Twitter / Elon Musk case explained in 90 seconds
SOCIAL NETWORKS – Bird loses north. Leaks of advertisers, mass layoffs, successive resignations, cacophony around new features… since the day of its takeover, Twitter has been revolutionizing the social network at the center of the Elon Musk storm. We explain everything to you in 90 seconds in the video at the top of this article.
On October 27, 2022, Elon Musk announced that he was buying Twitter for $44 billion after a saga of more than six months. “Bird is free”he tweets, referring to the platform’s logo, the blue bird. “Twitter is now in good hands”Banned from the platform after the attack on the Capitol in early 2021, former US President Donald Trump welcomes and appears to be in a hurry to recover there.
” Content moderation advice »
Associations worry that Elon Musk is opening the door to misinformation and hate speech with his libertarian view of absolutely promoting free speech. The European Union also warned on the 28th that Twitter will have to respect new digital rules that force major platforms to regulate their content.
Elon Musk tries to reassure by announcing the upcoming formation “Content Moderation Advice”. A day after the takeover, automaker General Motors temporarily stopped paying for ads on Twitter, becoming the first major advertiser to question its existence on the social network, which gets 90% of its revenue from advertising.
American agribusiness giants General Mills (Cheerios and Häagen-Dazs) and Mondelez international (Oreo cookies) are following suit, as are even Volkswagen and Audi.
$8 to verify your account
On November 1, Elon Musk announced in a tweet that an $8 per month subscription would be available for users who want to verify the authenticity of their accounts and be less exposed to ads. The account certificate was previously free and only certain profiles, such as governments, companies, media, political, cultural or sports personalities, etc.
On the 4th, Twitter begins a wave of layoffs that will affect nearly 50% of its 7,500 employees worldwide. “Unfortunately, there is no other option when the company is losing more than $4 million a day.”, justifies Elon Musk. A great cacophony surrounds the launch of the new Twitter Blue, a paid subscription to verify your account on the iPhone on the 9th.
Within 48 hours, many accounts appeared to be those of celebrities or major companies, from basketball player LeBron James to Nintendo. These imitations will cause Twitter to shut down Twitter Blue starting November 11.
Warning from US authorities
On the 10th, the American Competition Agency (FTC) issued a rare warning against the platform: “We are following the recent events on Twitter with great concern. No CEO or company is above the law. »
The FTC notes that Twitter faces significant fines if it fails to comply with data security and privacy rules. However, many employees who were aware of these rules are no longer on Twitter.
On the 16th, Elon Musk announced that Twitter Blue’s relaunch had been pushed back to November 29 after a false start the previous week. On the same day, the billionaire issued an ultimatum to his employees who survived the first wave of layoffs. They must commit before the next day “working long hours at high intensity”otherwise they will be fired. According to several American media, hundreds of workers are choosing to quit. And this could be the beginning of the story…
See also The HuffPost:
