Tag: elon musk

Twitter Advertisers Face Pressure From Rights Activists After Elon Musk Reinstates Donald Trump’s Account

A coalition of civil rights activists on Monday was urging Twitter’s advertisers to issue statements about pulling their ads off the social media platform after its owner Elon Musk lifted the ban on tweets by former US President Donald Trump.

Trump’s account, which Twitter had suspended after the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, citing the risk of further incitement of violence, was reinstated over the weekend. Some 90 percent of Twitter’s revenue comes from selling digital ads.

The groups in the Stop Toxic Twitter coalition complained that Musk had vowed to advertisers that Twitter would take a considered approach to reinstate banned accounts and convene a new content moderation council. No such council has been created as of Monday.

“It was a real breach,” Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, a left-leaning media watchdog that is part of the coalition, said on Monday. He said Musk “was lying from the beginning.”

“In less than three weeks Musk has gone back on every promise he made to civil-rights leaders and advertisers,” said Jessica Gonzalez, co-chief executive of media and democracy group Free Press, which is also part of the Twitter coalition, in a press release.

Twitter, which lost much of its communications team when Musk slashed the staff shortly after taking over, did not immediately respond to the request for comment.

This month, Musk complained that pressure from the activists had already caused a “massive drop in revenue.”

Twitter began reinstating banned or suspended accounts late last week including the comedian Kathy Griffin as well as Trump.

The platform also reinstated the personal Twitter account of US House Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday.

Of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers by total spending this year, 51 have paused ads according to private conversations with the coalition, public statements or spending data provided by ad measurement firm Pathmatics, Carusone said.

The coalition is asking brands that have not publicized their Twitter pause to issue public statements and help generate pressure on the other 49 advertisers that have taken no action, he said.

“You need to take a stand and draw the line,” Carusone said. “It’s important for big spenders to say they have stopped.”

The coalition will consider naming the companies later this week if they have not issued a public statement about pausing ads, he added.

Musk tweeted Saturday that Twitter would reinstate the former president’s account after a slim majority voted yes on Musk’s poll about the issue.

The names atop the list of Twitter’s top advertisers have shifted from the week before Musk closed his deal to acquire the company. Major brands HBO and Mondelez were Twitter’s top two advertisers in the week before the acquisition, according to data from Pathmatics. But between November 10 and November 16, after Musk laid off half of Twitter’s staff, the top two largest advertisers were FinanceBuzz.io, a personal finance website and Trendytowns, an e-commerce site based in Singapore.

Pathmatics data showed that the top 100 advertisers between November 10 to November 16 spent an estimated $23.6 million (roughly Rs. 193 crore) on Twitter, down from $24.2 (roughly Rs. 198 crore) million spent between October 16 to October 22 before Musk became Twitter’s owner.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Twitter Rival Koo Gets Over 1 Million Downloads Within 48 Hours of Launch in Brazil

Homegrown microblogging platform Koo App on Monday said it has received a strong response from users in Brazil, logging over 1 million downloads within 48 hours of launch in that market.

Twitter-rival Koo aims to further cement its position globally by making the app available to more countries and launching in multiple global languages.

The announcement comes at a time when billionaire Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, setting in motion massive changes and sacking many employees.

In a statement on Monday, Koo said, “India’s multilingual microblogging platform, Koo App, was launched in Brazil with the addition of the Portuguese language, making it available in 11 native languages now”.

Within 48 hours of launch, the platform received a “tremendous response” from Brazil users with over 1 million user downloads, Koo further said.

Koo occupied the number one spot on both the Android Play Store and Apple App Store for the last few days, it added.

“With a blockbuster entry of an open platform for self-expression in languages, Koo has recently witnessed 2 million Koos and 10 million likes within 48 hours, by users in Brazil alone,” the statement said.

Koo CEO and co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna said the support is a testimony that the platform is solving a problem for native language-speaking users not only in India but across the world.

Earlier this month, Koo announced that the total download for its application has crossed the 50 million (5 crore) mark. The platform was launched in early 2020 with an aim to become an alternative to other available microblogging options, including Twitter.

It is a multi-lingual, micro-blogging platform to enable Indians to express themselves online in their mother tongues. Currently, Koo is available in 10 languages including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Assamese, Bengali and English.

 

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Twitter’s France Head Serves Resignation Amid Mass Layoffs, Tweets Exit Message

Twitter’s head of French operations, Damien Viel, said he was quitting the social media platform, whose new owner Elon Musk recently fired top executives and enforced steep job cuts at the company.

