Why Elon Musk has been so keen to take control of Twitter

The world’s richest man has struck a deal to buy Twitter for US$44 billion ($61 billion).

After weeks of speculation, the Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk paid $54.20 per share for Twitter after intense negotiations with the board.

The transaction has been approved by the board and is now subject to a shareholder vote.

Mr Musk has tweeted saying he wants to make the platform “better than ever” with new features, open source algorithms and the authentication of all users.

The Tesla owner says a public platform that is “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilisation”.

He’s previously emphasised the need for free speech on the platform and aired concerns about content moderation.

But digital social media and psychology expert at the University of Southern California, Professor Karen North, says there’s likely another reason Mr Musk is buying Twitter.

“We’re all speculating that he wants to open up Twitter a little bit more and I’m speculating that he’s interested in the data that Twitter has,” she told Ross and Russel.

“The question is how much money there is to be made from the data that they have and the data that they use.

“The value of the aggregated data on Twitter is very high.

“We have so many people telling stories and then we have all of the engagement data of how many people click, and share, and like various sorts of stories.”

Professor North says users are expected to notice some changes on the social media platform.

“He could allow some things to be spoken that aren’t spoken, he could allow some people back on that are banned,” she said.

Press PLAY below to hear about the changes Musk is tipped to make to Twitter

Image (Musk): Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images