Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has suggested in a tweet that while casual Twitter users will be to use the platform for free following his $44bn acquisition of the tech giant, commercial and government accounts may be subject to a ‘slight cost’.

Twitter’s board of directors accepted Musk’s $44bn offer to buy the platform on 25 April – a deal funded by $21bn of his own money, $12.5bn borrowed against his shares held in in Tesla and with the remaining sum made up by loans from banks.

The vague wording of the world’s richest man’s statement has drawn the ire of Twitter users, with many questioning what Musk’s long-term vision for the platform will be under his leadership.

In a Tweet from 25 April, Musk wrote: “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”

This statement vexed Twitter users pointing out that ‘free speech’ and ‘hate speech’ should not be conflated.

Until now, free speech has appeared to be the guiding light in Musk’s decision to acquire Twitter.

Having evaluated Tweets by former US president Donald Trump, which may have contributed to his proponents’ storming of Washington’s Capitol building on 6 January 2021, Twitter permanently suspended his account.

At the time, Twitter said that Trump’s account had been "permanently suspended... due to the risk of further incitement of violence".

The ban prompted Trump to launch his own social media platform, Truth Social.

Sticking to the right to free speech theme as his prevailing motive for acquiring Twitter, in another Tweet Musk said: “Truth Social (terrible name) exists because Twitter censored free speech.”

Tweets from Musk in recent weeks have given further hints as to what changes he may have in store once he takes charge of the platform. The potential changes include making algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spambots, and working to verify all humans.

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