
Every little thing you must know, from layoffs to verification
Welcome to Elon Musk’s Twitter, the place the foundations are made up and the check marks don’t matter.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO first introduced his bid to purchase Twitter in April 2022, zealously pushed to rid the platform of spam bots and shield free speech.
“That is simply my sturdy, intuitive sense that having a public platform that’s maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extraordinarily vital to the way forward for civilization,” Musk said at a TED convention on the day he made his provide. “I don’t care in regards to the economics in any respect.”
Even for one of many richest males on the earth, $44 billion is some huge cash to cough as much as purchase a middling social platform. Regardless of his fervent declarations about increasing “the scope and scale of consciousness” by means of public discourse, the billionaire bought chilly ft. A month later in Could, he tried to kill the deal, claiming that Twitter had extra bots than its public filings let on. After a really chaotic authorized discovery course of, which even included some embarrassing texts, Musk was pressured to seal the deal. By October, the platform was his.
Since Musk purchased Twitter and took the corporate non-public, the information across the microblogging platform has been a whirlwind, rife with verification chaos, API entry shakeups, ban reversals and staggering layoffs. In the event you’re simply catching up, right here’s an entire timeline of what’s taking place on the hen app.
Right here’s an ongoing timeline of the notable Twitter updates and adjustments since Musk’s takeover, beginning with the latest information:
April 2023
Microsoft drops Twitter from its advertising platform
Microsoft is dropping Twitter from its promoting platform beginning on April 25, almost two months after Twitter introduced that it’s going to start charging a minimal of $42,000 per thirty days to customers of its API, together with enterprises and analysis establishments. The strikes imply customers will not be capable of entry their Twitter account, or create, schedule or in any other case handle tweets by means of Microsoft’s free social media administration service.
Twitter proprietor Elon Musk threatened to take authorized motion:
They educated illegally utilizing Twitter knowledge. Lawsuit time.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023
Twitter quietly removes policy against misgendering trans people
Twitter up to date its content material moderation pointers concerning hateful content material, eradicating a coverage that prohibited the focused deadnaming or misgendering of transgender individuals. Enacted in 2018, the coverage explicitly acknowledged that it violated Twitter’s guidelines to repeatedly and purposefully name a transgender particular person by the flawed identify or pronouns.
Twitter to label tweets that get downranked for violating its hate speech policy
Twitter plans to “quickly” start including seen labels on tweets which have been recognized as doubtlessly violating its insurance policies, which has impacted their visibility. It didn’t say when precisely the system could be absolutely rolled out throughout its community.
Sometimes, when tweets violate Twitter’s insurance policies, one of many actions the corporate can take is to restrict the attain of these tweets — or one thing it calls “visibility filtering.” In these situations, the tweets stay on-line however turn out to be much less discoverable, as they’re excluded from areas like search outcomes, tendencies, beneficial notifications, For You and Following timelines, and extra.
Traditionally, the broader public wouldn’t essentially know if a tweet had been moderated on this method. Now Twitter says that may change.
Twitter introduces 10,000-character-long tweets for Blue subscribers
Twitter’s new characteristic will let Blue subscribers publish 10,000-character-long posts — as if the social community is trying to compete with a rival newsletter platform. Twitter has additionally added assist for daring and italic textual content formatting.
Lengthy-form writing can also be not completely new. Final June, the corporate launched a program referred to as Twitter Notes for select writers. Nonetheless, that program was shut down below Musk. After taking on the corporate he also killed newsletter tool Revue, a startup Twitter had acquired in 2021.
NPR, PBS and a handful of other news organizations bail on Twitter as Musk meddles with account labels
A PBS spokesperson confirmed to Axios that PBS had “no plans to renew tweeting” after Twitter gave it a murky “government-funded media” label over the weekend. Just a few other news entities appeared to have adopted swimsuit, together with the distinguished Boston NPR affiliate WBUR, Hawaii Public Radio and LA-based native information supply LAist.
