King: Musk has been ‘a terrible fit’ for Twitter
King says:
I think Elon Musk is a visionary. Almost singlehandedly, he’s changed the way Americans think about automobiles. I have a Tesla and love it. That said, he’s been a terrible fit for Twitter. He appears to be making it up as he goes along.
Musk replies:
Suggestions are welcome Mr. (crown emoji)….The goal is a trusted digital town square, where a wide range of views are tolerated, provided people don’t break the law or spam. For example, any incitement to violence will result in account suspension.
King also noted that “Twitter ain’t cars. And Twitter ain’t rockets.
Suggestions are welcome Mr. 👑
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 26, 2022
Musk later praises King:
Stephen King is one of most creative people on Earth. While I may not agree with everything he says, I do actually want to hear it.
Stephen King is one of most creative people on Earth. While I may not agree with everything he says, I do actually want to hear it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2022
Musk will make phone if Apple, Google block Twitter
In response to a Twitter user who says Musk should make his own phone if Apple and Google remove Twitter from their app stores, Musk replies:
I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone
I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
Twitter to launch blue, gold and grey verification ticks
Musk says Twitter verification will return on Friday next week with colour-coded categories for individuals, government accounts and companies.
Sorry for the delay, we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week. Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates. Painful, but necessary.
All verified individual humans will have same blue check, as boundary of what constitutes “notable” is otherwise too subjective. Individuals can have secondary tiny logo showing they belong to an org if verified as such by that org. Longer explanation next week.
Sorry for the delay, we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week.
Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates.
Painful, but necessary.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
Musk offers ‘amnesty’ to suspended accounts
After a poll that Musk ran, asking users if Twitter should offer a ‘general amnesty’ to suspended accounts, provided they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam, ends in yes, Musk says Twitter will restore accounts from the end of November. Musk does not give details on how the amnesty process would be carried out.
The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
More than 3.1m Twitter users responded to the poll, with 72.4% of them voting “Yes”. Mask has already reactivated some accounts, inculding Kanye West, Donald Trump and influencer Andrew Tate.
The people have spoken.
Amnesty begins next week.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2022
Musk invokes first child’s death for not restoring Jones’ Twitter account
Musk refuses to restore Jones’ Twitter account saying:
No
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
He later elaborates:
My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.
My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat.
I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 21, 2022
Musk says Trump will be reinstated after 52% poll win
Musk’s poll, asking if former President Trump’s account should be reinstated, ends at 51.8% Yes to 48.2% No. Musk claims 134 million people saw the poll, with over 15 million votes were cast. When the poll first started, Musk claimed it was receiving one million votes per hour.
Reinstate former President Trump
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2022
Musk comments:
The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
The people have spoken.
Trump will be reinstated.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei. https://t.co/jmkhFuyfkv
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2022
Roth: Twitter ‘safer’ under Musk than before
In an op-ed in the New York Times, Roth says Twitter is safer under Musk’s ownership:
Almost immediately upon the acquisition’s close, a wave of racist and antisemitic trolling emerged on Twitter. Wary marketers, including those at General Mills, Audi and Pfizer, slowed down or paused ad spending on the platform, kicking off a crisis within the company to protect precious ad revenue. In response, Mr. Musk empowered my team to move more aggressively to remove hate speech across the platform — censoring more content, not less. Our actions worked: Before my departure, I shared data about Twitter’s enforcement of hateful conduct, showing that by some measures, Twitter was actually safer under Mr. Musk than it was before.”
His ability to make decisions unilaterally about the site’s future is constrained by a marketing industry he neither controls, nor has managed to win over.
However:
[Even as Musk] criticizes the capriciousness of platform policies, he perpetuates the same lack of legitimacy through his impulsive changes and tweet-length pronouncements about Twitter’s rules. In appointing himself ‘chief twit,’ Mr. Musk has made clear that at the end of the day, he’ll be the one calling the shots. It was for this reason that I chose to leave the company: A Twitter whose policies are defined by edict has little need for a trust and safety function dedicated to its principled development.
