Twitter’s new proprietor and CEO, Elon Musk, is placing his stamp on the influential social community.
Instantly after Musk purchased Twitter on Oct. 27, the billionaire wasted no time making modifications to the platform. From firing executives to proposing a brand new content material moderation council, quite a bit has unfolded with Musk on the helm.
However Twitter’s saga with Musk was chaotic even earlier than he took management. The 2 sides secured a pact for him to purchase the corporate in April, however Musk later tried to again out of the deal, main Twitter to sue him. After months of messy pretrial skirmishes, the SpaceX and Tesla chief lastly closed his acquisition of the corporate proper earlier than a deadline that will have compelled him to go face to face with Twitter in courtroom.
“The hen is freed,” Musk, who has greater than 112 million followers on Twitter, tweeted on the evening he accomplished his $44 billion buy.
This is the latest information about Musk’s takeover of Twitter:
Nov. 2: Musk reportedly plans to chop half of Twitter’s workforce
Musk plans to chop about 3,700 jobs at Twitter, or half of the social media firm’s workforce, Bloomberg reported. Affected staffers are to be told of their destiny by Friday, sources advised the information outlet.
Musk additionally plans to reverse the corporate’s present work-from-anywhere coverage, requiring remaining workers to report back to workplace, the unidentified sources stated.
In a single state of affairs for lowering Twitter’s workfroce being thought-about, laid off employees will likely be provided 60 days’ price of severance pay. Twitter customers have been bracing for layoffs since Musk introduced his bid for Twitter in April. One report indicated that Musk deliberate to chop 75% of jobs at Twitter.
Nov. 1: Musk suggests charging for verification
In a sequence of tweets, Musk floated the concept that Twitter cost $8 per 30 days for a verified blue test mark as a part of its subscription plan. The corporate’s subscription service, generally known as Twitter Blue, at present prices $5 per 30 days however would not embrace verification as a perk.
Twitter at present would not cost to confirm accounts with a blue test mark, and the badge is meant to be given out to accounts that the corporate determines are “notable, genuine and energetic.” The blue test mark is supposed to assist customers decide if an account of a celeb, journalist or different public determine is faux or not.
Musk tweeted that the worth could be adjusted by nation and that the subscription would come with “precedence in replies, mentions & search, which is crucial to defeat spam/rip-off,” in addition to the “skill to publish lengthy video & audio.” He additionally stated customers would see “half as many adverts.”
Earlier within the day, The Wall Road Journal reported that Twitter Blue subscribers will lose entry to ad-free articles from publishers like Vox, the Los Angeles Occasions and Insider. There have been varied experiences of various costs for a Twitter Blue subscription, with the corporate additionally reportedly having thought-about growing the subscription value to $20 a month.
It is unclear from Musk’s tweets if verified customers must pay for a subscription or lose their blue test mark. Musk tweeted there could be “a secondary tag” for public figures, just like the one now used for politicians.
The corporate’s chief buyer officer, Sarah Personette, additionally revealed in a tweet that she resigned on Friday.
Hello of us, I needed to share that I resigned on Friday from Twitter and my work entry was formally reduce off final evening.
— Sarah Personette (@SEP) November 1, 2022
In the meantime, Twitter stated it has eliminated 1,500 accounts since Saturday for posting hateful content material.
Oct. 31: Official CEO, board dissolved, layoff plans, no Trump determination but, content material moderation restricted
Days after naming himself “Chief Twit” on his Twitter profile, Musk confirmed he is the corporate’s CEO via a securities submitting. Different modifications to Twitter’s management are additionally underway. A associated securities submitting exhibits Twitter’s board of administrators was dissolved the day Musk took over and recognized Musk because the “sole director” of the corporate.
He additionally reportedly plans to put off 25% of Twitter’s workforce, The Washington Put up reported, citing nameless sources.
Musk, who has beforehand stated he would reverse former US President Donald Trump’s everlasting ban from Twitter, remains to be getting questions on whether or not he’ll observe via on that. Twitter booted Trump from its platform in 2021 following the lethal US Capitol Hill riot due to considerations that his remarks might incite extra violence.
