Twitter first became popular in the early twenty-first century. An online microblogging service that disseminates brief communications of no more than 280 characters is known as Twitter. The wealthiest man in the world purchased Twitter, fired all of the staff members, and now wants some of them back.
Business magnate Elon Musk began to talk about buying Twitter, Inc., in early 2022, expressing his concerns about the company’s commitment to free speech and whether Twitter’s moderation procedures were hurting democracy. According to reports, Musk had big plans for Twitter’s approach to spambots, a more lenient content moderation policy, a redesign of its services, and cost savings. Musk stated that he intended to make Twitter into an “everything app” similar to WeChat in the long run.
Musk acquired Twitter. Here is what occurs
Twitter was bought by Elon Musk. What brought it here? It was discovered on April 4th that Elon Musk had acquired enough Twitter shares to surpass all other individual shareholders. He eventually responded with an unsolicited bid of $54.20 per share, or nearly $44 billion, to purchase all of Twitter’s shares.
Twitter approved Elon Musk’s bid, but things took an odd turn when he attempted to back out.
There was a lot of back and forth regarding bots and text messages, but in the end, Musk decided to purchase the business rather than have to appear in court for a trial or deposition. He then marched into Twitter’s headquarters carrying a sink.
Elon Musk: An Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur Elon Musk has gained worldwide recognition as the CEO of the private space enterprise SpaceX and the creator of electric vehicles, Tesla Inc. (TSLA). Musk co-founded PayPal (PYPL), invested early in a number of Internet firms, and successfully closed a deal to take Twitter Inc. private in October 2022. His accomplishments and distinctive personality have led to comparisons to other colorful businessmen from American history, such as Steve Jobs, Howard Hughes, and Henry Ford. As of October 2022, his estimated net worth was $212 billion, making him the richest man in the world. Musk first attained the title in 2021, beating Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN).
Musk’s idealistic outlook, desire for human advancement, and commercial career are all influenced by his early interests in philosophy, science fiction, and fantasy literature. He works on industries he believes are essential to the future of humanity, such as the move to renewable energy sources, space travel, and the internet.
A further moment in Twitter’s journey to private ownership
On October 28, the richest man in the world met the deadline to avoid a trial in a case Twitter filed after Musk attempted to back out of the agreement he signed in April by completing his on-again, off-again $44 billion buyout.
Since acquiring the business, Musk has
He dissolved the board of directors and fired the company’s top executives while assuming control as Twitter’s lone director.
- Half of Twitter’s workforce, or about 3,700 individuals, were laid off, with the corporation citing daily losses of more than $4 million as justification.
- posted a link to a conspiracy theory concerning the assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband before removing it.
- cited “activist groups pressuring advertisers” as the cause of Twitter’s “huge reduction in revenue” since he acquired it, adding that the activists are “seeking to kill free speech in America.”
- Twitter is attempting to rehire some of the employees it fired.
- Impersonators will no longer be allowed on Twitter.
Not only that, but Musk is also accused of firing Twitter’s senior executives “for no reason” in order to avoid paying their golden parachute severance bonuses.
Managers reportedly told those who weren’t let go to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, to redesign Twitter’s authentication system in a week as ordered by Musk. The same story claims that Musk requested software code reviews from 50 workers of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA), despite the fact that Tesla is a different, publicly traded firm. Tesla makes electric vehicles.
Conspiracy theories and a rise in hate speech
As soon as Musk sealed the agreement, fringe organizations swarmed Twitter in an attempt to put his commitment to free speech to the test. Between last Thursday and Friday afternoon, the Anti-Defamation League reported discovering more than 1,200 messages and retweets on Twitter that contained anti-Semitic memes. And in the 12 hours after his takeover of the network, N-word use rose by 500%. Twitter attributed the increase to a “trolling campaign,” claiming that just 300 accounts were responsible for more than 50,000 tweets that frequently used “a particular slur” (clearly a reference to the N-word).
The home page changes
Twitter used to have a start-up page that welcomed unregistered users. Musk gave programmers instructions to move logged-out visitors to the Explore page, which displays trending tweets and news stories, within 24 hours of taking over the business.
Start charging $20 each month for verification
Elon Musk, who now controls Twitter, has given his team the first of two deadlines to establish paid verification on the social media platform. The goal is to change Twitter Blue, the company’s optional $4.99 per month subscription that unlocks more features, into a more expensive subscription that also validates users, according to people familiar with the matter and an internal email seen by The Verge. According to Twitter, the new Twitter Blue subscription will cost $19.99 as of right now. Under the current setup, verified users would have 90 days to subscribe in order to maintain their blue checkmark.
Musk’s other Twitter plans
Musk’s promises to quickly upgrade Twitter’s services have been eclipsed by the controversies surrounding his hiring and moderation practices. Musk announced in a post on November 5 that Twitter would soon allow users to attach lengthy texts to tweets, “ending the farce” of screenshots.
Musk promised “creator monetization for all forms of material” as a follow-up. Later, he attacked the service’s infamously subpar search feature. Musk, whose profile page on the platform portrays him as the “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator,” wrote, “That will also get a lot better, pronto.”
Last look
Elon Musk has only controlled Twitter for one week, which is a little difficult to comprehend. But he undoubtedly had an effect. Despite the unavoidable setbacks, Musk has disproved his detractors, upended entire industries, and amassed the highest wealth of any person in history through PayPal, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX all game changers. Musk has recently taken control of Twitter and pledged to keep influencing the direction of technology.
