Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter

The EU's digital chief Thierry Breton warns Elon Musk that his platform X, formerly Twitter, is spreading "illegal content and disinformation", in a letter seen by AFP.

The letter says concerns had heightened after the Hamas attack against Israel, and demanded Musk respond to the complaint within 24 hours and contact "relevant law enforcement authorities".

As the European Union's commissioner for industry and the digital economy, Breton is charged with regulating internet giants that trade within the bloc, and can launch legal action. — AFP

Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, says he is considering suing a leading anti-defamation group, arguing that its accusations of anti-Semitism have led the company to lose revenue.

Musk late Monday accused the US-based Jewish organization of making unfounded complaints against him and X that have scared away advertisers.

"To clear our platform's name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League... oh the irony!" Musk wrote on X. — AFP

The company formerly known as Twitter removes a towering, blinking X from atop its San Francisco headquarters after the rebranded tech firm tangled with city officials over the controversial sign.

The X, installed on the roof of the company's downtown office last week, was part of owner Elon Musk's bid to rebrand the troubled social media giant to the 24th letter of the alphabet.

But local residents had complained about the brilliant flashing lights emitting from the sign at night. Some also complained about safety, suggesting the sign -- which had loomed over the building's edge -- did not appear securely anchored to the roof. — AFP

Twitter owner Elon Musk and the chief executive he brought aboard just a month ago say the social media network will ditch the bird logo, rebrand the platform with the name X and move quickly into payments, banking and commerce.

"Powered by AI, X will connect us in ways we're just beginning to imagine," Twitter chief executive Linda Yaccarino tweets.

Late Saturday night, Musk indicated he plans to jettison Twitter's blue cartoon bird logo. — AFP

Twitter has announced that TweetDeck, a popular program that allows users to monitor several accounts at once, will be available only to "verified" users from next month.

The social media firm, bought by billionaire Elon Musk last year, has been thrashing around for ways to make a profit, cutting staff and ramping up its paid-for subscriptions.

Twitter's verified users are mostly those who have paid to receive a blue check mark, though Musk has gifted the check mark to some users and others have it as a legacy from the previous regime. — AFP

Australia's internet safety watchdog threatens to fine Twitter for failing to tackle online abuse, saying Elon Musk's takeover had coincided with a spike in "toxicity and hate". 

E-safety commissioner Julie Inman Grant -- a former Twitter employee -- said the platform was now responsible for one-in-three complaints about online hate speech reported in Australia. 

Inman Grant said Twitter had 28 days to show it was serious about tackling the problem or face fines of Aus$700,000 (US$475,000) for every day it missed the deadline. 

Since Musk bought the platform in October 2022, he has slashed more than 80 percent of the global workforce, including many of the content moderators responsible for stamping out abuse. 

"Twitter appears to have dropped the ball on tackling hate," said Inman Grant, who worked on cyber safety at the company after 17 years at Microsoft. — AFP

Twitter's head of trust and safety confirms she had quit the company, her departure coming after owner Elon Musk endorsed an anti-transgender video shared on the platform.

"I know there's been a lot of speculation regarding what happened," read a post on Ella Irwin's Twitter account late Friday, a day after her resignation was reported in US media.

"I did resign but this has been a once in a lifetime experience," she adds, without revealing any reason for suddenly leaving her job at Twitter. — AFP

Twitter's blue ticks were reinstated on some media, celebrity, and other high profile accounts Saturday -- a move protested by many of the recipients.

Once a free sign of authenticity and fame, blue ticks must now be bought by subscribers for $8 a month, Twitter says.

Non-paying accounts that had a blue tick lost it on Thursday, as owner Elon Musk implemented a strategy, dubbed "Twitter Blue", to generate new revenue, announced last year.

Only a tiny fraction of blue-ticked users subscribed -- less than 5 percent of the 407,000 profiles affected, according to Travis Brown, a Berlin-based software developer who tracks social-media platforms.

But on Friday and Saturday, a number of celebrities regained their blue ticks, seemingly without action on their part, including author Stephen King, NBA champion LeBron James and former US president Donald Trump. — AFP

Elon Musk promised to make Twitter the "most accurate source of information about the world," but he has repeatedly used his own account to amplify false claims from some of the most notorious disinformers on the internet, according to an AFP analysis of his online activity.

The posts show Musk drawing attention to misinformation about everything from the war in Ukraine to the attack on US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's husband. Last week, the billionaire boosted a tweet that wrongly suggested doctors misdiagnosed flu cases as Covid-19 deaths.

"One of the greatest mysteries of Covid-19: Where did the flu go in 2020 and 2021?" an account called "KanekoaTheGreat" said, to which Musk replied: "Good question."

