Ever since Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk expanded his business empire by paying $44 billion for Twitter, the blue bird app is struggling to get a breather.
Before Mr Musk’s purchase, Twitter had about 7,500 employees. It also used the services of thousands of contract workers. More than half of them are gone. And the exodus continues.
Key developments:
- Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion on October 27
- Fires CEO Parag Agrawal, and key top executives on October 28
- Company lets go half of its global staff in just over a week after closing the deal
- Musk tells staff to work from office on November 9
- Major advertisers pull back from the platform in November first week
- Regulators express concerns over Musk’s business practices at Twitter with FTC warning the company on November 10
German official calls for Twitter to be put under direct supervision after missteps
A senior German official on Thursday called for Twitter to join the list of other tech companies being directly monitored by the European Commission.
In a letter to two European Commissioners, Sven Giegold, the state secretary in charge of competition policy at Germany’s economy ministry, called on the EU to start an investigation saying the commission should act to prevent Twitter’s “anti-competitive behaviour”.
Giegold also pointed to Twitter’s abrupt suspension of journalists’ accounts and restrictions to access links and said the company’s behaviour under Elon Musk posed a threat to free speech.
Twitter seeks dismissal of disability bias lawsuit over job cuts
Twitter Inc. has asked a federal Judge in California to toss out a proposed class action lawsuit claiming CEO Elon Musk’s mandate that employees return to office and put in “long hours at high insanity” discriminates against workers with disabilities.
The lawsuit against Twitter claims Musk’s ultimatum violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires employers to offer reasonable accommodations to workers with disabilities.
The lawsuit is one of the four lawsuits pending against Twitter in courts. The lawsuits stem from staff cuts at the company which saw 3,700 employees being laid off. The other cases accuse Twitter of not giving employees and contractors advance notice of layoffs, failing to pay promised severance and disproportionately targeting women for job cuts.
Twitter’s top global policy official departs
Twitter Inc.’s public policy chief has left the company amid additional layoffs to the unit on December 22.
Sinead McSweeney, global Vice President for public policy left Twitter according to reports from Reuters.
Nick Pickles, senior director for global public policy strategy, has taken over McSweeney’s role, the report added.
Verification marks turn blue, ‘official’ label restored to accounts
Twitter users noticed that accounts with legacy verification marks as well as those subscribed to the new Twitter Blue service received an updated check mark; one that was actually blue.
Other accounts, such as those belonging to celebrities, brands, and companies were stamped with an additional ‘official’ label.
Clicking on the blue verification mark still reveals whether or not the user paid for Twitter Blue.
Twitter and Apple CEOs resolve conflict
Days after Elon Musk took aim at Apple and its CEO Tim Cook over the iPhone maker’s 30% commission on in-app purchases and advertising policies, the Tesla billionaire tweeted that all was well again.
Musk posted a video from the Apple headquarters and said that he and Cook had a “good conversation” where they resolved their misunderstanding. The Twitter CEO also shared that Cook never considered keeping Twitter from the iOS app, as Musk had earlier alleged.
Spam accounts purged
Musk warned on December 1 that Twitter users could expect to see their follower counts drop, as many spam and scam accounts were being purged.
Twitter aims to improve recommendations
Twitter is allowing users to add an “X” to tweets so they can remove posts from their home timeline. The platform is also testing a feature to let users choose how they want to see their home timeline. Users can switch between the “For You” view that includes recommendations and the “Latest” view that will have only the newest tweets from the accounts that they follow.
Twitter to stop enforcing COVID-19 misinformation policy
Twitter has updated its policies on COVID-19-related posts. Users noticed a new banner on the site stating it would no longer enforce the former misinformation policy.
In the past, Twitter had challenged and suspended accounts while also removing tweets that spread “potentially harmful and misleading information” about the pandemic.
“Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” stated the update.
Musk says Apple “mostly stopped advertising on Twitter”
Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Monday announced that iPhone maker Apple had “mostly stopped advertising on Twitter.” He went on to ask if the company hated free speech in America.
Apple spent roughly $48 million on Twitter ads in Q1 2022, according to a report by Washington Post. Apple has not confirmed the estimate.
Musk asked Apple’s CEO Tim Cook to clarify in a tweet. Musk also retweeted several other posts criticising the iPhone maker. He noted that Apple had threatened to keep Twitter out of its app store, without providing any reason for the same.
Musk then lashed out against Apple’s 30% App Store cut, accusing it of adding a “secret 30% tax,” and ran a Twitter poll about Apple’s alleged censorship actions.
Musk clarifies “slight degradation of service” on Monday
The Twitter CEO said that an old third-party tool used to block accounts en masse without a limit was the reason behind Twitter’s “slight degradation of service” on Monday. He said the issue was resolved.
Twitter CEO working on ideas proposed by Dogecoin co-creator
Elon Musk said he was “working” on some features for Twitter proposed by Billy Markus, the creator of the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin [DOGE], of which Musk is a fan.
Markus on Monday suggested an “opt-in civil discourse” mode only for Twitter Blue accounts. He explained this was so that issues could be discussed without abuse, limiting quote-tweets and replies to civil and verified participants.
Markus prefaced his tweet by saying his idea was “likely bad.”
Musk claims Twitter is hiring, new user sign-ups at “all time high”
Sharing the slides from his Twitter company talk, Musk said that Twitter was recruiting. He added that the platform’s new user sign-ups and user active minutes were also at all-time highs.
The slides showed charts to support the claim that hate speech impressions and reported impersonations were falling.
