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After 53 days, countless firings, a total collapse of his free speech posture, and some very weird lies about doxxing and “assassination coordinates,” Elon Musk might be poised to step down as head of Twitter. Musk had always said that he expects to find a new CEO “over time,” but the timeline may have been accelerated starting Sunday, December 18th, when he put up a 12-hour Twitter poll asking, “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.” In a decisive result, 57.5% to 42.5%, Twitter users voted “Yes,” he should abdicate the role. “Be careful what you wish,” Musk warned as the results of his poll came in. “You might get it.” In response to a comment suggesting a replacement CEO had already been selected, Musk added, “No one wa...

Elon Musk is complaining of a “massive drop in revenue” as several advertisers have pulled spending from Twitter, according to reports from CNN and The Wall Street Journal. Companies to pause their Twitter advertising include General Mills; Mondelez International, which makes Oreos and other snacks; pharmaceutical giant Pfizer; and Volkswagen, which owns brands such as Audi, Porsche, and Bentley. Additionally, Interpublic Group, which consults on advertising strategy for large corporations including Coca-Cola and Unilever, has advised their clients to hold their money for now. In a November 4th tweet, Musk laid the blame on unnamed “activist groups.” He wrote, “Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing ...

Elon Musk continues to move fast since officially taking over Twitter, and his latest move is resurrecting Vine. According to a report from Axios, Musk has tasked engineers to focus on a reboot of the once-popular video sharing app that could be ready by the end of 2022. According to Axios, engineers have found Vine’s old code base “needs a lot of work” after not being changed or updated since it was formally shut down by Twitter in 2016. When Vine was active, it became the most-downloaded free app in the iOS App Store. Vine also helped launch the careers of artists like Shawn Mendes, Ruth B, and producer Jay Versace, as well as notorious social media personality Logan Paul. The ByteDance-owned app TikTok has stepped into the void left behind by Vine. In September 2021, TikTok announced it...

It’s day three of Elon Musk’s reign over Twitter, and beyond seeing an influx of racists tweeting, one big development is Musk’s plan for verification. According to The Verge, Twitter will soon start charging users as much as $19.99 per month for that little blue check mark. Under the proposed plan, Twitter will make verification one of the core features of its premium subscription service, Twitter Blue. Current Twitter Blue subscribers pay $4.99 per month for features like an edit button, a custom reader mode, bookmarks, and more. Musk will reportedly triple the price with the added carrot of giving unverified users the opportunity of adding a blue checkmark next to their handles. Advertisement Related Video Existing verified users would have 90 days to subscribe to Twitter Blue or lose t...

Self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk officially bought Twitter on October 27th, and in the hours following the deal, a slew of bigoted troll accounts appeared to test the limits of his moderation policies. According to The Washington Post, in the 12 hours after Musk acquired Twitter, use of the N-word surged 500%. “Elon now controls twitter. Unleash the racial slurs. K—S AND N—–S,” one account said, using slurs for Jewish and Black people. “I can freely express how much I hate n—–s … now, thank you elon,” another said. One account, created this month, used a swastika as its profile picture and tweeted antisemitic memes alongside retweeting posts from Musk. Much of this hate speech was organized on platforms like 4chan, said the Network Contagion Research Institute, which anal...