Elon Musk to launch new social media app? Here's everything you need to know

Hours after billionaire Elon Musk reversed course and offered to buy Twitter at its original price of $44 billion, he teased his plans to create a mysterious app dubbed “X”.

Though the billionaire has not offered many details on his ideas for the application but the Tesla CEO’s latest comment indicates that he sees Twitter’s platform as a key building block. His previous comments also suggest he wants to integrate many more services into Twitter and turn it into a “super app.”

This is not the first time Musk talked about his plan, when one user suggested it would be easier to create X as a separate entity from scratch, Musk replied that taking over Twitter “accelerates” his plans to create X “by 3 to 5 years.”

While Musk hasn’t elaborated on what form an “X” app will take, Bloomberg noted that he has praised the Tencent-owned social media app WeChat, which allows users access to services ranging from payments to food delivery to ordering cars.

Conversely, WeChat is widely viewed as a government surveillance tool in China that is also subject to heavy censorship, even as Musk has touted his plans to remake Twitter as a beacon of free speech.