The egg, and there’s lots of it, on Elon Musk’s face

benfell

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[1] fair use.

Elon Musk now has egg on his face. The question is how bad it will get and whether Musk will ever perceive through his narcissistic delusions to understand that the egg is there:

Some of those who are being asked to return [to Twitter] were laid off by mistake, according to two people familiar with the moves. Others were let go before management realized that their work and experience may be necessary to build the new features Musk envisions, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.[2]

Musk’s move to give verified user status to anyone paying for a Twitter Blue subscription had attracted considerable criticism, due to the potential for users to impersonate authoritative sources of information.[3]

The social-media company received internal and external feedback that the verification process for its Twitter Blue program could be ripe for abuse, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified. That raised concerns that candidates and other political actors might be impersonated on the site in the days before the US election.

The delay is the second major reversal of measures that new owner Elon Musk put in place to stem what he said were daily losses of $4 million a day.[4]

After a weekend where several high-profile users changed their names and pictures to match Elon Musk’s, Twitter’s new owner says the social media platform will crack down on the practice.

“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying parody will be permanently suspended without warning,” Musk wrote in a Twitter post.

“Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning,” he said. This will be “clearly identified” as a condition for signing up to the company’s paid subscription service Twitter Blue, Musk said. He added that any name change at all will cause temporary loss of a verified check mark.[5]

I have opened an account on Tribel; it appears to be the least awful alternative to Twitter.

Dean Seal, “Elon Musk Ousts Twitter Board, Named Sole Director,” Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/musk-ousts-twitter-board-named-sole-director-11667234297

Nick Bonyhady, “Twitter is no LinkedIn. Charging for blue ticks won’t work,” Sydney Morning Herald, November 1, 2022, https://www.smh.com.au/technology/twitter-is-no-linkedin-charging-for-blue-ticks-won-t-work-20221101-p5bum9.html

Elon Musk, “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. . . .” Twitter, November 1, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587498907336118274

Elon Musk, “Price adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity,” Twitter, November 1, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587499283573530625

Elon Musk, “You will also get . . .” Twitter, November 1, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587500060853424129

Elon Musk, “And paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us,” Twitter, November 1, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587500624098246656

Elon Musk, “This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators,” Twitter, November 1, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587505731611262976

Elon Musk, “There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians,” Twitter, November 1, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587527711228149765

Suzanne Vranica and Patience Haggin, “Ad Giants Advise Brands to Pause Spending on Elon Musk’s Twitter,” Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ad-giants-advise-brands-to-pause-spending-on-elon-musks-twitter-11667333021

Edward Ludlow and Kurt Wagner, “Musk Plans to Eliminate Half of Twitter Jobs to Cut Costs,” Bloomberg, November 2, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-02/musk-plans-to-eliminate-half-of-twitter-jobs-in-cost-cut-drive

Naomi Nix, “Elon Musk says Twitter won’t restore banned accounts for weeks,” Washington Post, November 2, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/02/musk-twitter-bans-trump/

David Frum, “Why I Logged Off Twitter,” Atlantic, November 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/elon-musk-twitter-takeover-changes/671980/

Mike Isaac and Ryan Mac, “Elon Musk, Under Financial Pressure, Pushes to Make Money From Twitter,” New York Times, November 3, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/technology/elon-musk-twitter-money-finances.html

Catherine Rampell, “World’s richest man decides to set $44 billion on fire,” Washington Post, November 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/elon-musk-twitter-advertisers-content-moderation/

Samuel Stolton, “EU Twitterati plot escape amid Musk takeover,” Politico, November 3, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-twitterati-plot-escape-plan-amid-elon-musk-twitter-takeover/

Suzanne Vranica and Patience Haggin, “General Mills, Audi and Pfizer Join Growing List of Companies Pausing Twitter Ads,” Wall Street Journal, November 3, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/general-mills-audi-and-pfizer-join-growing-list-of-companies-pausing-twitter-ads-11667507765

Josh Eidelson, “Twitter Sued for Mass Layoffs by Musk Without Enough Notice,” Bloomberg, November 4, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-04/twitter-sued-for-mass-layoffs-by-musk-without-enough-notice

Drew Harwell, Cat Zakrzewski, and Isaac Stanley-Becker, “Twitter layoffs gutted election information teams days before midterms,” Washington Post, November 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/05/twitter-layoffs-election-impact/

Sarah E. Needleman and Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Says Twitter Has Had Massive Revenue Drop as Layoffs Begin,” Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-says-twitter-has-had-massive-revenue-drop-11667573127

Sanjay Patnaik, Robert E. Litan, and James Kunhardt, “The national security grounds for investigating Musk’s Twitter acquisition,” Brookings, November 4, 2022, https://www.brookings.edu/research/why-biden-would-be-justified-in-blocking-or-modifying-musks-twitter-acquisition-on-national-security-grounds/

Faiz Siddiqui, Naomi Nix, and Will Oremus, “Advertisers fleeing, workers in fear: Welcome to Elon Musk’s Twitter,” Washington Post, November 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/04/twitter-layoffs-musk/

Shanti Das, “‘Elon Musk doesn’t know what he’s doing’, says former Twitter executive,” Guardian, November 5, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/05/elon-musk-doesnt-know-what-hes-doing-says-former-twitter-executive

Tim Higgins, “Twitter Rolls Out Blue Check Marks for Paying Customers,” Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-rolls-out-blue-check-marks-for-paying-customers-11667681496

Kevin V. Nguyen, “How Musk’s Twitter Layoffs Went Down—And What’s Next,” San Francisco Standard, November 5, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/business/how-musks-twitter-layoffs-went-down-and-whats-next/

Natalie Ching Mun Choy, “Twitter to Ban Impersonation If Not Labeled Parody, Musk Says,” Bloomberg, November 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-07/twitter-to-ban-impersonation-if-not-labeled-parody-musk-says

Kurt Wagner, “Twitter Delays Change to Check-Mark Badges Until After Midterms,” Bloomberg, November 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-06/twitter-to-delay-changes-to-check-mark-badges-nyt-says

Kurt Wagner and Edward Ludlow, “Twitter Now Asks Some Fired Workers to Please Come Back,” Bloomberg, November 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-06/twitter-now-asks-some-fired-workers-to-please-come-back

  1. [1]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  2. [2]Kurt Wagner and Edward Ludlow, “Twitter Now Asks Some Fired Workers to Please Come Back,” Bloomberg, November 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-06/twitter-now-asks-some-fired-workers-to-please-come-back↩
  3. [3]David Frum, “Why I Logged Off Twitter,” Atlantic, November 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/elon-musk-twitter-takeover-changes/671980/; Drew Harwell, Cat Zakrzewski, and Isaac Stanley-Becker, “Twitter layoffs gutted election information teams days before midterms,” Washington Post, November 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/05/twitter-layoffs-election-impact/; Tim Higgins, “Twitter Rolls Out Blue Check Marks for Paying Customers,” Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-rolls-out-blue-check-marks-for-paying-customers-11667681496↩
  4. [4]Kurt Wagner, “Twitter Delays Change to Check-Mark Badges Until After Midterms,” Bloomberg, November 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-06/twitter-to-delay-changes-to-check-mark-badges-nyt-says↩
  5. [5]Natalie Ching Mun Choy, “Twitter to Ban Impersonation If Not Labeled Parody, Musk Says,” Bloomberg, November 6, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-07/twitter-to-ban-impersonation-if-not-labeled-parody-musk-says↩

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.