Elon Musk officially completed a protracted $44 billion takeover of social media company Twitter, with Reuters reporting he made his mark immediately by firing top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal.

Musk tweeted “the bird is freed” upon completing the takeover, seemingly a nod to his desire to promote free speech on the platform.

He also vowed to take action on spam bots and is reportedly planning to scrap permanent bans on users.

Reuters reported Musk already wielded the axe, letting go of Agrawal who he clashed with during the takeover process, in addition to CFO Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.

Sources claim Agrawal and Segal were escorted out of Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco.

Reassuring advertisers
Musk issued an open letter to advertisers after taking control, in an apparent attempt to assure companies about his plans to ease content moderation rules.

“Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all landscape, where anything can be said with no consequences,” he said.

Reuters added Musk attempted to assuage employee concerns major lay-offs are imminent as a result of his takeover, following reports he planned to let 75 per cent of its overall workforce go.

Closure of the deal was expected after Musk paid a visit to the headquarters earlier this week.