Elon Musk says ‘the bird is freed’ as Twitter ownership starts with firings

Elon Musk tweeted "the bird is freed" after taking control of Twitter in a deal that puts him at the helm of one of the leading platforms for global discourse.

Musk completed the $44 billion takeover on the eve of a court-appointed deadline to seal his on-again, off-again deal to purchase the social media network, whose logo is a bird.

Elon Musk became Twitter Inc's owner, firing top executives and providing little clarity over how he will achieve the lofty ambitions he has outlined for the influential social media platform.

"The bird is freed," he tweeted, referencing Twitter's bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on content that can be posted.

The CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc has, however, also said he wants to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.

Other goals include wanting to "defeat" spam bots on Twitter and make the algorithms that determine how content is presented to its users publicly available.

Yet Musk has not offered details on how he will achieve all this and who will run the company. He has said he plans to cut jobs, leaving Twitter's approximately 7,500 employees fretting about their future. He also said he did not buy Twitter to make more money but "to try to help humanity, whom I love."

Musk terminated Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter.