Tesla CEO Elon Musk has acquired Twitter for $44 billion on Monday.
According to CBN News, the deal, which is expected to close sometime this year and still subject to the approval of other stakeholders, was unanimously approved by the board, including its co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey himself.
The sale appeared to have a positive effect on the company as its shares rose 6%, raising the market price to $52 per share.
Musk posted a screenshot of his statement, wherein he speaks about the essence of speech freedom on Twitter and his plans for the social media platform.
"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential - I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it," the statement says.
In an earlier post, Musk said that he hopes even his "worst critics" will stay on the platform because this, he said, is the meaning of freedom of speech.
Twitter is notorious for censoring and suspending influential users, including Donald Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other individuals who simply expressed their conservative views like Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Carlson was temporarily suspended for supporting tweets on misgendering Rachel Levine, the transgender Assistant Secretary for Health.
Following the news of Musk's Twitter takeover, the host shared a celebratory tweet, marking his return to the platform since his suspension.
"We're back," Carlson wrote.
Prior to Musk's acquisition, Trump articulated his support on the billionaire's plan. However, the former president said that he will not rejoin Twitter but will instead use his own social media platform, Truth Social.
"I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth," Trump told Fox News.
He added that he considers Musk's ownership as a good thing and does not see it as a competitor to his own startup.
"I think it is good. We want liberty and justice and fairness in our country, and the more we can have open, the better. But no, I don't view that as a competition for what I am doing," Trump stated.
While some hailed Musk's ownership of Twitter and his plan to reduce its censorship, others are concerned that this may lead to a rise in hate speech.
Jameela Jamil, a British actress, said that she fears the "free speech bid" with the platform will lead to its "final form of totally lawless hate." Thus her decision to leave Twitter, claiming that the statement is her last tweet.
Amnesty International also aired its concern over the changes on the social media organization's policies which, it said, are "designed to protect the users."
