CBS News Quits Twitter. . . . For a Few Hours
Less than a day after CBS News announced its intention to pause its social-media activity on Twitter, it reversed its decision and now intends to remain active on the platform.
On Friday, one of the media outlet’s national correspondents stated that “in light of the uncertainty around Twitter and out of an abundance of caution, CBS News is pausing its activity on the social media site as it continues to monitor the platform.”
The announcement came on the heels of Elon Musk’s pledging, on Friday, to reinstate formerly banned Twitter accounts, including those of Jordan Peterson, Kathy Griffin, and the Babylon Bee. On Saturday, Musk issued a public poll via his own Twitter account to determine whether users wanted Donald Trump to be allowed to rejoin the platform. Despite Trump’s account’s reinstatement, the former president has not yet expressed any willingness to return to the platform, since he has set up a rival social-media outfit.
Following these developments, CBS decided to suspend all of its official social-media activity on Twitter, including its flagship account with nearly 9 million followers. This announcement came at a difficult time for Musk, as he tries to navigate Twitter toward financial solvency after massive layoffs, high-profile resignations, and uncertainty over his new monetization initiatives. Some pundits initially speculated that CBS’ move might be the first in a series of media outlets’ rushing to ditch Twitter.
However, “after pausing for much of the weekend to assess the security concerns, CBS News and Stations is resuming its activity on Twitter as we continue to monitor the situation,” the outlet’s corporate Twitter account tweeted on Sunday morning.
CBS News’ surprise return — after just about 20 hours of absence from Twitter — is being lampooned by users across the platform as a failed attempt at virtue-signaling in response to the new initiatives Musk has pursued since taking the helm of the social-media giant.
