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Investigators reject Musk’s claim that hate speech has declined on the platform since he bought the company.
Tweets containing hate slurs spiked after Musk pulled out of the social media platform on Oct. 27, according to a study by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate.
The researchers compared the average daily tweets of the week before Musk’s inauguration (Sept. 27 to Oct. 26) with the week before Musk’s claim about the fall in hate speech (Nov. 18 to Nov. 24). gave the impression of 30,546 tweets, triple the rate before Musk’s inauguration, according to the study. Tweets with insults against homosexuals, other transgender people, Jews and Latinos also increased around this time.
The researchers used data from Brandwatch, a social media analytics company, and the numbers included original tweets, quote tweets and retweets. The tweets analyzed by the organization came from places around the world, but only included those in English.
Musk disputed that claim on Twitter, posting a graphic covering the Oct. 17-Nov. 30 era. He said the knowledge showed that the number of “impressions” of hate speech, which he explained as the number of times a tweet had been viewed, had decreased. The chart shows impressions of hate speech at just over 2. 5 million at the end of November. Musk did not provide details on how Twitter defines hate speech or how it measures those impressions.
Musk tweeted that he met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and visited the iPhone maker’s headquarters. Musk criticized Apple this week, claiming without offering evidence that the company censors votes, levies a “secret 30% tax” on App Store purchases and threatened to remove Twitter. Apple responded to a request for comment on Musk’s tweet.
“Good conversation,” Musk said in a separate tweet. Among other things, we have resolved the false impression related to the possible removal of Twitter from the App Store. Tim transparent that Apple never thought of doing this. “
Musk is looking to reassure logos that might be wary of advertising on Twitter. Musk also retweeted a Twitter blog post stating that protecting logos remains one of the company’s most sensible priorities and that none of Twitter’s policies have changed. He called for enforcing his regulations against misleading information about COVID-19, and Musk said he would grant “amnesty” to suspended accounts, allowing them to return to the account if they “did not break the law or interacted with blatant spam. “”
Thierry Breton, the European Union’s commissioner for the domestic market, told Musk that Twitter may be banned in the region or fined up to 6% of its global turnover if the company fails to comply with EU regulations on content moderation, according to the Financial Times.
Twitter will have to adhere to the Digital Services Act, said Breton, who told Musk he had to end his “arbitrary” technique to reinstate banned users, that he had to look for incorrect information “aggressively” and that he had to accept a “thorough and independent audit” of Twitter until next year. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
Breton told Musk that Twitter had “a big task to do” to comply with European regulations, according to a video call between the two provided through Breton’s office. The Commission is expected to conduct a “stress test” at Twitter’s headquarters in 2023 “to target compliance even earlier than legal and prepare for a thorough independent audit. “
Sinead McSweeney has been reinstated in her role as Twitter’s vice president of public policy, Journal. ie reported. She received a transitional court order from Ireland’s High Court preventing the company from ignoring her.
McSweeney felt she never quit, but Twitter acted like she was no longer a company worker after she failed to respond to Musk’s Nov. 16 email. The email reportedly required all staff to click “yes” to verify their continued employment with the company. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
Like other social media platforms, Twitter has spent the last few years battling misleading data about COVID-19, whether it’s fake cures or harmful conspiracy theories about vaccines. But Twitter hasn’t applied its policy of opposing misleading data about COVID-19 since November. 23
The company did so quietly, and the policy update went unnoticed for several days until CNN, Twitter users and a few other posts froze. Twitter responded to a request for comment and details on the policy change.
The launch of the modified Twitter Blue subscription service has been delayed, according to The Verge and Platformer, in an effort to reduce Apple App Store purchases by 30%. This followed Musk’s complaint about Apple on Twitter. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former director of acceptance and security, said he left the company because he knew Musk’s writing-focused leadership would eventually allow a “disaster” like Twitter’s blue verification to strike despite advice from his team. Roth cautioned that the company isn’t safe with Musk at the helm. Roth’s new comments stick to his Nov. 18 New York Times op-ed criticizing Musk’s approach.
After widespread layoffs and resignations, a team tasked with identifying and removing child sexual abuse content from the site now has just one member, according to Wired. It wasn’t clear without delay how many other people were on the team before, but Wired said it had met four Singapore-based child protection specialists who said they left the company in November.
