Tag: Musk x Twitter

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Musk promises Twitter shadowban appeal process

Twitter CEO Elon Musk said the company is working on a software update that will let users know if they’ve been ‘shadowbanned,’ explain why they were shadowbanned and offer a way to appeal.

Shadowbanning, for those unfamiliar, is a term referring to the suppression of posts on social media websites. This can come in various forms, such as limiting how an account can show up in searches or trends on the platform. Musk’s tweet about the shadowbanning appeal process followed another round of ‘Twitter Files,’ an ongoing series of tweets detailing findings from internal Twitter documents.

So far, journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss have published Twitter Files threads, with Weiss’ December 8th thread focusing on Twitter’s “secret blacklists” and shadowbanning. Weiss also shared details about the ‘Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support’ (SIP-PES) group, composed of Twitter’s former head of legal, policy, and trust Vijaya Gadde, former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth, and former CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal, among others. According to Weiss, SIP-PES handled some of the more sensitive content decisions, particularly around accounts with high follower counts.

However, much of what Weiss claimed to reveal was previously documented by Vice in 2020 after several high-profile accounts were hacked.

Moreover, Musk previously tweeted that under him, Twitter would pursue a policy of “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.” Musk went on to describe a content moderation approach that would downrank and demonetize “negative/hate tweets,” which sounds a lot like the shadowbanning practices that Weiss claims to have uncovered.

Twitter Files may violate FTC agreement

Right-wing accounts have long claimed to be victims of shadowbanning and Weiss’ thread tried to build on this narrative. However, Weiss tweeted images of internal documents revealing far-right, anti-LGBT Twitter account ‘Libs of TikTok’ had received special treatment from Twitter and the account had been internally marked as requiring consultation with SIP-PES before moderators could take action. Libs of TikTok is known for inciting harassment and violence against teachers, children’s hospitals and more, with the account being blamed for bomb threats at some U.S. hospitals.

Per a SIP-PES memo shared by Weiss, Twitter had repeatedly given the Libs of TikTok account temporary suspensions, noting the account “indirectly” violated the platform’s Hateful Content Policy. Weiss also pointed out Libs of TikTok was doxxed after Musk took over Twitter and that the platform allowed the doxxing tweet to stay up.

While right-wing accounts continue to play the victim card, The Intercept reported in November that Twitter began suspending left-wing accounts after far-right extremists directly asked Musk to investigate. Moreover, reporting from over a year ago highlighted Twitter’s own research showing that its algorithm amplified right-leaning content more than left-leaning.

On top of all this, Bloomberg reported that the screenshots shared in the ‘Twitter Files’ threads may violate Twitter’s 2022 privacy agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). That agreement stipulates that access to sensitive user account data should only be granted to people with a valid business justification for accessing that data. Weiss tweeted that the Twitter Files authors “have broad and expanding access to Twitter’s files,” and those files appear to include potentially sensitive user account data.

For the latest on Musk’s Twitter saga, read our coverage here.

Source: Elon Musk, Matt Binder, Bloomberg, (2)

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Twitter Blue will reportedly cost more on iOS when it returns

When Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s revamped Blue subscription finally returns, it might come with different pricing depending on the platform you purchase it from. On iOS, users can expect a higher fee.

Per a report from The Information (via The Verge), Twitter will charge $11/mo USD on iOS and $7/mo USD for people who subscribe to Blue from the web. That converts to roughly $14.93 and $9.50 in CAD, although that doesn’t mean Blue will cost that much in Canada. Previously, Twitter Blue cost $9.99 in Canada and $7.99 in the United States.

As for why Twitter Blue will cost more on iOS, well, one need look no further than Musk’s recent Twitter tirade for a clue. Alongside accusations that Apple hates free speech and threatened to remove Twitter from the App Store, Musk posted about Apple’s 30 percent cut of App Store revenue and tweeted-then-deleted a meme about going to war with the company over the 30 percent fee. (Musk later met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and admitted Apple “never considered” removing Twitter.)