“If I had a greenback for each time somebody requested me if Trump is coming again on this platform, Twitter could be minting cash!” Musk tweeted.
Twitter additionally restricted some Belief and Security worker entry to inner instruments, Bloomberg reported, curbing their skill to average content material and handle misinformation forward of subsequent week’s US elections. They will apparently nonetheless edit or take away posts that would lead to real-world hurt.
“That is precisely what we (or any firm) ought to be doing within the midst of a company transition to cut back alternatives for insider threat. We’re nonetheless imposing our guidelines at scale,” Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of security and integrity, tweeted in response to Bloomberg’s story.
Oct. 30: Musk toys with checkmark modifications and Vine revival, tweets misinformation
Musk has been busy suggesting modifications to Twitter. He tweeted a ballot about whether or not Twitter ought to deliver again Vine, a short-form video app that Twitter shut down in 2017.
Twitter additionally reportedly plans to cost $20 per 30 days for its Twitter Blue subscription service, and verified customers would lose their blue checkmark if they do not achieve this in 90 days, The Verge reported, citing nameless sources. Platformer’s Casey Newton reported that Twitter is considering charging $5 a month to verified customers in the event that they wish to hold their blue checkmarks.
Musk additionally tweeted after which deleted a hyperlink to an article with a baseless conspiracy idea about final week’s assault on Paul Pelosi, the husband of US Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco. The article got here from an internet site referred to as the Santa Monica Observer. Truth-checking web site Media Bias/Truth Examine famous the outlet publishes right-wing misinformation.
Oct. 29: Twitter battles a surge in racist slurs
Twitter is attempting to fight nameless accounts that began to tweet racist slurs hours after Musk took over Twitter.
Twitter head of security and integrity Yoel Roth tweeted that the corporate has “seen a small variety of accounts publish a ton of tweets that embrace slurs and different derogatory phrases.” He added that “greater than 50,000 tweets repeatedly utilizing a specific slur got here from simply 300 accounts.”
“Backside line up entrance: Twitter’s insurance policies have not modified. Hateful conduct has no place right here. And we’re taking steps to place a cease to an organized effort to make folks suppose we’ve got,” he tweeted.
Let’s speak for a minute about slurs, hateful conduct, and trolling campaigns.
Backside line up entrance: Twitter’s insurance policies haven’t modified. Hateful conduct has no place right here. And we’re taking steps to place a cease to an organized effort to make folks suppose we’ve got.
— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) October 30, 2022
Oct. 28: Twitter to type content material moderation council
Advocacy teams have raised considerations that Musk’s management over Twitter would enable extra hate speech and misinformation to floor on the platform. Musk has vowed publicly he would not need Twitter to turn into a “free-for-all hellscape” however has additionally stated that he is “in opposition to censorship that goes far past the legislation.”
Musk stated the corporate would type a content material moderation council with “broadly numerous viewpoints.” The corporate will not make any main content material choices or account reinstatements earlier than the council convenes, he tweeted.
Twitter will likely be forming a content material moderation council with broadly numerous viewpoints.
No main content material choices or account reinstatements will occur earlier than that council convenes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
A securities submitting on Oct. 28 additionally famous that Twitter’s inventory is being delisted on the New York Inventory Change. Twitter, a publicly traded firm, grew to become a non-public one.
Oct. 27: Musk takes over Twitter, fires executives
Musk grew to become Twitter’s new proprietor and reportedly fired key executives on the firm, together with Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of authorized coverage, belief and security.
Earlier within the day, Musk tweeted a letter to advertisers. The billionaire, who as soon as tweeted that he hated promoting, now posted that “promoting, when completed proper, can delight, entertain and inform you.”
Musk met with workers all through the week, carried a sink into Twitter’s headquarters as a photograph op and adjusted his profile to “Chief Twit” earlier than information broke that the deal had been accomplished.