Over 1000 staff leave Twitter after Musk’s ultimatum
Fortune magazine estimates that Twitter loses 1000-1200 staff, out of 2700 remaining, including multiple ‘critical’ engineering teams after Musk send a mail asking staff to commit to hardcore work or leave the company. A former emplyee said the resignations will affect the company’s perfomance.
I know of six critical systems (like ‘serving tweets’ levels of critical) which no longer have any engineers. There is no longer even a skeleton crew manning the system. It will continue to coast until it runs into something, and then it will stop.
The estimated 2,500 who are said to remain, have been locked out of their offices until Monday at least over fears they could sabotage the site. Many staff shared their departures on social media, including Twitter staff in Boston, who counted down their final seconds in the company.
It’s been a ride pic.twitter.com/0VDf5hn2UA
— Matt Miller (@brainiaq2000) November 17, 2022
Following the mass resignations, Musk sends an email asking ‘anyone who actually writes software’ to meet him at the Silicon Valley office on Friday at 2pm:
Anyone who actually writes software, please report to the 10th floor at 2 pm today. Before doing so, please email a bullet point summary of what your code commands have achieved in the past ~6 months, along with up to 10 screenshots of the most salient lines of code,” Musk wrote in the first of three emails reportedly sent around midnight PT Friday.
Musk reinstates Peterson, Griffin & The Babylon Bee
As part of of a thread talking about free speech at Twitter, Musk says:
Kathie Griffin (sic), Jorden Peterson & Babylon Bee have been reinstated. Trump decision has not yet been made.
Kathie Griffin, Jorden Peterson & Babylon Bee have been reinstated.
Trump decision has not yet been made.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Griffin responds on Instagram, by misspelling Musk’s name:
Dear Eilon, You f**ked up, fool. I’m going downstairs to my basement of heads. You’re up. Xxoo, The Beheader
Peterson says:
I'm back. Thanks @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/MnWWNDACGD
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) November 18, 2022
Twitter HQ projection trolls Musk
A projection displayed on Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters trolls Musk with taunts and insults, including calling him a “bankruptcy baby”,”supreme parasite”,”petulant pimple”,”apartheid profiteer”,”space Karen” and “mediocre manchild”. It is not clear who ran the projection.
Twitter's San Francisco headquarters has gone hardcore tonight. #TwitterTakeover pic.twitter.com/DoG5pDD4AD
— Strictly Woke AF (@christoq) November 18, 2022
Fired SpaceX employees file charges
Eight former SpaceX employees file unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging they were let go for being part of a group that had drafted and circulated a letter to SpaceX executives in June. The letter asked SpaceX executives for three things: to curb “Elon’s harmful Twitter behavior,” to define and enforce the company’s sexual harassment policies, and ensure that all leadership is held accountable for violating such policies.
SpaceX’s current systems and culture do not live up to its stated values, as many employees continue to experience unequal enforcement of our oft-repeated ‘No Asshole’ and ‘Zero Tolerance’ policies.
US labor law prohibits employers from firing workers who band together to advocate for better working conditions. At the time, Musk called the letter a “distraction and embarrassment” to the company.
Musk: Twitter will drop 280-character limit ‘soon’
After a user complains about a Twitter thread that is 82 posts long, Musk says:
Ability to do long tweets coming soon
Ability to do long tweets coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 17, 2022
Musk later says he is working on the project personally.
Musk defends $55 billion compensation plan in court
Musk defends his $55 billion pay award in a Delaware court, in a suit brought by Gregory Vallo, a Tesla shareholder. The plaintiff alleges that the compensation package, which called for Musk to reap billions if Tesla hit certain market capitalization and operational milestones, was approved by Tesla board members who had conflicts interest due to personal and professional ties to Musk.
Musk would receive the full benefit of the pay plan, $55.8 billion, only if Tesla hit a market capitalization of $650 billion and unprecedented revenue and earnings within a decade. To date, Tesla, under Musk’s management, has achieved all 12 of the market capitalization milestones and 11 operational milestones, providing Musk over $52.4 billion in stock option gains
Musk says he did not dicate the terms of the package, or attend any meetings at which the plan was discussed by the board, its compensation committee, or a working group that helped develop it.
