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140-554: The Twitter account, created in June 2020, had been targeted by Musk beginning in 2021. He offered to pay Sweeney $ 5,000; Sweeney countered requesting $ 50,000 or an internship in one of Musk's companies, and offered advice on restricting flight tracking data. Musk blocked Sweeney in January 2021. In late 2022, after Musk purchased Twitter , he announced he would not ban the ElonJet account. In December,

280-606: A Tesla Model 3 . Their last exchange was in January 2022, when Musk said it wouldn't feel right to pay in order to shut the account down. Sweeney asked about the possibility of an internship at one of Musk's companies, and offered Musk advice, including about a federal privacy program to vary the ID his transponder beamed out, thus blocking flight tracking programs. Musk began using the program, though Sweeney remained able to track Musk's flights. Musk blocked Sweeney sometime after January 23. My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning

420-443: A Twitter bot , to report Elon Musk's flights. The service uses ADS-B data, publicly available records, to give general information about where and when Musk's private jet was taking off and landing, though it cannot indicate who is on board or where the passengers travel before or after the flight. The Twitter account in particular became a reliable way for Musk's investors, fans, and critics to determine his whereabouts, often between

560-581: A class-action lawsuit against Musk, alleging that he had violated corporate laws in California by manipulating the market . 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. On June 3, the acquisition was cleared by U.S. antitrust review. In an email sent by Musk's attorney to Twitter three days later, Musk threatened to terminate his agreement with Twitter because

700-550: A $ 1 billion loan from his company SpaceX , paying back the loan with interest the following month. On October 13, court filings revealed that Musk was being investigated by the U.S. government for his conduct in the proposed buyout. 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. 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

840-495: A 14.9 percent ownership stake and limited his ability to speak publicly about the company. That day, Musk phoned Dorsey, who declined Musk's suggestion for him to remain on the board. On April 11, after publishing several tweets critical of the company, Musk announced he had decided not to join the board. 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

980-581: A detailed description to the user of how a suspended account violated the rules. In November 2017, Twitter gave a deadline of 18 December to comply with their new policy, adding: "You also may not affiliate with organizations that—whether by their own statements or activity both on and off the platform—use or promote violence against civilians to further their causes". On 18 December, the accounts of several high-profile organizations were suspended. Following Elon Musk 's acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, it

1120-402: A few thousand dollars with the accounts, via ad revenue, allowing him to upgrade his computer. A subreddit dedicated to the service, r/ElonJetTracker, gained over 40,000 members in the two days since it was created on December 14, becoming one of the fastest-growing subreddits on the website. The ElonJet Twitter account was started in June 2020 by Florida student Jack Sweeney . At the time, he

1260-409: A functioning democracy" and insisting that he had not made the offer to increase his wealth. Critics noted that he showed more interest in altering Twitter's moderation policies than in fighting government censorship. According to The Washington Post , the banning of accounts such as The Babylon Bee had prompted Musk to initiate the acquisition. The price of $ 54.20 per share is believed to be

1400-558: A group that provides armed security to LGBT events, accounts parodying Elon Musk, and a Palestinian news outlet known for criticizing the Israeli military . In October 2017, actress Rose McGowan said that Twitter had suspended her account for 12 hours after she repeatedly tweeted about former film studio executive Harvey Weinstein 's alleged sexual misconduct toward her and others. Twitter explained that McGowan's account had violated its privacy policy because one of her tweets included

1540-448: 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. McCormick ruled in the executives' favor in October. 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

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1680-534: A number of journalists, including journalists from The New York Times , CNN, Washington Post , and Voice of America had their accounts suspended. Musk claimed that the accounts had received a seven-day suspension for violating the platforms " doxxing " policy by sharing his "exact real-time location", with him comparing it to "assassination coordinates". However, it was reported that none of the suspended journalists had actually shared Musk's precise real-time location on their accounts. The suspensions were condemned by

1820-457: 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

1960-409: A private phone number. According to The New York Times , "Many Twitter users expressed outrage over Ms. McGowan's account being locked". After the tweet was removed, her account was unlocked several hours before the 12-hour ban was set to expire. A Twitter representative stated, "We will be clearer about these policies and decisions in the future". Later that day, software engineer Kelly Ellis, using

2100-402: A reference to 420 , a slang term in cannabis culture for marijuana consumption . 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. On April 17, Taylor was urged by Twitter's largest institutional shareholders to "seriously consider"

2240-443: A result of Musk's announcement. Neither Twitter nor Musk responded to McCormick's request, prompting her to announce that the trial would go forward as planned. 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. During this time, Musk deposited

2380-735: A rival of Musk's, left Twitter shortly after the acquisition announcement. 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". Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates questioned if Musk would allow the spread of public health misinformation, including vaccine misinformation . Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales speculated that Twitter could either thrive or fall within five years under Musk's supervision. Bitcoin investor Roger Ver and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong welcomed

