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X (formerly Twitter)

X (formerly Twitter)221 posts

X, formerly known as Twitter, is an online service that lets users send and read short messages. The site is used by celebrities, brands and journalists to distribute news directly to their fans. The site was launched in July 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on November 7, 2013. The company was purchased by Elon Musk, for $44 billion, in September 2022 and rebranded as X on July 24, 2023.

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28 Aug, 2014

‘Truthy’ database

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Project ‘Truthy,’ a program that detects and tracks misinformation, political smears and other social pollution issues on Twitter has been backed by the U.S. Federal government, which has given nearly $1 million to develop and implement the database. Researchers at Indiana University began in September 2010. The National Science Foundation heads the project. The project team says the service could mitigate the diffusion of false and misleading ideas, detect hate speech and subversive propaganda, and assist in the preservation of open debate.

Truthy uses a sophisticated combination of text and data mining, social network analysis, and complex networks models. To train our algorithms, we leverage crowdsourcing: we rely on users like you to flag injections of forged grass-roots activity. Therefore, click on the Truthy button when you see a suspicious meme!

29 Aug, 2014

#ISISmovies hashtag

Terror Incident0 Comments

Twitter users satirize ISIS using the hashtag #ISISmovies. Libyan-American writer Hend Amry:

Sometimes, you have to mock, to belittle. Because sometimes, belittlement is your enemy’s greatest fear

9 Sep, 2014

Twitter employees threatened

Terror Incident0 Comments

A Twitter account believed to represent the Jerusalem-based radical group Al Nusra Al Maqdisia (The Supporters of Jerusalem), which has pledged allegiance to ISIS and claims to have represented the group in the 2014 Gaza conflict, threatens Twitter employees with assassination. Twitter user @dawlamoon uses a hashtag that translates to #The_Concept_of_Lone_Wolf_Attacks to make the threats on the platform’s Arabic service:

The time has arrived to respond to Twitter’s management by directly attacking their employees and physically assassinating them!! Those who will carry this out are the sleepers cells of death.

Twitter has suspended @dawlamoon and says it is investigating the threats.

12 Sep, 2014

‘Discussed infiltrating Mexican border’

Makes Statement0 Comments

A counter-terror official says ISIS militants have discussed the possibility of entering the U.S. via the Mexican border over social media, but says the Department of Homeland Security believes the border currently remains safe. Francis Taylor, DHS undersecretary for intelligence and analysis:

There have been Twitter and social-media exchanges among ISIL adherents across the globe speaking about that as a possibility. [DHS is] satisfied that we have the intelligence and the capability at our border that would prevent that activity.

19 Sep, 2014

Beats Twitter trading volume

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FactSet data shows Alibaba has beaten Twitter’s first-day trading volume within an hour of its debut. A total of 110 million Twitter shares were traded on its first day on the market, while Alibaba has already reached volume of 170 million.

Beats Twitter, Facebook pre-orders

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Online brokerage firm TD Ameritrade says pre-open orders for Alibaba ($BABA) were around three times the volume it received for Twitter on its market debut day, and higher than the volume it received for Facebook.

24 Sep, 2014

Uses Justpaste.it, hashtags to spread content

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ISIS disseminates content such as beheading videos and the ‘programs’ featuring Cantlie via anonymous paste sites. Links to the first video featuring Cantlie were placed on Justpaste.it, which allows anonymous uploads. Users were redirected to gulfup.com, sendspace.com and directmirror.com where they could view the video after entering a long password string, also provided on Justpaste.it. The group also uploads to Youtube but expects its content to be quickly deleted. ISIS-affiliated Twitter users with backup accounts announce simultaneously when content is being uploaded. They have also hijacked hashtags for trending topics including the 2012 Scottish independence referendum to spread their message. Facebook’s Simon Milner says the company’s safety team in Dublin is ‘consumed’ by dealing with content emanating from the Syrian civil war. Twitter’s Sinéad McSweeney says it has a team working 24/7 to examine reports across a range of issues which is comprised of

in excess of 100 people

4 Nov, 2014

Terrorists post 90 tweets a minute

Terror Incident0 Comments

The Saudi-based Sakina NGO finds that terrorist groups including ISIS post 90 propaganda tweets a minute. ISIS, Al-Nusra and other groups posted 129,600 tweets in October. Sakina official:

The nature of the extremist can be understood by analysing his posts, identifying his social circle and understanding his internal motives and history

13 Nov, 2014

Bond agency gives ‘junk’ rating

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Standard & Poor’s assigns an unsolicited rating of BB- to Twitter’s corporate debt, after its sale of $1.8 billion convertible notes in September, rating its risk profile at Fair. It said the outlook on the rating is stable:

[Twitter is expected] to experience very strong growth and not encounter a significant increase in competitive pressure. We could raise the rating if Twitter broadens its revenue sources through international expansion and new product launches, maintains its market position, continues to improve its profitability, and achieves positive and sustained discretionary cash flow in excess of $100 million in 2016.

