Elon Musk, the newly appointed CEO of Twitter Inc., stated on Sunday, November 6, that the social media platform’s goal was to become the most accurate source of information about the world. This statement sparked discussion about how it would accomplish this goal and who should decide what is accurate.
A flurry of radical actions done by Musk since he acquired Twitter in a $44 billion purchase just about a week ago, including firing half the staff and charging users, have given some early hints as to how the network may be changed by the richest person in the world.
Since the deal’s announcement, several advertisers have reduced their expenditures. Musk accuses activist groups of exerting pressure on advertisers over worries about the deal’s content moderation.
“Twitter needs to surpass all other sources as the world’s most reliable information provider. That is our goal, Musk declared on Sunday.
His post immediately sparked tens of thousands of responses and sparked intense discussions about how the mission would be carried out.
Former Twitter CEO and founder Jack Dorsey questioned, “Accurate to whom?”
Last month, Musk, who also owns the rocket company SpaceX and the electric vehicle company Tesla, announced that Twitter will be creating a content moderation council with “widely diverse opinions.”
Before that council meets, no significant content decisions or account reinstatements will be made, according to the self-described free speech absolutist at the time.
Musk said on Sunday that accounts that impersonate someone else on Twitter without clearly identifying it as a “parody” account will be permanently terminated without a warning.
According to him, Twitter used to offer warnings before suspending accounts, but now that broad verification is being implemented, there would be “no exceptions” and no warnings.
Musk stated that this will be made clear as a requirement for joining Twitter Blue and that any name change would result in a temporary loss of the verified checkmark.
In an effort to boost revenue, Twitter upgraded its iOS app on Saturday and will now charge $8 per month for the coveted blue checkmarks of verification.
According to Twitter, advantages of the verification service include “half the advertisements,” the capacity to submit lengthier videos to Twitter, and priority ranking for high-quality material.
However, the New York Times had earlier on Sunday claimed that Twitter would wait until after Tuesday’s midterm elections to begin rolling out verification checkmarks to users of its new service.
Twitter is already contacting the dozens of staff who lost their jobs and urging them to come back, Bloomberg News said on Sunday, in a sign of further disarray following Musk’s takeover.
Some of the people who have been asked to return were unintentionally fired. According to the story, which cited individuals with direct knowledge of the actions, some people were fired before management learned that their labor and skills could be required to develop the new features Musk envisioned.
In response to reporters’ request for comment regarding the rehiring initiatives, Twitter did not immediately react.