2520-462: A riveting conversation surrounding Twitter and its banning policies. On 19 November 2022, Trump's account was reinstated by Elon Musk . As late as August 2024, Trump had only used his Twitter account once in (August 2023 - posting about his mugshot) since its reinstatement, but had otherwise focused on making posts to his Truth Social social media platform. In August 2024, Trump began posting more frequently on his account. On 15 December 2022,

2660-627: A source of revenue for Twitter. 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

2800-478: A stalker followed Elon's 2-year-old son while he was traveling in a car; the stalker thought Musk was in the car. After the incident, the account was restricted and then blocked along with Sweeney's personal and other flight tracking accounts, as part of the December 2022 Twitter account suspensions . Later, shortly after the incident, accounts of several journalists were reinstated. On December 22, 2022, Sweeney started

2940-507: 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. After the acquisition announcement, Alex Werpin of The Hollywood Reporter warned of widespread repercussions. Greg Bensinger of The New York Times argued that Musk's acquisition was "about controlling a megaphone" rather than free speech, while Elizabeth Dwoskin of The Washington Post remarked that Musk's free speech vision for Twitter

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3080-709: A total of $ 6.9 billion as backup should he lose the lawsuit, despite previously stating he would no longer sell Tesla stock. 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". Shortly thereafter, Musk subpoenaed Dorsey. 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

3220-503: 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

3360-421: A video call with banks who helped Musk fund the acquisition, Musk assured them he would complete the buyout by the deadline. 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". Musk also told Twitter employees that while layoffs were still likely to happen, he did not intend to do so at

3500-407: Is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation". In 2022, Dorsey has continued voicing concern over Twitter's role in internet centralization with his tweet on 2 March, stating "centralizing discovery and identity into corporations really damaged the internet. I realize I'm partially to blame, and regret it". Internet centralization continues to be

3640-466: Is free speech". Twitter responded by saying that the accounts using racial slurs were part of a " trolling campaign " and would be banned summarily. 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. Anticipating

3780-529: 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 . 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

3920-559: The Carlsberg Group , General Mills , Lamborghini , Mondelez International , Porsche , Pfizer , REI , and the Volkswagen Group . Media buying agency GroupM also advised its clients against procuring advertisements from Twitter. Alt-tech social media platform Parler welcomed Musk's purchase, while alt-tech platform Gettr was more skeptical, believing Twitter was "fundamentally broken". Similarities have been drawn between

4060-576: The Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS), with the possibility of U.S. President Joe Biden blocking the purchase if need be; the White House denied the reports. 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. The banks funding the acquisition were to hold the $ 13 billion worth of debt incurred as opposed to selling it. In

4200-420: The December 2022 suspensions of ten journalists. Business magnate Elon Musk published his first tweet on his personal Twitter account in June 2010, and had more than 80 million followers by April 2022. In 2017, in response to a tweet suggesting that he buy Twitter, Inc. , Musk replied, "How much is it?" On March 24, 2022, Musk began tweeting criticisms of Twitter, polling his followers on whether

4340-683: The Delaware Court of Chancery with the goal of completing the acquisition, with the ensuing lawsuit once again overseen by the Twitter board's transaction committee. Twitter's stock sank by 7 percent after the news, dropping by a further 11 percent the next day. On July 10, Twitter hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to represent its case, including "key lawyers" William Savitt and Leo Strine , along with Potter Anderson & Corroon, Ballard Spahr , Kobre & Kim, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati . Musk again employed

ElonJet - Misplaced Pages Continue

4480-839: The House of Commons of the United Kingdom summoned Musk to discuss the effect of his buyout on free speech and "online harms". 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 . 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. On May 11, The Wall Street Journal reported that

4620-628: The Section 230 safe harbor, which dictates that the operators of an interactive computer service are not liable for the content published by its users. The lawsuit was revised in August 2016, providing comparisons to other telecommunications devices. Twitter suspended multiple parody accounts that satirized Russian politics in May 2016, sparking protests and raising questions about where the company stands on freedom of speech . Following public outcry, Twitter restored

4760-515: The Senate Judiciary Committee , while Twitter shareholders voted in favor of the acquisition. Musk privately offered to purchase Twitter at the reduced prices of $ 31 billion and $ 39.6 billion, both of which the company rejected. 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

4900-570: 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 , Marie Newman , Mark Pocan , and Elizabeth Warren criticized Musk and the buyout. 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. Former U.S. President Donald Trump expressed approval with

5040-573: The United Nations , while the European Union threatened sanctions against Twitter under the EU's Digital Services Act that is scheduled to take effect in 2023 and requires social media companies to "respect media freedom and fundamental rights". A number of American Democratic Party lawmakers also criticized the bans. Reporters Without Borders warned that if the suspensions were in retaliation for

5180-538: 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", suggesting that he might convert Twitter's San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter . Musk said he lacked confidence in Twitter's corporate management , telling banks that he had considered reducing executive and board pay. He published tweets critical of decisions made by Twitter executives such as Vijaya Gadde , who

5320-664: The culture war between Democrats and Republicans. 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. 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". 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. CleanTechnica 's Matt Pressman believed that Musk's purchase would benefit Tesla because owners of

