthcoming features and allaying fears of a rise in disinformation and hate speech, referencing the crowd-sourced Community Notes program.^[353]

On March 23, 2023, Twitter announced that "legacy" verification badges would be removed starting on April 1. The date passed with no change, before Twitter announced that the removal date for checkmarks from non-paying accounts would be April 20, with the only way to acquire a blue checkmark through the paid subscription.^[354] Around late April, the remaining "legacy" badges were removed, and only those subscribed to Twitter Blue remained.^[355] Several notable users, however, reported having the blue check mark without having paid for it nor wanting it, such as writer Stephen King and actor Jason Alexander.^[356]

Twitter Files

Main article: Twitter Files

The Twitter Files are a series of internal documents from Twitter, Inc. released between December 2022 and March 2023. After acquiring Twitter on October 28, 2022, CEO Elon Musk provided these documents to journalists Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, Lee Fang, and authors Michael Shellenberger, David Zweig, and Alex Berenson. Taibbi and Weiss, in coordination with Musk, published the details of the files through a series of Twitter threads.^{[357][358][359][360}] After the initial release, some technology and media journalists observed that the documents mainly showed Twitter's policy team handling difficult decisions effectively. In contrast, some conservatives argued the documents revealed a liberal bias within Twitter.^[361][362]

Dispute with ADL

Further information: Views of Elon Musk § Race and white nationalism, and Antisemitism on social media

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that's what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!

Sep 4, 2023^[363]

In August 2023, a community note falsely accusing Jewish lynching victim Leo Frank of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl repeatedly appeared on tweets by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. Neo-Nazi trolls created the note and cited white supremacist websites purporting to substantiate the note's claims. The Times of Israel characterized the note's appearance as part of a pattern of Twitter's features rewarding antisemites.^[364] Later that month, Greenblatt and Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino had a dialogue about addressing hate speech on the platform. Both parties tweeted about it, sparking a backlash from many right-wing users, who accused the ADL of censorship and bias and launched a "#BanTheADL" hashtag campaign, which trended on the site. In the wake of this, Twitter users reported seeing a tweet promoted by Twitter's ad platform containing the white supremacist slogan known as the "fourteen words".^[365][366] Days later, Musk then threatened to sue the ADL, blaming the organization for the companies loss of revenue that resulted in billions of dollars.^[367]

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

You have said the actual truth

Nov 15, 2023^[368]

In November 2023, Musk replied to an antisemitic tweet which supported the white genocide conspiracy theory and accused Jews of "pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them". Musk responded that the tweet "said the actual truth".^[369] Following this reply, Musk affirmed white nationalism, saying it was "super messed-up" that white people are not "allowed to be proud of their race".^[370] Two days later, after the ADL had condemned Musk's tweet describing it as "indisputably dangerous",^[371] the White House issued a statement with Joe Biden condemning Musk, proclaiming "we condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms".^[372]

If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is

Elon Musk, November 29, 2023^[373]

At the DealBook Summit later that month, journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin questioned Musk about the withdrawal of advertisers from X following his recent posts. Musk said in response, "I hope they stop. Don't advertise", and told advertisers to "go fuck yourself".^[373] Musk mentioned Bob Iger, the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, which had stopped advertising on X; Musk also said that if X fails, it would be "because of an advertiser boycott. And that will be what bankrupts the company."^[374] He later called for Iger to be fired from Disney.^{[375][376][377}]

Lawsuits

Center for Countering Digital Hate

Sometimes it is unclear what is driving a litigation, and only by reading between the lines of a complaint can one attempt to surmise a plaintiff's true purpose, [...] Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that there can be no mistaking that purpose. This case represents the latter circumstance. This case is about punishing the defendants for their speech.