The Australian Broadcasting Firm (ABC Australia), Australia’s Particular Broadcasting Service (SBS), New Zealand’s public broadcaster RNZ, Sweden’s SR Ekot and SVT, and Catalonia’s TV3.cat a were labeled “government-funded media” weeks later.
Twitter partners with eToro to show real-time stock and crypto information
This expands upon the social community’s Cashtag characteristic, which supplied data about a limited number of stocks and crypto coins through TradingView data.
The brand new partnership with eToro goes past simply displaying data. It additionally redirects customers to the eToro web site the place they’ll interact in buying and selling. In the event you seek for a inventory on Twitter, you will notice a button saying “View on eToro,” which redirects to the location.
🎉Very excited to be launching a brand new $Cashtags partnership with @Twitter which can allow Twitter customers to see real-time costs for a a lot wider vary of shares, crypto & different property in addition to having the choice to take a position by means of eToro. @elonmusk https://t.co/Iv2q9iNxbf
— eToro (@eToro) April 13, 2023
Elon Musk says he only bought Twitter because he thought he’d be forced to
Elon Musk gave a uncommon interview to an precise reporter late on Tuesday, chatting with BBC reporter James Clayton on Twitter Areas. In the course of the interview, Clayton pressed Musk on whether or not his buy of Twitter was, ultimately, one thing he went by means of with willingly, or whether or not it was one thing he did as a result of the lively courtroom case on the time during which Twitter was making an attempt to power him to undergo with the sale was going badly.
The reply was that Musk did certainly solely do the deal as a result of he believed legally, he was going to be pressured to take action anyway.
Elon Musk says Twitter will officially remove legacy checkmarks on 4/20
That is the “closing date,” he stated in a tweet. If the transfer goes by means of, Twitter can have verification marks just for paid customers and companies, and authorities entities and officers.
Last date for eradicating legacy Blue checks is 4/20
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 11, 2023
Twitter, Inc. is now X Corp.
Twitter, Inc. is now referred to as X Corp., based on a court filing in California.
Since Twitter is not a public firm, it doesn’t must report updates like identify adjustments to the SEC. However in any case, the brand new identify was noticed in an April 4 doc associated to far-right activist Laura Loomer’s lawsuit towards Twitter and Fb.
“Twitter, Inc. has been merged into X Corp. and not exists,” the doc states.
Ex-Twitter CEO and other execs sue firm over unpaid legal bills
The lawsuit, filed in Delaware Chancery Courtroom, alleged that Twitter has to pay greater than $1 million to the previous executives for authorized payments they incurred whereas on the firm to answer requests by the Division of Justice and Securities and Trade Fee.
Twitter Circle tweets aren’t that private
Quite a few Twitter customers reported a bug on April 10 during which Circle tweets are surfacing on the algorithmically generated For You timeline. That implies that your supposedly non-public posts may breach containment to achieve an unintended viewers, which may rapidly spark some uncomfortable conditions.
TechCrunch has spoken to a number of customers who’ve additionally skilled this glitch firsthand; many more have reported the glitch of their tweets. Most frequently, plainly Circle tweets are being surfaced within the For You timeline to customers who comply with the poster, however usually are not of their Circle. Others have reported that their Circle tweets are reaching even additional than those that comply with them.
A year later, Twitter is now resurfacing official Russian accounts in search results
The Elon Musk-owned platform has resumed surfacing accounts of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Embassy in search outcomes. A former Twitter worker advised the publication that this transfer is probably going due to a coverage change.
Twitter won’t let you retweet, like or reply to Substack links
Twitter is censoring Substack hyperlinks by making the posts not possible to answer to, like or retweet. Whereas quote-tweeting works, merely urgent the retweet button surfaces an error message: “Some actions on this Tweet have been disabled by Twitter.”
You didn’t hear this from us, however should you hyperlink to a Substack by way of a redirected URL, it appears to publish with out restrictions.