“It’s over,” Viel tweeted on Sunday, thanking his team in France, which he led for the last seven years.

Viel confirmed he was leaving Twitter in a separate message to Reuters.

He didn’t elaborate on the circumstances of his departure and declined to say how many people Twitter employed in France either before or after Musk‘s takeover of the company last month.

Labour laws in France prevent companies from firing permanent employees overnight. France-based companies have to formally tell staff they aim to dismiss about their plans ahead of time, typically via a letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

They also have to respect certain notice periods, depending on the nature of the dismissal and the seniority of the staff.

For dismissals affecting several employees within 30 days, companies must also follow certain procedures, which entail informing staff, staff representatives and the ministry of labour.

This means the whole process takes at least several weeks and up to several months.

A spokesperson for Twitter in France hasn’t replied to messages seeking comment since Musk’s takeover in October.

Twitter has had a bumpy ride since Musk, the world’s richest person, took charge.

It has cut staff by half, while Musk has raised the possibility of the social media platform going bankrupt.

He told employees to consider whether they wanted to stay on “working long hours at high intensity” or take a severance package of three months pay.

It was recently reported that Twitter CEO Elon Musk has asked the managers to approve remote work of their team members at their own job risk. Last week, Musk in an email to his employees said, “Regarding remote work, all that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring that you are making an excellent contribution. It is also expected that you have in-person meetings with your colleagues on a reasonable cadence, ideally weekly, but not less than once per month.”

“At risk of stating the obvious, any manager who falsely claims that someone reporting to them is doing excellent work or that a given role is essential, whether remote or not, will be exited from the company,” he added, according to a report by The Verge.

On November 10, Musk wrote in an email to employees, “Managers will send the exceptions lists to me for review and approval.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

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Kanye West says he’s running for president in 2024

Kanye West said he’s planning a 2024 presidential run and has tapped far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos in a video posted to Twitter Sunday.

The video, in which West says Yiannopoulos is working on his campaign, comes as the rapper’s Twitter account was restored after he was banned from the app in the wake of vile, anti-Semitic remarks he made last month.

“This is Milo right here, working on the campaign,” West, 45, said in the video posted by “PatriotTakes” Twitter account.

“Is that an announcement?” one of the men asks as they both laugh.

“I guess it is,” Yiannopoulos — who most recently worked as an unpaid intern for right-wing firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — replied chuckling. “Thanks, I accept.”

The cameraman then asked West, “So you are running?”

The news comes after Kanye West’s Twitter account was restored after he was banned from the app following his anti-Semitic remarks last month.
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“Yes,” Ye answered with a laugh. “It’s simple ’cause ain’t nobody can tell me, you know, ‘you should say this, you shouldn’t say that,’ you know? It’s just we’re moving towards the future.”

West and Yiannopoulos have a shared experience of making horrific remarks and quickly being slammed by the public.

West, who changed his legal name to Ye, tweeted about going “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE” in early October and was subsequently banned from the social media platform.

Earlier Sunday, the musician-turned-designer posted a message to his Twitter profile to see if his account was reinstated since Elon Musk took over the company.

“Testing Testing Seeing if my Twitter is unblocked,” West wrote to his nearly 32 million followers.

Musk, who bought the company for $44 billion, said last month that West’s account was restored before the acquisition and he was not consulted beforehand.

The billionaire restored former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account a day earlier after polling users. Trump, who also announced a 2024 White House run, was dumped from Twitter in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

Kanye West stands as he talks with real estate developer and US President Donald Trump in the White House’s Oval Office in Washington D.C. on Oct. 11, 2018.
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Yiannopoulos, who remains off Twitter, had largely disappeared from the public eye since 2017 when he made comments allegedly advocating for pedophilia — stating that sex between 13-year-olds and older men can be “life-affirming.”

He made headlines over the summer with the announcement of his humble, unpaid gig working for Taylor Greene.



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Twitter to Close Office Buildings, Disable Employee Badge Access Till Monday: Report

Twitter fell into a pitless chaos under its new owner Elon Musk after several employees appeared to have quit following a deadline by the billionaire entrepreneur and the company sent messages it was closing its “office buildings” for the next few days.

The New York Times (NYT) said in a report that after a 5:00pm Thursday deadline was given by Musk to employees to choose whether to quit or stay on at Twitter, “hundreds of Twitter employees appeared to have decided to depart with three months of severance pay.” Twitter also announced through email that it would close “our office buildings” and disable employee badge access until Monday.

