For most market watchers or even casual observers of headlines over the last several years, the last 24 hours have been big: Elon Musk, the celebrated space entrepreneur, prolific and provocative Tweeter and the world's richest man, has finally closed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter.

Elon Musk – who is also Tesla's CEO – confirmed the deal in less than 280 characters. He now holds one of the world's most powerful megaphones.

Here's what you – and Musk's 110 million followers – need to know about his acquisition of the social media platform and his ownership of what he calls a "digital town square."

That tweet was quickly met with a reply from European Union Internal Markets Commissioner Thierry Breton to Musk, who is a regular critic of international regulators.

Some far-right accounts see boost in followers, firm finds

As Elon Musk closed the deal to take over Twitter, some influential conservative figures saw spikes in new followers, according to data from digital investigations company Memetica.

Kari Lake, a Republican candidate for governor in Arizona, gained more than 18,000 new followers in the last 24 hours. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), meanwhile, gained 18,679 new followers during the same period. And more than 3,700 accounts started following conservative media personality Candace Owens.