The board of Twitter has agreed to a $44bn (£34.5bn) takeover offer from the billionaire Elon Musk.
Mr Musk, who made the shock bid less than two weeks ago, said Twitter had “tremendous potential” that he would unlock.
He also called for a series of changes from relaxing its content restrictions to eradicating fake accounts.
The firm initially rebuffed Mr Musk’s bid, but it will now ask shareholders to vote to approve the deal.
Mr Musk is the world’s richest person, according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated net worth of $273.6bn mostly due to his shareholding in electric vehicle maker Tesla which he runs. He also leads the aerospace firm SpaceX.
“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,” Mr Musk said in a statement announcing the deal.
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans,” he added.
I – Word Understanding
Eradicate – to put an end / to completely destroy
Rebuff ed – rejected
Bedrock – fundamental principle
Spam bots – a computer program designed to assist in the sending of spam
II – Have Your Say
1, Do you use twitter? How do you think twitter changed our society?
2, What is your opinion about “free speech”? How does the internet change the concept of “free speech”?
3, What are the things you think should be changed or improved as far as social media is concerned?
