In an acquisition that began in April 2022 and concluded on 27th October 2022, Elon Musk or “Chief Twit” has completed the $44 billion takeover of Social Media platform, Twitter.
Homepage
In less than a week on the job, Chief Twit has begun making his mark on the app and website. The first change he made was to update the homepage for logged out users. This updated home page consists of readable breaking stories and opinion articles which had the intention of piquing interest and attempting to get the reader to consider signing up.
Staff and Leadership
Moving more behind the scenes, since his acquisition, Musk has made himself sole director firing top management individuals including:
- Chief Executive Officer: Parag Agwaral
- Chief Financial Officer: Ned Segal
- Chief of Legal Affairs and Policies: Vijaya Gadde
Since, he has turned to family, friends, and former business partners to aid in these initial days of his ownership. Temporarily fulfilling the roles of the departed.
With many staff members having already been laid-off, many others too fear they will be next as managers and team-leads (who still have their jobs), were tasked with making lists of cuttable employees.
Vine
Acquired by Twitter in 2012 and shut down in 2016, social media app ‘Vine’ could make a return. Vine was a popular video app where users posted short videos, a content creation platform which started the trend of current apps like Tik Tok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
Verification access
Musk has considered charging active users for the coveted blue-tick verification. Reports have the figure ranging from $7-$20 as a monthly fee. This controversial decision has spurred lots of negative feedback with people saying they wouldn’t pay for something they could’ve gotten for free. While if verification became financially obtainable to anyone. The risks of impersonation and misinformation are expected to rise.
Content and Policies
In his proposal for Twitter’s future, the most well-known aspect he wanted to bring to Twitter was to make it a sanctuary for “free speech”. Telling staff to review misinformation, hateful conduct, and trust and safety policies. It is unclear what Chief Twit wants to be rewritten and/ or removed completely if anything at all, but a large focus has been put on reviewing these specific policies.