Judge Charles Breyer, March 25, 2024, ^[378]

In July 2023, at the suggestion of Yaccarino,^[379] X Corp sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) over their research that suggested Twitter fails to act on 99% of hate content from Twitter Blue subscribers, accusing the group of "inflammatory, outrageous, and false or misleading assertions about Twitter".^{[380][381][382}] The online watchdog said the lawsuit was "riddled with legal deficiencies" and in November 2023 filed for dismissal.^[383] The nonprofit group also argued it was an intimidation attempt, as well as an attempt to stifle their First Amendment protected speech.^[384] According to a Coalition for Independent Technology Research survey carried out for Reuters, the majority of researchers surveyed fear they would be sued for studying the platform since the CCDH lawsuit.^[195][385] On March 25, 2024, Judge Charles Breyer dismissed the lawsuit in accordance with anti-SLAPP laws, having described parts of the case as the "most vapid extensions of law that I've ever heard". The decision was welcomed by the CEO of the CCDH, Imran Ahmed.^[378]

Media Matters

On November 16, 2023, Media Matters published analysis indicating Twitter was placing major client advertisements next to user posts containing antisemitic content, including praise for Adolf Hitler and Nazis. Several prominent companies subsequently suspended their advertising on the platform, including; IBM,^[386][387] Apple,^[388] Lionsgate,^[389] Disney,^[390] Paramount, Comcast,^[391] Warner Bros. Discovery,^[392] Sony,^[393] Walmart,^[394] Coca-Cola, Uber, Airbnb, Ubisoft, Expedia, Fox Sports, and Netflix.^[395] The New York Times estimated the potential revenue loss to be up to $75 million.^[396]

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_Royal_Society_%28crop2%29.jpg "Avatar of Elon Musk") | Elon Musk @elonmusk |

| --- | --- |

The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company

Nov 18, 2023^[397]

Musk announced that X Corp would file "a thermonuclear lawsuit" against Media Matters and affiliated parties,^[398][399] and called for the journalists to be jailed.^[400] On November 20, 2023, X Corp filed a complaint naming Media Matters as defendant.^[401] Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into Media Matters for potential fraud, referring to it as a "radical anti-free speech organization".^{[402][403][404}]

Although tough talk is not foreign to the law enforcement arena, such overt political messaging is atypical. A reasonable factfinder is likely to interpret Defendants' words as targeting Media Matters not for legitimate law enforcement purposes but instead for its protected First Amendment activities.

Judge Amit P. Mehta, August 26, 2024^[405]

On June 13, 2024, a U.S. District judge ordered that X Corp's lawsuit against Media Matters will proceed to trial on April 7, 2025.^[406] The judge, Reed O'Connor, owns Tesla stock and chose not to recuse.^[407] In August, he ruled against Media Matter's request that the case be dismissed.^[407] Legal experts have criticized Musk's lawsuit, deeming it "frivolous" or "bogus", and saying that it contradicts the First Amendment.^[408][409] In December 2023, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey opened a similar investigation into Media Matters.^[410] In August 2024, a federal judge granted an injunction to halt the Missouri investigation, saying the suit was using law enforcement machinery for political ends against Media Matters.^[405]

Advertisers

On August 6, 2024, X filed an anti-trust lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas against the World Federation of Advertisers, Unilever, Mars, CVS and Ørsted, alleging that the advertisers had conspired via their participation in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media to withhold "billions of dollars in advertising revenue" from X.^[411] The World Federation of Advertisers created the Global Alliance for Responsible Media in 2019 to address "illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising".^[412]

Reactions and commentary

Commentators have described it as a "free speech free-for-all",^[413] "free-for-all hellscape",^[414] and as a right-wing social network.^[415][416] The platform garnered favorable attention from conservatives and Republicans in the United States.^[417]

2022

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Markey,_official_portrait,_114th_Congress.jpg "Avatar of Ed Markey") | Ed Markey @SenMarkey |

| --- | --- |

One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you're spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will.

November 13, 2022^[418][419]

In November 2022, author Stephen King, U.S. representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and U.S. senator Ed Markey criticized Musk's decision to charge Twitter users for the blue checkmark.^{[420][421][419}] President Biden also expressed concern with Musk's plans for Twitter, saying on November 5 that it "spews lies all across the world".^[422] After the layoffs, employees flooded the anonymous forum service Blind with negative comments about Musk,^[423] with Jack Dorsey expressing gratitude toward laid-off employees and apologizing for growing the company too rapidly.^[424] The FTC commented that it was closely monitoring developments at Twitter, stressing that Musk must abide by its consent decrees,^[425] while Irish Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon stated that her office had reached out to Twitter to discuss privacy concerns.^[426] Social media platform Tumblr mocked the revamped verification program by allowing its users to purchase several checkmarks for their profiles.^[427][428]