Twitter Blue subscribers will now be shown ‘half ads’ on the platform
Twitter is rolling out further options for Blue subscribers together with displaying 50% of advertisements of their timeline in comparison with non-paid customers and a visibility enhance in search.
“As you scroll, you will notice roughly twice as many natural or non-promoted Tweets positioned in between promoted Tweets or advertisements. There could also be instances when there are extra or fewer non-promoted Tweets between promoted Tweets,” Twitter’s description of the characteristic says.
Whereas Twitter is claiming to cut back advertisements on paid subscribers’ feeds, it’s arduous to show if they’re truly seeing fewer advertisements aside from anecdotal experiences.
Twitter singles NPR out with misleading state-backed media label
NPR’s Twitter account on the platform now comes with a tag denoting it as “US state-affiliated media.” However NPR doesn’t meet Twitter’s personal definition for a state-affiliated account:
State-affiliated media is outlined as shops the place the state workouts management over editorial content material by means of monetary assets, direct or oblique political pressures, and/or management over manufacturing and distribution…
State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, just like the BBC within the UK for instance, usually are not outlined as state-affiliated media for the needs of this coverage.
GET REKT @NPR
Properly performed, @elonmusk 🤣 pic.twitter.com/jvX15QWSf5
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 5, 2023
NPR later announced that it’s going to not be posting content material to its 52 official Twitter feeds, turning into the primary main information group to go silent on the social media platform.
Twitter’s verification changes feel like an accidental April Fools’ joke
Musk had claimed that beginning on April 1, blue checkmarks that beforehand indicated that an account was authentic, verified and notable could be maintained solely for many who have a subscription to Twitter Blue. The change could be a part of a wider push for Twitter to gate beforehand free options, and bundle new ones, below the $8 per thirty days Twitter Blue subscription, which prices $11 on iOS and Android units.
As quite a few celebrities and companies spoke out to say they wouldn’t pay the $8 charge, it appeared that eradicating so many blue checks could be simpler stated than performed. As a substitute, Twitter merely updated the text accompanying a blue test to make it unclear whether or not somebody was verified for being notable, or for paying for Twitter Blue. In an final act of pettiness, Twitter eliminated The New York Occasions’ verification test when the information large stated it wouldn’t pay for verification.
Based mostly on early returns, the revamped Twitter Blue has yet to contribute significantly to Twitter’s bottom line, with simply $11 million generated from cell signups in its first three months.
March 2023
Twitter announces new API tiers; free, basic and enterprise levels
The three API tiers embrace a free degree meant for content material posting bots, a $100/month fundamental degree and a expensive enterprise degree. Subscribing to any degree will get entry to the Adverts API at no further value.
Twitter talked about that over the subsequent 30 days, the corporate will discontinue outdated entry ranges, together with Commonplace (for v1.1), Important and Elevated (for v2), and Premium.
Developers remain unhappy with Twitter’s new API construction.
Introducing a brand new type of Free (v2) entry for write-only use circumstances and people testing the Twitter API with 1,500 Tweets/month on the app degree, media add endpoints, and Login with Twitter.
Get began: https://t.co/CqCRD3vbE5
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) March 29, 2023
Elon Musk says Twitter will only show verified accounts on its “For You” timeline starting April 15
Musk justified the transfer by saying this was the “solely life like solution to tackle superior AI bot swarms taking on.”
Beginning April fifteenth, solely verified accounts will likely be eligible to be in For You suggestions.
The is the one life like solution to tackle superior AI bot swarms taking on. It’s in any other case a hopeless shedding battle.
Voting in polls would require verification for identical motive.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023
New Twitter accounts now have to wait only 30 days to purchase Twitter Blue
Twitter decreases the wait to buy Twitter Blue for newly created Twitter accounts from 90 days to 30 days.
“New subscriptions to Twitter Blue can be found globally on net, iOS, or Android. Not all options can be found on all platforms. Newly created Twitter accounts will be unable to subscribe to Twitter Blue for 30 days. We can also impose ready intervals for brand spanking new accounts sooner or later at our discretion, and with out discover,” the Twitter Blue web page reads.