While we don’t know for sure whether the price difference is because of Apple’s App Store fees, it’d be the safe bet. Plus, previous reports indicated Musk delayed the relaunch of Twitter Blue to avoid the App Store fees.

The Information didn’t include any details about pricing for Blue on Android, but it would likely follow a similar pattern to iOS pricing since Google similarly takes a cut of Play Store purchases.

You can keep up with the ongoing Musk and Twitter saga here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: The Information Via: The Verge

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Ads from brands appeared on white nationalist Twitter pages

While some companies, like Apple and Amazon, have started advertising on Twitter again, others have raised concerns after their ads appeared on the pages of white nationalists.

The Washington Post (via The Verge) reported that some 40 high-profile brands and organizations have complained, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Amazon, Uber, Snap, GoDaddy, USA Today and Morning Brew.

Ads for some of these organizations were spotted on the Twitter profiles of Andrew Anglin, the editor of neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer, and Patrick Casey, who previously led the white nationalist group Identity Evropa, later rebranded as the American Identity Movement. Bother Anglin and Casey had their accounts banned from Twitter in 2013 and 2019, respectively. However, after Elon Musk took over Twitter and granted a “general amnesty,” both returned to the platform.

Moreover, The Washington Post reported seeing ads alongside white supremacist posts on Twitter pages with names like “No White Guilt Clips” and “White Power Ranger.”

Image credit: The Washington Post

It’s worth noting that the ads no longer appear on Anglin’s or Casey’s accounts. A Twitter employee told The Washington Post that Twitter pages must be flagged to prevent advertising from appearing on them. Twitter didn’t respond to requests for comment from The Verge or The Washington Post, but that might have something to do with Musk reportedly firing most of the company’s press team.

Speaking of layoffs, if Twitter relies on a system of flagging accounts to prevent advertising from appearing on them, it’s highly likely Anglin, Casey, and others slipped through the cracks. With Musk’s general amnesty allowing thousands of accounts to return to the platform and Twitter operating with a skeleton crew, there just might not be enough people flagging problematic accounts.

The HHS told The Washington Post that it would pull ads from Twitter since “having [ads] appear on hateful Twitter channels is inconsistent with [its] values.” Similarly, USA Today said it would contact Twitter because the content “obviously does not align with [its] values or mission.”

Ultimately, it seems like those who have resumed ads on Twitter (or who never stopped advertising in the first place) may be running into the problems that led several brands and advertising agencies to pull out of Twitter in the first place. After Musk’s takeover, he tweeted that Twitter’s ad revenue had fallen and blamed activists for it. Later, ad agencies labelled Twitter “high risk” as they bailed on the platform. Musk, however, continued blaming activists for the consequences of his own actions.

You can follow the ongoing Twitter saga here.

Source: The Washington Post Via: The Verge

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Musk said Apple ‘never considered’ removing Twitter days after claiming otherwise

Source: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-men-suits-hugging-point-finger-537281563

Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted that Apple “never considered” removing Twitter from the App Store following a conversation with CEO Tim Cook. The conversation came on the heels of a tweetstorm from Musk accusing Apple of hating free speech, censorship, and of threatening to remove Twitter from the App Store.

Musk kicked off what many thought would be a larger feud with Apple on Monday. It started with a tweet accusing Apple of reducing ad spending on Twitter (something many brands are doing thanks to Musk’s chaotic leadership, but Musk seems convinced activists are to blame). Notably, some reports indicate Apple actually increased ad spending on Twitter, contrary to Musk’s claims.

Along with the tweet about Apple cutting ad spending, Musk tweeted a poll asking whether Apple should “publish all censorship actions it has taken” and later posted about Apple’s 30 percent App Store fee. Musk also tweeted and then deleted a meme about going to war with Apple over that 30 percent fee.

On Wednesday, Musk thanked Cook for “taking [him] around Apple’s beautiful HQ,” in a tweet with a short video clip showing off the Apple campus. Musk followed that up with another post saying he had a “good conversation” with Cook and that they resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter’s removal from the App Store, “among other things.”