5460-478: The hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter, urged women to shun Twitter for 24 hours, beginning at midnight, in solidarity with McGowan and with "all the victims of hate and harassment Twitter fails to support". Several activists, celebrities, and journalists joined the boycott. Others criticized the level of organization and the fact that it was only 24 hours. On 11 July 2018, The New York Times reported that Twitter would begin to delete fake follower accounts to increase

5600-520: The re-platforming of suspended Twitter accounts would lead to a rise in online harassment and hate speech . 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. Henrik Fisker , co-founder of electric vehicle maker Fisker Inc. and

5740-618: The "chaos" caused by the proposal as the primary factor for its decline in revenue. 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, which McCormick granted three days later with a duration of five days. 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". On August 10, Musk sold 7.92 million Tesla shares worth

ElonJet - Misplaced Pages Continue

5880-531: The Austin area where he lives, the San Francisco Bay area where Tesla's factory is, and Southern California, where SpaceX is headquartered. As of July 2023, the ElonJet service is hosted on Twitter , Facebook , Telegram , Instagram , Threads , Mastodon , and Bluesky accounts. The Mastodon account was created on December 14, 2022, a day after the original Twitter account was suspended. Sweeney has earned

6020-401: The ElonJet incident. Days later, Musk conducted a Twitter poll asking users whether he should step down as CEO of Twitter, to which voters responded in the affirmative. Musk stated he would step down after selecting his replacement, and he was succeeded by NBCUniversal advertising sales chair Linda Yaccarino in June 2023. Musk's acquisition of Twitter was principally responsible for

6160-485: The SEC and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had launched investigations into events leading to the acquisition. The next day, Agrawal fired Twitter general manager Kayvon Beykpour and revenue product lead Bruce Falck. 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, causing Twitter shares to drop more than 10 percent. Musk clarified that he remained committed to

6300-421: The SEC, including a detailed timeline of Musk's purchase, and affirmed they would "enforce the merger agreement" regardless of Musk's actions. 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. Dorsey departed Twitter's board the same day, while Twitter investor William Heresniak filed

6440-688: The Twitter board would have "no choice" but to reject Musk's offer due to potential personal liability faced by the board members. 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 . 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. On April 22, U.S. House Republicans demanded that Twitter's board preserve all records pertaining to Musk's takeover proposal, which sets

6580-414: The account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022, and announced early in the next month that he would not ban the ElonJet account, as he is an advocate for free speech, despite a "direct personal safety risk". On December 10, Sweeney shared his discovery that the Twitter account had been shadow banned , where Twitter intentionally limits

6720-648: The account's reach within the site. Twitter's Trust and Safety Council vice president asked to place "heavy visibility filtering" on the account. The council was disbanded on December 12, and that day Sweeney reported that the account no longer seemed hidden in any way. On the morning of December 14, the social media site suspended the ElonJet account. Later that day, it was briefly reinstated and accessible, along with new rules having been released by Twitter that outlined limitations on sharing real-time location information due to concerns about physical safety, indicating that slightly delayed information would be acceptable under

6860-426: The accounts the next day without explaining why the accounts had been suspended. The same day, Twitter, along with Facebook , Google , and Microsoft , jointly agreed to a European Union code of conduct obligating them to review "[the] majority of valid notifications for removal of illegal hate speech " posted on their services within 24 hours. In August 2016, Twitter stated that it had banned 235,000 accounts over

7000-484: 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". Various news publications believed that Zatko's complaint provided potential evidence in Musk's favor, though Bloomberg News columnist Matt Levine argued that the complaint confirmed Twitter's monetizable daily active users counts do not include spambots. Greg Varallo of

7140-430: 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. Online reception to Musk's completion of the purchase was mixed. According to Memetica, a digital investigations company, several far-right figures experienced a significant increase in followers after

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7280-493: The acquisition when the agreement with prior Twitter management stipulated billing only on an hourly basis. The Twitter app was rebranded as X in July, an unprecedented decision which has created confusion among users. 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. The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2023 that

7420-476: The acquisition, and Agrawal stated he expected the deal to close. 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 . The following day, Musk reiterated that the acquisition could not "move forward" until Twitter could prove the aforementioned reports false, urging the SEC to investigate Twitter's daily user numbers. The same day, Twitter filed new documents with

7560-432: The acquisition, though he was expected to serve as interim CEO in the months after its completion. Tesla's stock sank by more than $ 125 billion the next market day, causing Musk to lose about $ 30 billion of his net worth . Within three days after Twitter agreed to be acquired, Musk had sold $ 8.5 billion of his Tesla shares. After the acceptance was announced, Musk said that his first goal would be to make

7700-538: The agency to block the purchase by saying that it has no authority to do so, calling such requests "absurd". 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 . By April 27, 30,000 new users had joined

7840-420: The authenticity of the platform. The issue of fake follower accounts was highlighted in 2016 when Russian trolls , using both human-operated and bot accounts to appear legitimate, leveraged Twitter's reach among American voters in an interference campaign in that year's US elections . Several celebrities and public figures lost substantial numbers of followers from their Twitter accounts before and after

