Elon Musk, the rich guy so hopelessly addicted to Twitter he bought it for $44 billion USD, says it will be “at least a few more weeks” before people banned from the platform will be allowed to return.
In a tweet (it’s always a tweet), Musk explained that he wants a “clear process” for allowing people previously banned from Twitter to return to the site. Creating that process will take a “few more weeks.”
Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks
Musk’s desire to bring back banned users hasn’t exactly been a secret. Musk previously called Twitter’s ban of insurrectionist and former U.S. President Donald Trump a “mistake,” and made it clear he would lift the ban after gaining control of Twitter.
Moreover, Musk said last week that there wouldn’t be any “major content decisions or account reinstatements” until Twitter had formed a content moderation council with “widely diverse viewpoints.” Following his tweet about creating a clear process for re-platforming banned users, Musk noted that the content moderation council will “include representatives with widely divergent views, which will certainly include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence.”
Finally, Musk tweeted that he had talked with leaders from organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Free Press and Color of Change, about how Twitter will “continue to combat hate & harassment & enforce its election integrity policies.” Free Press co-CEO Jessica J. Gonzalez told CNBCin a statement that the conversation with Musk was “productive” and noted the new Twitter CEO promised the re-platforming process would be transparent. Moreover, Gonzalez said Musk planned not to reinstate accounts that violated Twitter’s trust and safety rules before the U.S. midterm elections on November 8th.
Admittedly, this appears to be somewhat good news for those worried about how Twitter would change under Musk. In the early hours of Musk’s Twitter takeover, the site saw an increase in hate speech and harassment from users emboldened by Musk’s free speech views. Meanwhile, Musk worked to assuage the concerns of advertisers, writing that Twitter wouldn’t turn into a “free-for-all-hellscape.”
For the latest on all the Musk x Twitter news, check out our coverage here.
Elon Musk has been in charge at Twitter for only a few days so far and has managed to elevate the already high levels of chaos on the site. Most notable so far is his plan to move verification (designated with a blue checkmark) into the company’s Blue subscription and jack the price up to $20/mo USD (roughly $27.34 CAD).
Currently, Twitter Blue costs $6.49/mo in Canada. However, Musk has suggested an $8/mo USD (about $10.84/mo CAD) price in a bid to get skeptics on board.
Musk floated the price in a reply to a tweet from author Stephen King. King summed up the paid verification issue succinctly, tweeting: “$20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me.”
We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?
Musk went on to say he’d “explain the rationale in longer form before this is implemented. It is the only way to defeat the bots & trolls,” per Variety.
I’d also like to take a moment here to point out that Twitter’s “bills” largely stem from the Musk acquisition. Taking the company private saddled it with nearly $13 billion USD ($17.6 billion CAD) in debt. The Wall Street Journalreported that annual interest payments on the debt will be over $1 billion USD (roughly $1.4 billion CAD). So, it’s hardly a surprise Musk is scrambling to squeeze as much money out of Twitter users as he can.
Not about the money
Unsurprisingly, Twitter users have reacted poorly to the idea of paying for verification. Plenty of people think $20/mo USD is too much for verification (and realistically, that’s all you’re paying for since the rest of Twitter Blue currently isn’t worth the $6.49 asking price). Frankly, $8/mo USD is also too much. Any amount is too much. And as funny as it is seeing all the Musk stans tweeting at blue-check users that they should suck it up and pay for it because they can obviously afford it — there seems to be a weird disconnect where these people think every verified user is flush with cash — it’s really not about the money.
Twitter verification was implemented as a way to distinguish high-profile accounts as authentic. Politicians, government officials, celebrities, journalists, and other high-profile users apply for verification, which authenticates that the account holder is who they say they are. Then the blue checkmark signals to other Twitter users that the account is authentic, making it easy to see at a glance whether a tweet is authentic or not. It’s a vital tool on a network like Twitter, where things move incredibly fast. The Verge does an excellent job breaking down Twitter’s verification system and why it’s so important.
All that said, Twitter’s current verification system is imperfect and could certainly use an overhaul. It’s had problems with availability, inconsistency, and more. Making people pay for verification likely isn’t going to fix those issues, and it stands to open the floodgates if anyone can just buy a verification badge. Perhaps the right solution is a twofold system, a free badge that authenticates high-profile users and a badge for anyone who pays.
Less than 24 hours after news broke that Twitter might start charging verified users a fee to keep their status, cybercriminals have attempted to take advantage through a phishing email campaign.
According to TechCrunch, the campaign promoted users to post their usernames and passwords on a Google Doc sent from a Gmail account. The email also included a link to a Google Site. In reality, the cybercriminals hosted the page through Beget, a Russian web host. The information cybercriminals collected was enough to enter accounts that don’t use two-factor authentication, the publication reports.