So far, it remains unclear what “other things” the pair discussed and whether that included Apple’s 30 percent App Store fee. Some expected it would be only a matter of time before Musk took issue with the fee. As Twitter loses advertising revenue, Musk seems increasingly intent on making a profit through Twitter Blue subscriptions, but those may be subject to Apple’s 30 percent cut if offered through in-app purchases via the App Store. Interestingly, recent reporting suggests Twitter delayed the upcoming relaunch of Blue so they could avoid the 30 percent fee.

Check out all of MobileSyrup’s reporting on Musk’s Twitter here.

Header image credit: Shutterstock (with modifications)

Source: @elonmusk 

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Twitter reportedly delays Blue relaunch to avoid Apple’s App Store fees

Twitter reportedly plans to delay the relaunch of its Blue subscription yet again, this time in a bid to dodge Apple’s App Store fees.

Per Casey Newton’s Platformer (via The Verge), Twitter employees with “direct knowledge of the matter” shared details about changes to Blue ahead of its relaunch. Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, previously tweeted that Blue would return on November 29th, but later tweeted it would arrive on December 2nd with changes like different badge colours for individuals and businesses and a manual verification process.

According to details shared by Twitter employees, Blue will relaunch with a one-cent price increase from $7.99 to $8 in the U.S. and will require phone number verification. It’s unclear if that’s the only tool Twitter will deploy to verify Blue subscribers or if the company has plans for another, more thorough system. Moreover, Musk’s refreshed Blue cost $9.99 in Canada when it initially launched — it’s unclear what, if any, price increase it will get with the relaunch.

Musk begrudgingly admitted on Twitter that manual verification would come to Twitter Blue, calling it “painful, but necessary.” The shift came after the initial Blue launch made a blue checkmark available to all subscribers. The Blue subscriber checkmark was identical to the previous blue badge applied to verified accounts — the similarity enabled a wave of impersonations across Twitter that frustrated users and brands alike (and even caused some companies’ stocks to plummet).

Particularly interesting is the reported plan to dodge Apple’s App Store fees. Musk recently went on a Twitter tirade accusing Apple of hating free speech after the company allegedly reduced its ad spending on Twitter. During the tweetstorm, Musk posted about Apple’s 30 percent App Store fee, claimed Apple threatened to withhold Twitter from the App Store and tweeted then deleted a meme about going to war with Apple.

Twitter seeks to dodge 30 percent Apple fee amid falling ad revenue

Musk’s attack on Apple was hardly a surprise. Many saw it coming amid Musk’s pivot to Blue subscriptions to make money for Twitter (primarily offered through the App Store, where Apple takes a cut) as the platform’s ad revenue plummets. Platformer reported that Twitter’s ad losses were growing, with revenue in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) down 15 percent year-over-year and weekly bookings down 49 percent.

It’s not immediately clear how Twitter will dodge the App Store fees, but the most likely approach will be offering Blue only through Twitter’s website and not as an in-app purchase. If that’s the path Twitter takes, it’ll be interesting to see how Apple responds. Last year, Apple won a stay on implementing changes to the App Store that would allow apps to direct users to alternative payment options (itself a part of the results from the Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit).

However, Apple is still bound by an agreement with the Japan Fair Steering Commission, which requires Apple to let ‘reader’ apps (Netflix, Spotify, Amazon’s Kindle app, etc.) directly link their customers to their own sign-up sites. If Twitter falls into the reader app category, it may be able to push people to sign up for Blue elsewhere, effectively avoiding Apple’s fees. If Twitter doesn’t fall into that category of apps but pushes the change through anyway, Apple might remove it from the App Store as it has done with other apps and games (notably, Fortnite). If that happens, it’ll likely cause quite a stir, especially since Musk has already stoked concerns that Apple will remove Twitter from the App Store.

You can follow the tumultuous timeline of Musk’s Twitter takeover here.

Source: Platformer Via: The Verge

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Twitter un-bans 62,000 accounts as CSAM removal team decimated by layoffs

In today’s Twitter news, the platform has begun restoring some 62,000 accounts following new owner Elon Musk’s “general amnesty” poll. Meanwhile, reports indicate Twitter has stopped enforcing its COVID-19 misinformation policy and has slashed its CSAM to just one person despite Musk promising that removing CSAM would be Twitter’s “priority #1.”

