Here’s All The Latest On The Drama At Twitter
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Since Elon Musk bought Twitter at the end of October, it’s been a nonstop shitshow. He tweeted a conspiracy theory; he laid off half the company; he asked some of those people to come back; he rolled out the paid verification feature, unleashing parodies; he made a new gray “Official” check, took it away, then put it back in place; he banned parody accounts that made fun of him. Oh, and he fired people who criticized him, either on Twitter or in a company-only Slack channel.
It’s exhausting to keep up with the latest. But, for your convenience, we’re going to keep updating this post with the day-in, day-out news emerging from Twitter.
Sunday, Nov. 20:
Alex Jones isn’t coming back. When asked on Twitter if Jones would be next to have his account reinstated, Musk said no. He pointed out how Jones exploited the deaths of children for profit with his Sandy Hook hoaxing. Musk's first child died of sudden infant death syndrome in 2002.
@KimDotcom @SamHarrisOrg My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.
Saturday, Nov. 19:
Trump’s account is reinstated. Musk ran a Twitter poll asking if Donald Trump’s account should be reinstated. “Yes” narrowly won out, so he reinstated it. This contradicts what Musk had previously said about big moderation decisions being made by a committee. As of the end of the weekend, Trump hadn’t tweeted.
Friday, Nov. 18:
Musk says negative tweets will be hidden. "New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach," Musk tweeted. He also allowed back onto Twitter three high-profile users who had previously been banned: Kathy Griffin (for impersonating Musk), Jordan Peterson, and the far-right satire site Babylon Bee. "Trump decision has not yet been made," Musk tweeted.
New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.
Hundreds of Twitter employees resigned yesterday. Musk gave employees an ultimatum: agree to stay and work under a very different “hardcore” company culture, or resign with severance. The deadline was yesterday at 5 p.m. ET, and some 1,200 of the remaining 3,700 full-time employees took the buyout, according to the New York Times.
Zoë Schiffer of Platformer reported that this resulted in chaos: Twitter offices were locked for fear of employee sabotage, and there was confusion about who had clicked “yes” to stay on Musk's email was still actually around or not. (Some people may be on parental leave, for example.)
So far no Twitter employees have been deactivated — even those who’ve publicly resigned. Musk and his team only collected the list of “yes’s” — employees who said they want to be part of Twitter 2.0. They’re still trying to track who is out.
According to the Verge, those resigning included people on key teams that keep the site up and running — an ominous sign that Twitter may start breaking or crashing very soon. Of course, in light of this news, Twitter users did what they always do: They memed through it.
Me and the homies trying to figure out how Pinterest work
Thursday, Nov. 17:
People with jokey Twitter names are stuck with them. BuzzFeed News reports on how people who changed their display names to things like “Spicy Chicken Sandwich” and “GIANT PENIS (parody)” are now stuck with them due to Musk’s tweaks to the verification system.
The old version of Twitter Blue is finally going away. Subscribers to the older version of Twitter Blue, which launched last spring at $2.99/month, were notified that old subscriptions will be canceled at the end of this month, at which time they can sign up for the new option.
The New York Times reports on SpaceX workers experiencing something familiar: retribution for criticizing Musk. Nine workers were fired over the summer in connection with an open letter condemning Musk’s “harmful Twitter behavior” — specifically his making light of an Insider report that he had paid to settle a sexual harassment claim against him in 2018. On Wednesday, charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of eight of those workers.
Wednesday, Nov. 16:
Elon Musk issues an ultimatum to Twitter employees. In an email to the remaining staff, he said that people must be willing to work long hours and go “hardcore.” If not, they could choose to take severance pay and leave. In order to keep their job, employees had to click “yes” on a form that the email linked to.
Musk says he wants to find a CEO replacement soon. Musk was in Delaware Chancery Court on Wednesday for a hearing related to Tesla (a stockholder claimed his executive pay was “excessive.”) During his testimony, he said, “I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time.”
Currently, Musk is CEO of three separate companies. As to whom he might appoint as head of Twitter, it’s pretty clear it won’t be former T-Mobile CEO John Legere:
@JohnLegere @Twitter No
Here Are The Funniest And Most Emotional Tweets About The Potential End Of TwitterAde Onibada · Nov. 18, 2022
Twitter bird wearing a disguise Verified Twitter Users Are Stuck With Joke Names Like “Spicy Chicken Sandwich” And “Giant Penis”Chris Stokel-Walker · Nov. 17, 2022
Mass Layoffs Are Underway At TwitterTom Warren · Nov. 4, 2022