The team, founded at Twitter’s Asian headquarters in Singapore, is guilty of enforcing the company’s ban on child sexual abuse, an ongoing and frustrating war for the social network. It investigated how classified ads from major brands made the impression on profiles requesting or promoting child pornography.
Twitter representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
In the first few weeks of Musk’s Twitter ownership, several high-level Republican members of Congress saw their user profiles gain followers, while some of their Democratic counterparts saw a decline, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan won more than 300,000 each, while Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren won. Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders lost about 100,000 Twitter followers, the Post reported. it simply didn’t identify the cause of the change, but under pressure that it fits with a trend that began when Musk announced in April his intention to buy Twitter.
Twitter is dealing with spam tweets after protests erupted over COVID-19 restrictions in China.
The Washington Post and TechCrunch reported that tweets from Chinese-language Twitter accounts that had been dormant for months began tweeting links to escort, and gambling services, as well as names of major Chinese cities. This meant that when a Twitter user tried to search for a city in China, their search effects were full of spam and they found it harder to locate tweets about the protests. The challenge arises because Twitter has a smaller team to take care of this problem. The Washington Post reported that workers estimate the company’s workforce has shrunk from 7,500 to 2,000.
Researchers are closely following Chinese spam. Stanford Internet Observatory director Alex Stamos tweeted that his team relies on its own analysis.
Must tweeted a collection of slides Saturday night, the first of which read “we’re hiring,” after weeks of layoffs, resignations and other defections from the company. Musk claimed engagement expanded on Twitter, sharing slides demanding new subscriptions and active minutes recently reached record levels. (Figures may not be independently verified. ) He also reiterated his ambitions to make Twitter a “versatile app,” sharing mockups of features like encrypted direct messages, long tweets and paid ones.
Musk also personally called the CEOs of major brands who stopped advertising on Twitter, according to the Financial Times, which cited an unnamed source. Other brands have reduced their expenses to a minimum instead of cutting them absolutely to avoid a confrontation with Musk, the FT. informed.
Just after midnight Friday, Musk tweeted his new verification concept, which is expected to be released on Dec. 2. Americans. Musk groups qualified Americans and blue Twitter fans into the blue cube, though Americans would possibly also have a smaller secondary lopass stating “belong to an organization if verified as such through that organization,” Musk explained in a follow-up. up tweets. .
Musk has been toying with verified checkmarks since taking office. He first attempted an $8-a-month Twitter Blue subscription that blurred the line between authenticated Americans and paid accounts, prompting a crowd of other people to pose as celebrities and corporations wreaking havoc. Twitter then added grey checkmarks for the “official” accounts of governments, media, business partners, and “certain public figures,” but then got rid of the checkmarks as the company was hesitant about who would get the “official” label.
The new three-color scheme seems designed for identity theft while preserving subscriber revenue.
Musk also noted that “all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before enabling verification,” though it’s unclear if this will be done entirely through Twitter or if users will care about authenticating their identity. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. Musk noted that a longer explanation will come next week.
Musk later raised the option of creating his own smartphone if Apple and Google start Twitter from their respective platforms. Choose a phone,” he tweeted in response to a question about the scenario.
Musk provided a few other details, but creating just one smartphone, yet a rival cellular platform that bypasses Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store is incredibly challenging and requires a combination of traditional hardware and software.
Considering how united Elon is between Twitter, SpaceX and Tesla, getting into the phone industry wouldn’t be the best idea.
After tweeting an unscientific ballot a day earlier, Musk announced the effects on Thursday. More than 72% of the 3. 16 million respondents voted “yes” to the question: “Should Twitter offer a blanket amnesty to suspended accounts, as long as they have Didn’t break the law or engage in blatant spam?
“The other people have spoken. The amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” he tweeted Thursday, referring to a Latin word that translates to “the voice of other people, the voice of God. “
Separately, Musk may be competing for this year’s Ebenezer Scrooge Award after laying off about 50 engineers just before Thanksgiving, according to technology newsletter Platformer. The bulletin corroborated a report by The Verge that some Twitter engineers had won emails Wednesday saying they had been fired because their “code was not satisfactory. “In the past, Twitter engineers had been ordered to send code samples to Musk. has required “minimum” 40-hour work weeks from staff.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Twitter had dissolved its account in Brussels, Belgium, after executives left the company. The FT said two of the executives led Twitter’s efforts to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, which sets out regulations related to content moderation, among other things. Others reportedly controlled the company’s relations with European regulators.
Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.
Musk floated the concept of providing “a blanket amnesty to suspended accounts” as long as they haven’t broken the law or engaged in “blatant spam. “
In a tweet, Musk asked users about the idea. It’s unclear how many accounts this substitution would cover, but some users have expressed fears that it will lead to more hate speech and other destructive content being spread on the platform.
Musk took back accounts that Twitter suspended for violating its regulations opposed to hateful behavior, incorrect COVID information, and glorification of violence. He restored the account of the former US president. U. S. Donald Trump after asking users about the idea. Twitter suspended Trump after the Jan. 6 riots. on Capitol Hill because the platform feared its tweets would incite more violence.
George Hotz, a hacker known for first jailbreaking an iPhone in 2007 and founding self-driving company Comma. ai, accepted a 12-week “internship” at Twitter to help with netpaintings search features on social media. Hotz and Musk had a confusing relationship. Hotz claimed he turned down a work project at Tesla, while Musk rejected the idea that Hotz and Comma. ai could create a better autonomous driving formula than Tesla’s Autopilot.
Meanwhile, Twitter is the subject of a charge-cutting crusade that, according to the New York Times, includes refusing to pay suppliers for unpaid bills. Several unnamed fonts.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post and industry watchers Pathmatics and Media Matters For America reported that up to a portion of Twitter’s hundred most sensible advertisers have announced or nearly spent on the platform.
Even more accounts that were once suspended continued with their bans lifted. On November 21, the private Twitter account of the U. S. representative was unblocked. U. S. Marjorie Taylor Greene, 10 months after she was permanently suspended for violating Twitter’s COVID disinformation policy. By the accounts, Musk claimed that a ban would remain: conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Later that day, Musk tweeted that Twitter is “delaying” the relaunch of paid verification through its Twitter Blue subscription service until “there is great confidence to prevent identity theft. “Twitter suspended the new verification formula in early November after users bought the verified blue checkmarks posed as big brands, politicians, athletes and other celebrities. Twitter scheduled the relaunch of paid verification on Nov. 29. Musk tweeted that the company would likely use a different color checkmark for organizations compared to people.
After Musk revoked former US President Donald Trump’s permanent ban, more suspended accounts came back online, Kanye West’s. Known as Ye after converting his call last year, West tweeted to his 32 million fans for the first time in two weeks, after being blocked by an anti-Semitic threat.
Project Veritas, a conservative activist organization known for its hidden camera videos, has also been reinstated, after being suspended last year for leaking information, a fee it has denied.
Separately, the FIFA World Cup has started. The event generally increases the use of Twitter, as other people around the world converge to revel in real-time updates and posts similar to their matches. be triggered by blackouts and outages as you are faced with operating with a fraction of your old equipment. But the first day of the tournament seemed to pass without Twitter learning of any major incident.
Elon Musk’s long-awaited cancellation of Trump’s permanent ban on Twitter has become a reality, opening the door to the debatable politician to his megaphone on social media.
Musk had asked users on Twitter if Trump would be allowed to return to the platform. The final effects of this vote showed 51. 8% in favor of reinstating Trump and 48. 2% against.
“People have spoken,” Musk tweeted. An account with the well-known name @realDonaldTrump gave the impression on the site. Twitter, like other social networks, had introduced Trump after the fatal Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Musk is laying off more workers on the sales and partnership side. He reportedly asked executives, adding Robin Wheeler, head of sales and marketing, to lay off more workers. Wheeler refused and lost her homework (she lists herself as a former Twitter business manager on her profile).
Twitter, which fired its communications department, did not respond to an email sent to its press.
Twitter cartoonists were banned from the company’s headquarters, but Musk reportedly sent an email asking some software engineers to return to the office, according to Bloomberg. .