Google has since removed the site. “Confirming we have taken down the links and accounts in question for violations of our program policies,” a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch.
The incident likely won’t be the only cybercrime involving verified accounts. At the time of writing, Twitter’s new owner has yet to announce any further details regarding the verification status after securing the platform for $44 billion last week.
You can shop in Apple’s refurbished store to score a sly discount on new products. The company recently added the new M2 MacBook Air that released this summer, starting at $150 less than the brand-new model.
While this might not be the most significant discount around, Apple refurbished models still come with the company’s one-year limited warranty.
If you’re looking to get one of these computers for light work, you might score a better deal on the M1 MacBook Air, which is comparable to the new model. Read our full M2 MacBook Air review if you want a dive deeper into the laptop.
You can find all of Apple’s refurbished MacBook Air models here.
After several months of trying to back out of acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk now officially owns the social media giant.
While any billionaire buying the platform would have been cause for concern, the fact that the world’s richest — and arguably most immature — man has done so is especially worrisome. That’s because, among Musk’s many shortcomings, is the fact that he’s really quite inept.
Looking back on his past screw-ups, it’s not hard to feel pessimistic about how Twitter will fare under his control. With that in mind, here are seven things that Musk has messed up on that add to the notion that he’ll run Twitter into the ground.
The Thai cave rescue
These are clearly the words of someone who cared about saving people and not his own fragile ego.
Between June and July 2018, rescue efforts were underway for a junior football team in a Tham Luang cave in Thailand. Initially, Musk revealed plans to build a mini-submarine to rescue the team, although this was viewed by many as both infeasible and a publicity stunt. Even though the mini-sub was ultimately never used in the rescue, Musk was quick to slam his critics, including, most infamously, by calling Vernon Unsworth, one of the people who did save the team, a “pedo guy.”
That Musk initially didn’t back down from his comments, and reportedly even pressured Thai officials to praise his mini-sub, only made him look worse. While many would surely agree that the most important thing was making sure the kids and their coach go out safely, Musk just had to make it all about himself.
Being such a loose cannon that his Twitter account has to be legally monitored
He also stepped down as chairman. He’s since been trying to appeal this ruling and, in typical “old man tries to be hip” form, even referenced an Eminem song to do so.
Covering up Tesla issues
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
Musk loves to talk about free speech, but it’s something he very clearly doesn’t believe in. On top of defaming falsely accusing Unsworth of pedophilia simply for criticizing him, Musk has a track record of going after people who say things he doesn’t like.
While Tesla is far from the only company that has had autonomous vehicle stumbles, Musk is notorious for lying about Autopilot. Every year, he’s made promises about Tesla’s self-driving car ambitions, and every year, they don’t come to pass. Tesla even admitted privately last year that Musk has been exaggerating FSD’s capabilities.
Alright, this is mostly a joke and really doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but it’s nonetheless amusing that a narcissist who tries so desperately to look funny and cool on Twitter was caught proudly sharing a bad Elden Ring build. Essentially, he gave his character two shields when you only benefit from having one. This is a problem because it weighed his character down, thus preventing him from executing critical maneuvers like dodging.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Musk spread a variety of misinformation related to the virus, including promoting a widely discredited paper about the alleged benefits of chloroquine and claiming death statistics were inflated. That would be bad in and of itself, but that doesn’t even address his most recent wrongdoing.
Just three days after buying Twitter, Musk shared a fake news story about Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. Speaker of the House. On October 28th, Paul Pelosi was assaulted with a hammer inside his home by a man looking for his wife. However, Musk soon tweeted a link to a story in a faux newspaper, the Santa Monica Observer, alleging that Paul Pelosi was injured during a drunken fight with a male prostitute. “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.” Eventually, Musk deleted the tweet, but instead of actually owning up to the mistake, he took the chance to take a dig at The New York Times instead.
The fact that the person in charge of Twitter can’t even discern what’s blatantly false before sharing it is certainly worrisome. That Musk is the third-most-followed account on Twitter only makes such politically-charged tweets all the more dangerous.
Elon Musk has made it clear that he’s a proponent of free speech, and that protecting free speech is one of the pivotal reasons behind his acquiring Twitter. “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” wrote Musk in a recent Twitter post offering the rationale behind the acquisition.
Musk officially acquired Twitter on Friday, October 28th. What followed was a slew of users posting Tweets full of “slurs and other derogatory terms,” to troll and test the limits of free speech on the platform. According to Yoel Roth, the head of safety & integrity at Twitter, more than 50,000 Tweets with hateful slurs were posted within 48 hours of the acquisition, with a majority of them coming from just 300 accounts.
