Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter Inc., said on Sunday that the goal of the social media platform was to become the most accurate source of information about the world. This started a debate about how it would do that and who decides what is accurate.
Since he bought Twitter for $44 billion about a week ago, Musk has taken a lot of drastic steps, like firing half the staff and charging users. These actions have given us some early clues about how the world’s richest person will change the platform.
Since the deal was announced, some advertisers have stopped spending money on it. Musk says that activist groups put pressure on advertisers because they were worried about how it would moderate content.
“Twitter needs to be by far the most accurate way to find out about what’s going on in the world.” “Our goal is to do that,” Musk said on Sunday.
His tweet got tens of thousands of replies right away and started lively debates about how the mission would be done.
“Right for who?” asked Jack Dorsey, the founder and former CEO of Twitter.
Musk, who also runs electric car company Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and rocket company SpaceX, said last month that Twitter will create a content moderation council with “widely different viewpoints.”
At the time, the person who said he or she was a “free speech absolutist” said that no major content decisions or account reinstatements would be made before that council met.
Musk also said on Sunday that people who pretend to be someone else on Twitter without making it clear that it’s a “parody” account will have their accounts shut down without a warning.
He said that Twitter used to give a warning before suspending someone, but now that verification is being rolled out to everyone, there will be no warning and “no exceptions.”
“This will be made clear as a requirement for signing up for Twitter Blue,” Musk said. He also said that any name change will cause the verified checkmark to be temporarily removed.
As a way to bring in more money, Twitter updated its app on Apple’s (AAPL) App Store on Saturday to start charging $8 for the popular blue checkmark verification marks.
Twitter said that the verification service would have benefits like “half as many ads,” the ability to post longer videos on Twitter, and a higher ranking for good content.
But the New York Times reported early on Sunday that Twitter is waiting until after Tuesday’s midterm elections to give its new service users verification check marks.
Asian Trade reported on Sunday that, after Musk took over, Twitter is now reaching out to dozens of employees who lost their jobs and asking them to come back. This shows that there is still a lot of confusion about what is going on.
Some of the people who are being asked to come back were fired in error. People who knew about the changes told the report that some people were let go before management realised that their work and experience might be needed to build the new features Musk wants.
Reuters asked Twitter for a comment on the rehiring efforts, but Twitter didn’t answer right away.
