A whole lot more than the site's name changed when billionaire businessman Elon Musk took over Twitter . His power over the social media platform extends much further though as he uses the global site, now known as X, to project his own "deeply irresponsible" views, which have stoked tensions across the pond over the past week's violent riots following the harrowing Southport stabbings. The Tesla founder published a stream of problematic posts on the crisis, sharing videos from right-wing influencers and damaging memes to his 193 million followers.
He declared "civil war is inevitable" in the UK after far-right mobs caused violent disorder across the country, which saw Downing Street publicly slap down the claim with Mr Starmer's official spokesman saying there was "no justification for comments like that". It has now been more than two years since Elon began buying Twitter stock and, in April 2022, was invited to become a board member. After a hefty legal battle, in which Musk attempted to pull out of an agreed $44billion (£38.
1bn) takeover of the platform, he finally took control over one of the world's most powerful and influential social media sites. Amidst the panic inside Twitter for some employees, the very next day, Musk turned up at the HQ with a sink for a joke and tweeted: "Let that sink in." Almost immediately, staff were informed they would receive an email - to their work if they had a job, or to their personal if they had been fired.
More than 6,000 people end.