Jameela Jamil leads charge of users leaving Twitter following Elon Musk takeover


Sophie Prideaux
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Jameela Jamil has announced she is leaving Twitter after Elon Musk purchased the social media platform for $44 billion.

The Tesla founder and world’s richest man finalised the deal to buy Twitter on Monday, making it a privately owned company.

Despite Musk urging his “worst critics” to remain on the platform ahead of the sale announcement on Monday, many Twitter users have announced plans to close their accounts, including Jamil.

Ahead of the deal being confirmed, the former The Good Place actress told her one million followers: “One good thing about Elon buying Twitter is that I will FINALLY leave and stop being a complete menace to society on here. So it's win win for you all really.”

Once the deal was confirmed, she followed through with her word, saying she feared how the platform would change for the worse under Musk’s ownership.

For her last tweet, she shared a series of images holding her dog, Barold.

“Ah he got twitter. I would like this to be my what lies here as my last tweet,” she wrote. “Just really *any* excuse to show pics of Barold. I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny. Best of luck.”

Elsewhere, several other high-profile Twitter users announced their departure from the platform.

Liberal activist Shaun King’s account was disabled on Monday evening, hours after he tweeted Musk’s deal was about “white power”.

“At its root, Elon Musk wanting to purchase Twitter is not about left vs right. It’s about white power,” he said. “The man was raised in Apartheid by a white nationalist. He’s upset that Twitter won’t allow white nationalists to target/harass people. That’s his definition of free speech.”

New York Times columnist Charles Blow said the buyout was the “push he needed” to leave.

“Looks like I’m about to say goodbye to Twitter as well,” he wrote. “I’ve been pulling back a bit from social media anyway. This will be just the push I need to go all the way on this app.”

In a statement announcing the deal on Monday, Musk said: “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.

“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. Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

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Starring: Idris Elba, Caleb McLaughlin, Jharrel Jerome

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Town: Al Diqdaqah – Ras Al Khaimah

Education: Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering

Favourite colour: White

Favourite place in the UAE: Downtown Dubai

Favourite book: A Life in Administration by Ghazi Al Gosaibi.

First owned baking book: How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.

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Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

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MEN

Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)

T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)

ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)

Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)

WOMEN

Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)

ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)

T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)

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Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.

Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.

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Tori Amos
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England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)

New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)

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French business

France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.

Updated: April 26, 2022, 1:20 PM