Twitter to kill ‘legacy’ blue checks on April 1
Twitter introduced that the elimination of legacy blue checkmarks will start April 1 for customers that aren’t subscribed to Twitter Blue.
Elon tweeted back in December that the corporate will take away legacy checkmarks “in a couple of months.” After that, customers with legacy blue checks had been seeing a pop-up once they clicked on their checkmark, which learn, “This can be a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.” However as soon as Twitter botched this elimination of checkmarks, they modified the copy once more — as of now, users cannot distinguish whether someone has a checkmark as a result of they paid, or as a result of they had been deemed notable.
On April 1st, we’ll start winding down our legacy verified program and eradicating legacy verified checkmarks. To maintain your blue checkmark on Twitter, people can join Twitter Blue right here: https://t.co/gzpCcwOpLp
Organizations can join https://t.co/RlN5BbuGA3…
— Twitter Verified (@verified) March 23, 2023
Twitter’s privacy-preserving Tor service goes dark
Twitter’s Tor service, a model of the location that may very well be accessed even in nations the place the social community is banned, has gone darkish after the corporate didn’t renew its certificates, which expired on March 6.
Pavel Zoneff, director of strategic communications on the Tor Challenge, advised TechCrunch that the location “is not accessible seemingly with no plans to resume.”
Twitter Blue is now available in more than 20 countries
This enlargement makes the social community’s subscription service accessible in additional than 35 nations internationally.
These nations embrace Netherlands, Poland, Eire, Belgium, Sweden, Romania, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Croatia, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus.
February 2023
Layoffs continue
Twitter laid off greater than 200 staff in its fourth spherical of cuts, together with loyalist Esther Crawford — the chief govt of Twitter funds who oversaw the corporate’s Twitter Blue verification subscription.
Twitter’s workers is down from about 7,500 staff to lower than 2,000 since Musk.
A lot of hypothesis amongst ex staff that Musk should be about to put in an entire new regime and that’s why he’s cleansing home. In any other case the cuts don’t make sense. “Arduous to maintain the lights on with the people who find themselves nonetheless left,” one ex supervisor advised me.
— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) February 26, 2023
One of many quite a few rounds of cuts eradicated the platform’s whole accessibility group. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) referred to as on Elon Musk to carry the accessibility group again in an open letter. Markey requested a response by March 17.
Twitter allows cannabis ads in states where it’s legal
After updating its ad policy on February 15, Twitter grew to become the primary social media app within the U.S. to permit hashish promoting. Hashish advertisements will run on Twitter in U.S. states the place hashish is authorized and in Canada.
Twitter delays launch of its new API platform…again
The preliminary date set to chop free entry to Twitter’s API was February 9, which was then prolonged to February 13. Now, the social community has delayed the shutdown once more, this time with no date set.
There was an immense quantity of enthusiasm for the upcoming adjustments with Twitter API. As a part of our efforts to create an optimum expertise for the developer neighborhood, we will likely be delaying the launch of our new API platform by a couple of extra days.
Extra data to comply with…
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 13, 2023
The delay jeopardizes the plans of builders and startups constructing instruments across the Twitter API as they wouldn’t have any readability on future spending and funds allocation on the developer platform.
Twitter’s basic tier of its API will cost $100 per month
The corporate initially deliberate to close down free entry to its API on February 9. Now it has prolonged this deadline to February 13. Twitter stated that it’s going to cost $100 per thirty days for the essential tier of API. It will get builders entry to a “low degree of API utilization,” in addition to the Adverts API.
We’ve got been busy with some updates to the Twitter API so you’ll be able to proceed to construct and innovate with us.
We’re excited to announce an extension of the present free Twitter API entry by means of February 13. Right here’s what we’re transport then 🧵
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 8, 2023
When builders making an attempt to hunt readability across the new API guidelines went to the developer forum website, they discovered that the location had been put behind a login. The discussion board was lastly accessible 4 days afterward February 13.
