Tag: Musk x Twitter

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Elon Musk considered putting all of Twitter behind a paywall

Twitter owner Elon Musk reportedly considered charging a subscription fee for access to the social media platform amid the chaos of paid verification.

According to details reported by Casey Newton in his Platformer newsletter (via The Verge), Musk and his adviser David Sacks, a venture capitalist (VC) helping Musk manage the Twitter transition, discussed the idea of adding a paywall to Twitter in recent meetings. (As an aside, it’s well worth reading Platformer to get a fuller picture of the internal chaos at Twitter right now based on information shared with Newton by employees.)

One possible plan Musk and Sacks considered involved allowing people to use Twitter for a limited time each month, but requiring a subscription to continue browsing. However, Newton wasn’t able to learn how serious Musk and Sacks are about the idea, and Twitter didn’t respond to requests for comment (unsurprising, considering Musk gutted the company’s PR team in the mass layoffs).

However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Musk chose to go through with the paywall idea. After all, he’s spent the last few days tweeting things like “Trash me all day, but it’ll cost $8,” suggesting people would need to pay for Twitter Blue to “trash” him. Currently, you can “trash” Musk on Twitter all you want without paying a cent (but you might lose your account).

Reading beyond Musk’s tweets, it’s clear he’ll need to do something to squeeze profit out of Twitter. The acquisition saddled Twitter with some $13 billion USD (about $17.5 billion CAD) in debt, with annual interest payments expected to total $1 billion USD (roughly $1.3 billion CAD). Moreover, some of Musk’s money-making plans might actually lose the company money.

Per Platformer, Twitter employees warned that Musk’s revamped Twitter Blue subscription could lose the company money. One of Musk’s promised features for Blue was to cut ads in half for subscribers. Estimates suggest Twitter will lose about $6 in ad revenue per U.S. user by making that change, and when factoring in the cut Apple and Google take from in-app subscriptions, Twitter would likely lose money on Blue if the ad plan goes through.

This all comes as the company reportedly delayed the launch of its paid verification feature until after the U.S. midterm elections over fears of election interference. At the same time, brands and governments are pulling ads from Twitter. However, Musk remains confident, tweeting that Twitter is gaining users.

For the latest on Musk x Twitter news, check out all of MobileSyrup’s coverage here.

Source: Platformer Via: The Verge

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Twitter user growth reportedly at an ‘all-time-high’ post Musk takeover

While it feels like Twitter’s new CEO, Elon Musk, is driving users away from the platform, in reality, daily user growth hit an all-time high during Musk’s first week at the platform, according to a company document procured by The Verge.

Global mDAUs (monetizable daily active users) growth at the platform increased to more than 20 percent, while mDAU growth in the U.S. is “growing even more quickly,” states an internal FAQ that was shared with Twitter’s sales team and was obtained by The Verge.

Since the end of Q2, 2022 (post-June), Twitter has reportedly crossed the quarter billion user mark, and has added more than 15 million monetizable daily active users.

“Twitter user numbers have increased significantly around the world since the deal was announced,” wrote Musk while replying to a user. “As Twitter becomes by far the most reliable source of truth, it will be indispensable.”

While users aren’t mass-exiting the platform, and it seems new users are flowing in too, it is the advertisers that are abandoning ship, causing Twitter to sink and reportedly lose $4 million a day.

In Canada, a media and marketing agency that works with the federal government to plan and buy ads, has advised federal departments to “pause activity on Twitter,” citing mass layoffs at the newly taken-over company as the primary reason.

Other major advertisers that have pulled out of Twitter include General Mills, CVS, United Airlines, General Motors, American Express, Coca-Cola, Nintendo and more.

You can read more about Musk and Twitter here.

Source: The Verge

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Federal government to pause advertising on Twitter indefinitely

OTTAWA, CANADA – NOVEMBER 10, 2018: Canada Wordmark, the official logo of the Canadian government, on an administrative building next to a Canadian flag waiving

Mass layoffs at Twitter aren’t just losing the company private advertisers, but also large-scale Federal ones.

According to the CBC, a media and marketing agency that works with the federal government to plan and buy ads, has advised federal departments to “pause activity on Twitter,” citing mass layoffs at the newly taken over company as the primary reason.

The government’s media and marketing agency is Quebec City-based Cosette, and according to the CBC, the agency asked the government to “pause activity [on Twitter] immediately and monitor the situation over the weekend due to unknown continuity plans for moderation and a heightened risk of brand safety.”

According to Cosette, large-scale layoffs at the company increased concerns about the platform’s ability to moderate content and achieve brand safety.

