Since Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion
in October 2022, the social media app has been shaken
to its core.
Here are five big changes we've seen at Twitter in
the Elon era.
One of Musk's first moves as CEO was to order
large scale layoffs.
He fired around half of
Twitter's 7500 employees within weeks of taking over.
Musk said the workforce was too large and the company
was losing $4 million a day.
The hardest hit teams were those responsible for PR,
online safety and countering misinformation.
Research showed a surge in hateful content on the social
media app soon afterwards.
Some core engineering teams were also impacted by the layoffs.
Twitter has since been plagued by bugs,
including delays and glitches to Ron De Santis presidential election
launch event.
In November 2022, Musk introduced a subscription service selling verification
check marks for $8 a month.
Previously, blue checks were given for free to verified high
profile users.
They were designed to build trust and counter misinformation,
but the new subscription model led to a rise in
fake accounts and users impersonating famous brands and celebrities.
Twitter backtracked on its news service and started giving out
blue checks again to users with a large number of
followers,
whether they wanted them or not.
Even accounts belonging to dead celebrities were given verified check
marks.
Musk decided to reinstate almost all accounts previously banned for
things like harassment or misinformation.
He posted a poll asking Twitter users for their views.
Among those granted amnesty were Donald Trump,
whose account was frozen because of the risk of further
incitement of violence following the January 6th capital riots,
and Kanye West who was removed for anti-Semitic tweets.
Online safety experts criticized the move,
saying it would lead to an increase in hateful content
and misinformation.
Many advertisers pulled out of Twitter after Musk's takeover because
of uncertainty over the chaotic changes.
By January 2023, ad revenue was down
40%. Advertisers are warming to the idea of a return
to the platform.
Reassured by Musk's decision to appoint Linda Yaccarino as CEO
and experienced advertising executive.
Musk's long term goal for Twitter is to create an
everything app called X.
Not many details have been revealed,
but Musk said he was inspired by the Chinese app
WeChat,
which incorporates messaging, social media,
gaming and digital payments. Even with a new CEO at
Twitter,
Musk will still have a controlling hand,
meaning more disruption at social media's Wild West
is a guarantee.