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Elon Musk has said Twitter will form a moderation council “with widely diverse viewpoints” and that “no major content decisions or account reinstatements” will be made before it meets.

Musk’s $44bn deal to buy Twitter completed on Thursday and he reportedly sacked the company’s chief executive and two other top bosses.

The world’s richest man tweeted “the bird is freed” and “let the good times roll”, before a tweet on Friday announced the setting up of the content moderation council.

He’s previously promised to overhaul the service by getting rid of fake accounts and ensuring it’s a place where a “range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner”.

Donald Trump – arguably once Twitter’s most famous user – is one of those whose account could be reinstated.

The former president was banned after the siege on the US Capitol in January 2021 for allegedly inciting violence with two of his posts.

However, Musk earlier this year called the ban a “mistake” and “morally wrong”.

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Mr Trump celebrated the takeover on TruthSocial, a conservative social media platform he created, by posting that Twitter was “now in sane hands” and would “no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country”.

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Trump, who had nearly 89 million Twitter followers, has celebrated Musk’s purchase

Many on the right of the political spectrum have long argued that Twitter and other social media sites are biased against their views and quick to ‘deplatform’ them.

Musk’s approach to Twitter could allay some of those accusations as he’s described himself as a “free speech absolutist”.

However, he also assured advertisers Twitter would not become a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences”.

Donald Trump said in his post that the service would become “smaller but better” and that it must “work hard to rid itself of all the bots and fake accounts”.

He also claimed his own TruthSocial had become a “phenomena” which last week had “bigger numbers” than TikTok, Twitter and Facebook.

It’s unclear what figures he’s referring to, but the claim is likely to be false given the huge user base of those services.

Musk’s purchase of Twitter completed a day before the 28 October deadline to avoid the deal going to court. The company had taken legal action to force the deal through after Musk backed out in July over the number of fake and spam accounts.

Earlier this week, Musk posted a bizarre video of himself entering Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters carrying a sink alongside the message: “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in”.

He’s also now updated his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit”.

According to reports, Musk told staff during his visit it was not true he was planning on cutting up to 75% of Twitter staff after acquiring the company.

It was previously reported that Musk told investors he was hoping to cut around three-quarters of the firm’s 7,500 employees.

He has told investors he plans to sell users premium subscriptions to reduce reliance on ads, allow content creators to make money and enable payments, according to Reuters news agency.

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Will a second Trump assassination attempt shift the polls?

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Will a second Trump assassination attempt shift the polls?

With seven weeks to go until the US goes to the polls, Sky’s dedicated team of correspondents goes on the road to gauge what citizens in key swing states make of the choice for president.     

This week they focus on the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Mark Stone travels to Florida where the foiled attack took place, while James Matthews has been finding out more about the suspected would-be assassin in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Plus, Martha Kelner attended a Trump town hall in Flint, Michigan, to hear him speak for the first time after the attempt on his life, and asked voters if it will impact the way they vote in November.

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Producer: Rosie Gillott
Editor: Philly Beaumont

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‘All it could do was spin in circles’: Previous Titan sub passenger says his mission was aborted

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'All it could do was spin in circles': Previous Titan sub passenger says his mission was aborted

A previous Titan submersible dive to the Titanic was aborted due to an apparent mechanical failure, one of the mission’s passengers has said.

Fred Hagen had paid a fee to go on a dive in the Titan in 2021, two years before it imploded and killed all five passengers onboard.

He told a US Coast Guard panel investigating the tragedy on Friday that his trip was aborted underwater when the Titan began malfunctioning and it was clear they weren’t going to reach the Titanic wreck site.

“We realised that all it could do was spin around in circles, making right turns,” Mr Hagen said. “At this juncture, we obviously weren’t going to be able to navigate to the Titanic.”

He said the Titan resurfaced and the mission was scrapped.

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Trump-backed North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson denies calling himself ‘black nazi’ on pornographic forum

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Trump-backed North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson denies calling himself 'black nazi' on pornographic forum

A Republican backed by Donald Trump in his bid to be North Carolina’s governor denied reports he called himself a “black nazi” on an online message board.

CNN reported Thursday that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson posted racial and sexual comments on a pornography website more than a decade ago.

In a video posted on social media, the Republican nominee said he would not leave the race over “salacious tabloid lies”.

“We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it. And we know that with your help, we will.”

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Mr Robinson also referenced the CNN report and said: “Let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story – those are not the words of Mark Robinson.

“You know my words. You know my character.”

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The US outlet reported Mr Robson wrote of being aroused by a memory of “peeping” women in gym showers when he was 14.

He was also said to have used a racial slur when discussing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, referred to himself as a “black nazi,” and said: “I’d take Hitler over any of the shit that’s in Washington right now.”

CNN said it matched details of the account on the pornographic website forum to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name.

Sky News has not verified whether the account is linked to Mr Robinson.

Read more from Sky News:
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to remain in jail
‘Biden was so nice,’ Trump says
White House hits out at ‘irresponsible’ Musk

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Eight minutes after the report was published on Thursday, vice president Kamala Harris’ campaign started sharing videos of Donald Trump praising Mr Robinson.

One video from the campaign on X shows the former president at a March rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he called the lieutenant governor “Martin Luther King times two”.

“I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,” Mr Trump said.

Scott Lassiter, a GOP Senate candidate in a swing district in the state, called on Mr Robinson to “suspend his campaign to allow a quality candidate to finish this race”.

Mr Trump’s campaign also appeared to be distancing itself from Mr Robinson.

The ex-president did not refer to the controversy when he addressed Jewish donors on Thursday night, instead vowing to be ‘the best friend Jewish Americans ever had”.

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