7980-501: The buyout, citing the potential for reduction of perceived censorship on Twitter. Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said that he hoped Twitter would improve over time due to its importance to society, while Facebook and Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed confusion and uncertainty over the proposed buyout. Edgett instructed employees not to share commentary on the purported cancellation; nonetheless, several Twitter employees posted humorous messages making light of

8120-1016: The cause. They are told only that their accounts will not be restored, and they are told which of Twitter's rules the company claims were violated. In addition to community guideline policy decisions, the Twitter DMCA -detection system and spam-detection system are sometimes manipulated or abused by groups of users attempting to force a user's suspension. Some commentators, such as technology entrepreneur Declan McCullagh and law professor Glenn Reynolds , have criticized Twitter's suspension and ban policies as overreaches of power. Between 2014 and 2016, Twitter suspensions were frequently linked to ISIL -related accounts. A "Twitter suspension campaign" began in earnest in 2015, and on one day, 4 April 2015, some 10,000 accounts were suspended. Twitter repeatedly shut down accounts that spread ISIL material, but new ones popped up quickly and were advertised with their old Twitter handle; Twitter in return blocked those in what

8260-745: The closure of these accounts. These included Justin Bieber , Ellen DeGeneres , Jack Dorsey , Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , Ari Fleischer , Pope Francis , Lady Gaga , Ariana Grande , Kathy Ireland , Paul Kagame , Ashton Kutcher , The New York Times , Shaquille O'Neal , Barack Obama , Katy Perry , Queen Rania of Jordan , Rihanna , Cristiano Ronaldo , Taylor Swift , Donald Trump , Twitter themselves, Variety magazine, Kim Kardashian , Oprah Winfrey , and YouTube . U.S. President Donald Trump said that social networks such as Twitter were "totally discriminating" against Republican Party and conservative users. Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey clarified that

8400-445: The company adhered to the principle that "free speech is essential to a functioning democracy". Days later, he discussed the future of social media with Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey and explored the possibility of joining Twitter's board of directors with private equity firm Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban. He relayed this idea to Twitter board chair Bret Taylor and CEO Parag Agrawal , proposing to either take

8540-458: The company had refused to give him data pertaining to its users. Twitter responded that they would continue to cooperate with Musk to ensure that the transaction was closed in accordance with their agreement. On June 8, Twitter's board complied with Musk's demands, agreeing to provide him with a "firehose" data stream of tweets. A week later, the SEC asked Agrawal to provide information on how Twitter estimated its number of spam accounts, to which

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8680-521: 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

8820-421: The company obliged; the SEC concluded its inquiry on July 27. Musk attended an all-hands meeting on June 16 to answer questions from Twitter employees, discussing Twitter's content moderation policy, freedom of speech, potential layoffs , remote work , and "the cosmic nature of Twitter". Musk also expressed his desire for Twitter to reach one billion active users, and pledged his commitment to advertising as

8960-427: The company or its employees when tweeting about the acquisition before the transaction closed. The agreement also stipulated that if Musk failed to close the acquisition, he would be required to pay Twitter a $ 1 billion breakup fee . Agrawal was set to receive $ 39 million from the buyout, while Dorsey would receive $ 978 million. Musk had privately selected a new CEO to replace Agrawal upon completion of

9100-445: The company private or start a rival social media platform. Dorsey responded to Musk with a text message, saying he hoped Twitter could become open-sourced and that he had unsuccessfully pushed for Musk's induction into Twitter's board a year earlier, a move that had prompted his departure from his role as CEO. Musk began purchasing Twitter stock on January 31, 2022. On April 4, he announced that he had acquired 9.2 percent of

9240-507: The company to Musk so they could mitigate their planned payroll and infrastructure cuts. In an open letter, Twitter employees condemned Musk's intentions and warned of negative consequences on the future of Twitter. 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

9380-940: 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. Twitter suspensions X, formerly Twitter , may suspend accounts, temporarily or permanently, from their social networking service . Suspensions of high-profile accounts often attract media attention, and X's use of suspensions has been controversial. Users who are suspended from Twitter, based on alleged violations of Twitter's terms of service , are usually not informed which of their tweets were

9520-401: The company to produce data from 9,000 accounts it previously audit sampled. Musk filed a "termination letter" with the SEC on August 29, citing Zatko's claims as evidence Twitter breached their contract, before asking McCormick to delay the trial by a few weeks. McCormick rejected the request, and Musk's team sent a third termination letter to Twitter. On September 13, Zatko testified before

9660-486: The company's stock ticker was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 8. Since becoming owner, Musk has enacted a series of reforms, including overhauling Twitter's verification system by requiring new applicants to purchase a Twitter Blue subscription. Many Twitter staff members were directed to extend their working hours in order to meet Musk's deadlines for his desired changes to

