NEW YORK--Billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday in a filing that he will be the chief executive officer of Twitter, the social media company he recently acquired for $44 billion.
The move comes after Musk, who also runs Tesla Inc and SpaceX, fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and other top company officials last week. Musk previously changed his Twitter bio to "Chief Twit" in a sign alluding to this move.
Last week, Musk's takeover of the social media company for $44 billion concluded a months-long saga. Since then, Musk has moved quickly to begin making changes at the company, which he had ridiculed for months for being slow to introduce product changes or take down spam accounts.
Musk's teams began meeting with some employees to investigate Twitter's software code and understand how aspects of the platform worked, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Some staff who spoke with Reuters said they had received little communication from Musk or other leaders and were using news reports to piece together what was happening at the company.
Meanwhile, Musk has assured the European Commission that Twitter will abide by tough European rules on illegal online content policing now that the social network has passed under his ownership, European Union sources said on Monday.
In a previously unreported exchange last week, Musk told Thierry Breton, the EU's industry chief, that he planned to comply with the region's Digital Services Act, which levies hefty fines on companies if they do not control illegal content. The self-described free speech absolutist agreed to hold a meeting with Breton, a former French finance minister, in the coming weeks, two EU officials familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
The exchange came after Breton took to Twitter to warn Musk about the new European legislation on Friday. "In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules," Breton tweeted on Friday.
EU lawmakers approved the landmark rules to rein in tech giants over the summer, which will require online platforms to do more to police the internet for illegal content, with big platforms required to have more moderators than small ones. Companies will face fines of up to 6% of annual global turnover for breaches of Digital Services Act.
The assurances from Musk appeared to suggest a pragmatic attitude from the CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc, who has previously expressed his desire to see Twitter with fewer limits on content. Musk has so far offered little details on how he will run the company after his $44 billion buyout.
He has said he plans to cut jobs, leaving Twitter's 7,500 employees fretting about their future. He also said on Thursday he did not buy Twitter to make more money but "to try to help humanity, whom I love."
