Background information
Telegraphy – the Internet of the 19th century
by David Lee
Chronicle of a big mess: 1 year on Elon Musk's Twitter
27.10.2023
Translation: machine translated
Let's take a look back at Twitter's (sorry, X) eventful year under Elon Musk. A lot has changed on the platform. If you've lost track, we'll recap the essentials here.
On 26 October 2022, Elon Musk arrives all smiles at Twitter HQ in San Francisco, a sink in his arms. He posts the video to his Twitter account with the comment "Let that sink in". In French, the expression means "take the time to digest this information". In English, 'sink' also means washbasin. It was time for him to dive into the deep end: after lengthy negotiations, his takeover of Twitter was about to be concluded.
The next day, a year ago, the contracts were finalised. Elon Musk bought the short messaging service for the modest sum of 44 billion dollars. That's about 39 billion francs or 42 billion euros. What followed was a wild ride that continues to this day: Elon Musk announced changes without implementing them, new changes came as a surprise before being withdrawn... While some things have remained the same, this is not the case for the staff.
Thousands of redundancies in the weeks following the takeover
Immediately after buying Twitter, Elon Musk began by firing several senior executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal. Thousands of other employees followed soon after.
Those who were not dismissed were told to prepare for hard times: Elon Musk demanded extremely high levels of commitment from his staff, for example by working overtime late into the night. A photo of an employee sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor of her office went viral. Opposed to these working conditions, many employees voluntarily left the company. Twitter lost around 80% of its workforce in the first few weeks after the acquisition, a figure confirmed by Elon Musk in a interview with the BBC.
Many of those made redundant were part of the content moderation team, a subject dear to Elon Musk who had complained about it on several occasions on Twitter. Tweets that broke the platform's rules, such as false information and hate messages, were deleted and accounts were often suspended: Elon Musk saw this as an attack on freedom of expression. After these dismissals, Twitter began to react much more slowly, if at all, to reported tweets.
In addition to the cut in content moderation, the redundancies also had an economic purpose. Twitter was already heavily in debt at the time of its takeover by Elon Musk, who claimed that the social network was spending $4 million (around 3.5 million Swiss francs or €3.8 million) a day.
Since November 2022: why bother paying rent?
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Twitter refused to pay rent on its offices after the acquisition by Elon Musk. Up until mid-2023, several landlords took the social network to court over unpaid rent in San Francisco, London, New York, Boston and Seattle. The sums involved are in the millions. The question is how Elon Musk is going to get out of these contracts. A few months ago, he was quoted as saying in an interview with an investor that they would have to "go through his body" to get him to pay his office rents.
It would appear that some complaints have been dropped in the meantime, as Twitter has settled its debts.
November 2022: the blue tick affair
Before Twitter's takeover, having a blue tick next to one's name was a status symbol and the prerogative of people with a certain notoriety whose identity had been verified. Users could therefore be sure that these people were who they claimed to be.
But Elon Musk didn't see it that way. He decided to abolish the "two-class system" and offer the blue tick to everyone, without identity verification, for the hefty sum of around 20 dollars (18 Swiss francs or 19 euros) a month. After a public exchange with Stephen King, the famous author of horror novels, Twitter's new owner lowered the price to 8 dollars (around 7 Swiss francs or 7.5 euros). Once a sign of legitimacy, the blue tick now highlights subscribers to "Twitter Blue", a premium service that offers a few extras.
Shortly after the launch of this new system, most verified accounts lose their tick. From now on, the precious sesame can be bought by anyone. And what was bound to happen happened: Elon Musk's identity ended up being usurped. A number of accounts used his name and profile picture, gave their accounts an official look with the blue check mark, and then had a field day with some very amusing tweets. The real Elon Musk was forced to suspend numerous accounts.
But too late, the door to the trolls was already wide open. In addition to the chaos and general confusion, several billion were also lost on the stock market when an unknown account posing as big pharma "Eli Lilly and Company" tweeted that insulin would be available for free. The company's share price collapsed and it withdrew from the platform as an advertising partner.
As for Stephen King, he kept his blue tick, although he claimed he hadn't paid for it and didn't want it. Clearly, Elon Musk is a fan.
November 2022: many suspended accounts return
The most famous account to be ejected from the platform for breaking pre-Musk era rules was that of former president Donald Trump. On 19 November, Elon Musk published an open poll on Twitter asking whether Trump's account should be reinstated. In the end, more than 15 million people voted, with 51.8% in favour.
And so Trump's account was reinstated along with others previously suspended.
End of 2022: mass exodus to Mastodon?
The takeover by Elon Musk, the announcement of the many redundancies and the controversy over the restoration of suspended accounts gave rise to hashtags such as #RIPtwitter, #TwitterDown or even #GoodByeTwitter where users expressed their discontent.