9800-498: The company's cars often engaged on the platform, and Lindsey Bakes of Deseret News wrote that Musk could integrate cryptocurrency within Twitter. 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 , his colleague Rich Lowry said that liberal politicians' strong reaction to Musk's purchase

9940-645: The company's shares totaling $ 2.64 billion, making him the company's largest shareholder . 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. The next day, Twitter invited Musk to join the company's board, which Musk accepted. 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". The position would have prohibited Musk from going beyond

10080-494: 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

10220-699: The company, while Dorsey wrote that Musk "cares deeply about our world and Twitter's role in it". Dorsey privately relayed his appreciation to Musk for his commitment, texting that he trusted Musk. 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". Musk's offer to take over Twitter was met with both praise and criticism. On April 14, Twitter employees expressed concern with Musk's views on free speech. Media outlets expressed concerns that his proposed changes to Twitter would result in an increase in disinformation and online harassment . Jim Cramer of CNBC opined that

10360-415: The company. Gadde allegedly cried during a meeting about the announcement and was subjected to online trolling. Musk's June 17 meeting with employees was generally negatively received by participants, who found Musk's statements "incoherent" and "uninspiring". Musk was repeatedly derided and mocked by Twitter employees on their internal Slack channels after the deal was brokered. Republican lawmakers in

10500-605: The condition that Twitter drop its lawsuit. 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. 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. In response, McCormick asked both sides to propose to her how they should proceed. Twitter shares surged by 23 percent as

10640-462: The corresponding Facebook pages, along with several other jet-tracking accounts managed by Sweeney, including @Trump_Jet, @DesantisJet, @celebrityjets, @kimkjet, @kyliejennerjet, @bezosjets, @zuckerbergjet, and @taylorswiftjets. These accounts had operated on Meta platforms for years without incident, using publicly available flight data to track private jets. Sweeney initially launched these on Meta platforms after being suspended from X/Twitter. ElonJet

10780-430: The country. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) executive director Anthony D. Romero warned of the potential danger of Musk wielding excessive power. Following Musk's announcement that he intended to terminate the agreement, legal experts generally agreed it would be difficult for him to do so. Law professor James Park of the University of California, Los Angeles found Musk's spambot argument weak and doubted it

10920-404: The course of the acquisition bid, with the complaint specifically calling Agrawal's May 16 thread deceptive. 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. That same day, The Washington Post reported that

11060-416: The day after the acquisition was announced, amid smaller declines in the broader markets. Musk incurred a $ 21 billion paper loss that day. On April 23, Musk informed Taylor that his offer was "best and final", urging him to accept in a letter sent the following day. Multiple outlets subsequently reported that Twitter was in final negotiations to accept Musk's offer, with a deal expected to be reached by

11200-461: 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 ; Musk later indicated his intention to reverse Twitter's ban on Trump. Mexican President Lopez Obrador stated that he hoped Musk would rid Twitter of "the corruption that's there, manipulation with bots". Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner Brendan Carr responded to calls for

11340-448: The deal due to the contractual doctrines of fair dealing and good faith . 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 . Similarly, Joan Donovan , research director at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy , stated that

11480-432: The deal was "in peril" amid a slowdown in discussions on funding. 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. In response, Taylor pledged to pursue legal action against Musk at

11620-436: The deal was finalized, while many progressives experienced a significant decrease, although it is unclear if Musk's takeover drove the changes in followers. Mastodon once again experienced a surge in sign-ups. Multiple celebrities in the entertainment industry announced their departure from the platform, while some left-wing influencers such as John Pavlovitz and Rob Reiner urged fellow leftists to remain on Twitter for

11760-438: The decentralized network of servers running open-source Mastodon software . Conservative Twitter accounts experienced a significant increase in followers, while liberal ones experienced a slight decrease; additionally, thousands of left-leaning users deactivated their accounts following the buyout. LGBTQ+ users and activists expressed apprehension about the deal based on tweets by Musk mocking transgender people, fearing that

11900-454: 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. In response, Twitter threatened to sue Meta over intellectual property infringement . Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde filed

12040-607: 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. Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde were set to receive " golden parachute " sums of $ 38.7 million, $ 25.4 million, and $ 12.5 million, respectively, but The New York Times reported that Musk

12180-499: 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. 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. McCormick rejected much of Musk's team's "absurdly broad" request for data pertaining to all of Twitter's users, but ordered

12320-410: The group's two primary objectives were to reduce the size of Twitter's workforce and overhaul the platform's mobile app. Twitter employees were not formally informed of the change in management, with Musk originally said to be planning a town hall meeting with employees but ultimately not doing so. The next day, Twitter shares ceased trading in accordance with Musk's pledge to take the company private;

12460-627: The importance of the platform were "Musk's critics in progressive and mainstream media ", with James McElroy of The American Conservative further arguing that many journalists' condemnation of the acquisition was motivated by "professional anxiety". 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 . Associate professor Brian Quinn of Boston College Law School noted that it would be difficult for Musk to arbitrarily pull out of

