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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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18 Nov, 2022

Twitter HQ projection trolls Musk

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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.

Musk reinstates Peterson, Griffin & The Babylon Bee

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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.

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:

Over 1000 staff leave Twitter after Musk’s ultimatum

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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.

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.

19 Nov, 2022

Roth: Twitter ‘safer’ under Musk than before

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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.

20 Nov, 2022

Musk says Trump will be reinstated after 52% poll win

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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.

Musk comments:

The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.

21 Nov, 2022

Musk invokes first child’s death for not restoring Jones’ Twitter account

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Musk refuses to restore Jones’ Twitter account saying:

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.

24 Nov, 2022

Musk offers ‘amnesty’ to suspended accounts

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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.

25 Nov, 2022

Twitter to launch blue, gold and grey verification ticks

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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.

Musk will make phone if Apple, Google block Twitter

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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

26 Nov, 2022

King: Musk has been ‘a terrible fit’ for Twitter

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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.

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.

28 Nov, 2022

Musk asks Cook: Why has Apple stopped advertising on Twitter?

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Musk asks Cook to tell him why Apple has stopped advertising on Twitter.

What’s going on here @tim_cook?

Musk: Apple is threatening Twitter’s presence on the App Store

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After Musk publishes a poll, asking if Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers…

…a Twitter user asks if Apple is threatening Twitter’s presence in the App Store or otherwise making moderation demands? Musk:

Yes

Musk then directly tweets that Apple has threatened to withhold Twitter from its App store:

Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why

When a Twitter user points out that 97.5% of Apple’s political donations were to the Democratic Party, Musk replies:

Wow, they don’t sound biased at all!

Musk to release Twitter free speech files

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Musk says he will release internal Twitter documents that he claims will show suppression of free speech:

The Twitter Files on free speech suppression soon to be published on Twitter itself. The public deserves to know what really happened…

30 Nov, 2022

Roth: Musk running Twitter ‘like a dictator’

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Speaking at an event hosted by the Knight Foundation, Roth, the former head of Trust and Saftey at Twitter, says the social networking site had started to stray from adhering to publicly available policies towards decisions made by Musk alone.

Musk: Twitter feud with Apple ‘resolved’

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Musk says that, after a walk around Apple’s HQ with Cook, that the ‘misunderstanding’ that Twitter would be removed form the App Store has been ‘resolved’

Good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.

Musk did not say if Apple’s advertising was discussed at the meeting.

2 Dec, 2022

Musk bans West from Twitter: ‘I tried my best’

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After West posts an image of a swastika inside a Star of David…

…and an image of Musk half- naked, Musk says that the latter is fine, but the swastika/star ‘is not’ and that West will be suspended for ‘incitement to violence’

I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.

West then posted a screenshot of his Twitter ban message on TruthSocial. Musk appeared to comment on the ban by later posting:

FAFO [F*ck around, find out]

3 Dec, 2022

The Twitter Files 1: How and why Twitter blocked the Hunter Biden laptop story

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Musk releases The Twitter Files, Part One: How and Why Twitter Blocked the Hunter Biden Laptop Story, though journalist Matt Taibbi. In a 30-plus post thread, Taibbi relates how Twitter executives blocked the New York Post’s October 14, 2020, Hunter Biden laptop story, using the excuse that it was ‘hacked’, despite having received no notification or confirmation from law enforcement that the laptop actually was hacked. The posts were given warnings and were blocked from being to be shared on Twitter’s direct message system. Taibbi says that executives did this without CEO Dorsey’s knowledge.

The posts details how political parties were able to contact Twitter executives to censor stories, and show communications between ex-staff, including Gadde, Roth, discussing the block.

5 Dec, 2022

Musk: ‘I wanted to punch Kanye’

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When the host of a live Q&A on Twitter Spaces about the “Twitter Files” asks about how Musk balances suspending West on Twitter with freedom of expression, Musk responds:

I personally wanted to punch Kanye, so that was definitely inciting me to violence. That’s not cool…I think it’s important that people know that was my decision, because at a certain point, you have to say, what is incitement to violence? Because that is against the law in the US. You can’t just form a ‘let’s go murder someone’ club. Posting swastikas in what is obviously not a good way is an incitement of violence.

Musk says that a post about the history of World War II that included photos of Nazi imagery would likely not violate guidelines.

6 Dec, 2022

Musk rejects Twitter HQ bed complaint

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Musk criticises San Francisco Mayor Breed over an investigation by the city’s Department of Building Inspections into offices turned into bedrooms at Twitter’s headquarters, which officials say potentially violate the building code. Musk says that, instead of attacking him, the city should prioritise protecting children from the consequences of opioid drug misuse.

So city of SF attacks companies providing beds for tired employees instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl. Where are your priorities @LondonBreed!?

9 Dec, 2022

Elton John quits Twitter, Musk responds

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John says he is leaving Twitter:

All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world.   I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.

Musk responds:

I love your music. Hope you come back. Is there any misinformation in particular that you’re concerned about?