Elon Musk Twitter Takeover LIVE: 'Should Assange And Snowden Be Pardoned?', Asks Elon Musk In New Twitter Poll
Elon Musk is bringing in several changes to Twitter following his $44-billion takeover. Follow this live blog for the latest updates.
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.
The more Twitter improves its signal to noise ratio, the less relevant conventional news becomes: Musk
"The more Twitter improves its signal to noise ratio, the less relevant conventional news becomes," Elon Musk tweeted.
The more Twitter improves its signal to noise ratio, the less relevant conventional news becomes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 4, 2022
'Should Assange and Snowden be pardoned?', asks Elon Musk in new Twitter poll
'Should Assange and Snowden be pardoned?', asks Elon Musk in new Twitter poll
I am not expressing an opinion, but did promise to conduct this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 4, 2022
Should Assange and Snowden be pardoned?
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