Early on Friday, October 28th, 2022 Elon Musk finalized his deal to buy Twitter according to a filing by the SEC.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde, and General Counsel Sean Edgett immediately left the company.

Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter officially began back in April 2022. In what many at first thought was a joke, the billionaire Tesla CEO submitted his purchase proposal at $54.20 per share.

Twitter filed for the delisting of shares from the New York stock exchange shortly after the deal closed Friday. This completed the transition from a publicly traded company to a private one.

What does all this mean for Twitter and its almost 400 million users?

Musk’s first move was, of course, to Tweet:

 

What comes next is anyone’s guess, but Musk has publicly stated he intends to do the following:

  • Conducting a mass unbanning of Twitter users
  • Removing lifetime account bans
  • Reworking Twitter’s algorithm to promote free speech
  • Removal of fake/bot accounts
  • Downsize Twitter’s staff

Unbanning users is a straightforward process that can be accomplished quickly. Reworking Twitter’s algorithm and battling the bot account problem are much more complex issues.

These potential changes have rustled up some major concerns from both users and advertisers on the platform. In a direct response to Twitter advertisers, Musk released the following statement on the eve of the takeover:

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence…Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”

The average Twitter user likely won’t notice any immediate changes on the platform. But some major questions remain:

  • Will Musk’s takeover affect the release of upcoming features such as Edit Tweet and Twitter Notes?
  • Will Twitter’s userbase grow or shrink with the unbanning of accounts and anti-Musk exodus?
  • How will advertisers react to Twitter’s newly relaxed content moderation policies?

Right now, we just don’t know.

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