Musk tweeted about the company’s speech policy and said some tweets might not have “freedom of access. “
“Negative/hate tweets will be maximized and demonetized, so Twitter will have no classified ads or other earnings,” he said. The Internet. “
Musk followed that tweet with another saying conservative media personality Jordan Peterson, right-wing satire site The Babylon Bee and comedian Kathy Griffin will bring back their banned accounts. Twitter Peterson and The Babylon Bee from the previous platform this year due to anti-trans tweets, while Griffin had the account suspended last week for turning it into a Musk parody account.
Musk also tweeted that Twitter had not made a resolution related to former President Donald Trump’s account, but Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former boss accepting it as true with and safe, said in a New York Times op-ed published Nov. 18 that the former president’s reinstatement was “almost certain. “Twitter banned Trump from its platform in 2021 over fears his comments would no longer trigger violence after the fatal Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Roth, who resigned from the company, wrote how Musk called for more censorship of tweets after a wave of hate speech manifested on the platform following his takeover. He also explained that the desire to moderate content is not only vital to satisfy advertisers, but also to appease app store owners and government entities, such as the European Union, that have laws against hate speech.
In a 24-hour Twitter poll, Musk asked users if Trump’s account would be reinstated.
Twitter users are still worried about the platform’s possible death, especially ahead of high-traffic events like the soccer World Cup that kicks off Nov. 20. The New York Times, mentioning 3 other people close to the company, reported that some estimates showed that at least 1200 workers quit on November 17 after Musk gave them the option to stay or leave.
User protection is another big fear on Twitter. CNN reporter Oliver Darcy tweeted that the White House was asking Twitter how it protected the “security of Americans’ online data. “The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Twitter users started tweeting farewell words as a #RIPTwitter trend on the platform in the US. The U. S. and other parts of the world.
Fears of a possible site collapse arose after many workers left the company the day before. A former Twitter worker told The Washington Post that there is no longer “a minimal team to manage the system. “
Twitter “will keep working until it finds something, and then it will stop,” the worker said.
Musk tweeted a Twitter meme on a tombstone.
The remaining 3500 or so workers who remained on Twitter after thousands were laid off had a decision to make at the end of the day on Nov. 17: stay under Musk’s plan for an intense “Twitter 2. 0” or leave with three months of severance pay. .
According to Fortune and Bloomberg, up to 75% of the remaining workers chose the exit, creating confusion about how many other people would have to go to the offices. The Verge reported that among those who left were “legendary” engineers and programmers.
Around the same time, the company closed the doors of its San Francisco headquarters until Nov. 21, according to the tech newsletter Platformer.
Twitter, which may no longer have a public relations department, did not respond to a request for comment.
All of this happened after Musk softened his stance on how he wanted to handle the new Twitter, at least a little. On Nov. 17, he said remote paintings are imaginable if approved, according to a Bloomberg report.
“All that is required for approval is for your manager to take on the duty of making sure you make a wonderful contribution,” Musk said in the email. You also need workers to have face-to-face team meetings at least once a month.
Twitter is also under closer scrutiny from U. S. lawmakers. An organization of Democratic senators sent a letter to Lina Khan, chairwoman of the U. S. Federal Trade Commission. UU. La letter describes what lawmakers described as “alarming steps” taken through Musk, adding new features that have been used through scammers, a backlog of hate speech and the removal of cybersecurity officials within the company, which could put users’ non-public knowledge at risk.
The senators note that such moves can only place the company in violation of the FTC’s consent order to this knowledge as part of a settlement with the commission in 2011.
“We urge the Commission to vigorously monitor its consent order with Twitter and take enforcement action against any unfair or deceptive violations or practices, adding civil consequences and enforcing the liability of individual Twitter executives, where appropriate,” the senators said.
Among the seven senators who signed the letter were Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Twitter violated the consent decree in May when the FTC discovered the company had security information, such as phone numbers and email addresses, to target advertising to users. This led to a $150 million settlement paid through Twitter.
Musk gave the impression of ending the day by mocking his earlier warning that Twitter could file for bankruptcy.
Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.
Musk sent an email to all staff describing his vision for “Twitter 2. 0,” which will require an “extremely tough” culture, with many hours and wonderful intensity, according to pragmatic engineer (and former Uber engineer) Gergely Orosz. Employees will have to agree on Thursday. or leave with 3 months of compensation.
During Wednesday’s testimony in a Tesla shareholder case alleging his salary as chief executive is excessive, Musk also told the court that he didn’t need to be Tesla’s chief executive and that his overall control of Twitter was a transitional arrangement.
