Elon Musk now has the most followers on Twitter

Billionaire chief executive overtakes Barack Obama, with more than 133 million followers

Mr Musk, the world's second-wealthiest person, acquired Twitter in October last year. AFP

Twitter chief executive Elon Musk has become the most followed person on the social media platform.

Mr Musk, who bought the California-based company for $44 billion last October, had 133,072,571 followers at 11.22am UAE time, overtaking former US president Barack Obama, who had 133,043,280, according to their Twitter profiles.

The world's second-wealthiest person, who is also the chief executive of Tesla, is gaining an average of 100,000 users per day, according to Sawyer Merritt, an investor in the electric car company.

Mr Musk's move into the top spot came slightly later than some predicted. In November, analytics website Social Blade told the BBC that he would overtake Mr Obama on January 17.

At the time, Mr Musk was gaining roughly 270,000 followers a day, Social Blade said.

Canadian singer Justin Bieber is in third place with 113.31 million followers, followed by fellow artists Katy Perry and Rihanna, and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who all have more than 100 million followers.

Rounding out the top 10 are singer Taylor Swift, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former US president Donald Trump and singer Lady Gaga.

Mr Musk, a prolific user of Twitter, has drawn polarising opinions for his tweets, which have at times also caused him legal trouble.

Probably the most infamous — and costliest — instance was in 2018, when he tweeted that he was taking Tesla private at $420 a share, with “funding secured”.

The deal never materialised and it resulted in Mr Musk and Tesla settling with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for $40 million.

Last month, Mr Musk was also accused of manipulating Twitter's algorithm to boost the reach of his own tweets.

He instructed a team of his engineers to tweak the algorithm in order for his tweets to gain traction, resulting in a flood of his messages appearing on users' feeds, Platformer.news reported.

Twitter's monthly active user numbers are lower than other social platforms — it had about 556 million in February, ranking at 14th place, according to the latest data from Statista.

However, it has become a key platform for public discourse and a flashpoint for discussions that at times have also led to dissemination of disinformation and harmful content.

Mr Musk, who championed free speech during his campaign to acquire Twitter last year, sparked concerns that the network might spiral out of control with fake news.

However, the company tried to address these concerns by policing its own content and imposing sanctions on offending accounts, including revamping Twitter's blue check verification system.

He is also attempting to make the platform more transparent by making Twitter's algorithm open source.

Twitter will make the algorithm for recommending tweets public on March 31, Mr Musk said.

It plans to use artificial intelligence to curb the manipulation of public opinion on the platform.

Mr Musk's time at the helm of Twitter has been tumultuous.

He has fired more than half of the company's employees and shut down units and offices around the world, raising concerns that there may not be enough people to carry out oversight roles in key areas of its operations.

Twitter's revenue and adjusted earnings plunged by 40 per cent on an annual basis in December as several advertisers withdrew after Mr Musk took charge of the company, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.

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  Jared Kushner and Elon Musk watch the Fifa World Cup final match between Argentina and France. Getty Images

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  Mr Musk attends model and businesswoman Heidi Klum's 2022 Halloween party at Moxy Lower East Side, in New York City Getty

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  Mr Musk on stage next to Optimus the humanoid robot in Palo Alto, California, in September 2022 AFP

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  Mr Musk speaks at the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing 'Cyber Rodeo' grand opening party, in Austin, Texas, in 2022 AFP

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  Mr Musk shakes hands with Brazil's then president Jair Bolsonaro, at the event Conecta Amazonia in Porto Feliz, Sao Paulo state, in 2022 AFP

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  Mr Musk and his mother, Maye Musk, arrive for the 2022 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in 2022 AFP

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  Mr Musk attends the start of the production at Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2022 AFP

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  Mikey Day as a lawyer, Cecily Strong as a judge, and host Mr Musk as Wario during the 'Wario' sketch on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live', in 2021 Getty

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  Mr Musk and son X Æ A-12 onstage at 'Time' Person of the Year in New York, in 2021 AFP

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  Mr Musk dancing onstage during a delivery event for Tesla's China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai, in 2021 Reuters

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  Mr Musk with Armin Laschet, at the time CDU party federal chairman and prime minister of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, at the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2021 Getty

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  Mr Musk at the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, in 2020 EPA

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  Mr Musk leaves a New York court in 2019, after a hearing in a lawsuit brought against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission Getty

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  A prototype of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft in Boca Chica, Texas, in 2019 Reuters

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  Mr Musk and then partner Grimes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in 2018 AFP

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  From left, Mr Musk, Corning chief executive Wendell Weeks, then US president Donald Trump and Johnson & Johnson chief executive Alex Gorsky at the White House, in 2017 AFP

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  Mr Musk presents his plan to colonise Mars at the International Astronautics Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016 EPA

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  Mr Musk with then Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe after a test drive of the Tesla Model S P85D in Palo Alto, California, in 2015 Reuters

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  Mr Musk with then wife Talulah Riley at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards in London Getty

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  Mr Musk after Tesla's initial public offering at the Nasdaq market in New York, in 2010 Reuters

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  Then US president Barack Obama with Mr Musk on a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2010 Reuters

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  Mr Musk in the Tesla Roadster electric car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, in 2009 Reuters

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  Mr Musk with music producer Quincy Jones at the Tesla Roadster launch party in 2008 AFP

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  Mr Musk answers questions about the new Tesla Model S all-electric car, at its unveiling in Hawthorne, California, in 2009 AFP

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  Elon Musk in Los Angeles in 2008. Getty

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  Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk in 2004 Getty