Elon Musk named sole director of Twitter, dissolves board

(The Hill) - Elon Musk has been named sole director of Twitter, dissolving the board in place before he completed his $44 billion acquisition of the company, the social media platform said in a securities filing on Monday. 

Musk became the sole director of the company “in accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement,” the company told the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Twitter’s board members Bret Taylor, Parag Agrawal, Omid Kordestani, David Rosenblatt, Martha Lane Fox, Patrick Pichette, Egon Durban, Fei-Fei Li and Mimi Alemayehou will no longer serve on the board, the company said. 

The disbanding of the board is among the string of changes the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO put in place after assuming ownership of the company last week, concluding a six-month process. 

After the acquisition, Musk also reportedly let go of some of the company’s top executives, including Chief Executive Officer Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal policy.

Musk’s ownership triggered concerns from critics that he will peel back content moderation policies in a way that will lead to more hate speech and misinformation on the platform. The Washington Post reported Friday that racist and antisemitic tweets spread quickly on Twitter after Musk’s takeover.

Musk may also allow users who have had accounts banned in the past, including former President Trump, back on the platform. On Friday, Musk said he is planning to create a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints,” and that “no major content decisions,” including about reinstating accounts, will happen before the council convenes. 

Musk is also reportedly planning to start charging users $20 per month to have a verified account.