The takeover was hailed, but former US president Donald Trump, who was permanently banned from Twitter after the riots on January 6, 2021, said little about making a comeback. “I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs who truly hate our country.”
Trump was banned after the 2021 attack on the US Capitol, which the Republican leader is suspected of instigating. Musk has said he might lift the ban.
Former Russian President and current Vice-Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, tweeted his congratulations, saying “Good luck @elonmusk in overcoming political bias and ideological dictatorship on Twitter. And quit that Starlink in Ukraine business.”
Others urged Musk to undo restrictions imposed by the social network. In response to @catturd2, a random account with 852,000 followers, known for being a big supporter of Trump’s election fraud claims, and who said it was “shadowbanned,” Musk tweeted “I will be digging in more today.”
Margarita Simonyan, the head editor of the Russian state-run media outlet RT, pleaded with Musk to “unban RT and Sputnik accounts and take the shadow ban off mine as well.”
Musk and Twitter are under increasing pressure since he plans to address the Twitter workers on Friday after the purchase is finalised.
“Hey @ElonMusk, now that you own Twitter, will you help fight back against Trudeau’s online censorship bill C-11?” tweeted Canada Proud, a group attempting to unseat Justin Trudeau as prime minister of Canada.
According to Musk, Twitter may serve as the basis for a “super app” that does everything from ride-hailing to retail and money transfers.
However, Twitter is having trouble retaining its most active users, who are crucial to the company. Less than 10 per cent of monthly active users are “heavy tweeters,” but they produce 90 per cent of all tweets and 50 per cent of global income.