It was one of at least 40 times the billionaire replied to the profile, which has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory, since purchasing Twitter for $44 billion nearly six months ago. He has only replied to a handful of accounts more in that time. — AFP

Radio New Zealand became the latest broadcaster to threaten to leave Twitter on Monday, after the social media platform labelled the public broadcaster "government-funded".

RNZ's head of content said it could join US counterparts National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service, who both quit Twitter last week in protest at the tag.

"Not only is our editorial independence protected by the law, we guard it vigorously," head of content Megan Whelan wrote on Twitter.

Public broadcasters have been infuriated by the forced tag, which they believe puts them on par with outlets that are controlled by authoritarian governments.

"Twitter's own policy defines 'government-funded media' as cases where the government 'may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content' - which does not apply to RNZ," Whelan said. — AFP

When the iconic US diaper company Huggies was swamped with false pedophilia allegations last month, the conspiracy was traced to a once-banned influencer reinstated to Twitter by Elon Musk. 

The Tesla tycoon bitterly denies that misinformation has surged since his turbulent $44 billion acquisition of the messaging platform, but experts say content moderation has been gutted after mass layoffs, while a paid verification system has served to boost conspiracy theorists.

Adding to the turmoil, the self-proclaimed free speech absolutist has restored what one researcher estimates are over 67,000 accounts that were once suspended for a myriad of violations, including the incitement of violence, harassment and misinformation. — AFP

Twitter boss Elon Musk said running the social media network has been "quite a rollercoaster" and acknowledged "many mistakes" along the way, six months after he bought the company for $44 billion.

In a live interview with the BBC after agreeing to a last-minute invitation for the "spontaneity" of it, Musk appeared to tacitly acknowledge that one of those errors was the decision to label the broadcaster's account "government-funded media".

He said he would change the designation on the BBC's Twitter handle after the broadcaster objected.

"We want it as truthful and accurate as possible –- we're adjusting the label to 'publicly funded'," Musk said. — AFP

Twitter's income from advertising will fall by 28 percent in 2023, a closely watched forecast says, as the platform struggles under the ownership of Elon Musk.

Analysts at Insider Intelligence said they were slashing an earlier worldwide revenue estimate of $4.74 billion by more than a third to $2.98 billion as trust in the platform deteriorates.

"The biggest problem with Twitter's ad business is that advertisers don't trust Musk," said Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence.  

"Twitter needs to unravel Musk's personal brand from the company's corporate image to regain advertiser trust and bring back ad dollars," she added. — AFP

Three top Twitter executives who were sacked by Elon Musk last year when he took over the social media company file suit, seeking to be reimbursed for costs of litigation, investigations and congressional inquiries related to their former jobs.

Ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, along with the company's former chief legal and financial officers, claim in the suit that they are owed a total of more than $1 million, and that Twitter is legally bound to pay them.

Twitter responded to an AFP request for comment with a poop emoji, as has become its practice.

The court filing outlined numerous expenses related to inquiries by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), but does not include details on the nature of the investigations or whether they are still ongoing. — AFP

Elon Musk defends his controversial pay model for Twitter, claiming that any social media platform that didn't follow suit would fail because they would be swarmed by bots.

Musk made his prediction on the eve of Twitter's April 1 ultimatum that verified accounts with the cherished blue tick that had not forked over cash would lose it.

"The fundamental challenge here is that it's (easy) to create literally 10,000 or 100,000 fake Twitter accounts using just one computer at home and with modern AI (artificial intelligence)," Musk told a question and answer session on Twitter. — AFP 

All eyes are on whether Elon Musk will go through with stripping blue checkmarks from celebrities and other high-profile Twitter users starting April 1 unless they pay for the privilege.

Musk vowed to act, despite a previous attempt triggering a swarm of trolls and imposters.

The prized verification mark became a signature element of Twitter's success after it was introduced in 2009, helping the platform become a trusted forum for stars, politicians, companies and campaigners. — AFP

Twitter boss Elon Musk says Wednesday that a new CEO might be running the online platform by the end of 2023, after a "rollercoaster" since he took full ownership last year.

"I'm guessing probably towards the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company," he tells the World Government Summit conference in Dubai via video.

"I need to stabilize the organisation and make sure it's in a healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out... I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year."

Musk paid $44 billion for his favourite social media platform and exiting day-to-day operations would allow him to deflect criticism that he is neglecting his other ventures, especially car company Tesla, which has seen its share price plummet since he took over Twitter. -- AFP

Elon Musk on Tuesday said that he doubted the reliability of a Twitter poll in which a majority of votes said he should step down as a CEO of the company.

