Elon Musk has been asked to attend a hearing of the UK parliament to explain his plans for Twitter.

The billionaire bought the influential social network for $44 billion USD last month and has said he could change some of its policies.

Now the chair of the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee has written to the Tesla boss to ask him to attend a hearing "in the near future"..

In a letter dated 29 April Tory MP Julian Knight said: "My committee has noted your proposed acquisition of Twitter and we are interested in the developments you propose."

Mr Knight said the committee was particularly interested in Mr Musk's plan to roll out verification for all users, which he said "echoes our calls on the UK government as part of proposed legislation, which we hope will restore the UK's public trust in digital platforms".

The chair added: "I therefore wish to take this opportunity to invite you to speak before our committee and discuss your proposals in more depth.

"I know you have expressed your wish that critics remain on Twitter and this may present and opportunity to address any critiques in public."

Mr Musk said on Tuesday that "commercial/governemnt" users may have to pay a "slight cost" or fee to continue to use the platform. He said the network would "always be free for casual users", however.

The billionaire has said he could introduce new features such as an "undo tweet" button and hinted he could roll back content moderation policies.