Starting with the account restorations, Casey Newton reported via his Platformer newsletter that Twitter began the process of reinstating about 62,000 accounts with over 10,000 followers, including one account with over 5 million followers and 75 accounts with 1 million or more followers. The move, which Twitter employees have started calling “the Big Bang,” comes after Musk polled Twitter users asking if the company should grant a “general amnesty” to suspended accounts.

Platformer notes that the move could cause increased instability at Twitter as the company loses valuable engineering talent. Moreover, the Twitter team is arguably stretched across various Musk projects, such as his goal of bringing back the refreshed Twitter Blue subscription later this week with a manual verification process.

The influx of formerly suspended accounts could have other impacts on Twitter. For example, CNN reported that Twitter added a note to its COVID-19 misinformation page that it no longer enforces the policy. Between January 2020 and September 2022, Twitter suspended over 11,000 accounts for breaking COVID misinformation rules, per statistics published by Twitter. It also removed more than 100,000 pieces of content that violated the rules.

Likely, some of the accounts suspended over the misinformation policy will be among the ones Musk allows back on Twitter.

Twitter CSAM removal team down to one person

Finally, Wired reported that Twitter’s child sex abuse material (CSAM) removal team was decimated by the company’s recent layoffs, leaving just one staff member for the entire Asia Pacific region. Wired notes that it’s not clear how many people were on the CSAM removal team prior to the layoffs, but the Asia Pacific region is home to around 4.3 billion people (roughly 60 percent of the world’s population) and some of Twitter’s busiest markets. For example, there are 59 million Twitter users in Japan, second only to the number of users in the U.S.

Twiter’s CSAM removal teams work with various organizations that collect data about CSAM content. That data is used in Twitter systems that remove CSAM content, and Twitter’s internal dashboards are considered critical for analyzing metadata to help people writing code to identify CSAM networks and remove them before content is shared.

Twitter has a long-running issue with tackling CSAM, with an internal report from April 2022 saying the company “cannot accurately detect child sexual exploitation and nonconsensual nudity at scale.” The company’s CSAM struggle is made more complicated by it allowing the sharing of consensual pornography since tools that scan for CSAM struggle to differentiate between a consenting adult and an unconsenting child.

Additionally, the CSAM problem has helped push brands off Twitter — notably, Dyson and Forbes suspended Twitter advertising campaigns in September after ads appeared next to CSAM.

Needless to say, human staff are integral to the process of finding and removing CSAM material. Musk, however, has publicly asked Twitter users to “reply in comments” if they see any CSAM issues on Twitter. Experts told Wired that Musk should be having that discussion with his CSAM removal staff instead of asking Twitter users to help in the comments.

You can keep up with the ongoing saga of Twitter under Musk here.

Source: Platformer, CNN, Wired

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Musk accuses Apple of hating ‘free speech’ in Twitter tirade sent from iPhone

Elon Musk did a live speed run of learning about Apple’s stringent App Store policies on Monday.

In a series of totally normal, not-at-all-unhinged tweets, Musk claimed Apple “mostly” stopped advertising on Twitter, accused the company of hating “free speech in America” and censorship, then said Apple “threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store,” and wrapped things up by tweeting about Apple’s 30 percent App Store cut and posting a meme about going to war with Apple (I’ve included screenshots below in case Musk deletes any of the tweets).

Humorously, Musk tweeted everything from an iPhone.

Musk’s new beef with Apple should hardly come as a surprise. Over the last few weeks, Musk has laid off a significant amount of Twitter staff and upended the company’s content moderation policies, causing brands and advertisers to ditch the platform (contrary to Musk’s claims, it has nothing to do with activists).

At the same time, Musk forged ahead with a refreshed Twitter Blue subscription that gives subscribers an identical blue checkmark to verified accounts, despite warnings that it wouldn’t go well. Within days of Blue going live, Twitter had to suspend the subscription while it scrambled to come up with ways to stop rampant impersonations on the platform, which so far has boiled down to Musk begrudgingly admitting Twitter will manually verify Blue subscribers after all.