12600-405: The journalists' work on Musk, they would be a "serious violation of the journalists' right to report the news without fear of reprisal". Most of the suspensions were lifted the next day, on 16 December 2022, after Musk put the decision on whether to reinstate the suspended accounts through an informal poll where 58.7% of voters chose lifting the suspensions immediately over 41.3% who voted to have

12740-477: The lack of moderation on Twitter would lead to online harassment. 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, while analyst Mike Proulx of Forrester Research cautioned that other companies may leave Twitter if Musk loosens its moderation policies. Proprietary trader Dennis Dick opined that Musk's spambot claims were tactics by him to lower

12880-480: The new @ElonJetNextDay Twitter account, which continues to track the flights of Elon Musk's private jets, but publishes flight location information on a 24-hour delay in compliance with Twitter's new rules that "sharing publicly available location information after a reasonable time has elapsed, so that the individual is no longer at risk for physical harm" is not a violation. The ElonJet service uses publicly available flight data as well as an automated computer program,

13020-504: The new policy. According to the Washington Post , Sweeney then asked Musk how long of a data feed delay was required to comply with new rules, but the ElonJet account was re-suspended by the evening of the same day. Sweeney's personal Twitter account was also blocked, along with all of his other accounts that tracked private flights of public figures and Russian oligarchs. On December 15, the Twitter account of rival social network Mastodon

13160-892: The news of the purchase. 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. Margarita Simonyan , editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled RT broadcasting service, demanded that Musk lift her Twitter suspension. Bin Talal Al Saud congratulated Musk on the purchase, and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon urged Musk to eradicate spambot accounts. Tesla rival General Motors announced it would temporarily stop paid advertising on Twitter. 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. A slew of companies proceeded to do so, including Audi , Bentley ,

13300-424: The next day, though Reuters cautioned that the deal could still fall apart. On April 25, Twitter shares rose by 5 percent following reports that Twitter was poised to accept Musk's offer. Twitter advisors Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase approved of the deal, deeming it fair from a financial perspective. Twitter's board publicly and unanimously accepted the buyout offer for $ 44 billion, and Twitter

13440-412: 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. The board responded that it would "carefully review the proposal". 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

13580-722: The offer. 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. 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. The initially proposed $ 13 billion in money borrowed by Twitter

13720-589: The past six months, bringing the overall number of suspended accounts to 360,000 accounts in the past year, for violating policies banning use of the platform to promote extremism. On 10 May 2019, Twitter announced that they suspended 166,513 accounts for promoting terrorism in the July–December 2018 period, stating there was a steady decrease in terrorist groups trying to use the platform owing to its "zero-tolerance policy enforcement". According to Vijaya Gadde , Legal, Policy and Trust and Safety Lead at Twitter, there

13860-636: The platform to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election and to incite the January 6 United States Capitol attack . On 8 January, Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account, citing his violation of Twitter's Glorification of Violence guidelines. Twitter also suspended or heavily moderated accounts that enabled Trump to circumvent his ban , including the official @POTUS handle. Trump congratulated Nigeria for blocking Twitter, and wrote that he had hosted Zuckerberg for dinner in White House. Twitter

14000-443: 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

14140-478: The platform. On November 4, Musk laid off roughly half of Twitter's workforce, 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. Hundreds of employees resigned in response. Meanwhile, Musk began restoring previously banned accounts such as Jordan Peterson , Kathy Griffin , The Babylon Bee , and Donald Trump , while suspending anti-fascist accounts at

14280-501: The position of CEO, merging the company with X Holdings and dissolving Twitter's board of directors. With this merger, Twitter ceased to be an independent company, with X Corp. later created in March 2023 to house the company. Musk uses the title "Chief Twit" to refer to his position as CEO. A "war room" was established at Twitter, with Musk meeting with Spiro, Sacks, and others to discuss his next steps. According to The New York Times ,

14420-470: The price of the purchase. Analysts noted that the involvement of foreign entities as independent investors could cause the transaction to face national security scrutiny by the CFIUS. 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

14560-475: The purchase and assured employees that no layoffs were planned at that time, adding he was proud of Twitter employees "despite the noise" around the company. He also led an all-hands meeting on April 29 to address concerns raised by employees. 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. Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo denounced Musk's criticism of

14700-573: The purchase as well. Democrat Amy Klobuchar voiced her distrust of Musk and called for tighter government regulation of the platform, while Democrat Chris Murphy advocated for a federal investigation into the role of Saudi Arabia in the purchase. 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

14840-441: The ramifications of such a deal as well as their options, while a company shareholder sued Musk for allegedly manipulating the company's stock price and violating Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules. I made an offer https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar... On April 14, 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. Though

14980-489: The reduction in the followers count was part of the platform's efforts to cut down on spamming and bot accounts. Dorsey's own account lost about 230,000 followers in the purge. On 27 July 2018, Twitter's stock went down by 20.5% (equivalent to $ 6 billion). The user base declined to 325 million, down from 326 million. On 7 January 2021, Twitter temporarily locked the account of U.S. President Donald Trump after multiple controversies, including his use of

