 for access to more features. Musk has indicated that he supports such a model, although he wants it to be cheaper, having previously said that his interest in Twitter was 'not a way to make money'. In a now-deleted tweet he hinted that advertising could be removed entirely from Twitter: 'The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to survive.' He will nonetheless have to come up with a credible strategy for subscriptions and indeed advertising models to safeguard Twitter's revenue. The deal to buy Twitter has been largely financed through high-cost borrowings, which he will need to service. Calls for an edit button are not new. But while it would allow users to correct innocuous typos it could also lead to a meaningful alteration of the public discourse. Musk polled his followers asking if they wanted Twitter to develop an Edit button, with 73pc of 4.4 million votes being in favour. One){kind=link}
As the world’s richest person buys Twitter, what will it mean for the platform?
Self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter in a $44bm (£38bn) deal, sacking senior staff in a sign he intends a decisive change of direction for the company.
Mr Musk sacked chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde and tweeted “the bird is freed”.
The billionaire says that his goal is to transform Twitter into a force for good in public life, resisting censorship and pushing back against the rolling culture wars that risk fracturing the internet into tribes of far left and far right commentators.
But he also recognises that some of his plans sound dangerously radical to advertisers, saying this week that he will not allow it to descend into a “free-for-all hellscape”.