“I hope to reduce my time on Twitter and position myself more to manage Twitter over time,” he said, according to CNBC.
Twitter responded to a request for comment.
When a follower asked Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey if he would return as CEO, Dorsey responded with a “no. “about the long-term Twitter and expressed confidence in the survival of the site. His previous term as CEO ended in May 2021 and he resigned from his board of directors in May 2022.
Employees who criticized Elon Musk on Twitter’s Slack channels were fired overnight by email, Platformer’s Casey Newton said in a tweet. They were told their “recent habit violated corporate policy. “It is not known how many other people were affected.
Twitter responded to a request for comment.
Speaking via video link, Musk told business leaders at the G20 summit in Bali that he needs longer Twitter videos to attract more content creators. week” since the acquisition.
SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace company, ordered an “acquisition” advertising package from Twitter for its Starlink satellite web service, CNBC reported. This will advertise the service on Twitter timelines of people in Spain and Australia and can charge upwards of $250,000. This comes after some advertisers suspended their campaigns due to the uproar on Twitter.
SpaceX responded to a request for comment.
Twitter got rid of thousands of contract employees, according to Casey Newton, Axios and Platformer’s CNBC, and Newton reported that around 4400 of Twitter’s 5500 or so contractors were affected. Most didn’t realize it and found out because they had lost access to the company’s internal messaging and communication systems, Newton said.
The company responded to a request for comment.
The option to sign up for the $8 per month Twitter Blue subscription service is no longer available on Twitter’s iOS app, as previously reported via The Verge. on Android. Trying to subscribe on desktop directs you to the iOS app.
Crumpe can verify that this manifests itself in two different ways: the subscribe button has disappeared from the sidebar and tapping the link brings up an error message.
Attempting to subscribe to Twitter Blue on the iOS app resulted in this on November 11.
“Thank you for your interest!” says: “Twitter Blue will be available in your country in the future. Come back later. “
It’s unclear why the company suspended subscriptions to the service, however, a large number of users reportedly purchased verification to impersonate brands and celebrities. Zoe Schiffer.
Twitter responded to CNET’s request for comment.
Musk sent his first emails to staff on Nov. 9, warning that “the looming economic scenario is terrible. “A sensible priority is to locate and suspend all verified bots/trolls/spam. “
A lawyer for Twitter’s privacy team posted a message on the company’s Slack warning that Musk is focused on monetizing its users to take harmful action, The Verge reported. It is likely to face billions in fines from the Federal Trade Commission following a regulation in It may be related to the use of non-public data to target ads.
Twitter’s Chief Privacy Officer, Damien Kieran; Lea Kissner, Chief Information Security Officer; and lead compliance officer Marianne Fogarty resigned, The Verge noted. Kissner’s departure showed his departure in a tweet.
Musk also reportedly said that worker bankruptcy was a possibility, Bloomberg reported, citing a user familiar with the matter. on Twitter, he also resigned, according to the report. Wheeler then made the decision to stay with the company after Musk convinced her to do so, Bloomberg reported. Roth, Wheeler and Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, did not respond to a request for comment. .
Twitter’s launch of a new verification formula is complicated. Twitter began adding gray checkmarks and an “official” tag to high-profile Twitter accounts, but then removed some of the tweaks a few hours later.
In a one-hour audio chat on Twitter later that day, Musk said the new tags are an “aesthetic nightmare when you look at the Twitter feed” and “another way to create a two-class system. “
Esther Crawford, who oversees early-stage products at Twitter, tweeted that the company would still implement the “official” tag, but first for government and advertising entities. Twitter also started allowing other people to upload blue marks on their profiles if they pay $8 a month for a Twitter Blue subscription. Scammers are already the new formula for creating fake accounts. Twitter said it would suspend accounts involved in deceptive tactics and identity theft.
In the audio chat, Musk discussed Twitter’s plans for a content moderation board and the companies’ decisions to suspend their ad campaigns on Twitter.
“I don’t think it’s smart to have hate speech next to an ad. Obviously,” he said. Musk also said he believes it will take a few months for Twitter to create a content moderation board.
He noted, however, that he doesn’t plan to slow down when it comes to converting Twitter.