Over the last 48 hours, we’ve seen a small number of accounts post a ton of Tweets that include slurs and other derogatory terms. To give you a sense of scale: More than 50,000 Tweets repeatedly using a particular slur came from just 300 accounts.
Similarly, according to the Network Contagion Research Institute, via The Verge, recent posts on 4Chan have reportedly encouraged users to “amplify derogatory slurs,’ and as a result, on Friday, the usage of the n-word was up by nearly 500 percent from the previous average.
Evidence suggests that bad actors are trying to test the limits on @Twitter. Several posts on 4chan encourage users to amplify derogatory slurs.
For example, over the last 12 hours, the use of the n-word has increased nearly 500% from the previous average. pic.twitter.com/mEqziaWuMF
— Network Contagion Research Institute (@ncri_io) October 28, 2022
As stated by Roth, Twitter has started taking action against these bad actors. “Nearly all of these accounts are inauthentic. We’ve taken action to ban the users involved in this trolling campaign — and are going to continue working to address this in the days to come to make Twitter safe and welcoming for everyone,” said Roth.
Musk made it clear that while he wants Twitter to be a free speech safe haven, he also can not let the platform become a “free-for-all hellscape,” and that there will be consequences for those who spread hate or incite violence.
Further, Musk also stated that he intends to establish a ‘Content Moderation Council’ with members offering widely diverse viewpoints,” to tackle such instances and decide whether to take down certain posts or not.
Nibel, one of the most prominent gaming news accounts on Twitter, has announced that he’s leaving the platform.
In a statement posted to his now-private account, Nibel said he’s decided to “focus my time and energy elsewhere and move on from Twitter.” Over the years, Nibel — most recognized through profile pictures from anime like Mob Psycho 100 — grew in popularity for sharing gaming news from a variety of outlets, and with nearly 450,000 followers at the time of writing, he has had a significant reach.
In a post on Patreon, Nibel elaborated on the decision to leave Twitter. The first factor was that he was “not able to create an interesting and sustainable Patreon, which is evident in the number of Patrons stagnating during the first weekend and the first (of many) pledges being deleted in the first week.” Thanking Patrons for the support, he said he’ll look into refunds for recent payments and has already deactivated billing.
He went on to say that Twitter itself has also compelled him to step away from his work.
“I don’t think Twitter has yet experienced good leadership, and this trend will not change with Musk either,” referring to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who officially took control of Twitter last week following his $44 billion USD (about $60 billion CAD) acquisition of the social media giant. “I do not trust the platform. I do not trust Musk and his seemingly infinite immaturity. I do not think Twitter will fall apart instantly but that it could be die a slow death. Why waste more time?”
Nibel ended his post by noting that he’ll keep the Twitter account up (“at least for now”) so that people can’t cause issues with the handle. Indeed, Nibel has criticized Twitter for difficulties in getting verified, as this lead to many accounts sharing fake news while posing as him.
Nibel is the latest person to announce a Twitter departure following Musk’s takeover. Other notable figures to do so include Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles and Bill & Ted star Alex Winter.
Musk’s first weekend in charge of Twitter has already been met with multiple controversies. Over the past few days, Musk shared a fake news story about the recent attack on Paul Pelosi, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Musk quietly deleted the tweet without taking accountability for sharing a conspiracy theory to his more than 110 million followers.
Tesla CEO and now “Chief Twit” Elon Musk wants Twitter to revamp its subscription service ‘Blue’ to include a higher price tag and verification status.
According to internal correspondence and people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Verge, the plan is to raise the cost of Twitter Blue from $4.99 USD to $19.99 USD per month. (In Canada, Twitter nearly doubled the price of Blue to $6.49/mo in July — it’s not clear how much the new, more expensive Blue will cost in Canada, but $19.99 USD is about $27.34 CAD.)
Beyond the price increase, the new Blue subscription would include verification. Currently, verified Twitter users (shown with a blue check mark) must get verification by applying for it. Verification is intended as a tool for authenticating accounts that are of public interest, such as accounts for political leaders, journalists, and celebrities. Under the new verification system tied to Blue, currently verified Twitter users would have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark.
The Verge also reported that Musk gave Twitter employees an ultimatum: meet his deadline to introduce paid verification or leave the company. Musk reportedly has Twitter employees working late into the night and over the weekend while managers are drawing up lists of people to fire. Employees working on paid verification were given a deadline of November 7th to launch or be fired.
The whole verification process is being revamped right now
Considering Blue wasn’t worth the cost at $6.49, raising the price significantly and only adding verification as a benefit seems like a poor choice. Moreover, the implementation may harm the verification status if anyone can just pay for a blue check.
