It was announced on Thursday that Elon Musk has completed a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter after tumultuous months of back and forth from both sides that first began in April.
Musk, who is the world’s richest man, is also active on the social media platform and has 110.5 million followers. However, his tweets can at times be divisive. Given his vocal criticism of Twitter's moderation policies in the past, the acquisition has left some users on the platform with mixed feelings about the new deal.
After the agreement to purchase Twitter was completed, Musk tweeted “the bird is freed” with more than 500,000 users liking the post.
Since the announcement has been made, Twitter users have taken the platform to share their thoughts on the news.
Journalist Aaron Rupar tweeted as a joke that in protest of Musk’s takeover, he was "pledging to make my tweets worse".
Screenwriter Randi Mayem Singer tweeted that she was staying... for now.
User Leah McElrath suggested for those who were upset about the news to make use of Twitter's blocking option when necessary, but to also check out other similar platforms.
Stand-up comic W Kamau Bell discussed what it means to quit Twitter now that Musk owns it. He suggested that those who don't take the threat seriously should look back to when other social media platforms eventually died out. "There are some natural-born quitters on here," he tweeted.
Actor Billy Baldwin questioned whether or not Musk could actually garner free speech on the platform.
User Nivrutti Yadav thanked Musk, claiming the acquisition was a "huge step for free speech".
User Aditya Singh Chauhan tweeted about the video of Musk entering Twitter headquarters with a sink and wrote: “love him, hate him, but you can’t ignore him".
User Tressie McMillan Cottom, a university professor, wrote that although she wasn't a fan of the news, it felt as though there has been a bit of an overreaction.
"It will be different but not the end of days," she tweeted.
And finally, a couple of users cracked jokes about what Musk owning Twitter really means.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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MATCH INFO
South Africa 66 (Tries: De Allende, Nkosi, Reinach (3), Gelant, Steyn, Brits, Willemse; Cons: Jantjies 8)
Canada 7 (Tries: Heaton; Cons: Nelson)
Champion%20v%20Champion%20(PFL%20v%20Bellator)
%3Cp%3EHeavyweight%3A%20Renan%20Ferreira%20v%20Ryan%20Bader%20%3Cbr%3EMiddleweight%3A%20Impa%20Kasanganay%20v%20Johnny%20Eblen%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%3A%20Jesus%20Pinedo%20v%20Patricio%20Pitbull%3Cbr%3ECatchweight%3A%20Ray%20Cooper%20III%20v%20Jason%20Jackson%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EShowcase%20Bouts%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EHeavyweight%3A%20Bruno%20Cappelozza%20(former%20PFL%20World%20champ)%20v%20Vadim%20Nemkov%20(former%20Bellator%20champ)%3Cbr%3ELight%20Heavyweight%3A%20Thiago%20Santos%20(PFL%20title%20contender)%20v%20Yoel%20Romero%20(Bellator%20title%20contender)%3Cbr%3ELightweight%3A%20Clay%20Collard%20(PFL%20title%20contender)%20v%20AJ%20McKee%20(former%20Bellator%20champ)%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%3A%20Gabriel%20Braga%20(PFL%20title%20contender)%20v%20Aaron%20Pico%20(Bellator%20title%20contender)%3Cbr%3ELightweight%3A%20Biaggio%20Ali%20Walsh%20(pro%20debut)%20v%20Emmanuel%20Palacios%20(pro%20debut)%3Cbr%3EWomen%E2%80%99s%20Lightweight%3A%20Claressa%20Shields%20v%20Kelsey%20DeSantis%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%3A%20Abdullah%20Al%20Qahtani%20v%20Edukondal%20Rao%3Cbr%3EAmateur%20Flyweight%3A%20Malik%20Basahel%20v%20Vinicius%20Pereira%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
