Elon Musk claims he has acquired Twitter ‘to help humanity’

Elon Musk has claimed he has "acquired Twitter" in a post to the social network reassuring advertisers it will stay a safe place for their brands, amid fears one of his first actions as chief executive will be to restore Donald Trump's account.

After months of uncertainty over whether or not his $44bn acquisition of the social media platform would go through, the Tesla chief executive's post is the strongest acknowledgment yet that the deal is expected to be sealed before its deadline of 5pm in Delaware on Friday.

Musk wrote in a statement attached to the tweet: "The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence."

He added: "That is why I bought Twitter. I didn't do it because it would be easy. I didn't do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love."

Despite his use of the past tense, he did not legally own Twitter at the time of the post and the company continued to trade on the New York stock exchange. The final paperwork is expected to be completed on Friday afternoon.

He published the tweet a day after visiting the company's headquarters in San Francisco and posting a video of himself entering the building while carrying a sink, with the caption: "Entering Twitter HQ - let that sink in!" On Wednesday, Musk also changed his Twitter handle to "Chief Twit".

In a sign of market confidence that the purchase will now go ahead, the platform's shares rose by 1% on Thursday to $53.90, close to the $54.20 a unit agreed price.