Blue subscription puts Twitter at odds with Apple, Google

The Twitter Blue subscription fiasco is a relatively important piece to the Musk v. Apple puzzle. As advertisers pull out of Twitter, Musk is hunting for other ways to squeeze profit out of the company as bankruptcy looms. Getting people to pay for Twitter might help (although the math of Musk’s Blue subscription doesn’t quite add up). The new Twitter Blue was only available on iOS for the brief period it was available at all and will likely be available on iOS when it returns later this week. It’s unclear if or when Musk will expand Blue to Android.

Blue’s iOS availability is the crux of the issue. As has been pointed out before, Twitter’s shift to subscriptions means Apple and Google take a cut of the money — Apple takes a 30 percent cut that drops to 15 percent after the first year per subscriber, while Google takes 15 percent from the start. That could be a problem for Musk, who — as described above — is trying to squeeze as much profit from Twitter as possible.

More than that, Apple and Google have both taken stances against apps that don’t handle content moderation properly. For example, back in January 2021, Apple and Google banned Parler from their respective app stores over its lax moderation policies in the wake of the January 6th insurrection. Musk claimed Apple hasn’t said why it allegedly withheld Twitter from the App Store, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the moderation changes had some part in it (assuming the allegation is true). That said, Apple has a history of blocking app updates if it thinks the app in question tries to skirt its revenue cut, among other reasons, so it really could be anything.

Regardless, now that Musk owns a business that is directly impacted by Apple’s and Google’s app store policies, he seems much more concerned about them. There are certainly arguments to be made that app store policies, rules, and regulations are anti-competitive in many respects — it will be interesting to see if Musk manages to spur any action on the issue or if he chooses to offer Blue through the web instead as a way of avoiding giving Apple and Google a cut.

Of course, Musk might just make his own smartphone (judging by the tweets already surfacing from Musk stans who are ready to toss their iPhone if Apple bans Twitter from the App Store, he’d have some customers). Hopefully, the Musk phone doesn’t catch fire as often as Tesla vehicles.

Read more about the ongoing Musk x Twitter saga here.

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Musk aims to relaunch Blue on December 2 with manual verification

Twitter owner Elon Musk plans to “tentatively” relaunch Twitter Blue on December 2nd with new, colour-coded checkmarks. Previously, Musk planned to relaunch Blue on November 29th but later said Twitter would hold off until it could deal with the impersonation issue.

In a tweet, Musk said that companies would get gold checkmarks, governments would get grey checkmarks, and individuals would get blue checkmarks, “celebrity or not.” Moreover, Musk said that “all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before [the] check activates,” a move he described as “painful, but necessary.”

In another tweet, Musk said, “All verified individual humans will have [the] same blue check, as [the] boundary of what constitutes “notable” is otherwise too subjective.” Moreover, he said individuals can get a secondary logo showing they belong to an organization if verified by that institution. Musk promised a longer explanation would come next week.

These changes come after Musk rolled out a new version of the Twitter Blue subscription that gave subscribers a blue checkmark that matched the verified badge previously given to notable accounts. The new subscription costs $9.99/mo in Canada. However, Musk suspended the new Blue within days after Twitter was flooded with paid ‘verified’ accounts that impersonated brands, celebrities, and politicians. Blue caused chaos and even led to significant stock drops for some companies.

Moreover, Twitter employees warned Musk and leadership of the potential problems — including impersonation risks — ahead of the Blue launch. Musk ignored them.

While the changes to Blue and Musk’s promise to actually verify Twitter users seem promising, it remains to be seen how it plays out on December 2nd (or whenever the changes go live). Moreover, questions remain about how Musk plans to manually verify all the users who sign up, given he decimated Twitter’s staff and contract workers and continued firing people even after saying he would start hiring new staff.

You can follow the ongoing Musk and Twitter saga here.

