Blog/Big changes at Twitter after takeover by billionaire Elon Musk
3rd November 2022
Billionaire Elon Musk has started swinging the axe since his protracted £38bn takeover of social media platform Twitter last week.
After appointing himself CEO Musk has now dissolved Twitter’s board of directors, and is set to cut up to a quarter of its workforce as he looks to align the company with his vision of a platform for free speech, that many think will become a hive of mis and dis-information and unregulated hate speech.
Musk is now the CEO of three companies – Twitter, SpaceX and Uber, but he has suggested that his time as CEO of Twitter could be short lived, as he looks to implement changes quickly, and then, once he has his people in all senior positions, move on.
Monthly fee for blue tick
One of Musk’s more headline grabbing ideas is his intention for Twitter to charge people for their ‘blue tick’ – typically a sign that a user has a large number of followers, is in a position of credibility in public life, or that is generally worth listening to.
The plan to hand out a blue tick to anyone willing to pay $20/$8 a month (depending on which of Musk’s Tweets you believe) has led to fears that any old account could end up being ‘verified’, which could lead to further spread of ‘fake news’, causing more widespread harm.
The return of Donald Trump & pals
As Elon Musk seeks to create an environment for free speech, he’s also acted quickly to begin the removal of the ban on a number of high profile accounts that have fallen foul of Twitter’s, formerly draconian – according to some, policy on banning anyone who repeatedly violates its rules on hate-speech or fake news.
This includes the once prolific Twitterer and former POTUS Donald Trump, whose suspension is set to be lifted after the US mid-term elections on 8th November.
Twitter is a real-time microblogging platform, launched in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, it has around 300m active monthly users, although how its Musk-inspired change in direction will change that is as yet unclear, although it’s likely to have a significant change for better or for worse.
Maddison Creative is a web design, development and digital media company based in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England, UK, and is worth significantly less than $44bn.