After purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk tweeted, “The Bird Is Free” but what do his cryptic tweets mean and what does this mean for twitter? Although Twitter has been the subject of many political conflicts and is considered a cesspool by many, it remains extremely popular and relevant. Recently Elon Musk has acquired Twitter, and his changes are leaving some worried. 

In March of 2022 Musk became the biggest stock holder in the company. Later in early April, Musk announced he would join the board of directors then later retracted his statement. Musk offered to buy Twitter for forty four Billion dollars; in response to this, the Twitter team let current stockholders buy extra shares for cheaper prices. This made it more difficult for Musk to buy Twitter. However, this did not stop Musk, who ultimately closed a deal with Twitter in October. 

Despite the short time period Musk has had control, he’s made many changes. Many important figures in Twitter have been fired, such as Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. Two laid off female employees of Twitter have claimed women were targeted in Twitter layoffs. The two have filed a class action lawsuit stating, “The mass termination of employees at Twitter has impacted female employees to a much greater extent than male employees – and to a highly statistically significant degree.” According to Axios.com, 57% of female employees were let go, whereas 47% of male employees were laid off. Some argued Musk wanted to prioritize employees based in stem, however 63% of female employees involved with engineering were fired and only 48% of male engineers were. Another change many Twitter users had been enjoying are the purchasable Twitter verifications. For a short time, Twitter users could pay $7.99 for a blue verification check. Many people bought verifications as a joke to mock major companies. In one case, a fake Eli Lilly account reported insulin was now free for everyone, this is particularly ironic considering this company charges $400 dollars for its insulin. 

Musk has stated he bought Twitter “to try to help humanity, whom I love,” rather than for more money. Many are questioning Musk’s true intentions, as he is currently under federal investigation. Musk has many companies, one of which is called Neuralink, a medical company. Neuralink is under investigation for animal-welfare violations. Because of the intense work culture Musk has created, many experiments are rushed and result in underprepared and overstressed employees making last minute changes to experiments, to the animal’s detriment. Over 1,500 animals, mostly pigs and monkeys, have been killed since 2018. 

Earlier this month, after tweeting several antisemetic remarks, Kayne West’s twitter account was suspended. Elon Musk chimed in stating, “He again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.” However this isn’t Kayne’s first offense, in October his account had been restricted after an antisemetic tweet. In fact, according to The New York Times, Kayne has been blocked from posting on Instagram alongside his twitter suspension.