15120-563: The same evening, Musk alleged in a tweet that a "crazy stalker" had followed a car carrying his 2-year-old son. The incident is claimed to have occurred in Los Angeles, in which the accused individual "blocked [the] car from moving" and "climbed onto [the] hood" according to Musk. While Sweeney has posted publicly available information about Musk's private jets, flights, and airports used, Sweeney has not shared information about Musk's family members or Musk's cars. A Los Angeles Police detective in

15260-419: The scale the Post had previously reported. 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". He then asked Tesla engineers to meet with Twitter's product managers in order to assess the platform's codebase , which

15400-461: The services of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan after previously doing so for Unsworth v. Musk and SEC v. Musk , including his personal lawyer Alex Spiro , as well as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom . Twitter formally launched its lawsuit against Musk at the Delaware Court of Chancery on July 12, with Musk tweeting in response, "Oh the irony lol". Twitter requested that

15540-463: 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. 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

15680-508: The situation. Tesla shares rose 2.11 percent in the hours after Musk's announcement. Trump criticized Musk and called the acquisition "rotten", which led to a protracted feud between the two. 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

15820-553: The stage for a potential congressional probe following the 2022 midterms . Jimmy Patronis , the Chief Financial Officer of Florida , praised Musk's offer and was critical of Twitter's "poison pill" strategy. 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. Agrawal applauded

15960-407: The stalking investigations unit said the unit had no evidence indicating the alleged stalker had used ElonJet. Regarding the incident, South Pasadena police said they were investigating a report of "an assault with a deadly weapon involving a vehicle", and labelled a member of Musk's security team as a "suspect". The statement also mentioned that "At no time during the incident did the victim identify

16100-593: The struggle" to end censorship on Twitter, while Peter van Buren of The Spectator World opined that Musk should simply take Twitter offline. 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". Robby Soave of American libertarian magazine Reason postulated that Musk's purchase would not threaten Twitter or democracy, suggesting that those overstating

16240-476: The suspect or indicate the altercation was anything more than coincidental". Sweeney stated that despite Musk's intention to sue, he does not plan to stop monitoring Musk's airplane travel and will continue publishing the flight-tracking information by using other social media platforms, including on his new Mastodon account. One day later, on December 15, Twitter suspended the accounts of nine journalists of national news organizations without warning, as part of what

16380-460: The time being. 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. Basketball player LeBron James expressed concern over the NCRI's report, condemning "unfit people saying hate speech

16520-463: The trial be held from September 19 through September 22, before the deal's originally scheduled "drop dead" date on October 24. Musk's legal team objected to this, asking for the trial to be held from February 13 through February 22, 2023. On July 19, judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled that the trial would last for five days in October, with Twitter seeking an October 10 start date. During its quarterly earnings investor call on July 22, Twitter cited

16660-516: The urging of far-right figures, as well as accounts that parodied Musk. Musk also relaxed the platform's hate speech policies and removed its policy prohibiting COVID-19 misinformation, resulting in an increase in hate speech. 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. These protests intensified when Musk suspended multiple journalists who had been covering

16800-564: The whole time. 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". 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". Other Republican politicians, including Dan Crenshaw , Darrell Issa , Marjorie Taylor Greene , Marsha Blackburn , Anthony Sabatini , Amy Kremer , Lauren Boebert , Dick Black , Cruz, and Jordan applauded

16940-474: Was a high school senior, with his education suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Sweeney considered himself a fan of Musk's work at SpaceX and Tesla, leading him to start the account. Elon Musk has had issues with the account for a long time, and offered Jack Sweeney $ 5,000 to delete the account in 2021. Sweeney countered asking for $ 50,000, saying he would use the money for college and possibly to buy

17080-540: Was a material adverse effect. 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. CNBC's Jonathan Vanian described Musk's withdrawal as the product of months of buyer's remorse , while his colleague Alex Sherman observed that paying the stipulated breakup fee would not relieve Musk of compensations or sanctions. Writing for The Wall Street Journal , Holman W. Jenkins Jr. questioned whether Musk had proposed

17220-488: Was a reduction of 19% terror-related tweets from the previous reporting period (January–June 2018). In September 2017, Twitter responded to calls to suspend U.S. President Donald Trump 's account , clarifying that they will not do so as they consider his tweets to be "newsworthy". In October 2017, Twitter posted a calendar of upcoming changes related to enforcement. Among other things, Twitter promised to provide "a better experience for suspension appeals", including

17360-458: Was also added to Threads in July of 2023 when Threads was released. Meta did not provide a specific reason for the sudden enforcement, only stating that the accounts now violated their policies. When pressed, Meta referenced an Oversight Board decision that involved privacy concerns around home addresses. However, this reasoning was contested by the account owner, who noted that the Oversight decision

17500-480: Was also blocked, for tweeting about the situation. According to The Verge , "it appears Twitter counts a link to @ElonJet's Mastodon account as a violation" of their newest policy against linking to third-party URLs that provide real-time travel information. The accounts of multiple journalists who frequently cover the technology industry were also banned for reporting on the issue. On December 14, 2022, Musk announced he would be taking legal action against Sweeney. On