On November 9, 2022, Biden expressed support for a U.S. government review of the foreign investors backing Musk's purchase, alluding to national security concerns.^[429] However, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that she did not see a reason to investigate the acquisition and was unaware of any national security concerns.^[430] Seven Democratic senators urged the FTC to investigate Musk's rapid changes to Twitter,^[431] while pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly suspended all advertising campaigns on Twitter after a false tweet from an impersonator account went viral.^[432] Former head of consumer product Jeff Seibert expressed disappointment and frustration over Musk's changes to Twitter.^[86] In the wake of mass employee resignations on November 17, many Twitter users posted humorous messages on the platform expressing grief and anticipating a possible shutdown of Twitter,^[433][434] with some posting links to their other social media accounts.^[87]

| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lori_Trahan,_official_portrait,_116th_Congress_%28cropped%29.jpg "Avatar of Lori Trahan") | Lori Trahan @RepLoriTrahan |

| --- | --- |

My team met with @Twitter today. They told us that they're not going to retaliate against independent journalists or researchers who publish criticisms of the platform.

Less than 12 hours later, multiple technology reporters have been suspended. What's the deal, @elonmusk?

December 16, 2022^[435][436]

| | Yvette D. Clarke @RepYvetteClarke |

| --- | --- |

The gall of @elonmusk to ban respectable journalists doing important work from his platform while parading as some sort of champion of free speech is, quite frankly, detestable. I'd ask if he feels any shame, but meaningful self-reflection may simply be beyond his capacity.

December 16, 2022^[437][436]

insert from main artl

On December 15, 2022, Twitter suspended the accounts of ten journalists who have covered the company and its owner, Elon Musk. They included reporters Keith Olbermann, Steven L. Herman, and Donie O'Sullivan, as well as journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and The Intercept.^[2][3][4][5] Musk cited an incident between "a crazy stalker" and a car with his child as a justification for the suspensions.^[6] Posters on behalf of the owners of the accounts said that the suspensions were permanent.^[2][3][5] On December 16, 2022, Musk stated that account access would only be restricted for seven days^[2][3][5] and on December 17, 2022, some accounts were reportedly restored with Musk citing Twitter community polls as the reason for the reversal.^[7][8] endit

Musk's suspension of journalists covering the ElonJet incident was widely condemned. CNN and The Washington Post, whose reporters were banned, criticized Musk's hypocrisy and impulsiveness, while Digital Content Next CEO Jason Kint demanded Musk explain his actions.^[438] Democrats Lori Trahan, Yvette Clarke, Ro Khanna, Ritchie Torres, and Martin Heinrich all criticized Musk, while Democrat Don Beyer also voiced disapproval with Musk's labeling of Mastodon links as malicious.^[436] Lawmakers from the EU, France, and Germany sided with the journalists and threatened to take retaliatory action against Musk.^[439]

The first weeks of Musk's tenure at Twitter were widely described as chaotic and tumultuous by the media.^[440] Harvard professor Sandra Sucher called Musk's mass layoffs "poorly handled".^[72] Gerald Hathaway of the Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath law firm argued the opposite, believing that Musk had done what was necessary to curb Twitter's losses, assuming his claims about Twitter's losses were true.^[441] Jason Wilson of the Southern Poverty Law Center criticized Musk's perceived disinterest in "policing hate speech", observing an increase in verified white nationalists and other far-right extremists.^[442] Branko Marcetic of socialist magazine Jacobin accused Twitter of bias after several left-wing accounts were suspended.^[443] The Brookings Institution said that the importance of Twitter "as a platform for political discourse in the U.S." raised implications for national security,^[429] while cybersecurity expert Peter W. Singer detailed multiple cybersecurity concerns stemming from Musk's acquisition.^[444]

2023

Soon after Twitter introduced viewing Tweet limits and blocked unregistered users from viewing Tweets, numerous people have voiced concerns over the decline of functionality. Mike Proulx of Forrester Research expressed on a Reuters article that the limits were "'remarkably bad' for users and advertisers already shaken by the 'chaos' Musk has brought to the platform" while Jasmine Enberg of Insider Intelligence stated her concern in the same Reuters article that the move "certainly isn't going to make it any easier to convince advertisers to return."^[445] In May 2023, Ron DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign via Twitter Spaces, described as a good sign by entrepreneur David Sacks, due to high interest.^{[413][14][446}]

---