Musk, who became sole owner of the platform on October 27, said earlier he would abide by the poll results but in a series of tweets, the tycoon indicated his belief that the vote may have been rigged by bots.

In the poll results which were posted on Monday, 57 percent of voters, or 10 million votes, favored Musk stepping down just eight weeks after he took ownership of the company for $44 billion.

But polling company HarrisX on Tuesday tweeted out their own poll of Twitter users, in which 61 percent of respondents voted to keep Musk as CEO.

"Interesting. Suggest that maybe we might still have an itsy bitsy bot problem on Twitter..." Musk said in a response. — AFP

Twitter announced Sunday it would no longer allow users to promote their accounts on a host of social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram -- the latest policy change by the company under its controversial new owner Elon Musk.

The move -- which also affects Mastodon, Post and Truth Social as well as third-party social media link aggregators such as linktr.ee and ink.bio -- comes after users started encouraging their followers to view their posts elsewhere, amid the sea changes at Twitter.

"Going forward, Twitter will no longer allow free promotion of specific social media platforms," it said in a statement.

"At both the Tweet level and the account level, we will remove any free promotion of prohibited 3rd-party social media platforms, such as linking out (i.e. using URLs) to any of the below platforms on Twitter, or providing your handle without a URL," the company explained. — AFP

Elon Musk on Sunday targeted America's outgoing top infectious disease official and key advisor of the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Anthony Fauci, in a viral tweet that sparked backlash.

"My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci," the billionaire Twitter CEO said, alluding to the practice of indicating gender pronouns after one's name as well as the right-wing campaign to charge Fauci with crimes related to his involvement in US Covid policies.

Musk also posted a meme showing Fauci telling US President Joe Biden, "Just one more lockdown, my king..." -- in apparent criticism of the Covid mitigation measure Musk has repeatedly slammed but has not been deployed in the country for over a year.

Early in the pandemic, Musk tweeted that concern over the virus was "dumb" and since taking over Twitter has removed its policy targeting Covid misinformation. — AFP

Twitter owner Elon Musk says he met with Apple chief Tim Cook and "resolved the misunderstanding" that prompted him to declare war on the iPhone maker's App Store.

"Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store," Musk tweets.

"Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so." — AFP

Europe's top official for enforcing digital regulation warns Twitter boss Elon Musk hat he must do more to fight disinformation in order to comply with EU law.

The EU commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, holds a video call with Musk and tells him "there is still huge work ahead" to bring the platform in line with Brussels' rules, according to an account of the call released to reporters. — AFP

Elon Musk tweets that "amnesty" for previously suspended Twitter accounts would begin "next week," after the majority of respondents on a 24-hour poll he had posted voted in favor of the move. 

"The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week," Twitter's new owner says, responding to his own post asking, "Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?" — AFP

Twitter's owner Elon Musk has pledged the platform will not become a "hellscape," but experts fear a staff exodus following mass layoffs may have devastated its ability to combat misinformation, impersonation and data theft.

Twitter devolved into what campaigners described as a cesspit of falsehoods and hate speech after recent layoffs cut half the company's 7,500 staff and fake accounts proliferated following its botched rollout of a paid verification system.

Further throwing the influential platform into disarray – and raising doubt about its very existence – reports said hundreds of employees chose to depart the company on Thursday in defiance of an ultimatum from Musk.

"The huge number of layoffs and resignations raises serious questions about content moderation and the security of user data," Cheyenne Hunt-Majer, from the nonprofit Public Citizen, told AFP.  —  AFP

Twitter owner Elon Musk says he had reinstated certain banned accounts on his site, but said no decision was made on welcoming back former US president Donald Trump.

Musk tweets that the accounts of comedian Kathy Griffin, psychologist Jordan Peterson and conservative parody site Babylon Bee "have been reinstated," but that the "Trump decision has not yet been made."

Twitter users have been watching closely to see whether Musk will reinstate Trump, banned for inciting last year's attack on the Capitol by a mob seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. — AFP

Twitter's new owner Elon Musk on Tuesday postponed the relaunch of the site's paid subscription service after a first attempt saw an embarrassing spate of fake accounts that scared advertisers.

"Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid," Musk tweeted, delaying his new revamp, originally promised for Tuesday, by two weeks.

The bid for more time came after authentic-looking fake accounts proliferated on the website that Musk bought for $44 billion late last month, throwing his plans into chaos.

This forced Twitter last week to suspend the new paid checkmark system and reinstate a gray "official" badge on accounts belonging to public figures and major businesses. — AFP

A top security officer for Twitter resigned on Thursday as new owner Elon Musk's revamp of the platform saw a boomlet of fake accounts, drawing a rare warning from US regulators.