However, Twitter’s head of safety and Integrity, Yoel Roth, said that the reduction in Twitter’s workforce affected only about 15 percent of the company’s trust and safety organization, compared to a general 50 percent company-wide cut. “More than 80 percent of our incoming content moderation volume was completely unaffected by this access change,” said Roth. “The daily volume of moderation actions we take stayed steady through this period.”

It’s worth noting that hate speech on the platform, including racist and derogatory slurs, soared in the initial days of the Musk acquisition, though that appears to have settled down for now.

Cossette is also reportedly wary about the upcoming U.S. midterm election, and how it might result in “a lot of focus on the platform for abuse.”

According to the CBC, the federal government spent over $3 million on Twitter ads through Cossette from 2020 to 2021.

Other companies that have paused advertising on Twitter include General Motors, Pfizer, Volkswagen, General Mills, Mondelez International, Nintendo and more.

The latest news on Twitter and Musk can be found here.

Source: CBC

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Twitter reportedly delays paid verification until November 9th

Twitter has reportedly delayed the rollout of its new paid verification system until after the U.S. midterm elections, according to the New York Times.

The Times cited messages from an internal Twitter Slack channel in which employees questioned “making such a risky change before elections” over its potential to cause election interference.

A manager working on the verification badge project replied that “we’ve made the decision to move the launch of this release to Nov. 9, after the election.” The blue checkmark shown on verified accounts adds a level of authenticity to those accounts — by opening up verification to all, it potentially risks making fake news, misinformation, and fake accounts appear more legitimate.

Moreover, the Times said that Twitter didn’t respond to requests to comment, noting that the company had “almost entirely laid off” its communications team (hardly a surprise for a company owned by Elon Musk).

It’s an interesting turn of events, with the decision coming just a day after an update to the Twitter iOS app offered up paid verification. Text from the iOS app update details noted that users can sign up for Twitter Blue to get a blue checkmark “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.”

Amid the blue check chaos, Musk declared Twitter would permanently ban accounts that impersonate people without a parody label. The escalation in Twitter’s impersonation policies came amid a slew of verified accounts pretended to be Musk and made fun of him. However, despite saying that accounts labeled as parody would be okay, Twitter has banned some parody accounts that impersonated Musk too.

Since taking the helm at Twitter, Musk has created turmoil across the social network. Brands have paused advertising on Twitter over uncertainty with leadership, hate speech spiked after Musk’s takeover, and Musk has suggested various schemes to try and squeeze profit out of the company (including paid verification, DMs, and more). You can keep up with the latest Musk x Twitter news here.

Source: The New York Times

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Twitter is asking some of its fired employees to come back

After laying off roughly half of its workforce last week, it appears that Twitter’s ‘Complaint Hotline Operator,’ Elon Musk, is scrambling to get some of the fired employees back, as reported by Bloomberg.

Reportedly, some employees were laid off “by mistake,” while others are being recalled because it turns out they’re needed to build Musk’s vision for Twitter.

Platformer‘s Casey Newton also reported that an internal Twitter Slack chat message (reportedly from Musk) asked remaining Twitter employees to put together a list of former employees who would like to join back.

Prior to the layoffs, several Twitter employees filed a class-action lawsuit against the company over Musk’s plan to cut roughly half of the company’s workforce, arguing that it violates U.S. federal and California state law.

Musk said that Twitter is losing over $4 million USD (about $5.4 million CAD) per day and that reducing the company’s workforce was the only way to go. “Everyone [that] exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required,” he wrote in a tweet.

According to sources close to Twitter, the company now has roughly 3,700 employees, most of whom have been asked to show technical documentation to justify the work they do at Twitter and to prove their value to the company. Employees have also reportedly been working unsustainably long shifts since Musk’s takeover to meet deadlines and ship new features.

The company aims to add new features to Twitter Blue, charge $8/month for a blue checkmark, and introduce a new paywalled video feature, amid other updates. Musk is also looking to revive Vine, the OG short-form video hosting service that Twitter acquired for $30 million USD (about $40 million CAD) in 2012, only to shut it down in 2016. Read more about it here.

The latest news on Twitter and Musk can be found here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Bloomberg

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Musk threatens permanent Twitter bans for impersonating accounts

It seems Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk is starting to realize the downsides of handing out verification to anyone who pays for it. After going live with the new Twitter Blue subscription that gives subscribers the blue checkmark verification symbol over the weekend, several users quickly made parody accounts making fun of Musk.

Despite declaring that comedy was “now legal on Twitter” after taking control of the company, Musk was not amused by the parody accounts. In a series of tweets Sunday evening, Musk said that Twitter would now permanently suspend “any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody.’” Moreover, Musk warned that changing your name on Twitter will cause a “temporary loss of verified checkmark.”