“The speed of Twitter’s evolution will be a massive replacement for what it has been in the past,” he said.
Twitter is delaying the launch of verification badges connected to an $8-per-month subscription service until after the midterm elections, according to the New York Times.
Musk warned that any Twitter account that engages in phishing without making it clear that it is a travesty would face a permanent ban. In response, some users replaced their call to “Elon Musk,” resulting in his suspension.
Release notes for the latest version of Apple’s iPhone Twitter app took the impression on the App Store, with a What’s New segment pointing to the verification feature. The notes tell users that “starting today” if they “sign up now” for an $8 a month Twitter Blue subscription, “your account will get a blue tick, just like the celebrities, businesses, and politicians you already follow. “However, it seems that the program has not yet begun. Learn more here.
With reports indicating that Twitter had laid off a portion of its staff, co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey turned to the service to offer words of encouragement and blame himself.
“I am guilty of why everyone is in this situation: I lengthened the extension of the company too quickly. Me for that,” Dorsey tweeted, and I love everyone who has worked on Twitter before. I don’t expect it to be reciprocated right now. “
In April, Dorsey spoke out in favor of Musk’s acquisition of the company, but also said that, in principle, he believes no one deserves to own or manage Twitter and instead deserves to be “a public good. “
Since Musk’s purchase, several major advertisers, including Tesla rival General Motors, food company General Mills and pharmaceutical company Pfizer, have temporarily suspended their Twitter ad campaigns. teams of activists lobbying advertisers. Musk specified in his tweet the decline in Twitter’s revenue, nor did he identify the activists. In the tweet, Musk also said Twitter had replaced its content moderation policies.
Musk also made an appearance at the Baron Investment Conference, where he noted that Twitter was suffering from earnings issues prior to the acquisition and had attempted to pull out of the deal.
His comments came after Twitter began laying off workers. Musk later tweeted that “there is no option when the company loses more than $4 million per day. “Without specifying how many other people were laid off or what percentage of the workforce, Musk added that they were “offered 3 months of severance pay. “Approximately a portion of Twitter’s 7,500 workers have reportedly been laid off.
Civil rights teams that met with Musk have spoken out about the firings.
“For starters, there is no way to maintain the integrity of elections if oversight capacity is reduced in #TwitterLayoffs,” tweeted Rashad Robinson, president of the racial justice organization Color of Change. The organization is part of #StopToxicTwitter, a coalition of more than 60 organizations urging top advertisers to suspend spending and invest in content moderation. Partners indexed on the coalition’s online page include the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Public Citizen and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The Volkswagen Group and others have reportedly suspended ad spending due to fears that classified ads could appear alongside problematic content on the platform.
Musk to cut prices and make Twitter less dependent on advertising.
Reuters, citing two resources familiar with the matter and an internal Slack post, reported that Musk had asked the Twitter team for more than a billion dollars in infrastructure cost savings.
The company is in other tactics to make money from advertising, adding “paid” videos and paid direct messages, the New York Times reported, mentioning two other people familiar with the matter and internal documents.
Musk is already making adjustments to Twitter’s work culture. Bloomberg reported that Musk has removed “off days” from Twitter’s work calendars and plans to cancel the company’s remote work policy. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
Twitter reportedly told workers in an email that layoffs would occur. A lawsuit seeking the prestige of a class-action lawsuit accused Twitter of violating the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN), which requires giant corporations to turn over at least 60 days in advance. massive layoffs, as Bloomberg reported in the past.
Musk plans to eliminate about 3,700 jobs at Twitter, part of the social media company’s workforce, Bloomberg reported. The staff members involved will have to be informed of their fate by Nov. 4, the resources told the media.
Musk also plans to reverse the company’s existing hard-work policy from anywhere, requiring the remaining workers to report to an office, unidentified sources said.
In a Twitter downsizing situation being considered, laid-off staff will be offered 60 days of severance pay. Twitter users have been preparing for layoffs since Musk announced his offer for Twitter in April. One report said Musk plans to cut 75% of jobs on Twitter.
In a series of tweets, Musk floated the idea that Twitter charges $8 per month for a verified blue tick as part of its subscription plan. The company’s subscription service, known as Twitter Blue, recently costs $5 per month, but it doesn’t come with verification as a benefit.