"I've made the hard decision to leave Twitter," tweeted chief security officer Lea Kissner, who reportedly stepped down with other key privacy or security executives.

The walk-outs came a day after the chaotic launch of new features introduced by Musk following his $44 million buyout of the influential one-to-many messaging app.

It unveiled its long-awaited Twitter Blue subscription service, which allows users to pay $7.99 per month for a coveted blue tick, as well as a separate gray "official" badge for some high-profile accounts.

But Musk drew criticism when he scrapped the new gray label almost immediately, overshadowing the launch of the pay service, which is currently only available on the mobile app on iPhones and in the United States. — AFP

Twitter launches two new verification tools Wednesday but "killed" one of them hours later in a messy start to owner Elon Musk's campaign to revamp the influential platform following his $44 billion buyout.

The social media platform unveiled its long-awaited Twitter Blue subscription service, which allows users to pay $7.99 per month for a coveted blue tick, as well as a separate gray "official" badge for some high-profile accounts.

But the new gray label was almost immediately scrapped, overshadowing the launch of Twitter Blue, which is currently only available on the mobile app on iPhones and in the United States.

"I just killed it," Musk tweets hours after the new tag was added to government accounts, big companies and major media outlets.

"Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn't," the world's richest man added. — AFP

US President Joe Biden says that Elon Musk's ties with foreign countries were "worthy" of scrutiny, amid questions over the Saudi acquisition of a stake in Twitter as part of the tycoon's blockbuster takeover.

"I think that Elon Musk's cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at," Biden says, answering a question from a reporter after a long pause.

"Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I'm not suggesting that... That's all I'll say," he says.

Climate deniers looking to block action and "greenwashing" companies could have free rein on Twitter after Elon Musk's takeover, analysts warn as leaders pursued anti-warming efforts at the COP27 summit.

The Tesla billionaire and self-declared free-speech absolutist has fired thousands of staff -– with sustainability executives Sean Boyle and Casey Junod among those signing off from the platform last week.

Musk has promised to reduce Twitter's content restrictions and after the takeover announced plans to create a "content moderation council" to review policies.

"It's not clear what Mr Musk really plans to do. However... if he removes all attempts at content moderation, we can expect a surge of disinformation, as well as increases in misleading and greenwashing advertisements," says Naomi Oreskes, a professor of the history of science at Harvard University who has authored leading studies on climate misinformation.

"Greenwashing" means companies misleading the public about their impact on the planet through messages and token gestures.

"We may also see an increase in hateful comments directed towards climate scientists and advocates, particularly women," Oreskes says. — AFP

Verified Twitter accounts with millions of followers have been suspended after their user name was changed to Elon Musk, as the platform's users test the new owner's commitment to free speech he does not like.

Comedian Kathy Griffin, whose blue-ticked account has two million followers, was among those who were locked out after crossing the mercurial CEO.

Musk, who has previously described himself as a "free speech absolutist" tweeted Sunday that "any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying 'parody' will be permanently suspended."

The Twitter account for h3h3Productions, which also changed its user name to Elon Musk, was also banned, despite labelling itself a parody.

User @jephjacques changed their display name to Elon Musk, and posted a series of satirical tweets referencing Musk's hands-on approach to his new company, including: "look can everyone just stop tweeting for a second? it's too fast for me to moderate by myself."

The account, which has over 80,000 followers was suspended a short time later. — AFP

Twitter on Saturday began rolling out a controversial new paid subscription system which the social network's unpredictable new owner, billionaire Elon Musk, ordered staff to build after taking over last week.

The platform's mobile app began offering an update that will allow users to sign up for the new version of Twitter Blue, which Musk has said will cost $8 a month, and is set to grant users a blue checkmark and perks such as less advertising in their feeds.

"Starting today, we're adding great new features to Twitter Blue," says the update, only on iPhones for now. "Get Twitter Blue for $7.99 a month if you sign up now." 

In a tweet, the California-based company's director of product development Esther Crawford specified that the new service had yet to go live. -- AFP

Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey apologizes to company staff for growing the social media giant "too quickly" a day after roughly half of the company's 7,500 employees were fired by new owner Elon Musk. 

"I realize many are angry with me," wries Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter in 2006 and stepped down as CEO last year.

"I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that," he says on Twitter. — AFP

Billionaire Elon Musk continues to tweet updates about his new company's activity as he began laying off employees following his takeover of the publicly listed social media giant.

Musk claims he had but to reduce the workforce, citing company losses of about $4 million a day. "Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required."

A thread on social media platform Twitter and the company behind it, after billionaire Elon Musk has taken over. (Main image by AFP/Constanza Hevia)