Elon Musk to Join Twitter’s Board of Directors

WASHINGTON — Elon Musk is joining the board of directors for Twitter.

The company announced Musk’s new role Tuesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission the day after Musk filed that he owns 9.2% of the company’s shares.

Musk, the richest man in the world, now has the largest personal ownership of Twitter shares. Twitter’s founder and former top executive, Jack Dorsey, owns a 2.3% stake in the company.

It’s unclear what Musk’s role on the board will be. However, he’s been critical of the social media company’s content and policy guidelines.

Those guidelines were put to the test when the social media company ultimately removed former President Donald Trump from the platform on Jan. 8 after multiple tweets violated the company’s “Glorification of Violence” policy.

Since then, Twitter has more actively removed tweets and suspended politicians’ accounts for violating the company’s guidelines.

“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?” Musk tweeted to his 80.5 million followers on March 26, days before he announced his ownership in the company.

“Is a new platform needed?” he subsequently replied.

At the time of that tweet, however, it appears Musk was already talking about Twitter’s own future with its CEO Parag Agrawal.

“I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board,” Agrawal tweeted Tuesday.

“He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!” Agrawal added.

Madeline can be reached at maddie@thewellnews.com.