May 5 (Reuters) - Elon Musk has secured $7.14 billion in funding from a
group of investors that includes Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison
and Sequoia Capital to fund his $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc,
according to a filing. 
    Here's a chronology of developments, including some tweets from Musk, that
shed some light on his views of the company and free speech:
    
 Date              Tweets and comments from company filing
 April 27, 2022    "Twitter DMs should have end to end encryption like
                   Signal, so no one can spy on or hack your messages," Musk
                   said in a tweet https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1519469891455234048
 April 27, 2022    "For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be
                   politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the
                   far right and the far left equally," Musk tweeted https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1519415674111672325
 April 25, 2022    "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter,
                   because that is what free speech means," Musk said in a
                   tweet https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1518623997054918657
 April 25, 2022    "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," Musk tweeted https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1518677066325053441?t=uZkgCtHZTcwmuGPkh3loDQ&s=19
                    after the deal was announced. "I also want to make
                   Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new
                   features, making the algorithms open source to increase
                   trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all
                   humans."
 April 21, 2022    "If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots
                   or die trying!" Musk tweeted https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1517215066550116354.
                    "And authenticate all real humans," he added.
 April 14, 2022    "Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to
                   shareholders, not the board," Musk asked https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1514698036760530945
                    in a poll on Twitter in which 83.5% of the responders
                   said yes.
                   Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said that as one
 April 14, 2022    of the major shareholders in Twitter he rejected a
                   takeover bid by Musk             
 April 14, 2022    "However, since making my investment I now realize the
                   company will neither thrive nor serve this societal
                   imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be
                   transformed as a private company," Musk said in a filing https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001418091/000110465922045641/tm2212748d1_sc13da.htm
 April 14, 2022    "My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not
                   accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a
                   shareholder," Musk added in the filing
 April 14, 2022    "Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it,"
                   Musk said in the filing
 April 14, 2022    Musk tweeted https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1514564966564651008
                    saying "I made an offer," with a link to the company
                   filing
 April 12, 2022    Musk was sued by former Twitter shareholders who claim
                   they missed out on the recent run-up in its stock price
                   because he waited too long to disclose a 9.2% stake in the
                   social media company             
 April 10, 2022    Musk polled followers on Twitter asking whether the
                   company's headquarters in San Francisco should be
                   converted into a homeless shelter. The tweet is now
                   deleted. Amazon.com          founder Jeff Bezos had backed
                   Musk's idea
 April 10, 2022    Twitter CEO Agrawal shared a note https://twitter.com/paraga/status/1513354622466867201
                    on Twitter saying that Musk rejected the company's offer
                   to join its board. Musk deleted the tweet, where he
                   responded with an emoticon with a
                   face-with-hand-over-mouth             
 April 10, 2022    Musk started a poll asking if "w" should be deleted from
                   Twitter's name, leaving two voting options, "yes" and "of
                   course." He deleted that too             
 April 9, 2022     With respect to Twitter's business model, Musk tweeted
                   before deleting it: "And no ads. The power of corporations
                   to dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends
                   on advertising money to survive"             
 April 9, 2022     Musk tweeted https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1512946176244473863,
                    "Everyone who signs up for Twitter Blue (ie pays
                   $3/month) should get an authentication checkmark" about
                   its subscription service that offers "exclusive access to
                   premium features" on a monthly basis. Later, he deleted
                   the tweet  
 April 5, 2022     Agrawal tweeted https://twitter.com/paraga/status/1511320953598357505?s=21&t=Is9i_R_hPKzFuUV5VhxUZQ
                    Musk is being appointed to Twitter's board. "He's both a
                   passionate believer and intense critic of the service
                   which is exactly what we need on 
                   @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the
                   long-term," a follow-on tweet said
 April 5, 2022     Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey welcomed Musk to Twitter's board
                   in a tweet https://twitter.com/jack/status/1511329369473564677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1511329369473564677%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Feconomictimes.indiatimes.com%2Fmagazines%2Fpanache%2Fto-celebrate-memelord-elon-musks-twitter-board-entry-netizens-flood-the-internet-with-jokes%2Farticleshow%2F90687616.cms,
                    added: "Parag and Elon both lead with their hearts, and
                   they will be an incredible team"
 April 4, 2022     Musk posted a Twitter poll asking users if they wanted an
                   edit button. "Do you want an edit button?" Musk asked in
                   the tweet, in response to which Agrawal said the
                   consequences of the poll will be important. "Please vote
                   carefully," he tweeted
 April 4, 2022     In his first tweet since the disclosure of his stake in
                   Twitter, he said, "Oh hi lol"
 March 26, 2022    Musk said Twitter failing to adhere to free speech
                   principles fundamentally undermines democracy and asked if
                   a new platform was needed 
 
 (Compiled by Akash Sriram, Eva Mathews, Chavi Mehta, Tiyashi Datta and Yuvraj
Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Amy Caren Daniel and Sriraj
Kalluvila)