Explained | Musk earns a seat on Twitter’s board; what next?

While Musk did not share any details about why he bought shares of Twitter, except posting a tweet on Monday saying: “oh hi lol”, there are some cues to what he might end up doing at the California-based company.

Elon Musk is Twitter’s most famous ‘blue tick’ personality with over 80 million followers on the platform. The CEO of Tesla is a regular user of the micro-blogging site, and its most vocal critique.

On Monday, Musk had taken 9.2% stake in social media platform, according to a U.S. securities exchange filing. He reported owning 73.5 million shares of the company as of March 14, an announcement that sent the company’s shares soaring 27% in New York Stock Exchange.

Musk’s stake is valued at $2.9 billion based on Friday’s closing price, and makes him Twitter’s largest shareholder, holding more than the company’s co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey. That size has earned him a seat at the social media firm’s board.

While Musk did not share any details about why he bought shares of Twitter, except posting a tweet on Monday saying: “oh hi lol”, there are some cues to what he might end up doing at the California-based company.

Content moderation

In recent times, the billionaire had weighed up the platform’s commitment to free speech. In some of his tweets he had broached the idea of starting his own social media firm, without disclosing specifics.

On March 24, Musk tweeted a pool, asking his followers whether the platform “rigorously adheres” to free speech. Over 70% of the two million users who voted clicked ‘no’.