Many decide to create an account on the rival platform, Mastodon, and post a link to this new account on their Twitter account. Within 10 days of Twitter's takeover, Mastodon registered 500,000 new users, so many that the servers sometimes struggled to cope.
Tired of seeing his competitor at the heart of every conversation on his platform, Elon Musk had all links to known Mastodon servers removed. Seems freedom of expression has its limits. In the end, most renegades end up coming back to the blue bird.
December 2022: CEO change in sight?
Rumours of dissatisfaction with his management style not having escaped Elon Musk, he decides to ask the Twitter people, again by poll, whether he should resign as Twitter CEO. 57.5% of 17.5 million accounts voted to get rid of Elon Musk. Musk accepted the result and, 6 months later, handed over the management reins to Linda Yaccarino. However, he remains present on the platform and continues to intervene in commercial decisions.
April 2023: anger at false designations
A less high-profile coup in our country, it has been the subject of much debate in the US: "the unintentional designation of various media outlets in the US and other countries as 'media close to the state' and then as 'state-funded media'. This branding suggests that the media are not reporting independently, but publishing state-imposed content.
The channels concerned protest, some leaving Twitter. Elon Musk himself intervenes. Like a good troll, he tampers with the markings so that they read "69% state-funded" on a Canadian channel. At the end of April, these markings are removed in the Western, Russian and Chinese media.
June 2023: to block or not to block, that is the question
On 8 June, Elon Musk tweets that blocking other posts is pointless. In August, he went a step further, saying that it would soon no longer be possible to block other accounts. Explanation: blocking an account allows you to prevent it from interacting with yours, reading your tweets or replying to them.
In its place, Elon Musk wanted to keep only a "mute" function: anyone who mutes an account can no longer see its posts, nor can they be contacted. But the muted account can still see the other person's posts and reply to them. The announcement of the removal of the "block" function caused a wave of discontent. It has not yet been implemented.
July 2023: Twitter becomes X
Twitter is dead, long live X. At the end of July, the blue bird on a white background in the logo was replaced by a white X on a black background. To explain the change, Elon Musk says he wants to make the messaging service a complete app "for everything". So the old name is no longer appropriate. He does not specify what is to become of the verb "tweeter" and "tweet" itself.
Many Twitter users have "X-ed" their opinions on the name change. One user posted an image of several logos from different porn sites: one X among many. Another said that the X usually stood for "close program" in software applications. It remains to be seen whether X will really take hold in people's perception.
October 2023: more preview for links to other websites
Elon Musk announced in August that links to other sites in tweets would soon be displayed without titles or text snippets "for aesthetic reasons". Since then, this change has indeed been implemented. Only the image of the linked site is still visible. At the bottom left of the image is the domain name of the linked site in tiny print.
Now it's hard to tell the difference between a link and a simple image. Elon Musk was no doubt fed up of seeing all these links leading to other sites, far from X. So he encouraged journalists and media professionals to publish their texts directly on Twitter, which is of course only possible with a subscription to Twitter Blue.
Will we soon have to pay to post?
After Twitter Blue, X is experimenting with other payment models. It's possible that non-paying users will soon only be able to use X passively. Those who wish to publish articles or responses themselves may have to pay an annual fee of $1. Trials are currently underway in the Philippines and New Zealand.
Because the amount is so small, it may be that this measure will really serve to combat bots, Elon Musk's hobbyhorse. The use of the platform by bots, i.e. accounts behind which there is no person, is a major source of irritation for him. Controlled in large numbers, these accounts can in fact considerably influence discussions.
It is not yet known whether such a tax could also be due in Europe.
And then?
Studies have shown an increase in fake news, hate and racism on Twitter/X. A BBC article has compiled some of them. As for Elon Musk, he doesn't seem to see any rise in hate on his platform.
Last week, there was a rumour that X was pulling out of the EU because of its stricter content monitoring laws. A rumour immediately denied by Elon Musk.
One thing is certain: Twitter/X is continuing its transformation. According to Elon Musk, advertising revenues have fallen sharply and Twitter Blue is not bringing in as much money as expected. X does not regularly communicate its current user numbers. From a mathematical point of view, it appears from the indications of Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino that there are currently 12 million fewer daily active accounts on X than at the time of the takeover (257.6 million daily active accounts at the time). Forecasts indicate that X will continue to lose users.
However, alternative services such as Mastodon or Bluesky have yet to achieve the critical mass of users to be considered true successors.
What do you think of Elon Musk's changes to Twitter? Do you (still) use Twitter? Tweet me your answers in the comments.
Headline photo: Worawee Meepian/Shutterstock
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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