During all this, Musk and his advisers also held meetings with some Twitter workers deemed “critical” and to stop them from leaving the company. The chaos also included confusing messages from Musk about the company’s remote work policy.

Musk’s team also held meetings with “undecided employees” who are considered key to Twitter’s operations in a bid to try to persuade them to stay.

“In his pitch, Mr Musk said that he knew how to win and that those who wanted to win should join him,” the NYT report said.

“In one of those meetings, some employees were summoned to a conference room in the San Francisco office while others called in via videoconference. As the 5:00pm deadline passed, some who had called in began hanging up, seemingly having decided to leave, even as Mr. Musk continued speaking,” it added.

Over the past few weeks, Musk has been firing those who oppose or disagree with him, often through public tweets.

He has told employees that they need to be “extremely hard core” to make the company a success and gave Twitter’s remaining employees just about 36 hours to leave or commit to building “a breakthrough Twitter 2.0.” The unraveling at Twitter came within weeks of Musk acquiring the social media company for USD 44 billion last month and laying off half of Twitter’s 7,500 full-time workers, including over 200 employees in India.

The NYT report added that the “shedding of so many employees in such a compressed period has raised questions about how Twitter will keep operating effectively.” The report said after Musk asked workers to decide whether to stay with the company or depart, employees were provided with a FAQ ( frequently asked questions) document about exit packages on Wednesday.

The FAQ opened by saying that Musk’s ultimatum was an “official company communication” and “not a phishing attempt.” “As you have seen, Twitter is at the beginning of an exciting journey,” the document said.

The FAQ said employees would have to “maximise working from an office” and “work the hours necessary to do your job at the highest level,” including early mornings, late nights and weekends, the NYT report said.

Musk also sent out confusing and differing messages about Twitter’s remote work policy, first saying that all Twitter employees must come into the office to work at least 40 hours a week and then announcing that “Regarding remote work, all that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring that you are making an excellent contribution.” The NYT report said minutes later, Musk “sent another email to staff saying managers were on the hook not to lie about strong work as a cover for employees to work from home.” “Any manager who falsely claims that someone reporting to them is doing excellent work or that a given role is essential, whether remote or not, will be exited from the company,” Musk said

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Amazon Mass Layoffs to Continue Till Next Year, Confirms CEO Andy Jassy

The mass layoffs that began in Amazon’s corporate ranks this week will extend into next year, CEO Andy Jassy said Thursday.

In a note sent to employees, Jassy said the company told workers in its devices and books divisions about layoffs on Wednesday. He said it also offered some other employees a voluntary buyout offer.

“I’ve been in this role now for about a year and a half, and without a doubt, this is the most difficult decision we’ve made during that time (and, we’ve had to make some very tough calls over the past couple of years, particularly during the heart of the pandemic),” Jassy wrote in the memo.

Seattle-based Amazon, which has been cutting costs in various areas of its business in the past few months, is undergoing an annual review process to figure out where it can save more money. Jassy said this year’s review is “more difficult” due to the economic landscape and the company’s rapid hiring in the last several years.

Other tech companies — many of which had gone on hiring binges in the past few years — have also been trimming their workforce amid concerns about an economic slowdown. Among others, Facebook parent Meta said last week it would lay off 11,000 people, about 13 percent of its workforce. And Elon Musk, the new Twitter CEO, has slashed the company’s workforce in half this month.

On Tuesday, Amazon notified authorities in California that it would lay off about 260 corporate workers at various facilities in the state. The company has not publicly disclosed how many employees it laid off this week across its entire corporate workforce, though some based in Seattle said they’ve also been let go.

Jassy said the company hasn’t concluded how many other jobs will be impacted. He noted there will be reductions in certain divisions as the company goes through the annual review process, which will continue into next year. As they weigh job cuts, he said leaders at the company will prioritise what matters most to customers and the long-term health of the company.

Amazon is offering severance packages for employees who leave the company. But — unlike Meta, for example — it hasn’t publicly provided details of the package.

The company employs more than 1.5 million workers globally, primarily made up of hourly workers.

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Twitter Blue to Be Relaunched on November 29 to Ensure ‘Rock Solid’ Release, Elon Musk Says

Elon Musk said on Tuesday that Twitter’s sought-after blue check subscription service will be relaunched on November 29, a minor delay from his initial tentative timeline to bring back the service on the social media platform. “Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid,” Musk said in a tweet.

With the new release, changing someone’s verified name will cause the loss of the blue check “until name is confirmed by Twitter to meet terms of service”, Musk said.