The agency could lower the rating if revenue contracts or other investment-negative events occur.

2015

Tackles abuse

AnnouncementProduct Release0 Comments

The site makes it easier to submit abuse reports and triples its number of staff to handle the abuse reports. The Company is also improving its methods to deal with trolls, with one method rumored to be telephone number tracking of users that have earned a reputation for repeated harassment.

12 Mar, 2015

Bans revenge porn

Announcement0 Comments

Twitter bans the posting of naked photographs and videos without the permission of the person in that photograph or video. Updated rule:

You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent

21 Apr, 2015

Anti-abuse policy update

Announcement0 Comments

Twitter updates its abuse policy to make it tougher for trolls to flood it with threats and harassment.

We are making two policy changes, one related to prohibited content, and one about how we enforce certain policy violations. We are updating our violent threats policy so that the prohibition is not limited to direct, specific threats of violence against others but now extends to threats of violence against others or promot[ing] violence against others.

28 Apr, 2015

Stock crashes after early earnings release

Financial Report0 Comments

The Company’s stock crashes after financial analytics firm Selerity posts a quarterly report before the stock market closes. The report shows revenue growth at 74 percent in the quarter, which is below the company’s own forecasts. Twitter shares plunge on the news, and trading briefly halts so the company can disseminate its results. The drop steepens and the stock ends the day down about 18 percent. Executives attribute the slowdown to a transition to an advertising model that prices certain ads based on the result, such as whether the viewer downloaded an app, instead of whether the person simply clicks on it.

29 Apr, 2015

Apologizes

Apology0 Comments

The Nasdaq stock market apologizes for early release of Twitter results. Official statement:

The posting was caused by an operational issue that exposed the release on Twitter’s IR [investor relations] website for approximately 45 seconds.

27 Jul, 2015

Removes lifted jokes

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Twitter has begun to honour takedown requests from users complaining their jokes have been lifted wholesale and shared by others, passing them off as their own. One freelance writer:

I simply explained to Twitter that as a freelance writer I make my living writing jokes (and I use some of my tweets to test out jokes in my other writing). I then explained that as such, the jokes are my intellectual property, and that the users in question did not have my permission to repost them without giving me credit.

Twitter policy:

Twitter will respond to reports of alleged copyright infringement, such as allegations concerning the unauthorized use of a copyrighted image as a profile photo, header photo, or background, allegations concerning the unauthorized use of a copyrighted video or image uploaded through our media hosting services, or Tweets containing links to allegedly infringing materials.

4 Aug, 2015

Shares fall

Financial Report0 Comments

Twitter shares plunge on the New York Stock Exchange, dropping 5.6% to $29.27 which is the lowest level ever. The share price has fallen a total of 45% in four months. Co-founder Dorsey:

We haven’t done a great job at aligning the entire company around our total audience strategy.

8 Aug, 2015

Twitter, Shopify partner

Announcement0 Comments

Twitter adds a buy button on its website. Users can browse products from over 10000 merchants on Shopify and purchase directly from Twitter. Twitter:

Users will get access to offers and merchandise they can’t get anywhere else and can act on them right in the Twitter apps for Android and iOS. Sellers will gain a new way to turn the direct relationship they build with their followers into sales

15 Sep, 2015

Direct Message class action suit

Files Suit0 Comments

A proposed class action lawsuit claims that Twitter surreptitiously eavesdrops on its users’ private Direct Message communications. For example, if a user privately tells a follower through the service to check out a story on nytimes.com, providing a full URL, Twitter will modify this into a custom link such as “http:/t.co/CL2SKBxr1s” (while still displaying the text “www.nytimes.com” to its users). The lawsuit says that by sending users to Twitter’s analytics servers before passing them on to the linked-to website, Twitter is benefiting by demonstrating to The New York Times and others where the source of the traffic is.

The end result is that Twitter can negotiate better advertising rates.

The claimed damages are as high as $100 per day for each Twitter user whose privacy was violated