Twitter Blue introduces 4,000-character tweets
Twitter introduced the power to publish longer tweets for paid customers on February 8. As a substitute of being restricted to 280 characters, paying Blue subscribers can publish tweets which might be as much as 4,000 characters.
Whereas solely Twitter Blue subscribers can publish lengthy tweets, all customers will be capable of learn them. You will notice solely the primary 280 characters on the timeline, and if you wish to learn extra, you’ll be able to click on on “Present extra.”
want greater than 280 characters to precise your self?
we all know that a lot of you do… and whereas we love a superb thread, generally you simply need to Tweet every thing unexpectedly. we get that.
so we’re introducing longer Tweets! you’re gonna need to test this out. faucet this 👉…
— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) February 8, 2023
Elon Musk claims Twitter will start sharing ad revenue with creators
Elon Musk introduced in a tweet on February 3 that the corporate would quickly start sharing promoting income with creators on the platform for the primary time. He follows up the announcement with a catch: Eligible customers should be signed up for Twitter Blue.
Payouts have but to reach creators’ wallets.
More monetization pushes: Twitter Blue expands new countries, brings back Spaces curation
Twitter Blue subscriptions are actually accessible in Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, making it 12 areas in whole to which customers can subscribe to it as of February 2. On February 8, Twitter Blue extended services further to India, Indonesia and Brazil.
Twitter additionally introduced launching a brand new Areas tab with curated stations for stay and recorded areas, together with podcasts. The social community is making podcasts accessible solely to Blue subscribers and “some individuals on Twitter for iOS and Twitter for Android apps.”
Twitter to end free access to its API
Twitter will discontinue providing free entry to the Twitter API beginning February 9 and can launch a paid model, Twitter stated because it appears to be like for extra avenues to monetize the platform.
Beginning February 9, we’ll not assist free entry to the Twitter API, each v2 and v1.1. A paid fundamental tier will likely be accessible as a substitute 🧵
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 2, 2023
Every week later and days earlier than the February 9 deadline, Elon Musk stated that after getting suggestions from builders, Twitter will provide a write-only API for “bots providing good content that is free.”
Twitter discontinues CoTweets
Twitter announced February 1 that it’s discontinuing CoTweeting, a characteristic that allowed two customers to co-author a tweet. Customers will be capable of view the set of co-tweets for a month. After that, they are going to be routinely transformed to retweets on the co-author’s profile.
January 2023
Twitter partners with DoubleVerify and IAS on brand safety initiative
Resulting from declining advert income and advertiser exits, Twitter introduced on January 25 that it has teamed up with adtech firms DoubleVerify and Integral Advert Science (IAS) to inform advertisers if their advert is positioned round inappropriate content material. This system, accessible first for U.S.-based promoting campaigns, permits manufacturers to investigate the content material adjoining to — primarily tweets above and under the advert — all sorts of advertisements, together with promoted tweets.
Twitter rolls out its bookmark feature on iOS
The brand new design shows the bookmark button below the expanded tweet view, making it simpler so as to add a publish to your bookmarks.
Earlier than the change, you needed to faucet on the share button to open the sharing card after which faucet on the bookmark possibility to save lots of a tweet. Along with the brand new button, as quickly as you faucet on the button, you will notice a banner on the prime of the display that claims “Present all bookmarks.”
The choice is at the moment seen solely on the iOS app, however we are able to anticipate that Twitter will roll this out to Android and the net quickly.

Picture Credit: Twitter
Twitter quietly bans third-party clients
After cutting off prominent app makers like Tweetbot and Twitterific, Twitter quietly up to date its developer phrases to ban third-party clients altogether on January 19.
The “restrictions” part of Twitter’s developer agreement was up to date with a clause prohibiting “use or entry the Licensed Supplies to create or try and create a substitute or related service or product to the Twitter Purposes.” Earlier within the week, Twitter stated that it was “implementing long-standing API guidelines” in disallowing shoppers entry to its platform however didn’t cite which particular guidelines builders had been violating.