However, it seems that specifying your account is a parody account doesn’t help dodge bans when you impersonate Musk himself:

The thing is, Twitter has rules about impersonation, which don’t seem to have changed yet (Musk even acknowledges these rules in a tweet). According to Twitter’s policies, the company may take the following actions against accounts violating its impersonation rules:

Profile modifications

If your account is potentially confusing in terms of its affiliation, we may require you to edit the content on your profile. If you violate this policy again after your first warning, your account will be permanently suspended.

Temporary account suspension

If we believe you may be in violation of this policy, we may require you to provide government issued identification (such as a driver’s license or passport) in order to reinstate your account.

Permanent suspension

If you are engaged in impersonation or are using a misleading or deceptive fake identity, we may permanently suspend your account.

However, Musk’s tweets say the company will now skip straight to permanent suspensions — so far, it seems to be the case, with The Verge noting comedians Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman both had their accounts locked or suspended after impersonating Musk. The move even appears to have bothered some Musk fans, who thought Twitter would stop doing permanent suspensions.

The Verge also reported that there don’t appear to be any changes to the Twitter terms of service, suggesting Musk rashly tweeted the new rules and had employees start enforcing them. Moreover, Musk previously promised not to make any major content decision before putting together a content moderation council — as far as we know, this moderation council has not yet been formed.

Anyway, the whole debacle is yet more evidence that offering verification to anyone willing to pay was a bad idea. The point of verification was to lend authenticity to certain high-profile accounts so that users could easily tell if an account is who claims to be. By handing out blue checkmarks to anyone who pays for them, it’s much easier to make impersonations of high-profile accounts that look legitimate.

You can read more about Musk x Twitter here.

Source: @elonmusk Via: The Verge

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Twitter’s latest money-making idea: paid DMs

Elon Musk is desperately trying to spin up new revenue streams for Twitter, with the latest idea being paid direct messages (DMs).

According to a report from the New York Times, a Twitter product team is working on paid DMs with a focus on “Very Important Tweeters, or V.I.T.s.” The information came from two people with knowledge of the work, who also shared internal documents with the Times.

The internal documents included mockups of the feature, which would allow Twitter users to DM their favourite celebrities for a fee. Twitter hasn’t settled on a fee structure, but it could be just a few dollars per DM.

A prototype shown to the Times depicted someone asking musician Post Malone about his favourite records. The paid DMs could appear in a special area of the message inbox, and celebrities could choose to receive them. The Times notes that Twitter likely would take a cut of the fee.

However, the people who shared details with the Times said that plans remain fluid and the feature might not even launch.

Paid DMs are just the latest idea to try and squeeze profit out of the company. Musk’s acquisition saddled the company with $13 billion USD (about $17.6 billion CAD) in debt, with annual interest payments expected to total $1 billion USD (roughly $1.4 billion CAD).

Musk also acknowledged that Twitter had “a massive drop in revenue” after advertisers pulled out, although he blamed it on pressure from “activist groups” despite causing turmoil on Twitter with mass layoffs and rapid feature changes. Plus, there was a surge in hate speed on the platform following Musk’s takeover.

All of that has combined to make Twitter less favourable to brands, which according to The Wall Street Journal, pulled ads over concerns Musk would scale back content moderation.

For the latest Musk x Twitter news, check out MobileSyrup’s coverage here.

Header image credit: Shutterstock

Source: New York Times

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Elon Musk’s first week at Twitter has been a hot mess

It’s been one week since the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, acquired a platform initially created to share ideas and turned it into a pit of hate speech.

The $44 billion USD (roughly $59 billion CAD) acquisition gives Musk complete control over the platform, and that’s not a role he has taken lightly.

In mere days, Musk announced plans that would change the way people use Twitter: charging more for Twitter Blue, making users pay for their verification status, and sharing plans to introduce a paywall video feature.

To recap, here’s what Musk did during his first week as “Chief Twit:”

Job cuts

Fears of job cuts were shared long before Musk took over the company. But the reality of it has only begun to sink in. In an email to employees, the company said they would know their faith in the company on Friday.

It’s not clear how many employees will be cut, but Twitter is full of former employees saying they’ve been let go. A lawsuit surrounding the firings has also been filed. Musk disputed news that 75 percent of the workforce would be let go but didn’t deny layoffs. Various executives were the first to go.

New employees?

According to The Washington Post, some of the people who were laid off were part of groups Musk put together to work on new products. Musk also brought over employees from Tesla, the Boring Company, and Neuralink to work on Twitter code. Reports indicate 50 of the employees came from Tesla. It’s unclear what this means for Twitter’s workforce and if the employees Musk brought in will take over key roles at Twitter.

