Those who follow the Twitter-in-chief, Elon Musk, may be surprised by his recent tweetstorm. But while the media cycle has been roiled, the fact is that Musk has been able to leverage his position to create a few memorable moments. He is a prolific tweeter, and has had the chance to do things like unbanned accounts that were previously blocked. His latest stunt was the re-introduction of an official badge for a handful of users. The new badge is not an actual badge, however. It is a reference to an article that was previously published.
Those who are familiar with Twitter will know that it is not the most reliable source of news. In fact, several civil society groups have raised concerns about the company’s ability to maintain its safety. Some law enforcement groups have also voiced their concerns about the platform’s efforts to increase security. The CEO of a large crypto-currency firm recently said that only a “psychopath” could drop a tweet about the company’s meltdown.
While it may be hard to believe, the truth is that Elon Musk has been busy reshaping the company since his takeover last month. Among the changes he’s made is the removal of some employee benefits. And he has fired a few people along the way. He’s also put in place some controversial policies, including a plan to charge $8 for a blue checkmark. This was designed to combat impersonators. But the feature has resulted in a wave of fake accounts.
While the plan has been relatively straight forward, the implementation has been far more complex. And he’s been criticized for his lack of transparency. During a recent presentation, Musk showed off a chart showing the number of new account sign-ups over the past couple years. He also mentioned a “creator monetization program” that would pay a better share of revenues than YouTube. The new program is still in its infancy, but it’s already causing a stir.
Earlier this month, a former head of site integrity at Twitter, Yoel Roth, resigned from the company. Roth had warned against Musk’s laissez-faire approach to content moderation. He even mentioned the possibility that Twitter had begun receiving calls from app store operators. He also warned against malicious actors gaming the system.
The other big thing that’s going on at Twitter is the creation of a “creator monetization” program. This is a concept that would offer an equal share of revenue to Twitter’s users and advertisers, and is a much better model than Google’s YouTube ad program.
Other notable things to come out of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter are the deletion of an anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory and an “official” badge for a few of its users. In addition, Musk announced he’d be joining Twitter’s board of directors. In addition, he’s been pushing for the introduction of a new verification system, which has reportedly gotten the green light.
In the meanwhile, the number of fake accounts has gone up exponentially. A recent report says that less than five percent of users actually have verified accounts, and Twitter has opened the door to misleading, impersonative accounts.