Because of this, third-party Twitter shoppers started offloading their apps from App Stores.
Twitter now offers an annual Blue subscription
Customers now have an opportunity to get a reduction for $84/yr in the event that they buy an annual Blue subscription on the internet.
Twitter Blue, together with the brand new annual plan, is at the moment accessible within the U.S., the U.Okay., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Picture Credit: Twitter
Twitter HQ furniture auctions
In an odd try and make cash, Twitter is auctioning off surplus office furniture (public sale is now closed) that it doesn’t want anymore, now that hundreds of staff have both left the company or been laid off. While you’re quickly shedding advertisers and apparently not paying your rent, why not go for the hail mary?
Twitter makes algorithmic “For You” timeline the default
The corporate has tried to drag this stunt previously, solely to offer the choice to change again to a chronological timeline after a lot of backlashes.
What’s completely different this time? The Elon Musk-led firm is now displaying each algorithmic and chronological feeds side-by-side. Customers can swap between them by swiping on their cellphone screens. Till now, customers needed to faucet on the glint icon within the top-right nook to change between the “House” and “Newest” timelines. Twitter is justifying its newest change by saying that customers can now simply swipe between the renamed “For You” and “Following” timelines.
- January 13: Twitter rolled out the dual-timeline replace to the net however at the moment the social community used to recollect your alternative.
- January 20: The corporate made the “For You” feed default on the internet when customers first opened Twitter in a tab or refreshed the web page.
- January 24: Now, Twitter remembers your selections once more.
- February 7: Twitter remembers your selections once more on iOS and Android, too.
Now you can simply swap between “For you” and “Following” on net. Android coming quickly 👀
— Twitter Help (@TwitterSupport) January 13, 2023
Twitter’s advanced search filters for mobile are said to be coming soon
In line with social media analyst Matt Navarra, Twitter’s superior search filters for cell are coming quickly.
Right here’s what it appears to be like like:
NEW! Twitter Superior Search characteristic on iOS is coming quickly 👀👇 https://t.co/ae56yE3JTU pic.twitter.com/xbQUpQJAlS
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) January 4, 2023
Twitter lifts the political ad ban to bolster revenue
The corporate initially enforced the ban back in 2019. At the moment, it stated that “political message attain ought to be earned, not purchased.” Twitter charted a distinct path from different social networks like Fb and Instagram, which allowed political advertisements.
Twitter’s announcement to raise the political advert ban comes at a time when advertisers have been pulling back spending on the platform, and the corporate has been chopping down its internal revenue projections.
December 2022
Twitter Blue users can now upload 60-minute videos
On December 23, Twitter up to date the Twitter Blue page declaring that subscribers can now add 60-minute movies from the net at 1080p decision and 2GB in file measurement.
Twitter layoffs continue, impacting employees in public policy, engineering
In line with posts on Twitter and LinkedIn from a former public coverage worker on December 22, Twitter minimize half of its public coverage group.
Twitter additionally laid off some engineers in infrastructure by way of electronic mail on December 16. Throughout all of Twitter, it’s estimated that about 75% of staff have both chosen to go away or have been laid off since Elon Musk took possession of the corporate in October.
Twitter now displays stock and cryptocurrency prices directly in search results
To entry the brand new characteristic, customers have to simply sort the greenback image adopted by the related ticker image, e.g. “$GOOG” or “$ETH” (minus the quote marks), within the search bar and Twitter will show the present worth. This additionally works with out utilizing the $ image in some cases, nevertheless it’s much less constant and doesn’t at all times return the inventory or crypto costs as requested.
If somebody needs to know extra particulars a couple of inventory or cryptocurrency, they’ll hit the “View on Robinhood” button.