Currently, Twitter does not rate account verification with a blue check mark, and the badge is meant to be awarded to accounts where the company is “notable, authentic, and active. “The blue checkmark is meant to help users determine whether a celebrity, journalist, or other public figure’s account is fake or not.
Musk tweeted that the price would be adjusted by country and that the subscription would come with “priority on replies, mentions and searches, which is defeating spam/scams,” as well as the “ability to post long videos and audio. “He also said users would see “half as many ads. “
Earlier in the day, the Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter Blue fans would lose access to ad-free articles from publishers like Vox, the Los Angeles Times and Insider. There have been other valuable reports for a Twitter Blue subscription, the company has also reportedly thought to increase the value of the subscription to $20 per month.
Musk’s tweets don’t clarify whether verified users pay for a subscription or lose their blue check mark. Musk tweeted that there would be “a secondary label” for public figures, like the one used lately for politicians.
The company’s lead visitors officer, Sarah Personette, also tweeted that she had resigned.
Meanwhile, Twitter said it removed 1,500 accounts since October 29 for posting hateful content.
Days after naming himself “Chief Tweet” on his Twitter profile, Musk showed that he is the company’s CEO through a values statement. Other adjustments to Twitter’s leadership are also being made. The “sole director” of the company.
He also reportedly planned to lay off 25 of Twitter’s workforce, The Washington Post reported, citing unidentified sources.
Musk, who in the past has said he would rescind former US President Donald Trump’s permanent Twitter ban, still wonders if he will comply. Comments would incite more violence.
“If I had a dollar every time someone asks me if Trump is coming back to this platform, Twitter would get money!” tweeted Musk.
Twitter has also limited some Trust and Safety employees’ access to internal tools, Bloomberg reported, restricting their ability to moderate content and fight misinformation ahead of next week’s U. S. election. It is said that they can edit or delete messages that can cause real damage.
“This is precisely what we (or any company) do in the midst of a business transition to diminish internal risk opportunities. We still enforce our regulations on a large scale,” tweeted Yoel Roth, Twitter’s lead security and integrity officer. to the Bloomberg story.
Musk has been busy suggesting tweaks to Twitter. Il tweeted a ballot about whether Twitter would bring back Vine, a short video app that Twitter shut down in 2017.
Twitter also reportedly planned to rate $20 consistent with the month for its Twitter Blue subscription service, and verified users would lose their blue mark if they didn’t do so within 90 days, The Verge reported, citing anonymous sources. Platformer’s Casey Newton reported that Twitter is charging verified users $5 per month if they want to keep their blue ticks.
Musk also tweeted and then deleted a link to an article containing an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory about last week’s attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives. U. S. Fact-Checking Attorney Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco. La online fact-checking page Media Bias/Fact Check noted that the outlet publishes right-wing misinformation.
Twitter is seeking to crack down on anonymous accounts that began tweeting racist slurs hours after Musk pulled out of Twitter.
Twitter’s lead security and integrity officer, Yoel Roth, tweeted that the company had “seen a small number of accounts post a ton of tweets containing insults and other derogatory terms. “only three hundred beads. “
“In conclusion: Twitter’s policies have not changed. Hateful behavior has no place here. And we are taking steps to prevent an organized effort to get other people to do it,” he tweeted.
Defense teams have raised considerations that Musk on Twitter would allow more hate speech and misinformation to emerge on the platform. Musk has publicly promised that he doesn’t need Twitter to become a “free hellscape,” but he also said he was “against censorship. “That goes far beyond the law. “
Musk said the company would form a content moderation board with “very varied viewpoints. “The company will make any decision to reinstate account or primary content before the board meeting, he tweeted.
An Oct. 28 stock filing also noted that Twitter’s stock would be removed from the New York Stock Exchange. Twitter, a publicly traded company, has a personal company.
Musk became Twitter’s new owner and reportedly fired key corporate executives, adding that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s chief legal officer, accept it as true and safe.
Earlier in the day, Musk tweeted a letter to advertisers. The billionaire, who tweeted that he hated advertising, has now posted that “advertising, when done right, can delight, entertain and tell you. “
Musk met with workers last week, grabbed a sink at Twitter headquarters as a photo shoot and replaced his profile to “Boss Twit” before news broke that the deal had closed.
CNET contributed to this report.