The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures. But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out earlier this week to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers.

Last week, the Tesla chief had said Twitter Blue will probably “come back end of next week”.

Twitter had paused its recently announced $8 (roughly Rs. 650) blue check subscription service on Friday as fake accounts mushroomed. The change came a week after Musk took over the social media company in a $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.6 lakh crore) deal.

Last week, in his first companywide email, Musk warned that Twitter would not be able to “survive the upcoming economic downturn” if it failed to boost subscription revenue to offset falling advertising income, three people who saw the message told Reuters.

Musk previously stated that Twitter users engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying it as a “parody” account will be permanently suspended without a warning. Several fake brand accounts, including those of Nintendo and BP, have been suspended.

Many companies, including General Motors and United Airlines, have paused or pulled back from advertising on the platform after Musk took over. In response, the billionaire said last week that he aimed to turn Twitter into a force for truth and stop fake accounts.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Sen. Ed Markey tells Elon Musk to stop ‘Wild West’ Twitter

WASHINGTON – Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is asking Elon Musk to stop Twitter from becoming the “Wild West of social media” after the billionaire changed his newly acquired social media site’s verification process to allow anyone with $8 to obtain the sought-after blue check mark.

“Your Twitter takeover, rapid and haphazard imposition of platform changes, removal of safeguards against disinformation and firing of large numbers of Twitter employees have accelerated Twitter’s descent into the Wild West of social media,” Markey told Musk in an official letter Friday.

Twitter, under Musk’s direction, began Nov. 5 to dole out check marks – which used to be reserved for accounts of notable companies, celebrities, politicians, journalists and others – to those who pay for the Twitter Blue service.

The monthly subscription plan also came with other benefits, such as an “edit” button for already posted tweets and fewer advertisements, but Musk highlighted the elusive checkmark to the package with his takeover.

“Blue checkmark: Power to the people. Your account will get a blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you follow,” the company wrote in an announcement earlier this month.

“Your account will get a blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you follow,” Elon Musk’s Twitter announced.
REUTERS
Sen. Ed Markey accused Elon Musk of “putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation.”
AP

Some have been taking advantage of the new system, creating false accounts for companies and individuals. Last week, a Washington Post reporter set up an account under the handle “@realedmarkey” for a story showing how easily the system can be abused.

“The [Washington] Post reporter was able to accomplish this impersonation despite Twitter having previously verified my actual Twitter account under the handle ‘@SenMarkey,’” the senator said. “Safeguards such as Twitter’s blue checkmark once allowed users to be smart, critical consumers of news and information in Twitter’s global town square.”

Markey accused Musk of “putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation,” posting his letter to Twitter over the weekend.

On Sunday, Musk snapped back: “Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?”

In response, the senator pointed out bigger issues Musk’s companies are facing, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s investigations into multiple Tesla crashes and the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation into a possible violation involving an obligation Twitter must comply with whenever it experiences a structural change, such as mergers and sales.

“One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online,” Markey said. “Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”



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Elon Musk’s SpaceX Buys Advertising Package for Starlink on Twitter

SpaceX has bought an advertising package on Twitter for its satellite internet service Starlink, said Elon Musk, who owns the rocket company and the social media platform that is seeing an exodus of advertisers.

“SpaceX Starlink bought a tiny – not large – ad package to test effectiveness of Twitter advertising in Australia and Spain. Did same for FB/Insta/Google,” Musk tweeted on Monday.

Twitter, which generated more than 90 percent of its second-quarter revenue from ad sales, has seen advertisers flee on fears that Musk would change the company’s content moderation rules.

Companies including General Motors, General Mills, Mondelez International and Volkswagen AG paused advertising on the platform after Musk acquired it last month.

“At the moment, most clients are suspending their activities (on Twitter) because they’re worried about extreme content and content moderation on the site,” S4 Capital’s Martin Sorrell said.

The chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX had last week told advertisers that he aimed to turn the social media platform to pursue truth and put an end to fake accounts.

He also raised the possibility of Twitter going bankrupt days after disclosing that the platform had seen a “massive” drop in revenue and blamed activist groups pressuring advertisers.

A Platformer reporter said on Monday citing an internal email that Twitter has locked down its code base, freezing any production changes to its systems until further notice.

Meanwhile, Tesla shares fell 4 percent after Musk said he had “too much work” on his plate, with investors worrying he is too preoccupied with the social media platform when the world’s most valuable automaker is facing production hurdles and rising competition.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

 

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