“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation.”
These were the exact words of Elon Musk, followed by “and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.“
In response to Musk’s tweet, American vlogger Hank Green criticised the Tesla owner, stating: “You tweeted a conspiracy theory from a website less credible than the National Enquirer like four days ago. We all need to look inward as well as outward.”
Musk questioned Green in response: “And therefore Twitter should die?”
The irate business magnate took to his newly purchased social network – Twitter – to rant on what seem to be frustrations over a drop in the microblog’s revenue and mounting pressure over the platform’s moderation.
Last week, the South African-born billionaire began re-energising previous calls he made for changes he suggested for the platform before its purchase.
Prior to the finalisation of the transaction, Musk touted the idea of an open-source algorithm to better service free speech on Twitter, meaning the platform could see changes to users’ content feed and moderation of tweets, among other suggestions.
Despite the intended changes not coming to fruition yet, Twitter has seen a drop in revenue, with Musk lambasted by criticism amid a series of controversies around the platform.
Earlier during the week, Musk made calls to change the way the service is used, including alterations to verified accounts, making “blue tick” authenticated accounts a subscription service users would now have to pay for.
Before this, controversy ensued among previous Twitter leadership and workforces, with scores of top-level management sacked amid the takeover, including Twitter’s former CEO, Parag Agrawal, who previously supported the Musk takeover.
In a previous statement, the-then Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal threw his weight behind the Musk deal, stating: “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”
Despite this, Agrawal and other executives were fired upon completion of the transaction, leaving Musk at the helm of the platform – as both owner and CEO of Twitter.
Musk finalised his Twitter takeover last week, in one of the most controversial social networking buyouts for a $44 billion (about R803bn) purchase.
Documents were filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday last week, showing that Musk has become Twitter’s sole director after finalising the deal last week and dissolving its corporate board.
The Tesla boss last week said that users would be charged for their blue tick status making verification part of his long-suggested Twitter Blue subscription, with reports suggesting the fee could go from $4.99 a month to $19.99.
Musk criticised the previous verification system in a tweet: “Twitter’s current lords and peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bull****. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.”
He added that the fee would be “adjusted by country, proportionate to purchasing power parity”.
Despite this, the move drew widespread criticism from prolific horror author Stephen King, who tweeted: “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron."
IOL Tech