Source: Elon Musk Via: The Verge

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Musk asks Twitter if he should grant ‘general amnesty’ to suspended accounts

Twitter owner Elon Musk is back with another poll to make another significant moderation decision, something he previously promised would happen after forming a “widely diverse” content moderation council.

This time around, Musk’s Twitter poll asks if Twitter should offer a “general amnesty” to suspended accounts. If Twitter users vote in favour of it, it seems Musk plans to let the accounts return to Twitter “provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” At the time of writing, there were three hours left on the poll, and the results were 72.3 percent yes and 27.7 percent no, with a little over 3 million votes.

Musk has already made several significant decisions after promising not to do so until after forming a moderation council. However, Musk reinstated several accounts over the weekend, including comedian Kathy Griffin (who was banned for impersonating Musk), right-wing parody outlet The Babylon Bee, and author Jordan Peterson (both of which had accounts locked for misgendering trans people). Musk also reinstated former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Twitter account after Twitter users narrowly voted in favour of it in a poll from Musk, although Trump declined to return to Twitter.

Like many things Musk does with Twitter, it feels like there’s little regard for the potential consequences of allowing suspended accounts back on the platform. Those accounts were suspended for a reason, and while some likely weren’t justified, plenty of suspensions were. Giving people a second chance is good, but this move will likely flood Twitter with less savoury accounts. That will likely spiral into more content that advertisers don’t like and more harassment of journalists, politicians, and other users, ultimately driving more people off the platform.

Whatever damage this move does to Twitter, Musk will likely just blame it on activists before tweeting another plan with little regard for consequences.

Read more about Musk’s tumultuous time at Twitter here.

Source: @elonmusk Via: The Verge

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Musk blames activists for his lie about Twitter’s moderation council

Hey, remember when Elon Musk promised to form a content moderation council with “widely diverse viewpoints” before making any major content decisions or account reinstatements on Twitter, and then not even a month later, let former U.S. President Donald Trump and other controversial figures back onto the platform? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Whether or not Musk remembered, he was reminded of that promise on Twitter last night. His excuse? Activists.

“A large coalition of political/social activist groups agreed not to try to kill Twitter by starving us of advertising revenue if I agreed to this condition,” Musk tweeted. “They broke the deal.”

Musk’s tweet about Twitter activists, preserved as a screenshot in case he deletes it. You can view the tweet here.

Musk previously blamed activists for a “massive drop in revenue,” claiming they pressured advertisers to pull out of Twitter. Musk’s tweet was then fact-checked by Twitter, linking to several publications that reported advertisers were pausing Twitter campaigns over uncertainty around Musk, the platform’s direction, and concerns over content moderation.

Since then, Musk’s failed paid verification scheme sparked rampant impersonation of brands and high-profile accounts, and more advertisers marked Twitter as a “high risk” platform.

So to set things straight, Musk made several rash, controversial decisions that spooked advertisers, advertisers started pulling out of Twitter, Musk made up a story about activists trying to destroy Twitter rather than accept responsibility for his actions, then doubled down on those actions and scared off more advertisers. Then, Musk used that made-up situation as the reason he allowed controversial accounts to return to Twitter.

Musk reinstated several Twitter accounts on November 18th, including comedian Kathy Griffin, right-wing parody outlet The Babylon Bee, and author Jordan Peterson (it’s worth noting the latter two accounts weren’t technically banned, just locked). Musk banned Griffin after she impersonated Musk’s Twitter account to mock him. However, The Babylon Bee and Peterson were both locked for tweets that misgendered trans people.

The following day, Musk ran a Twitter poll asking if Trump’s account should be reinstated. Then, based on the poll results and with no mention of the moderation council, Musk announced Trump would return. Humorously, Trump declined to return.

Oh, and if there was any thought Musk might actually listen to a content moderation council, Musk cleared that up. Per The Verge’s Alex Heath, Musk told Twitter employees at a Q&A about the moderation council that, “This is an advisory council. I will hear what they have to say and I will either agree with it or I won’t.”

You can read MobileSyrup’s ongoing coverage of the turmoil at Twitter here.

Source: @elonmusk Via: The Verge