$Cashtags, now with knowledge 📈
👀 $SPY 👇 pic.twitter.com/XgOK6gf02E
— Twitter Enterprise (@TwitterBusiness) December 21, 2022
Twitter now shows how many people view your tweets
A tweet’s View Rely will likely be seen to everybody, not simply the proprietor of the account.
“Twitter is rolling out View Rely, so you’ll be able to see what number of instances a tweet has been seen! That is regular for video,” Elon Musk wrote in a tweet. “Exhibits how way more alive Twitter is than it might appear, as over 90% of Twitter customers learn, however don’t tweet, reply or like, as these are public actions.”
Twitter Blue for Business now allows companies to identify their employees
Twitter’s product supervisor Esther Crawford said the social media platform is launching a pilot program for Blue for Enterprise with choose companies. The corporate plans to increase this to extra organizations subsequent yr.
We’re launching the pilot of Blue for Enterprise so starting at this time you’ll begin seeing firm badges on choose profiles. We’ll quickly be increasing this system and stay up for having extra companies added within the new yr! https://t.co/ytnMRO5rcE
— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) December 19, 2022
Twitter goes on an account suspension spree, including prominent journalists
A day after Twitter crafted a brand new coverage to elucidate its determination to ban an account that tracks Elon Musk’s private jet, Twitter also suspended its open source competitor Mastodon from the service.
Throughout the identical day, Twitter suspended quite a lot of distinguished journalists on the platform with out warning. “Identical doxxing guidelines apply to ‘journalists’ as to everybody else,” Elon Musk tweeted in a reply in regards to the journalists’ suspensions.
Twitter seemingly had a glitch that allowed banned customers to nonetheless take part in Twitter Areas. A bunch of the banned journalists began a bunch dialog on Areas the place Musk himself joined in. Shortly after, Twitter pulled its Spaces group audio feature quickly.
Twitter shuts down Revue, its newsletter platform
Revue, the publication platform acquired by Twitter in January 2021, sent a message to newsletter writers on December 14 declaring, “We’ve made the tough determination to close down Revue.” Writers had till January 18, 2023 to retrieve their knowledge at the start was deleted.
Twitter disperses the Trust & Safety Council
Twitter dispersed the advisory group consisting of roughly 100 impartial researchers and human rights activists from all over the world. The council members obtained an electronic mail on Monday, December 12 from Twitter saying that the Belief & Security Council is “not the very best construction” to get exterior insights into the corporate product and coverage technique.
Elon Musk says Twitter will remove all legacy verifications ‘in a few months’
Twitter will take away all legacy blue checkmarks “in a couple of months,” Elon Musk tweeted on December 12. Earlier than Musk purchased Twitter, checkmarks had been used to confirm people and entities as lively, genuine and notable accounts of curiosity.
This previous week, many blue checkmark holders have been seeing a pop-up once they click on on their blue checkmark that reads, “This can be a legacy verified account. It might or might not be notable.”
Twitter Blue relaunches with new verification process, plus Blue for Business
Twitter is formally bringing again the Twitter Blue subscription on December 12, beginning in 5 nations earlier than rapidly expanding to others. Twitter updated its terms to specify that users will need to verify their phone numbers earlier than buying the Twitter Blue subscription.
Internet sign-ups will value $8 per thirty days and iOS signal ups will value $11 per thirty days for “entry to subscriber-only options, together with the blue checkmark,” per a tweet from the corporate account. Twitter Blue became available on Android on the identical worth as iOS in January 2023.
Along with the relaunch of Twitter Blue, the corporate additionally started rolling out a new offering called Blue for Business that provides a gold checkmark to firm accounts.
Twitter rolls out its Community Notes feature globally
Twitter introduced Group Notes, beforehand often called Birdwatch, are actually seen all over the world. Group Notes is the social media large’s crowdsourced fact-checking system.
Moderators who’re a part of this system can add notes to tweets so as to add context and customers can then vote in the event that they decide the context to be useful. Previous to this world enlargement, Group Notes had been solely seen to customers within the U.S. Twitter added moderators from the U.Okay., Eire, Australia and New Zealand in January 2023.
