President Michael D Higgins has described the purchase of Twitter by tech billionaire Elon Musk as the manifestation of an incredible and dangerous narcissism.

Speaking about the importance of the role of the media in the battle against climate change at a conference in Dublin City University, the president asked is it a great success if a billionaire would now be deciding what is appropriate for people to exchange by way of discourse.

Without mentioning Mr Musk by name, the president said the purchase of Twitter can hardly be described as anything other than the manifestation of an incredible and dangerous narcissism.

Twitter confirmed last week that it is selling the platform to Mr Musk in a deal valued at $44 billion (€41bn).

Elon Musk is the world's richest person (file pic)

The sale was a dramatic shift for the board, which had originally maneuvered to block Mr Musk from taking the social media network private.

The transaction will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world's richest person.

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