The Elon Musk/Twitter thread

[~ True Legend ~]

Twitter seems to have been doomed for a while now. They have started to charge to verify accounts. The New York Times has lost its blue tick after refusing to pay to remain verified.

Twitter's blue ticks disappear as Musk attacks NY Times

The New York Times Twitter account has lost its blue tick after it said it would not pay to stay verified.

www.bbc.co.uk

Under Twitter's new rules, blue ticks which once showed official, verified accounts, will start to be removed from accounts which do not pay for it.

Organisations seeking verification badges instead have to pay a monthly fee of $1,000 (£810) to receive a gold verification tick, while individual accounts must pay $8 (£6.40) a month for a blue one.

The subscription service will generate revenue for Twitter. However, concerns have been raised that without the verification process, it will be difficult to tell genuine accounts from impersonators.

As well as not paying the subscription fee, the New York Times said it would also not pay for the verification of its journalists' Twitter accounts, apart from in "rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes", a spokesperson said.

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I don't know how many of you have seen this, but Elon Musk took the piss out of a disabled employee on Twitter. Ridiculous

Elon Musk backpedals after mocking disabled Twitter worker in tweet ‘storm’

Haraldur Thorleifsson was locked out of his computer, but after nine days of no answer from the company, decided to tweet the CEO

www.theguardian.com

See below for a copy of Musk's tweets:

The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm.

Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

An apology will only take you so far. Try not to screw up in the first place.

I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful.

He is considering remaining at Twitter.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

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Elon Musk appears to have come undone.

Worker asks Elon Musk on Twitter: Have I been fired?

In a viral Twitter thread, Halli Thorleifsson is asked by Elon Musk what work he has done for the firm.

www.bbc.co.uk

Last month, Elon Musk appeared to fire another 200 Twitter employees. It means that Twitter now has just over 2,000 workers - down from approximately 7,500 in October.

"Companies let people go, that's within their rights," Mr Thorleifsson said. "They usually tell people about it but that's seemingly the optional part at Twitter now".

What has Twitter come to?

 

[~ True Legend ~]

How long do you guys Twitter will last?

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Hundreds of Russian and Chinese state propaganda accounts are thriving on Twitter after Elon Musk wiped out the team that fought these networks, the BBC has found.

Twitter staff cuts leave Russian trolls unchecked

Troll farms are thriving after Elon Musk wiped out the team fighting them.

www.bbc.co.uk

After all the complaints from Twitter employees about a lack of resources, oh , how surprising

The unit worked to combat "information operations", coordinated campaigns by countries such as Russia, China, and Iran, made to influence public opinion and disrupt democracy.

But experts and former employees say the majority of these specialists resigned or were laid off, leaving the platform vulnerable to foreign manipulation. The BBC has spoken to several of them. They asked for anonymity, citing non-disclosure agreements and threats they received online.

"The whole human layer has been wiped out. All Twitter has left are automated detections systems," a former senior employee said.

LOL@the below

In a BBC interview on Tuesday, Musk claimed there was "less misinformation [on Twitter] rather than more" under his tenure. He did not comment on active state troll farms on the platform nor the team that used to fight them.

We approached Twitter for comment but received no response other than a poo emoji - the standard auto-reply from the company to any press enquiry.

Now, a new group of Russian trolls is active on Twitter.

It supports Putin's war in Ukraine, ridicules Kyiv and the West, and attacks independent Russian-language publications, including the BBC Russian Service. Many of these trolls' accounts have been suspended, but dozens are still active.

Why am I not surprised???

While they have all the markings of troll accounts, including random numbers in the Twitter handles and coordinated behaviour, these networks appear to remain undetected by the platform.

With only a skeleton crew remaining, Twitter does not have resources to swiftly detect, attribute and take down this foreign propaganda, according to former employees.

While the platform also established partnerships with research institutions that detected information operations, scholars say they have not heard anything from Twitter since November.

