The 5 Big Moments That Led Elon Musk’s Twitter Into the Middle of a Huge Crisis.
Elon Musk is now looking for "someone crazy enough" to succeed him as CEO of Twitter.
When he bought Twitter for $44 billion on October 27, 2022, Elon Musk touted himself as a “great advocate for free speech.” Elon Musk wanted to revolutionize his platform to implement this vision. His original idea was to make an app on the model of WeChat, but he went from disavowal to disavowal until he is now looking for his successor after only eight weeks at the head of Twitter.
A look back at the turbulent beginnings of the Tesla and SpaceX boss at the head of Twitter.
1. It all starts with a complicated takeover
“The bird is freed,” Elon Musk tweeted on October 28, 2022, to announce the takeover of Twitter. He was seen at the headquarters of the social network, with a sink in his arms, a strange way to announce a buyout. For 44 billion dollars, Elon Musk bought the social network that he intends to transform. However, the deal was far from being concluded.
In April 2022, after having initially wanted to enter the board of directors, the billionaire went into high gear by announcing his intention to buy the social network. He announced his intention to buy Twitter before changing his mind at the beginning of July 2022, estimating that the number of fake accounts was 20% against the 5% announced by Twitter.
This disagreement gave rise to the case of Peiter Zatko, the former head of security of Twitter, who attacked the failing cybersecurity of the platform and accused the leaders of having lied about the means implemented to fight against fake accounts and spam.
The case even went to court in October 2022. Elon Musk eventually reached a consensus with Twitter and took on $25 billion in debt to complete the deal.
2. Elon Musk begins with massive layoffs
One week after the takeover, Elon Musk began to lay off half of his workforce, or nearly 3,500 employees. All departments are affected. In a very symbolic way, he thanks the entire board of directors who sat before his purchase, and he becomes the sole director.
The second wave of layoffs took place on November 13, 2022, cutting back on staff in the areas of moderation, marketing, and real estate, mostly involving contract employees. They received a notification that they were losing access to their professional mailbox and internal Slack messaging.
A few days later, on November 17, 2022, the remaining employees received an email from the new owner and boss of the platform. They are invited to fully commit to their strategy, or jump ship: work hard or leave. Elon Musk gives 24 hours to his teams to make a decision. If they don't return, they will be fired and receive compensation equivalent to three months of salary.
Currently, Twitter is the subject of dozens of legal complaints filed by former employees for wrongful dismissal or failure to collect promised compensation. But in wanting to fire everyone, Elon Musk went a bit too fast. He asked a dozen ex-employees to return just a few days after their dismissal.
These firings had a serious impact on the moderation of the content since most of the moderators were fired. The climax was reached on December 12, 2022. The billionaire dissolved the council of trust and security of the social network. The entity included one hundred independent researchers and human rights activists. Since Elon Musk bought Twitter, hateful and racist content has increased. And the Twitter Files affair reinforces the mistrust of users.
3. A first big problem with Twitter Blue
Elon Musk's account certification project has also seen a lot of backlashes. Officially available since December 12, 2022, Twitter Blue is a subscription that allows any user to get their account certified. It is available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, for 8 dollars, or 11 dollars from an iPhone.
A first failed attempt took place in November before being temporarily suspended because the paid certification led to numerous identity theft and the dissemination of false information. Fake-certified accounts were created to copy the accounts of celebrities. Additional conditions have been added to obtain the sesame. To be authenticated, a user must now register their phone number.
4. Elon Musk announces the return of banned accounts and suspends new ones
Pursuing his vision of freedom of expression, Elon Musk has reinstated accounts banned by the former Twitter teams. These accounts did not respect the community rules because they were criminally reprehensible. He reinstated Donald Trump's account, but also Kanye West's account before changing his mind. He did not take the risk of bringing back Alex Jones.
https://ssaurel.medium.com/kanye-wests-ban-is-symbolic-of-the-hard-learning-elon-musk-is-doing-at-the-helm-of-twitter-717f7786c977
However, a study shows that many Nazi accounts are back in force on Twitter.
Conversely, Elon Musk's account suspension policy accelerated in December. On December 14, 2022, Elon Musk had an automated account that tracked his private jet rides deleted. He had pledged a few days earlier not to do so, citing his “commitment to free speech.” In the end, he went so far as to delete 25 accounts that tracked private jet rides.
The noose tightened in the days that followed. Elon Musk suspended the accounts of about 15 journalists who wrote articles about him. Some of them had tweeted about Twitter's decision to suspend the account that automatically reported Elon Musk's private jet trips. Musk invoked the ban on doxxing, which means publicly disclosing personal information about an individual on the Internet without his or her consent.
https://thepowerofknowledge.xyz/the-authoritarian-drift-of-elon-musk-on-twitter-worries-both-america-and-europe-6efb7f1c2824
For example, the Twitter account of a journalist from the Washington Post was suspended on Elon Musk's decision, according to her, the day after several journalists' accounts were reinstated, the boss referred to a “temporary suspension” related to the “previous disclosure of personal data.”
5. Elon Musk is letting the people of Twitter decide whether he will leave as CEO
Elon Musk is the king to reverse his decisions. He suspended for a few hours the ability to post links directing to other social networks like Mastodon, before reversing course.
Very concerned about the opinion of his users, Elon Musk leads his Twitter policy with polls. He asked them if they wanted suspended accounts to reappear. The latest poll asked Twitter users if they wanted him to step down as head of Twitter. The “yes” won by 57%:
After questioning the result of the poll and raising doubts, Elon Musk finally announced his withdrawal from Twitter. He is currently looking for a successor, “someone crazy enough” to succeed him.
From now on, Twitter is in financial difficulties because advertisers have left one after the other, while 90% of the network's revenue comes from advertising. Twitter is even currently looking for new investors. Elon Musk hopes to raise funds by the end of 2022!
So many incredible adventures while Elon Musk has been here for only 8 weeks ...