Muskian Twitter May Create Problems for Musk

His free speech absolutism’ will come up against government laws his business interests

- Venkat Ananth

So, it has happened. When Elon Musk memed his way into the Twitter HQ San Francisco with a literal sink, and a caption saying "Let that sink in!", the on-off, $44 billion acquisition saga came to an inevitable end.

The self-described "chief twit", who freed the bird, is now set to become Twitter's newest CEO, after ousting incumbent Parag Agrawal, who walked away with a cool $42 million severance pay.

Musk's earliest moves since taking over might potentially set the tone for what lies ahead. In his immediate firing of Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's legal, public policy, and trust and safety head until Thursday night, Musk telegraphed what Twitter could soon become: an anything-goes, "free speech" platform, with reports hinting that he's likely to reverse "lifetime bans on users".

A welcome back @realDonald Trump, ahead of a potentially defining midterms in the US? A matter of time.

Tightrope walk

Musk's Twitter takeover also comes at an interesting time and in the backdrop of ever-changing geopolitics. But here's where it gets interesting.

Over the last month or so, Musk has been wading into controversies, offering "peace plans" to Russian and Ukrainian officials and suggesting Taiwan be governed as a SAR by China.

Now, with Twitter in the bag, and with several governments going on the offensive against social media platforms, things could get hairy for him.