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Everything you need to know, from layoffs to verification

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Welcome to Elon Musk’s Twitter (now X), the place the principles are made up and the examine marks don’t matter.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO first introduced his bid to purchase Twitter in April 2022, zealously pushed to rid the platform of spam bots and shield free speech.

“That is simply my robust, intuitive sense that having a public platform that’s maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extraordinarily vital to the way forward for civilization,” Musk stated at a TED convention on the day he made his provide. “I don’t care concerning the economics in any respect.”

Even for one of many richest males on the planet, $44 billion is some huge cash to cough as much as purchase a middling social platform. Regardless of his fervent declarations about increasing “the scope and scale of consciousness” by way of public discourse, the billionaire received chilly ft. A month later in Could, he tried to kill the deal, claiming that Twitter had extra bots than its public filings let on. After a really chaotic authorized discovery course of, which even included some embarrassing texts, Musk was pressured to seal the deal. By October, the platform was his.

Since Musk purchased Twitter and took the corporate non-public, the information across the microblogging platform has been a whirlwind, rife with verification chaos, API entry shakeups, ban reversals, staggering layoffs, and most notably, rebranding to X.

Musk additionally transitioned from his function as Twitter (X) CEO to serving as its government chair and CTO. It was introduced on Could 12 that Linda Yaccarino will step in as the following X CEO. Yaccarino will probably be leaving her function as chairman of World Promoting & Partnerships at NBCU.

If you happen to’re simply catching up, right here’s an entire timeline of what’s taking place on the hen app, beginning with the latest information:

August 2023

X lowers necessities for its creator payout program

The corporate stated that creators who’ve garnered 5 million impressions within the final three months will probably be eligible for advert income sharing. That requirement was beforehand set to fifteen million impressions.

Creators will be capable to withdraw as little as $10 as a substitute of $50, X stated. Customers nonetheless must be verified and should have at the very least 500 followers to qualify for payouts.

X CEO claims the corporate previously often called Twitter is sort of breaking even

“I’ve been on the firm eight weeks,” Yaccarino stated in her first broadcast interview since taking over her new function. “The operational run price proper now… we’re fairly shut to interrupt even.”

“Our information licensing and API with X is an unbelievable enterprise. Our new subscription enterprise [is] rising,” Yaccarino stated. “After which, a part of my, what I’d say, experience and expertise, and what I got here to do, was to drive promoting on the firm.”

Video calls are coming to X

CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed in her first TV interview that video calls will probably be a brand new characteristic coming to the service, as a part of its transformation into an “all the things app.”

X expands its partnership with Integral Advert Science

The partnership started in January to inform advertisers if their advert is positioned round inappropriate content material. Now, X is testing sensitivity settings, powered by machine studying, that permit advertisers select their thresholds for the sorts of content material they need their advertisements to look round — and in line with a tweet from X proprietor Elon Musk, advertisers can purchase these much less fascinating, “relaxed” sensitivity advert slots for much less.

Manufacturers can cut back adjacency to gore, extreme profanity and obscenity, focused hate speech, sexual content material, medication and spam. Quickly, X will add its “relaxed” setting, which gives cheaper promoting alternatives whereas solely filtering for focused hate speech and express sexual content material.

X takes over @music deal with, hinting at future music plans

The @music account was initially operated for 16 years by software program developer Jeremy Vaught, who grew the @music deal with to roughly half one million followers. Vaught posted in anger that X had commandeered the account for itself.

“Tremendous pissed,” Vaught wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of the e-mail X had despatched him informing him of the change.

X streamlines Neighborhood Notes

The characteristic traditionally supplied info to customers about why they had been seeing a truth examine appended to a tweet. After three years of growth, the corporate says this additional context will now be eliminated for individuals who are already skilled with Neighborhood Notes.

TweetDeck is renamed to XPro

The corporate has adopted the @Professional deal with as a substitute of @TweetDeck for the instrument. Nevertheless, many components of the instrument, together with the assistance web page, nonetheless have “Twitter” and “TweetDeck” mentions. Musk hinted at the change a week prior, including that XPro will include a “wide selection of psy op plugins.” There are not any particulars about what sort of plug-ins these is likely to be.

