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Elon Musk plans to take Twitter private in 2022, after the social media platform accepted his offer of $44bn (£35.1bn) on Monday afternoon (25 April).

Currently, 90% of Twitter’s revenue is funded by advertising, with $4.5bn being spent on the platform in 2021.

In order to get the deal off the ground, Musk lined up $25.5bn in debt from financial backers including investment bank Morgan Stanley. This means that Twitter's dependence on advertising will most likely need to continue as the debt will to be serviced somehow.

However Musk has previously criticised Twitter’s advertising model and is a firm champion of free speech, calling it a “bedrock of a functioning democracy” in the press release announcing the deal.

Twitter has clamped down on hate speech on the platform. In 2020, it expanded its ban to include categories such as age, disability, and disease and took action on 4.8 million unique accounts between January and June 2021.

Musk’s “free speech absolutist” stance could perhaps lead to content moderation being dialled down on Twitter, and if that’s the case, advertisers may shy away from their ads being associated with the unsavoury and dangerous content which could consequently creep onto the platform.

In 2017, brands and publishers said they would pull money from Youtube after their programmatic ads were displayed alongside videos promoting terrorism and anti-semitism. Google quickly responded to give advertisers more control, but it’s hard to say if Musk would be as willing to comply.

±±¾©Èü³µpk10 asked adland what they thought the purchase could mean for the platform.

Marcos Angelides

Managing director, Spark Foundry

It all comes down to what Elon Musk means by “free speech”.

Elon Musk will shake up Twitter’s corporate structure, holding its feet to the fire. He will focus on streamlining and fast-tracking product development, utilising his divergent thinking to innovate and sharpen the utility, UX and functionality of the platform for both users and advertisers.

Twitter's ad platform will become more effective, and the platform will see an increase in users and dwell time. Musk will take an open-source, transparent approach to Twitter's overhaul, recruiting feedback and direction from its user base. I can see him pulling back the curtain on the algorithm, to make it more progressive, which would be radical.

Phil Smith

Director general at ISBA

Elon Musk has already spoken about his desire to transform Twitter into a platform for free speech. Although this sounds admirable in theory, the reality is that social media platforms are being used by some to communicate and amplify harmful content, spreading misinformation and expressing extremist views.

If ‘freedom of speech’ means Twitter would pull back from all the progress made by the industry on responsibility, transparency and accountability, led by the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, ISBA and its members would be very concerned. All online platforms need carefully constructed and consistently implemented community policies to ensure they are not places where harmful and illegal content can flourish.

Mobbie Nazir

Global chief strategy officer at We Are Social

Elon Musk is an unpredictable and divisive figure and this takeover is a controversial move for many reasons. But for all of its cultural influence, Twitter is struggling commercially and Musk is as good a bet as anyone to help it evolve and survive.

Musk has talked about making the platform more open and transparent. Advertising is just one of many business models he could potentially pursue. More radical ideas could be decentralising the platform to enable users to create multiple versions of Twitter, or even a subscriptions-based approach. Regardless, it is true that Twitter has huge untapped potential and only time will tell, but this bold move could be just the shot in the arm it needs to get there.