Elon Musk Twitter Takeover HIGHLIGHTS: Misunderstanding With Apple On 'Twitter's Removal From App Store' Cleared: Musk
Elon Musk takes over Twitter: Highlights from Musk's hostile Twitter takeover.
Background
Elon Musk took over Twitter on October 27 after months of negotiations and surprise u-turns. After Twitter accepted the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s $44-billion deal, Musk quickly moved to bring in several changes to the microblogging platform. He began by firing the company's entire board of directors, including CEO Parag Agrawal, in turn becoming the ‘sole director’ himself, which he claims is “only temporary”. He’d follow that up with eventual mass layoffs of the company’s global workforce, reducing the number of employees by nearly half.
However, what drew the most attention was the monetisation of Twitter’s blue-tick verification badge. Previously, the verification badge was provided to users free of cost, after a rigorous check of government-approved IDs and verified URLs in some cases.
However, under Musk’s revamp plans, the verification badges have been brought under the Twitter Blue plan, which is priced at $7.99 per month. Under the new rules, already verified users will lose their blue ticks if they don’t choose to pay the aforementioned amount within a period of 90 days.
The monetisation of verification, along with the mass layoffs, has drawn flak on the platform from regular users and celebrities alike, many of whom have denied to pay for verification, including the likes of Stephen King, Martina Navratilova, Shonda Rimes, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and more.
The $7.99-per-month plan has already gone live in several countries, including India.
Explaining the reason behind the moves, Musk said that cost-cutting is the primary objective. He said that the company was losing over $4 million per day. He also clarified that exiting employees were given three months of severance pay, which was 50 per cent “more than legally required”.
As Musk continues to bring in changes to Twitter, follow this live blog for the latest updates on everything related to the takeover and its fallout.
Misunderstanding With Apple On 'Twitter's Removal From App Store' Cleared: Musk After Meeting Tim Cook
New Twitter boss and tech billionaire Elon Musk met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and tweeted that a misunderstanding regarding Twitter being removed from Apple App Store has been cleared. This comes within a week of Musk claiming that Apple has stopped most of its advertising on the micro-blogging platform and accused the company of threatening to withdraw the platform from its App Store.
Trump Poll Getting 1M Votes Each Hour, Says Elon Musk On Poll To Get Trump Back On Twitter
Elon Musk has tweeted saying that the poll he started on getting former US President Donald Trump back on Twitter is getting1M votes each hour.
Reinstate former President Trump
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2022
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