According to the data, there was an average of over two million new user signups per day in the last week.
Stephen King calls Musk a “visionary” but “terrible fit for Twitter”
Horror novelist Stephen King, who had previously threatened to leave Twitter if paid verification marks became a reality, tweeted on Saturday that Musk was a “visionary” due to his work with Tesla, but that he was a “terrible fit for Twitter” who seemed to have no plan in mind for the platform.
King also admitted that he loved the Tesla car he owned. He acknowledged that Musk did not create the automobile company but made it a success.
Musk’s reply was friendly, and he encouraged the author to share his suggestions for Twitter.
Elon Musk says Twitter’s ban on Trump after Capitol attack was ‘grave mistake’
Musk said on Friday said, Twitter’s ban on then President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters was a “grave mistake” that had to be corrected.
“I’m fine with Trump not tweeting. The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service,” Musk said in a tweet.
Elon Musk backtracks, lays off more Twitter employees
Tech journalists reported that more Twitter employees were fired on November 23, shortly after CEO Elon Musk said that the layoffs were over and that the company was looking to hire new talent. While some were reportedly fired by email because their code was not “satisfactory,” other employees received a performance warning message.
There are concerns about how the latest round of layoffs during the holiday season will affect employees on H1B visas or those taking parental leave.
Musk wants to reinstate suspended Twitter accounts
Musk is considering restoring most of the suspended Twitter accounts. He has put up a new poll asking users if Twitter should bring back the suspended accounts, provided they have not broken the law or engaged in spam. Users have 24 hours to vote, and so far, “yes” is ahead by a wide margin. Musk floated a similar vote last week before he reinstated former U.S. President Donald Trump’s account.
Elon Musk boasts of “all-time high” in daily users
Twitter CEO Elon Musk shared a chart on Twitter to back up his claim that the social media platform reached another “all-time high” by adding 1.6 million daily active users in the past week, bringing the total to around 259.4 million. Musk said the number would improve as Twitter became faster to use in other countries.
Twitter 2.0 might get encrypted DMs
During a Twitter company meeting, Elon Musk reportedly said he was looking to introduce encrypted direct messaging, voice calls, and video calls on Twitter. The new CEO also spoke about possibly bringing in Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike to help with the update, according to tech outlet The Verge.
Musk still wrangling with Blue check and impersonation challenges
The revised Twitter Blue subscription has been put on hold again, Musk tweeted on November 22. It was set to be released on November 29 after fixing the issue of rampant user impersonation. Musk said there needed to be more confidence of stopping impersonation.
A notable instance of impersonation on the platform is one Twitter Blue verified user, who is impersonating Jesus Christ and has over 8,62,000 followers.
The Twitter CEO also floated the idea of having different colour check marks for individuals and organisations.
Twitter wants to hire again after 1,000 resignations
Tech outlet The Verge reported on November 22 that there were close to 1,000 resignations last week following Musk’s “hardcore” ultimatum to workers who were not fired. However, the new Twitter CEO is also looking to hire talent again, with a focus on people who are “great at writing software,” according to sources who attended a company meeting.
Twitter’s Head of Operations in France leaves company
Damien Viel, the head of Twitter’s French Operations, tweeted on November 20 that it was “over” and that he was leaving the company. A translation of his tweet said he had worked at the social media company for seven years.
Ban reversed, but Trump to stay away from Twitter
Donald Trump on Saturday said he had no interest in returning to Twitter even as a slim majority voted in favor of reinstating the former U.S. President, who was banned from the social media service for inciting violence, in a poll organized by new owner Elon Musk. Slightly over 15 million Twitter users voted in the poll with 51.8% voting in favor of reinstatement.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Mr. Musk tweeted.
Mr. Trump had appeared less than keen earlier in the day. “I don’t see any reason for it,” the former President said via video when asked whether he planned to return to Twitter by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting.
Donald Trump back on Twitter
Donald Trump’s once-blocked Twitter account reappeared on the platform Saturday, minutes after company owner Elon Musk announced he was lifting the 22-month suspension on the former president over incitement of violence.
Trump’s account — dormant since days after the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol by his supporters — was visible to users after Musk tweeted that “Trump will be reinstated” following a poll on the subject.
More than 15 million people voted in the poll asking whether Trump’s account should be reinstated, with a narrow majority of 51.8% voting in the affirmative.
Musk floats poll to reinstate Trump
The new Twitter chief also shared a poll asking Twitter users to decide if the former U.S. President Donald Trump should be reinstated. Over four million accounts replied, with early answers leaning in favour of his reinstatement on the platform.
Some notable Twitter accounts reinstated
The suspended accounts of comedian Kathy Griffin, author Jordan Peterson, and the right-wing satirical news outlet Babylon Bee were all reinstated.
Musk proposes new Twitter policy
Elon Musk announced Twitter’s new “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach’ policy, to discourage hate tweets from being found easily. These tweets will also be demonetised with no ads or other revenues to Twitter through them, he stated.
“Hundreds” of possible resignations and locked offices
Twitter CEO Elon Musk set 17:00 on Thursday, November 17, as deadline for Twitter’s remaining employees to decide if they want to stay and work for long hours at high intensity or leave the company. The New York Times said that “hundreds” may have resigned. The micro-blogging site has also reportedly closed its offices until Monday.
Amid employees resigning from Twitter, Musk posted a meme that showed Twitter’s bird logo on a headstone, even as a person with another Twitter logo over their face posed comically in front of the grave. It was soon retweeted several times.