X now permits paid customers to cover their checkmarks

Paid verification was launched final 12 months with the Twitter Blue relaunch. The service was not too long ago renamed to XBlue throughout the Twitter rebrand to X.

The concept is to assist customers profit from subscription options with out displaying that they’re a verified account. The choice to cover the checkmark will present up within the “Profile customization” part of account settings.

The corporate has up to date the help page for paid subscriptions, saying that even when you disguise the checkmark it is likely to be seen in some locations. The corporate didn’t give any additional particulars about these placeholders.

July 2023

Wish to change again to the outdated Twitter app icon on iOS? Right here’s how:

  • In your iPhone, navigate to the Shortcuts app. If in case you have a more recent iPhone, this needs to be pre-installed, but when not, you’ll find it within the App Retailer. In case your iPhone is working on iOS 12.0 or greater, you’re good to go.
  • From the primary Shortcuts display on the Shortcuts app, you’re going to faucet “All Shortcuts.”
  • Hit the blue plus signal within the top-right nook of your display to arrange a brand new Shortcut.
  • It’s best to see a prompt motion of “Open App” to construct your new shortcut. Faucet that.
  • Now, you’ll be prompted to arrange a brand new “Open App” shortcut. Subsequent to the place it says “Open,” click on on “App” to seek for the X app. Choose that.
  • When you’ve chosen the “X” app, faucet the share icon on the navigation bar on the backside of your display. This may convey up one other menu, the place you possibly can choose “Add to Dwelling Display screen.”
  • Go forward and sort in Twitter as a substitute of “Open App.” Then, faucet the small Shortcut icon subsequent to the place you typed in Twitter.
  • Right here, you possibly can add a picture of the Twitter brand. Nevertheless, you most likely don’t have that already saved to your cellphone. Simply Google “Twitter icon.” We used this one.

Apple accepts Twitter app’s rebrand to X within the app retailer

Apple usually doesn’t permit builders to call their apps as a single character, however they appeared to have made an exception.

X additionally modified its App Retailer tagline from “Let’s discuss.” to “Blaze Your Glory!!” Musk himself posted a tweet with this tagline with none context.

X opens up its advert income sharing program globally

The corporate announced its “Adverts Income Sharing” program is now accessible for eligible creators globally. This system, in line with posts by X proprietor Elon Musk, goals to offer out $5 million within the first spherical of creator funds.

Twitter is now X

The long-lasting hen brand is formally changed with ‘X’ after Elon Musk introduced the change the weekend of July 22. Notably, Musk x.com now additionally redirects to twitter.com. Musk additionally known as this an “interim” brand, so we would see one other brand change sooner or later.

The app additionally modified its official deal with to @x as a part of the continued rebranding. The unique @Twitter deal with is now inactive, and its bio reads, “This account is now not lively. Observe @x for updates.” Nevertheless, the unique proprietor of the @x deal with, Gene X Hwang of the company images and videography studio Orange Photography, confirmed to TechCrunch that the corporate took over his account with out warning or monetary compensation, telling him the deal with is property of X.

Twitter preps a job itemizing characteristic 

Twitter hasn’t formally introduced the job postings characteristic but, though some verified organizations have already been in a position to publish job listings below their bios. The job listings take candidates on to the corporate’s web site, the place they will study extra concerning the place and submit an software.

Twitter Notes is again…kinda

Twitter Notes, the characteristic that permits Twitter customers to publish long-form content material, seems to be again on observe, in line with a post from Twitter proprietor Elon Musk on Tuesday. Musk confirmed the corporate’s plans in response to a person’s tweet which claimed the Twitter Notes undertaking had not too long ago been rebranded as “Articles.”

On Tuesday, July 18, person @FaustoChou tweeted that Notes had been renamed to Articles, signaling maybe renewed growth efforts on Twitter’s half. His screenshot confirmed the Notes interface, wanting very similar to it did earlier than, in addition to different unlaunched options, like Twitter Cash. Musk replied to the tweet, confirming Twitter’s plans.

Twitter shares advert income with verified creators

Twitter will now pay creators for a share of the advert income earned from advertisements served within the replies to their posts. Twitter Blue subscribers who’ve earned greater than 5 million tweet impressions every month for the final 3 months are eligible to affix the creator payouts.

