
Every thing that 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 defend free speech.
“That is simply my sturdy, intuitive sense that having a public platform that’s maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extraordinarily necessary to the way forward for civilization,” Musk said at a TED convention on the day he made his supply. “I don’t care concerning the economics in any respect.”
Even for one of many richest males on the planet, $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” via public discourse, the billionaire bought chilly ft. A month later in Might, he tried to kill the deal, claiming that Twitter had extra bots than its public filings let on. After a very chaotic authorized discovery course of, which even included some embarrassing texts, Musk was compelled 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. Should you’re simply catching up, right here’s an entire timeline of what’s taking place on the chicken app.
Right here’s an ongoing timeline of the notable Twitter updates and modifications since Musk’s takeover, beginning with the newest information:
April 2023
Twitter sends an email seemingly requiring advertisers to have a verified checkmark
Several Twitter users have posted screenshots of an e-mail reportedly despatched by Twitter, which states that ranging from April 21, verified checkmarks are required to proceed operating advertisements on the platform.
WOW… Twitter is now telling advertisers it MUST subscribe to Twitter Blue or Verified Organisations to proceed operating advertisements! pic.twitter.com/4DrDu82Zi0
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) April 21, 2023
Twitter officially kills legacy blue checkmarks on 4/20
With the legacy checks gone, Twitter can have verification marks just for paid customers and companies, in addition to authorities entities and officers. Now if a person sees a blue examine mark and clicks on it, the label reads: “This account is verified as a result of they’re subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their cellphone quantity.”
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’ll start charging a minimal of $42,000 per 30 days to customers of its API, together with enterprises and analysis establishments. The strikes imply customers will not be capable to entry their Twitter account, or create, schedule or in any other case handle tweets via Microsoft’s free social media administration service.
Twitter proprietor Elon Musk threatened to take authorized motion:
They educated illegally utilizing Twitter information. Lawsuit time.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023
Twitter quietly removes policy against misgendering trans people
Twitter up to date its content material moderation tips concerning hateful content material, eradicating a coverage that prohibited the focused deadnaming or misgendering of transgender folks. Enacted in 2018, the coverage explicitly said that it violated Twitter’s guidelines to repeatedly and purposefully name a transgender particular person by the fallacious 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 can 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 develop into much less discoverable, as they’re excluded from areas like search outcomes, tendencies, really helpful notifications, For You and Following timelines, and extra.
Traditionally, the broader public wouldn’t essentially know if a tweet had been moderated on this means. Now Twitter says that can change.
Twitter introduces 10,000-character-long tweets for Blue subscribers
Twitter’s new function will let Blue subscribers submit 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 fully new. Final June, the corporate launched a program known as Twitter Notes for select writers. Nevertheless, that program was shut down beneath 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. A couple of 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 function, which offered 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 have interaction in buying and selling. Should you seek for a inventory on Twitter, you will note a button saying “View on eToro,” which redirects to the positioning.
🎉Very excited to be launching a brand new $Cashtags partnership with @Twitter which is able to 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 speculate via 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, in the long run, one thing he went via with willingly, or whether or not it was one thing he did as a result of the energetic courtroom case on the time wherein Twitter was making an attempt to drive 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 compelled to take action anyway.
Elon Musk says Twitter will officially remove legacy checkmarks on 4/20
That is the “remaining date,” he stated in a tweet. If the transfer goes via, Twitter can have verification marks just for paid customers and companies, and authorities entities and officers.
Ultimate 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 known as X Corp., in keeping with a court filing in California.
Since Twitter is not a public firm, it doesn’t must report updates like identify modifications 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 Court docket, 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 Alternate Fee.
Twitter Circle tweets aren’t that private
Quite a few Twitter customers reported a bug on April 10 wherein Circle tweets are surfacing on the algorithmically generated For You timeline. That signifies that your supposedly non-public posts would possibly breach containment to achieve an unintended viewers, which might 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 should 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 informed 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 for those who hyperlink to a Substack by way of a redirected URL, it appears to submit with out restrictions.
Twitter Blue subscribers will now be shown ‘half ads’ on the platform
Twitter is rolling out extra options for Blue subscribers together with exhibiting 50% of advertisements of their timeline in comparison with non-paid customers and a visibility increase in search.
“As you scroll, you will note 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 function says.
