He’s one of Twitter’s most notorious users, and now billionaire Elon Musk will be its owner. The SpaceX and Tesla founder has acquired the platform for an eye watering sum, and is promising free speech.

Twitter can be a love it or loathe it platform. And, it’s about to become even more polarising. Controversial figure Elon Musk has been talking about buying his favourite social media platform for a while. Now he has. 

For a whopping $US44 billion ($61.4 billion), Twitter now has its first sole owner. The world’s richest person. The discussions for the deal took over a week, and it was announced on 25 April that it had been secured by Musk.

The future of Twitter

Twitter has a reputation of being a platform for the outspoken. Former President Donald Trump was removed from the platform for misinformation and inciting riots. Musk has spent the time since the purchase was made public promising to make the platform about “free speech.” 

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

“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,” Musk said in a statement following the purchase.

He has also promised to improve the algorithm of the site as well as getting rid of “all spam bots.” 

And authenticate all real humans

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022

Twitter has been a popular medium for the media and politicians to spread information and opinions. The purchase by Musk is under intense scrutiny from the public as people are hesitant about a single owner. The imbalance of power now granted to Musk is tremendous.

One thing’s for sure though, Twitter is on the receiving end of a very big pay day.