According to the New York Times, Elon Musk has recently stated on twitter that he has purchased a large portion of twitter for 46.5 billion at 54.2 dollars per share. Musk had already stated his intent to buy twitter since April 14 and make the company private. Musk has not been taken seriously about buying twitter until his most recent offer of 46.5 billion dollars. According to The Washington Post, Musk responded to the question “Why are you buying twitter?” Musk said, “Well I think it’s very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech,” and “Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it’s just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.” According to The Washington Post, Musk said Twitter should be, “very cautious with permanent bans,” adding that he thought, “timeouts were better.” Musk said, “My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.” He also said, “I don’t care about the economics at all.” According to BBC News, many Twitter users are beginning to get rid of Twitter fearing that it will become a more toxic environment. According to BBC News, the 11 board members unanimously agreed to the deal presented by Musk. Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal stated, “Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go.” According to BBC News, Musk stated, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”