In response to Elon Musk, the primary spherical of creator payouts will complete $5 million, and will probably be cumulative from the month of February onward. These payouts will probably be delivered by way of Stripe.

Regardless of this system’s important payouts, some creators weren’t pleased — and took their complaints to Twitter proprietor Elon Musk. In a sequence of tweets, Musk addressed creators’ issues over issues just like the sorts of accounts that had been eligible for monetization, price limits and different points.

With the announcement of latest DM settings, Twitter admits to having a Verified spammer situation

Starting “as soon as” July 14, Twitter will introduce a brand new messages setting geared toward lowering spam in DMs by transferring messages from Verified customers you don’t comply with again to your “Message Request” inbox as a substitute of your essential inbox. Solely messages from individuals you comply with will arrive in your main inbox going ahead. Notably, these adjustments may even now apply to everybody who has their inboxes open to permit messages from anybody.

Earlier than turning into pay-to-play, Twitter verification indicated an individual was a public or notable determine of some kind — like a politician, superstar, athlete, journalist or different well-known particular person. By making the Verified blue checkmark accessible to anybody who bought it, Twitter diluted the worth of verification.

That apparently escalated to the purpose that folks have change into bothered by Verified customers spamming their essential inbox, after they had set it open to obtain DMs from the blue-badged crowd. In different phrases, Twitter has a Verified person spam downside.

Twitter blocks hyperlinks to Threads

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino is pushing again at studies that Twitter site visitors is tanking because of the July 5 launch of a brand new competitor, Instagram Threads. Nevertheless, on Monday, July 10, customers reported that Twitter appears to be selectively blocking hyperlinks to Threads.web’s web site in Twitter searches, making it tougher for anybody to floor conversations on Threads or find customers’ profiles.

Twitter threatens to sue Meta over its new Threads app

Lower than 24 hours after Threads launched, the Elon Musk-owned firm accused Meta of poaching former Twitter workers to create the brand new platform.

“Twitter intends to strictly implement its mental property rights, and calls for that Meta take fast steps to cease utilizing any Twitter commerce secrets and techniques or different extremely confidential info,” Spiro wrote within the letter, which Semafor shared on-line. “Twitter reserves all rights, together with, however not restricted to, the fitting to hunt each civil cures and injunctive reduction with out additional discover to forestall any additional retention, disclosure, or use of its mental property by Meta.”

June 2023

Solely verified customers will be capable to entry TweetDeck after 30 days from now

After swaths of customers had been unable to entry components of TweetDeck over the previous few days, Twitter began rolling out a brand new model of the online app to customers July 3. The corporate additionally added that in 30 days, customers must be verified to entry TweetDeck. This implies solely Twitter Blue subscribers, verified organizations and a few people who’ve been gifted verification by Twitter will be capable to use TweetDeck come August.

Twitter limits the variety of tweets customers can learn in a day

Twitter is placing limits to what number of tweets its customers can learn because the social media platform suffers prolonged outage that has stymied customers’ means to trace new posts.

Verified account holders can peruse a most of 6,000 posts each day, whereas unverified customers should cope with a drastically decreased restrict of 600 posts. Newly registered, unverified customers face even tighter restrictions with an allowance of a mere 300 posts per day, in line with Elon Musk. (He has since elevated the restrict to 10,000, 1,000 and 500, respectively.)

These learn limits impacted TweetDeck customers specifically, reporting main issues together with notifications and whole columns failing to load.

Twitter requires an account to view tweets

If you happen to’re not logged into your Twitter account, or don’t have one, and attempt to view a tweet, you’ll be offered with a sign-in display. Nevertheless, days later, Twitter silently eliminated the login requirement for viewing tweets.

When Twitter began implementing the login requirement, Musk stated that he took these “momentary” measures to forestall information scraping.

The corporate hasn’t made any official announcement about permitting customers to view hyperlinks while you aren’t logged in or given any particulars on what measures it has taken to cease scraping.

Subscribers can now publish 25,000-character-long tweets

The corporate made the change to its Twitter Blue web page right this moment, indicating the restrict. An engineer at Twitter, Prachi Poddar, additionally introduced the change by posting a long tweet.