Twitter has a fraction of Facebook's reach and budget. But over the years, it built a small but capable team. While it could not match the resources of its rival social network, Twitter "nonetheless punched above its weight", says Lee Foster, an independent expert in information operations.

As similar information operations were conducted on different platforms, Twitter employees met with their peers at Meta and other companies to exchange information.

But at such meetings, Twitter's investigators would be reminded of how small their operation was. "Their team would be ten times the size of ours," says an investigator.

Now even those resources are lacking.

Without the team dedicated to fight coordinated campaigns, Twitter "will slowly become more and more unsafe," says Linvill of Clemson University.

 

[Nomad]

The primary idea behind getting a verified badge is to prove your ownership, that it is an official account. I have nothing against Twitter that is trying to charge fees for verification, it might be good for generating revenue for the company, after all, Musk is a businessman.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

I have nothing against Twitter that is trying to charge fees for verification, it might be good for generating revenue for the company, after all, Musk is a businessman.

This also means less trust, as not everyone will be willing to pay these verification fees

 

[Stardom22]

I personally won't pay the verification fee. I can afford to stay without the Elon's social media.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Beyonce and the Pope among those to lose Twitter blue check in purge​

Beyoncé and Ronaldo among those to lose Twitter blue check in purge

The social media giant has erased the once-coveted blue tick verification from thousands of accounts.

www.bbc.co.uk

I personally won't pay the verification fee. I can afford to stay without the Elon's social media.

Are you a celebrity?

 

[Heatman]

Beyoncé and Ronaldo among those to lose Twitter blue check in purge

The social media giant has erased the once-coveted blue tick verification from thousands of accounts.

www.bbc.co.uk

They have all gotten their blue tick verification back on.

The simple truth now which all must get is that Twitter is now Elon Musk's business or project and he can use it as he sees fit. He didn't pay $44 billon to aquire Twitter for him to use it to please you.

I personally won't pay the verification fee. I can afford to stay without the Elon's social media.

Elon Musk definitely doesn't care about whether anyone pays or not.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

They have all gotten their blue tick verification back on.

Googled it and found this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-65365366 so thanks for the update
They got it free

Elon Musk definitely doesn't care about whether anyone pays or not.

Clearly he does. He doesn't want to loose users, which Twitter will do if if there is mistrust in the system.

Twitter Blue has had a troubled launch. It was initially delayed after fake accounts sprung up pretending to be official organisations, and in recent weeks both subscribers and formerly verified accounts have looked the same.

 

[Shortie]

I am actually shocked that Twitter is still up and running without issues after the commotion he caused in the beginning. I still use Twitter to an extent but I don't use it as much as I used to now. I have noticed that my tweets don't get seen by as many now and it seems as though you need to pay for Twitter Blue to reach more which I will not do.

Such a shame as Twitter was awesome before Elon took over.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

I am actually shocked that Twitter is still up and running without issues after the commotion he caused in the beginning. I still use Twitter to an extent but I don't use it as much as I used to now. I have noticed that my tweets don't get seen by as many now and it seems as though you need to pay for Twitter Blue to reach more which I will not do.

Such a shame as Twitter was awesome before Elon took over.

Yeah it must be frustrating!
Sorry I didn't think blue ticks matter unless you're someone famous ? Or is it used in marketing and freelancing stuff? I know you are a freelancing writer... and all that.
No offence is intended

 

[~ True Legend ~]

A British national extradited to the US last month has pleaded guilty in New York to a role in one of the biggest hacks in social media history.

Briton pleads guilty in US to 2020 Twitter hack

It was probably the most high-profile hack in social media history, hitting dozens of famous accounts.

www.bbc.co.uk

The July 2020 Twitter hack affected over 130 accounts including those of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The hacking was part of a large-scale Bitcoin scam.

O'Connor, who was extradited from Spain, hijacked numerous Twitter accounts and sent out tweets asking followers to send bitcoin to an account, promising to double their money.