Whereas Twitter is claiming to scale back advertisements on paid subscribers’ feeds, it’s onerous 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 retailers the place the state workout routines management over editorial content material via 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, should 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’ll 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 respectable, verified and notable can be maintained solely for individuals who have a subscription to Twitter Blue. The change can be a part of a wider push for Twitter to gate beforehand free options, and bundle new ones, beneath the $8 per 30 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 price, it appeared that eradicating so many blue checks can be simpler stated than performed. As an alternative, Twitter merely updated the text accompanying a blue examine 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 examine when the information large stated it wouldn’t pay for verification.
Primarily based 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 embody a free stage meant for content material posting bots, a $100/month primary stage and a expensive enterprise stage. Subscribing to any stage will get entry to the Advertisements API at no extra price.
Twitter talked about that over the subsequent 30 days, the corporate will discontinue previous entry ranges, together with Normal (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 instances and people testing the Twitter API with 1,500 Tweets/month on the app stage, 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 option to tackle superior AI bot swarms taking on.”
Beginning April fifteenth, solely verified accounts will probably be eligible to be in For You suggestions.
The is the one life like option to tackle superior AI bot swarms taking on. It’s in any other case a hopeless dropping battle.
Voting in polls would require verification for identical cause.
— 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 won’t be able to subscribe to Twitter Blue for 30 days. We may additionally 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 after 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 have been deemed notable.
On April 1st, we are going to 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 positioning that might be accessed even in international locations 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, informed TechCrunch that the positioning “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 international locations the world over.
These international locations embody 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 employees is down from about 7,500 staff to lower than 2,000 since Musk.
A number of hypothesis amongst ex staff that Musk have to be about to put in a complete new regime and that’s why he’s cleansing home. In any other case the cuts don’t make sense. “Laborious to maintain the lights on with the people who find themselves nonetheless left,” one ex supervisor informed me.
— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) February 26, 2023
One of many quite a few rounds of cuts eradicated the platform’s whole accessibility crew. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) known as on Elon Musk to deliver the accessibility crew 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 modifications with Twitter API. As a part of our efforts to create an optimum expertise for the developer neighborhood, we will probably 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’ll cost $100 per 30 days for the fundamental tier of API. This may get builders entry to a “low stage of API utilization,” in addition to the Advertisements API.
We now have been busy with some updates to the Twitter API so you possibly can proceed to construct and innovate with us.
We’re excited to announce an extension of the present free Twitter API entry via February 13. Right here’s what we’re delivery 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 positioning had been put behind a login. The discussion board was lastly accessible 4 days in a while February 13.
Twitter Blue introduces 4,000-character tweets
Twitter introduced the power to submit longer tweets for paid customers on February 8. As an alternative of being restricted to 280 characters, paying Blue subscribers can submit tweets which are as much as 4,000 characters.
Whereas solely Twitter Blue subscribers can submit lengthy tweets, all customers will be capable to learn them. You will notice solely the primary 280 characters on the timeline, and if you wish to learn extra, you possibly can click on on “Present extra.”
want greater than 280 characters to specific your self?
we all know that a lot of you do… and whereas we love a very good thread, typically you simply wish to Tweet all the pieces . we get that.
so we’re introducing longer Tweets! you’re gonna wish to examine 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 have to 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 complete 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 dwell and recorded areas, together with podcasts. The social community is making podcasts accessible solely to Blue subscribers and “some folks 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 seems to be for extra avenues to monetize the platform.
Beginning February 9, we are going to not assist free entry to the Twitter API, each v2 and v1.1. A paid primary tier will probably be accessible as an alternative 🧵
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 2, 2023
Per 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 function that allowed two customers to co-author a tweet. Customers will be capable to view the set of co-tweets for a month. After that, they are going to be mechanically transformed to retweets on the co-author’s profile.
January 2023
Twitter partners with DoubleVerify and IAS on brand safety initiative
As a result of 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 forms of advertisements, together with promoted tweets.
Twitter rolls out its bookmark feature on iOS
The brand new design shows the bookmark button beneath the expanded tweet view, making it simpler so as to add a submit 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 choice to save lots of a tweet. Along with the brand new button, as quickly as you faucet on the button, you will note a banner on the prime of the display that claims “Present all bookmarks.”
The choice is at present seen solely on the iOS app, however we will 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 Functions.” 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 have been violating.