Banned users

Twitter has yet to outline official plans for what the platform will look like under Musk’s reign. But there are a few things to expect, one being the possibility of banned users once again using Twitter. In a tweet earlier this week, Musk shared it’ll be a few weeks before a process to examine the matter is in place. “Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on [the] platform until we have a clear process for doing so.”

Verified users

Musk’s announcement to move verification under the Twitter Blue subscription has (unsurprisingly) led to backlash and phishing scams. The blue checkmark was initially designated for accounts sharing information that was an interest to the public, think journalists, politicians, etc., to verify authenticity. Users often had to apply for the distinction and go through a review process. Now Musk is proposing a method to let people buy the status for $8 a month.

Twitter Blue

Before Musk took over, the subscription service offered various features that may or may not have been an interest to you. The old subscription costs $4.99 a month in the U.S., but it will now cost $8 a month. The price hike is one of Musk’s attempts to make money on the acquisition and “pay the bills.” As previously reported, some of the company’s bills come from the acquisition. Twitter had to take on $13 billion USD  (roughly $17.6 billion CAD) in debt to take the company private, and will reportedly pay over $1 billion USD (roughly $1.4 billion CAD) on annual interest payments.

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Twitter employees sue over mass layoffs

Twitter employees filed a class-action lawsuit against the company over new owner Elon Musk’s plan to cut roughly half of the company’s workforce starting Friday, arguing it violates U.S. federal and California state law.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in a San Francisco federal court, asks the court to issue an order requiring Twitter to obey the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The act restricts companies from performing mass layoffs without at least 60 days of advanced notice. It also seeks to restrict Twitter from soliciting employees to sign documents that could give up their right to participate in litigation.

Since Musk took over Twitter, the company has been in turmoil. Workers were assigned to Musk projects and forced to work long hours and weekends under threat of being fired if they didn’t meet tight deadlines. At the same time, team leaders were asked to draw up lists of employees that could be cut. A letter sent to employees on November 3rd warned them that they would receive an email by 9am PST/12pm ET on November 4th about their future at the company.

However, some employees have already started losing access to internal systems like email and Slack channels. That includes some of those assigned to Musk projects. Other employees took to Twitter to share updates about their status or post support under the hashtag ‘#OneTeam.’

“We filed this lawsuit tonight in an attempt the make sure that employees are aware that they should not sign away their rights and that they have an avenue for pursuing their rights,” attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan told Bloomberg. Liss-Riordan filed the lawsuit against Twitter, but was also behind a lawsuit against Tesla, another Musk company, for laying off about 10 percent of its workforce in June.

However, Tesla won a ruling from a federal judge in Austin, Texas, that forced the workers to pursue their claims in closed-door arbitration rather than in open court. Musk called the lawsuit “trivial” during an interview.

“We will now see if he is going to continue to thumb his nose at the laws of this country that protect employees. It appears that he’s repeating the same playbook of what he did at Tesla,” Liss-Riordan said.

Musk’s Twitter cuts are part of an ongoing effort to reduce costs and squeeze profit from the social network after his acquisition saddled the company with some $13 billion USD (about $17.6 billion CAD) of debt. Musk’s other plans include increasing the cost of Twitter Blue to $8/mo USD, making verification a paid feature, and adding paywalled video.

The latest news on Twitter and Musk can be found here.

Source: Bloomberg

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Twitter reminding users to look out for phishing emails

Elon Musk’s plans to start charging users $8 a month to keep their verification status have yet to be implemented but attempts to dupe people of their personal information are going strong.

It has gotten so bad that Twitter’s head of safety and integrity is warning people to be on the lookout. “We’re hearing reports of phishing emails talking about potential changes to Verification,” Yoel Roth tweeted on November 3rd.

Attached are screenshots of phishing emails asking users to provide their personal information to save them from losing their verified status. These emails are sent from a Gmail account and include a link to a Google Site. News of the scam broke earlier this week, and Google removed at least one of these websites.

One of the phishing emails going around. Image credit: @yoyoel/ Twitter

“Be wary — nothing has launched yet, and we aren’t sending these notes,” Roth continues. “Check the sender carefully, and don’t provide your credentials or payment info.”

The emails started after Musk announced plans to charge users in the U.S. $8 a month for Twitter Blue, the platform’s subscription service. The sought-after blue checkmark verifying accounts will also be included as part of the subscription, allowing people to buy their status.

For the latest on Musk x Twitter, check out MobileSyrup’s coverage here.

Source: @yoyoel/ Twitter