According to news agency Reuters, this was followed by the firing of a row of the company’s top executives, including Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, stating they had misled Musk over the amount of bots and fake accounts active on the website. 

The world’s richest man, who views himself as a “free speech absolutist”, initially tried to back out of the agreement, but was legally bound to follow through or pay a substantial fine. In a final U-turn, Musk then completed the deal, tweeting on the morning of 28 October that “the bird is freed”. 

With the deal now completed, the company will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.