Twitter faces a $250 million lawsuit filed by main music publishers

The Nationwide Music Publishers’ Affiliation (NMPA), representing 17 publishers, listed 1,700 songs for which it despatched a number of copyright violation notices to Twitter. The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court docket in Nashville, says that Twitter didn’t take any motion towards these notices. The publishers’ group stated within the submitting that it’s in search of fines of as much as $150,000 for every violation.

The lawsuit alleged that the social community “fuels its enterprise with numerous infringing copies of musical ‘compositions, violating Publishers’ and others’ unique rights below copyright regulation.” It added that, in contrast to its rivals TikTok and Instagram, Twitter hasn’t struck a music licensing deal for using copyrighted music.

Twitter is being evicted from its Boulder workplace

Court docket paperwork present that Twitter owes three months’ hire to its Boulder landlord, and a choose has signed off on evicting the tech big from that workplace.

In Could the owner took it to courtroom, and on Could 31 the choose issued an order that the sheriff ought to help within the eviction of Twitter inside the subsequent 49 days — i.e. earlier than the tip of July. The case quantity is 2023CV30342 in Boulder District Court docket.

As many as 300 workers as soon as labored in Twitter’s Boulder workplaces, however between layoffs, different firings, and resignations, it’s most likely lower than half of that now.

Window to edit tweets is elevated to 1 hour for Blue subscribers

The time restrict to edit tweets has elevated from half-hour to 1 hour for Blue subscribers, giving customers an even bigger window to vary their tweets and proper any typos.

Linda Yaccarino is formally Twitter CEO

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino formally began her new gig on Monday, June 5, in line with a tweet.

Belief and security lead resigns

Ella Irwin took over for Yoel Roth, who famously left the corporate throughout the early days of Elon Musk’s chaotic Twitter takeover.

Could 2023

Twitter launched Neighborhood Notes for pictures in posts

The most recent characteristic is an effort to place extra onus on crowdsourced moderation by permitting customers to deal with situations of morphed pictures or AI-generated pictures throughout the platform the place the images are posted. The launches comes days after a pretend AI-generated picture about an assault on the Pentagon unfold shortly as outstanding accounts retweeted it.

Twitter’s new API tier prices $5,000 per thirty days

Twitter API Professional for startups provides builders the flexibility to fetch 1 million tweets per thirty days and publish 300,000 tweets per thirty days, and provides them entry to the complete archive search endpoint.

Twitter Blue customers can now add two-hour movies

Twitter made adjustments to its paid plan, permitting subscribers to add two-hour movies — increasing the earlier 60-minute restrict.

The corporate additionally modified its Twitter Blue page and stated the video file measurement restrict for paid customers is now elevated from 2GB to 8GB. Whereas earlier longer video add was solely potential from the online, now it’s additionally potential by way of the iOS app. Regardless of these adjustments, the utmost high quality for add nonetheless stays 1080p.

The rumors are confirmed: NBCU’s chief Linda Yaccarino as the following CEO of Twitter

Musk confirmed Yaccarino’s new function in a tweet this morning (Could 12), a day after he introduced that he had accomplished his seek for a brand new CEO.

Elon Musk tweets that he has discovered a brand new CEO 

“Excited to announce that I’ve a brand new CEO for X/Twitter,” Musk wrote in a tweet on Could 11. “She will probably be beginning in ~6 weeks! My function will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software program & sysops.”

Twitter launched its first model of encrypted DMs

At present, this characteristic is simply accessible to verified Blue customers or accounts related to verified organizations. Moreover, the encryption characteristic isn’t appropriate with group messages and Twitter doesn’t provide safety towards man-in-the-middle assaults.

Twitter now permits you to react to DMs with emojis

Twitter has launched a brand new characteristic that lets customers select virtually any emoji to react to a DM in a dialog. Beforehand, the corporate allowed you to react to solely the latest DM with solely a choose set of emojis. CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the brand new characteristic is rolling out with the most recent app replace.

Twitter is purging outdated accounts and releasing up desired usernames, in line with Elon Musk 

In response to latest tweets by proprietor Elon Musk, Twitter is purging inactive accounts which have had “no exercise in any respect for a number of years.”