I was entirely focused on the execution of the company,
Varallo also questioned Musk about how he splits his time among Tesla and his other companies. Musk said he never intended to be CEO of Tesla, and that he didn’t want to be chief executive of any other companies either, preferring to see himself as an engineer instead.
The suit also alleges the shareholder vote approving the compensation plan was based on a misleading proxy statement.
Fallon asks Musk to take down #RIPJimmyFallon hashtag
Fallon asks to Musk to take down the hashtag #RIPJimmyFallon that has been trending on the platform.
Elon, can you fix this? #RIPJimmyFallon
Musk intitially replied with ‘Fix what?’, and later replied with a joke:
Wait a second, how do we know you’re not an alien body snatcher pretending to be Jimmy!? Say something that only the real Jimmy would say …
Wait a second, how do we know you’re not an alien body snatcher pretending to be Jimmy!?
Say something that only the real Jimmy would say …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 16, 2022
Musk to Twitter staff: Do hardcore work or get out
In an internal email, Musk gives Twitter employees until the evening of Nov 17 to commit to “extremely hardcore” work or else leave the company:
A Fork in the Road
Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.
Twitter will also be much more engineering-driven. Design and product management will still be very important and report to me, but those writing great code will constitute the majority of our team and have the greatest sway. At its heart, Twitter is a software and servers company, so I think this makes sense.
If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below. Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance. Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful. Elon
Musk reschedules Blue Verification to Nov 29
Musk says the relaunch of Twitter Blue verification will be delayed until Nov 29:
Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid
He also says that all unpaid legacy Blue checkmarks will be removed in a few months.
Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
Musk ‘rehires’ Ligma and Johnson
Musk ‘rehires’ Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson, the two fake employess who pranked news networks by claiming to be laid off Twitter employees. Ligma later claimed he had been hired and fired by FTX.
Welcoming back Ligma & Johnson! Important to admit when I’m wrong & firing them was truly one of my biggest mistakes
Important to admit when I’m wrong & firing them was truly one of my biggest mistakes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
Musk tells Sen. Markey: Your acccount sounds like a parody
After Sen. Ed Markey demanded to know why a Washington Post reporter was able to create a verified account impersonating him:
A @washingtonpost reporter was able to create a verified account impersonating me—I’m asking for answers from @elonmusk who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation,” Markey tweeted Friday, with a screenshot of his letter to Musk on the matter. “Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.
Musk responds:
Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?
Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022
When a user says that it may not be a good idea to troll a senator who is on Senate communications subcommittees, Musk responds:
Are you suggesting the Senator will abuse his political power to attack me?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022
SpaceX buys Twitter Starlink ad campaign
Musk confirms SpaceX purchased a $250,000 ad campaign on Twitter to promote Starlink services in Australia and Spain, which will place SpaceX’s ad on top of the main Twitter timeline for a full day. Users will see the ad the first three times they open Twitter when the ad campaign is scheduled. The ad buy is the first for any of Musk’s companies, including Tesla, which does not engage in traditional advertising.
SpaceX Starlink bought a tiny – not large – ad package to test effectiveness of Twitter advertising in Australia & Spain. Did same for FB/Insta/Google.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2022
Musks says he has ‘too much work on his plate’
In a videolink interview for the B20 Indonesia conference in Bali, Musk, who is wearing a traditional batik shirt sent by the event’s organizers, says that has too much work:
You know my workload has recently increased quite a lot. I mean, I have too much work on my plate that is for sure. No doubt about it
When asked about his thoughts on other business leaders in Asia who wish to become the “Elon Musk of the East” the Tesla CEO says:
I’d be careful what you wish for. I’m not sure how many people would actually like to be me. They would like to be what they imagine being me, which is not the same thing as actually being me. The amount that I torture myself is next level, frankly.
Musk also noted that longer video content is coming to Twitter.
Twitter for sure, I think it’s gonna be a lot more on video… And it’s kind of a no-brainer to enable longer video and also enable content creators to make a living with content on Twitter