17640-636: Was an indication that Twitter's existing policies had "political consequences", and the editors of the publication wished Musk well in his quest to promote free speech on Twitter. Bonnie Kristian of evangelical magazine Christianity Today felt that the purchase would only "add to the confusion" surrounding the contentious debate on free speech, 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". Corbin K. Barthold of conservative public policy magazine City Journal believed it would be difficult but "worth

17780-786: Was bound by the EU's laws, alluding to the recently passed Digital Services Act . Internally, Twitter employees expressed concern that Musk would lay off employees before they receive their compensation payments, among other messages criticizing Musk and voicing solidarity with each other. Amid conflicting reports on whether Musk was planning sweeping layoffs, many employees expressed uncertainty and fear on Slack, Discord , and LinkedIn . 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. Podcaster Joe Rogan praised Musk for his aspirations, while right-wing Twitter account Libs of TikTok rejoiced over

17920-498: Was called an ongoing game of Whac-A-Mole . By August 2014, Twitter had suspended a dozen official ISIL accounts, and between September and December 2014 it suspended at least 1000 accounts promoting ISIL. Twitter said that between mid-2015 and February 2016 it had suspended 125,000 accounts associated with ISIL and related organizations, and by August 2016 had suspended some 360,000 accounts for being associated with terrorism (not all these were ISIL-related). In January 2016, Twitter

18060-474: Was considered by technologists to be outdated and impractical. Don Pittis of CBC News noted the controversy associated with the wealthy gaining control of media platforms. Brendan O'Neill of Spiked observed that Musk's purchase of Twitter and the resulting backlash represented a "battle for control of the Internet", with Business Insider 's Ben Gilbert calling the purchase the latest "battleground" in

18200-446: Was criticized for banning Trump but deleting Ali Khamenei tweets. Twitter also suspended the "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump" (@DJTDesk) account, citing ban evasion as the reason. On 13 January 2021, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey tweeted about Trump's Twitter ban, fearing that although the ban was the correct decision for Twitter as a company, Twitter's actions "set a precedent I feel

18340-475: 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. The debt was estimated to cost Twitter approximately $ 1 billion in annual interest and fees. Two days after announcing his bid, Musk registered three holding companies under the name "X Holdings" in preparation for his takeover. Tesla shares fell 12 percent on

18480-455: Was frozen until November 1. 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, with the executives escorted out of the company's headquarters by security. This move came to the surprise of many involved, who had expected Musk to allow

18620-480: 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. 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

18760-769: Was not relevant to public aircraft data. Flight tracking, unlike home address data, is widely accessible through public sources such ADS-B and the FAA. Originally, @DesantisJet and @Trump_Jet were not suspended, an inconsistency that was pointed out in media coverage, including a report from Fortune . After that article, the accounts were suspended. The user criticized Meta's decision for a lack of transparency, as no policy violations had previously been cited. Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk The business magnate Elon Musk initiated an acquisition of American social media company Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022, and concluded it on October 27, 2022. Musk had begun buying shares of

18900-455: Was referred to as the " Thursday Night Massacre ", after they had posted links to the ElonJet account or similar jet trackers. Musk claimed reporters had doxxed him and his family, and alleged that, by covering the ElonJet story, they were linking to real-time flight information, which is "basically assassination coordinates" according to Musk. In October 2024, Meta suspended the @elonmusksjet account on Instagram, and Threads accounts as well as

19040-518: Was reported that the platform was planning to end the use of permanent suspensions. In November 2022, Musk stated that accounts that engage in impersonation without a "clear" parody label would be permanently suspended without warning. Many anti-fascist activists were purged from Twitter in November 2022 after Musk outsourced content moderation decisions to the platform's users, notably inviting right-wing journalist Andy Ngo to report anti-fascist accounts directly to him. Among those suspended were

19180-470: Was subsequently harassed by Twitter users using racist and sexist language. On April 28, Twitter told advertising agencies that their work would not be seen next to offensive material. Musk also discussed with bankers with the ideas of cutting jobs and costs, encouraging influencers to be creative, and adding subscription services to Twitter. On May 4, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee of

19320-539: Was sued by the widow of an American man killed in the 2015 Amman shooting attack , claiming that allowing ISIL to continually use the platform, including direct messages in particular, constituted the provision of material support to a terrorist organization . Twitter disputed the claim. The lawsuit was dismissed by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California , upholding

19460-421: Was to become a private company once the transaction was completed sometime in 2022. Negotiations with Musk were led by the board's transaction committee, composed of Taylor, Martha Lane Fox , and Patrick Pichette . The deal would require shareholder and regulatory approval before it could be finalized, though analysts believed it was unlikely to be challenged by regulators. Musk was barred from disparaging

19600-480: Was unlikely to make the payments because the executives had been dismissed for cause . 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". Dorsey retained his $ 1 billion ownership stake, and several other executives departed Twitter in the ensuing days. Musk assumed

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