Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has completed his $US44 billion ($38.1 billion) takeover of Twitter, according to an investor in a US media and social media firm.
Mr Musk tweeted that “the bird has been set free” in an apparent reference to the deal.
Several top officials, including boss Prag Agarwal, have reportedly been sacked.
Mr Aggarwal and two other executives were escorted out of Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Thursday evening, Reuters said.
The completion of the deal ends months of legal wrangling but has raised questions about the platform’s future direction.
Ned Segal, the chief financial officer, and Vijay Gade, the firm’s top legal and policy executive, are accompanying Mr. Aggarwal.
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
Meanwhile, Brett Taylor — who had served as Twitter’s chairman since last November — updated his LinkedIn profile to indicate he was no longer in the position.
But Mr. Musk, a self-described “free speech absolute,” has been critical of Twitter’s management and its moderate policies.
They clashed over the terms of the takeover, with Mr Musk accusing Twitter of providing misleading information about the firm’s user numbers.
He has also said he will roll back restrictions on suspended users, which could include former US President Donald Trump, who was expelled in January 2021 after the Capitol riots.
At the time, Twitter said there was a risk Mr Trump would incite further violence. But Mr Musk has called the ban “stupid”.
Earlier this week, Mr. Musk said he did not want the platform to become an echo chamber for hate and division. “Obviously Twitter can’t be a free-for-all hell, where anything can be said without consequence!”, he tweeted.
The takeover has sparked debate among Twitter users about what the platform will look like under Mr. Musk’s ownership.
There is concern that more lenient free speech policies will mean that people banned for hate speech or misinformation may be invited back onto the platform. Along with Mr. Trump, this could include political extremists, QAnon loyalists and CoVID-19 deniers.
In response to Mr Musk’s message, Thierry Breton, the European Union’s commissioner for the internal market, tweeted “In Europe, the bird will fly according to our EU rules,” suggesting regulators were against any relaxation of Twitter’s policies. Will take a tough stand.
Mr. Musk, with $250 billion to his name, is the richest person in the world as well as a controversial figure.
He made his fortune through electric car company Tesla, and space exploration firm SpaceX. But he has drawn additional attention for his apparent meddling in unrelated matters, often using Twitter as a platform, to geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine. School children trapped in a cave in Thailand were rescued.