US Assistant Attorney-General Kenneth Polite Jr described in a statement O'Connor's actions as "flagrant and malicious". saying he had "harassed, threatened, and extorted his victims, causing substantial emotional harm".

"Like many criminal actors, O'Connor tried to stay anonymous by using a computer to hide behind stealth accounts and aliases from outside the United States. But this plea shows that our investigators and prosecutors will identify, locate, and bring to justice such criminals to ensure they face the consequences for their crimes."

In 2020, an estimated 350 million Twitter users saw suspicious tweets from official accounts of the platform's biggest users. Thousands fell for a scam, trusting that a crypto giveaway was real.

Cyber experts agreed that the consequences of the Twitter hack could have been far worse if O'Connor and other hackers had had plans more sophisticated than a get-rich-quick scheme.
Disinformation could have been spread to affect political discourse and markets could have been moved by well-worded fake business announcements for example.

The hack showed how fragile Twitter's security was at the time as the hackers managed to use social engineering tricks more akin to those of conmen than of high-level cyber criminals to get access to the powerful internal control panel at the site.

 

[fords8]

I personally won't pay the verification fee. I can afford to stay without the Elon's social media.

Wait! You got to pay a fee?

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Wait! You got to pay a fee?

Some top users got it free though, due too many impersonator accounts.

You have a lot to catch up on. You are behind the times. lol

 

[fords8]

Elon Musk says he's hired a new CEO for Twitter and will reduce his own role​

MSN

www.msn.com

Twitter owner Elon Musk said Thursday he has hired a new CEO to run the social media platform.

Musk made the announcement in a tweet but did not immediately name the new executive. He also said he would reduce his own day-to-day involvement with the site, serving as executive chair and as Twitter's chief technology officer with oversight of product changes.

Musk appeared to offer one small hint about the next CEO, saying that "she" would be starting in about 6 weeks.

Investors in some of Musk's other companies including Tesla have expressed concern for months that the tech billionaire was too distracted by Twitter and was short-changing his other responsibilities.

Tesla's share price spiked about 2% immediately after the tweet.

Musk bought Twitter in October for $44 billion after a monthslong fight with its prior management over the price and health of the company.


He has made sweeping changes in the six-plus months since then, laying off the vast majority of Twitter's employees, reinstating the accounts of suspended users, including former President Donald Trump, and loosening the rules of when Twitter allows potentially objectionable material.

Under Musk, Twitter also eliminated its program of verifying accounts of notable public figures, instead reserving blue-and-white checkmarks for people who've subscribed to its premium service.

It's not clear whether the new CEO will continue to seek major changes, but she will be precedent-shattering in at least one respect: Twitter has never had a female CEO since its founding in 2006.

Musk will now likely have more time for his other companies. He is the CEO of the automaker Tesla and of SpaceX, the engineering and rocket company that last month launched the largest rocket ever built as part of a plan to eventually send people to Mars.

Even other tech investors have questioned the wisdom of Musk spending so much time on a social media product given his other duties.

"Can you think of a prominent person who's currently wasting his talents in software when he could be working on manufacturing and heavy industries?" investor Paul Graham dryly asked Musk on Twitter last month.

Musk is the world's second-wealthiest person, with a net worth of $168 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Elon Musk says he's hired a new CEO for Twitter and will reduce his own role​

MSN

www.msn.com

Why am I not surprised???
Yeah, he doesn't want to feel 100% responsible for the security failings and all that!!!

 

[fords8]

Why am I not surprised???
Yeah, he doesn't want to feel 100% responsible for the security failings and all that!!!

I think it is a good move on his part. Don't think he knew what he was doing.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

I think it is a good move on his part.

I had to read that 3 times to see if I could see a not
I think this is the ONLY good move he's made with Twitter ROFL.

 

[fords8]

I had to read that 3 times to see if I could see a not
I think this is the ONLY good move he's made with Twitter ROFL.

I have not followed it to much. I am not a big Twitter person.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

I have not followed it to much. I am not a big Twitter person.

I don't use Twitter either.