In consequence, 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 $84/12 months in the event that they buy an annual Blue subscription on the internet.
Twitter Blue, together with the brand new annual plan, is at present accessible within the U.S., the U.Okay., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Picture Credit: Twitter
Twitter HQ furniture auctions
In a wierd try and earn 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. If you’re quickly dropping 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 provide 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 exhibiting each algorithmic and chronological feeds side-by-side. Customers can change 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 decisions once more.
- February 7: Twitter remembers your decisions once more on iOS and Android, too.
Now you can simply change 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 response to social media analyst Matt Navarra, Twitter’s superior search filters for cell are coming quickly.
Right here’s what it seems to be like:
NEW! Twitter Superior Search function 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 reducing 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 response to posts on Twitter and LinkedIn from a former public coverage worker on December 22, Twitter reduce half of its public coverage crew.
Twitter additionally laid off some engineers in infrastructure by way of e-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 function, customers have to simply kind 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 all the time return the inventory or crypto costs as requested.
If somebody desires to know extra particulars a few inventory or cryptocurrency, they’ll hit the “View on Robinhood” button.
$Cashtags, now with information 📈
👀 $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 probably be seen to everybody, not simply the proprietor of the account.
“Twitter is rolling out View Rely, so you possibly can 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 12 months.
We’re launching the pilot of Blue for Enterprise so starting right this moment you’ll begin seeing firm badges on choose profiles. We’ll quickly be increasing this system and look ahead to having extra companies added within the new 12 months! 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 clarify its choice to ban an account that tracks Elon Musk’s private jet, Twitter also suspended its open source competitor Mastodon from the service.
Inside the identical day, Twitter suspended various distinguished journalists on the platform with out warning. “Similar doxxing guidelines apply to ‘journalists’ as to everybody else,” Elon Musk tweeted in a reply concerning 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 gaggle 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 e-newsletter platform acquired by Twitter in January 2021, sent a message to newsletter writers on December 14 declaring, “We’ve made the troublesome choice to close down Revue.” Writers had till January 18, 2023 to retrieve their information in the beginning 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 acquired an e-mail on Monday, December 12 from Twitter saying that the Belief & Security Council is “not the perfect 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 have been used to confirm people and entities as energetic, genuine and notable accounts of curiosity.
This previous week, many blue checkmark holders have been seeing a pop-up after they click on on their blue checkmark that reads, “This can be a legacy verified account. It could or will 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 international locations 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.
Net sign-ups will price $8 per 30 days and iOS signal ups will price $11 per 30 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 referred to as 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 international enlargement, Group Notes have 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 30 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 are appended to tweets to offer additional clarification and context.
The Group Notes algorithm change includes scoring notes the place contributors clarify why a tweet shouldn’t be deemed deceptive.
Twitter announces a new multicolored verification system
Elon Musk publicizes 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 probably be devoted to people even when they don’t seem to be celebrities. Meaning the blue checkmark will probably be used with legacy verified accounts and people who purchase Twitter’s proposed $8 per month paid plan.
Should 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 modifications to Twitter’s system for verifying person 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 response to a tweet by Esther Crawford, a former product lead at Twitter, the brand new Twitter Blue plan wasn’t but dwell, however some customers noticed notifications as a part of a dwell take a look at.
The brand new Blue isn’t dwell but — the dash to our launch continues however some people may even see us making updates as a result of we’re testing and pushing modifications in real-time. The Twitter crew is known. 🫡 New Blue… coming quickly! https://t.co/ewTSTjx3t7
— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 5, 2022
Twitter additionally launched grey-colored official checkmarks for notable accounts similar 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 function accessible on the time being the blue “verified” checkmark. This prompted a number of fake accounts pretending to be celebrities, manufacturers and in any other case influential folks to create accounts and unfold misinformation.
The Twitter exodus begins with mass layoffs and exits
Elon Musk laid off 3,700 folks from Twitter on November 3, nearly half its employees, 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.
Per week later, Twitter reached out to some former staff to return as they have been laid off “by mistake.”
Along with layoffs, a round of executive departures additionally swept via 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 dearer model of Twitter Blue, the platform’s paid plan, that can reportedly price $19.99 per 30 days and provides customers a verified badge. On the time, Twitter Blue price $4.99 per 30 days within the U.S.
In response to 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, Common Counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Authorized, Belief and Security Vijaya Gadde.
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