According to a company filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Bret Taylor, former chairman of the board, and Parag Agrawal, former chief executive, are among the nine ousted directors. Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform last week after months of legal wrangling. The world’s richest man is considering big changes as he begins his first week as the company’s new chief executive. It is thought to be flirting with the idea of asking users to pay for the verification – known as a ‘blue tick’ – which is granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders and journalists. Jason Kalakanis, an entrepreneur who works with Mr. Musk, posted a poll on Twitter asking users how much they would be willing to pay for the blue tick that Twitter uses to verify higher-profile accounts so others know they are really them. Mr Musk responded to the poll by saying: “Interesting.” In response to a user who asked for help with verification, Mr Musk tweeted on Sunday: “The entire verification process is currently being refreshed.” On the same day that Musk bought Twitter, billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia announced that he had surpassed his $1.9 billion stake, making him the company’s largest shareholder after Musk. The move raised concerns among some politicians, including Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 2:08 Musk’s first hours as Twitter boss “Issue of National Security” Mr Murphy has since asked the Committee on Foreign Investment to investigate the national security implications of his investment in Twitter. “We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in suppressing political speech and influencing US policy, are now the second largest owner of a major social media platform,” Murphy tweeted. “There is a clear national security issue at stake and [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] he needs to do a review.” Shortly after the deal closed on Thursday, Musk fired Mr. Agrawal and other top executives. It is so far uncertain if and when larger-scale layoffs could begin. Read more: Ten people Musk could bring back to Twitter – lifting permanent bans Super app or Wild West? The future of Twitter under Elon Musk The Tesla and SpaceX boss has made several statements since the beginning of this year about how to “fix” Twitter. It promised to cut back on some of the platform’s content restrictions to promote free speech, but announced on Friday that no major decisions on content or the reinstatement of banned accounts would be made until a “content oversight board” with diverse views was formed. . He later qualified that statement, tweeting that “anyone suspended for minor and dubious reasons will be released from Twitter jail.” There is speculation that Donald Trump, the former US president who was banned from Twitter after the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, could be allowed back on the platform now that Musk has taken over.