Blue’s other features include the ability to edit tweets, as well as access to ad-free articles from some publishers, customizations in the app and more. However, Musk apparently wants to grow subscriptions to become half of Twitter’s overall revenue — forcing people who need a verification badge to pay for it is certainly one way to push that agenda.
Of course, if you’d rather not deal with Twitter under Musk, there are some people who have jumped ship to other platforms like Mastodon — learn more here.
With Elon Musk’s ascent to ‘Chief Twit’ on Friday, some joined an exodus from the platform in search of less racist greener platforms. Over the last couple of days, you may have heard talk of ‘Mastodon,’ which seems to be the landing place for many former tweeters. But what is Mastodon, and how does it work?
What is Mastodon?
In short, Mastodon is free and open-source software for self-hosted social networking services. On the surface, Mastodon seems a lot like Twitter, offering similar microblogging features with a 500-character limit on posts (called toots instead of tweets) that appear in a real-time feed. Mastodon says on its website that the timeline shows posts chronologically with “no algorithms or ads to waste your time,” which feels like a shot at Twitter’s much-maligned algorithmic feed.
However, Mastodon isn’t just an open-source Twitter-like social network. When you dig in a little more, there are quite a few differences. Most notable (and likely most confusing for newcomers) are servers. Mastodon isn’t a centralized social network like Twitter, where everyone goes to the same place. Instead, it’s a ‘federated network’ consisting of various servers (also called instances) that represent different communities.
Mastodon likens servers to email address domains like Gmail, Outlook, etc. Users pick a server to host their account, but can still interact with people on other servers as long as they know their address. There are a bunch of different servers available to pick from — some are centred around shared interests, like gaming, or places.
The server approach also means that moderation on Mastodon differs significantly from Twitter and other social networks. Each server handles its own moderation, enabling a more local, community-driven approach to content moderation. Mastodon suggests people join servers with rules they agree with, or host their own server.
One other interesting note about Mastodon is that it’s interoperable with other social platforms based on ActivityPub, an open and decentralized social networking protocol. Mastodon says one account grants access to the “fediverse,” a group of independently hosted social networking apps that can communicate with each other (imagine if one account let you seamlessly post to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and more).
How to get started with Mastodon
If you’re interested in making the jump from Twitter to Mastodon, here’s how to go about it. To start, you’ll need to pick a server — you can find a list of options here. Since servers have different focuses and rules, Mastodon recommends picking a server that aligns with what you’ll be posting about the most. For example, someone passionate about climate justice may want to join the ‘climatejustice.social‘ server. If you want to post about various topics, a general server (like the Mastodon-operated ‘mastodon.social‘ server) may be a better fit.
You can check a server’s rules by clicking the server, then clicking the ‘Learn more’ button on the left side and reading through the ‘About’ and ‘Server rules’ sections.
Ultimately, which server you pick isn’t a huge deal since you’ll still be able to chat with people on other servers. If you find another server you like, you can always create a second account for that server, or migrate your profile to that server without losing followers.
Once you’ve selected a server, you can create your account (you’ll need to make a display name and username, password, and add an email address). You’ll get an email with a confirmation link to activate your account. Once that’s done, you’re good to start following other Mastodon users and posting toots.
If you want to learn more about getting started with Mastodon, check out Mastodon’s full guide here. If you want to get Mastodon apps for your phone or other devices, check out the apps page here.
Social network Twitter was a hotbed for chaos on October 28th following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s acquisition. Some reported an increase in racism and bigotry on the platform, while others claimed Musk would reinstate former President Donald Trump’s account (which, as a reminder, was banned after Trump incited the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol).
Amid the chaos of Musk’s Twitter takeover, Musk tweeted that the company will form a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints” and that there would be “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.
No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, Musk’s tweet is likely an attempt to ease concerns of advertisers, much like Musk’s earlier tweet to advertisers about not making Twitter a “free-for-all hellscape” where “highly relevant ads are actually content!” The thing is, Musk has been talking about making Twitter into a free-for-all hellscape for a while. If nothing else, it’ll be interesting to see how Musk attempts to appease the advertisers he needs for Twitter to make money and his most rabid fans who just want to tweet slurs.
Moreover, Twitter already has a trust and safety council that advises it on product and policy decisions. Formed in 2016, Twitter expanded it in 2020 to form groups dedicated to difficult topics like safety, online harassment, digital rights, suicide prevention and more.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen what shape this new content moderation council takes. It may be advisory, like the trust and safety council, or perhaps it could be similar to Meta’s Oversight Board. Whatever happens, the council is almost guaranteed to stir up more controversy and chaos.
