Musk has made himself a businessman. He promised to make the social media service a place for unfettered free speech when he agreed to buy it.
Mr. Musk has followed traditional social media practices.
The N.A.A.C.P. and the Anti-Defamation League were among six civil rights groups that the world's richest man met with on Tuesday to assure them that he wouldn't change the rules before next week's vote. He met with advertising executives to discuss their concerns. Last week, Mr. Musk said he would set up a council to advise on what kind of content should be removed from the platform.
These decisions and outreach are familiar. The leaders of social media companies have done the same. After Facebook was criticized for being used in the 2016 presidential election, the social network's chief executive met with civil rights groups to calm them. He said he would set up an independent board to advise his company.
Mr. Musk is expected to make a lot of changes to the service and business, including laying off some employees. Social media experts and heads of civil society groups said that he is engaging with many of the same people he has had to deal with in the past.
Being the face of controversial big calls isn't fun for Mr. Musk. The pressures of users, advertisers and governments are the same for all social media companies.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Musk didn't reply to a request for comment. Meta wouldn't comment.
The deal was a big one. Musk made an offer worth $44 billion for the social media platform, saying he wanted to turn it into a private company and allow people to speak more freely. The battle that followed lasted months.
There was a move. The price Mr. Musk agreed to pay for the company in April was proposed on October 4. The purchase of the company was completed on October 27th.
The president of the N.A.A.C.P. said that the discussions centered on next week's elections and Mr. Musk's approach to moderation on his website.
Ms. Eisenstat said that the group asked Mr. Musk to hold off on changes to his policies until after the election.
She said that they wanted Mr. Musk to block the return of anyone who had been removed from the site for violating rules or inciting violence.
Ms. Eisenstat said that Mr. Musk appeared to be active and attentive throughout the meeting. She said that Mr. Musk invited the participants on the call to join his proposed moderation council.
She said that he made it appear as if he wanted to continue the dialogue.
The attendees said that Mr. Musk told them that he wouldn't make changes to the policy before the vote.
The billionaire was willing to listen to the concerns of the civil rights organizations. They said that they were waiting to see what Mr. Musk would do.
Mr. Johnson said that they were pleasantly surprised by his receptiveness with the things they raised.
Mr. Musk has had discussions with advertisers in the past few days. About 90 percent of the company's revenue comes from digital advertising. While Mr. Musk wants to reduce how much the company relies on advertising, he is under pressure to improve the company's finances quickly because of debt repayments.
Mr. Musk is having a meeting with the marketing and advertising community in New York.
If Mr. Musk takes an anything-goes approach to speech, some advertisers are hesitant. IPG, one of the world's largest advertising companies, recommended this week that clients temporarily stop spending on social media as Mr. Musk takes over. The company said last week that it was suspending advertising on the social networking site.
Social media firms have faced backlash from advertisers over harmful content. More than 1,000 advertisers boycotted Facebook last year due to the platform's handling of hate speech and misinformation.
Mr. Musk created a council to advise on moderation of content on his social media sites. The oversight board was made up of former political leaders and human rights activists. The company's moderation decisions could be appealed to the oversight board if Mr. Zuckerberg wanted to have final say over what speech was allowed on the social network.
After the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, the oversight board ruled on decisions such as Facebook barring Mr. Trump.
Mr. Musk is expected to do the same thing. He said that the civil rights community and groups who face hate-inspired violence will be included in the council.
The possibility of reinstating banned accounts was left open. He said that anyone who was de-platformed will not be allowed to return to the platform until there is a clear process for doing so.
He supports Birdwatch, a community-based initiative that allows people to identify false information in a social media post. The initiative is being rolled out to some high-profile users.
Mr. Musk said that their goal was to make the most accurate source of information on the planet.
Sheera Frenkel worked on the report.
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