TL;DR: To say Twitter goes by means of an upheaval following Elon Musk’s takeover could be an understatement. With a lot information coming from the platform on daily basis, this is a abstract of what is occurred lately, from speak of the corporate going bankrupt and FTC warnings to the chaotic verification system and Musk’s plan to show Twitter into WeChat.
So much has occurred at Twitter since Musk arrived, together with the billionaire shedding half of its staff and suspending accounts for impersonating others (usually Musk himself).
Speaking to staff for the primary time, Musk warned that “chapter is not out of the query,” based on a number of experiences.
Musk has different issues to cope with: three of Twitter’s prime safety officers—chief info safety officer Lea Kissner, chief privateness officer Damien Kieran and chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty—together with Twitter’s head of consumer options, Robin Wheeler, and Yoel Roth, the pinnacle of security and integrity, all left the corporate on the identical day Musk warned of the chapter. Roth had been there to guarantee customers and advertisers that each one was effectively at Twitter, so his departure will come as a blow.
I’ve made the laborious choice to go away Twitter. I’ve had the chance to work with superb individuals and I am so happy with the privateness, safety, and IT groups and the work we have carried out.
I am trying ahead to determining what’s subsequent, beginning with my opinions for @USENIXSecurity 😁
— Lea Kissner (@LeaKissner) November 10, 2022
The lack of prime safety personnel prompted a warning from the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC). The company mentioned it was “monitoring the developments at Twitter with deep concern” and would take motion to make sure the corporate was complying with a 2011 settlement, a part of which requires Twitter to take care of a complete safety plan.
Musk had a warning for the remaining Twitter personnel, highlighting the significance of the brand new $8 pm Twitter Blue service that launched on Wednesday. “With out important subscription income, there’s a good likelihood Twitter won’t survive the upcoming financial downturn,” he wrote in an e mail to employees. “We’d like roughly half of our income to be subscription.”
Please be aware that Twitter will do plenty of dumb issues in coming months.
We’ll maintain what works & change what would not.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022
Talking of Twitter Blue, the service now offers subscribers verified standing. To deal with the issue of customers pretending to be somebody they don’t seem to be, public entities acquired grey examine marks beneath the blue ones. These ‘official labels’ had been rolled again earlier than the top of the primary day. Following extra impersonations—an motion that ends in permabans—from verified customers, the grey checks had been introduced again.
Musk has additionally mentioned there are too many corrupt legacy blue “verification” checkmarks on the platform—as in, these from unpaid pre-Musk accounts—so they’re being eliminated.
Elsewhere, the Twitter boss talked about his plans to show the corporate into what seems like a financial institution of types, full with debit playing cards, checks, and loans. Musk says that Twitter customers will obtain a stability that may be despatched wherever within the system, which might be a means of tipping individuals or paying for paywalled content material. He added that the positioning will arrange a “high-yield cash market account in order that having a Twitter stability is the highest-yield factor that you are able to do,” and that as a substitute of a standard banking system, customers can have “one stability on Twitter that may merely go optimistic or a destructive.”
Utilization of Twitter continues to rise. One factor is for certain: it is not boring!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 10, 2022
Customers can even get a debit card tied to their stability to make use of in locations that do not settle for Twitter funds, and Musk hinted that he would possibly supply bank-style loans, too.
Musk has talked about turning Twitter into “the every little thing app,” suggesting one thing like China’s WeChat social media app that can be utilized to order meals, guide rides, make funds, and extra. Implementing banking options is an formidable plan that may deliver loads of regulatory scrutinies, however Musk sounds decided to make it a actuality; Twitter registered with the US Treasury as a funds processor immediately.
Within the last little bit of Twitter information, Musk has confirmed that staff are anticipated to work within the workplace for no less than 40 hours every week, a duplicate of the mandate he carried out at Tesla earlier this yr. It reversed the corporate’s stance from 2020 when it mentioned staff may do business from home “perpetually” in the event that they wished.
The world’s richest particular person has quite a bit on his plate proper now, however he may need much more to cope with following Joe Biden’s announcement that Musk’s relationships with different nations needs to be checked out.