Twitter announces charging $11 on iOS for Blue subscription to offset App Store fees
When Twitter launched its new subscription plan with a verification mark on November 9, it charged customers $7.99 per thirty days. In an try and offset App Retailer charges, Twitter is charging iOS customers $11 for the brand new subscription plan — although the Twitter Blue plan is on halt.
November 2022
Twitter’s Community Notes updated to better address ‘low quality’ contributions
The platform’s crowdsourced fact-checking system, Group Notes, are notes written by Twitter customers which might be appended to tweets to offer additional clarification and context.
The Group Notes algorithm change entails scoring notes the place contributors clarify why a tweet shouldn’t be deemed deceptive.
Twitter announces a new multicolored verification system
Elon Musk proclaims that Twitter will tentatively roll out a brand new multicolored verification system the place firms will get a gold checkmark, authorities officers will get a gray checkmark and the blue checkmark will likely be devoted to people even when they aren’t celebrities. Meaning the blue checkmark will likely be used with legacy verified accounts and folk who purchase Twitter’s proposed $8 per month paid plan.
In the event you’re confused about all of the checkmarks, you’re not alone. Right here’s a quick guide on what every checkmark and badge means on Twitter.
Twitter Blue verification chaos ensues
On November 9, Twitter CEO Elon Musk floated adjustments to Twitter’s system for verifying consumer accounts, together with charging $8 per month for it. The social media firm seemingly started rolling out a brand new tier of Twitter Blue, its premium subscription service. In line with a tweet by Esther Crawford, a former product lead at Twitter, the brand new Twitter Blue plan wasn’t but stay, however some customers noticed notifications as a part of a stay take a look at.
The brand new Blue isn’t stay but — the dash to our launch continues however some people might even see us making updates as a result of we’re testing and pushing adjustments in real-time. The Twitter group is famous. 🫡 New Blue… coming quickly! https://t.co/ewTSTjx3t7
— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 5, 2022
Twitter additionally launched grey-colored official checkmarks for notable accounts comparable to firms and politicians. However inside hours of the launch, Elon Musk killed it. Crawford clarified that the gray “Official” labels are nonetheless going out as a part of the brand new Twitter Blue product.
The brand new $8 Twitter Blue plan started rolling out to iOS customers within the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.Okay with the one characteristic accessible on the time being the blue “verified” checkmark. This brought on a number of fake accounts pretending to be celebrities, manufacturers and in any other case influential individuals to create accounts and unfold misinformation.
The Twitter exodus begins with mass layoffs and exits
Elon Musk laid off 3,700 individuals from Twitter on November 3, virtually half its workers, shortly after finishing the acquisition. Twitter was sued in a category motion lawsuit in response to not giving staff advance discover of a mass layoff, alleging Twitter violated employee safety legal guidelines.
Every week later, Twitter reached out to some former staff to return as they had been laid off “by mistake.”
Along with layoffs, a round of executive departures additionally swept by means of the corporate. In Musk’s first email to his new staff, he talked about ending distant work and making the combat towards spam a precedence.
October 2022
Elon Musk is revamping Twitter’s verification system
Twitter begins overhauling a brand new and costlier model of Twitter Blue, the platform’s paid plan, that may reportedly value $19.99 per thirty days and provides customers a verified badge. On the time, Twitter Blue value $4.99 per thirty days within the U.S.
In line with a report from The Verge, Twitter plans to take away verification badges from present holders in the event that they don’t pay for Twitter Blue inside 90 days of launching the brand new verification system.
Elon Musk officially owns Twitter
Elon Musk closed on his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter on October 27, 2022. The deal got here after months of legal drama, bad memes and will-they-or-won’t-they-chaos. After sealing the deal, Musk took Twitter private and commenced clearing house. On day one, he fired former CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, Basic Counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Authorized, Belief and Security Vijaya Gadde.
No Comments