Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor If nothing else, $44 billion has bought Twitter power-user Elon Musk status as the No. 1 most-followed account on the social network. As of Thursday morning, Musk had 133.088 million users — up more than 20% since he closed the Twitter deal last October. That pushed the billionaire ahead of the previously most-followed account, that of Barack Obama, who currently has about 133.042 million followers. (To be sure, this is according to the public counters operated by Twitter, which Musk controls.) Musk, a self-proclaimed free-speech “absolutist,” is notoriously fond of posting memes and jokes on Twitter. (Prior to his acquisition, according to Twitter’s legal team, Musk also used the service to disparage the company and its employees.) Musk has claimed he did not buy the company “to make more money” but to “try to help humanity, whom I love.” He also has said he was “obviously overpaying” for Twitter.