Twitter is considering a less expensive verification plan for organizations

Twitter is considering an organizational verification plan that doesn’t price $1,000 a month. Over the Cinco de Mayo weekend, Elon Musk tweeted that the corporate is engaged on a less expensive plan for small companies, however didn’t give any particulars about the fee.

Twitter confirmed Circle tweets had been quickly not non-public 

Twitter confirmed a safety error that made Circle tweets floor publicly. TechCrunch reported the glitch in early April, however the platform confirmed the difficulty Could 5 in an e mail despatched to Twitter Circle customers.

“In April 2023, a safety incident could have allowed customers outdoors of your Twitter Circle to see tweets that ought to have in any other case been restricted to the Circle to which you had been posting,” the e-mail stated. Twitter claims that the bug has now been mounted, and that the workforce is aware of what brought on it.

Twitter makes its API free for public announcement accounts 

Twitter introduced on Could 2 that it’s making its API free for verified authorities or public-owned companies posting about public utility alerts similar to climate alerts, transportation info and emergency warnings. This comes a month after the corporate introduced its new API pricing tiers.

A bug on Twitter causes legacy blue checks to reappear by updating your bio

It doesn’t appear to matter what textual content you’re including to your bio — TechCrunch reporter Amanda Silberling added a number of areas, then received her examine again for a second. It even confirmed up with the outdated textual content that designates that she is “notable in authorities, information, leisure, or one other designated class,” and he or she didn’t, in actual fact, pay for this. However when you refresh the web page it disappears. The truth is, it’s unclear whether or not anybody else may even see your examine briefly reappear.

April 2023

EU warns Twitter over disinformation

Twitter was confirmed April 25 as certainly one of 19 main tech platforms topic to centralized oversight by the European Union’s government beginning this fall, when so-called very massive on-line platforms (VLOPs) are anticipated to be compliant with the Digital Companies Act (DSA). However the Fee has not wasted any time warning the Elon Musk-owned social community that issues aren’t wanting good for staying on the fitting aspect of the incoming regulation.

In a pair of tweets, Vera Jourova, the EU’s values and transparency VP, warned of “one more unfavourable signal” by Twitter — accusing the platform below Musk of “not making digital info house any safer and free from the Kremlin #disinformation & malicious affect”.

Twitter now exhibits labels on tweets with decreased visibility

Twitter stated that labels will probably be proven to each authors and viewers. Often, these tweets will present textual content similar to “Visibility restricted: this Tweet could violate Twitter’s guidelines towards Hateful Conduct.”

The app’s enforcement policy says that tweets with such labels is not going to present up in search outcomes, suggestions or timelines — these tweets will probably be hidden in each the “For You” and “Following timelines. Moreover, there will probably be no advertisements positioned adjoining to posts with decreased visibility.

Twitter restored Blue verification mark for high accounts, even when they didn’t pay for Twitter Blue

Over the April twenty first weekend, a number of high accounts (with greater than 1 million followers) received their verification marks again. Nevertheless, a lot of them, together with author Neil Gaiman, footballer Riyad Mahrez, musician Lil Nas X, actress Janel Parrish Lengthy and British TV presenter Richard Osman stated that they didn’t pay for the blue badge.

In March, The New York Times reported that Twitter was contemplating handing out a free verification mark to the highest 10,000 manufacturers and firms. It’s not clear if the corporate is making use of the identical coverage to non-public accounts.

Twitter removes ‘government-funded’ information labels

Twitter has eliminated “government-funded media” labels on all accounts, from NPR to the Chinese language state-affiliated Xinhua Information. The app even seems to have deleted its web page explaining the “government-funded media” labels.

Twitter sends an e mail seemingly requiring advertisers to have a verified checkmark

Several users have posted screenshots of an e mail reportedly despatched by Twitter, which states that ranging from April 21, verified checkmarks are required to proceed working advertisements on the platform.

Twitter formally kills legacy blue checkmarks on 4/20

With the legacy checks gone, the app may have verification marks just for paid customers and companies, in addition to authorities entities and officers. Now if a person sees a blue examine mark and clicks on it, the label reads: “This account is verified as a result of they’re subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their cellphone quantity.”

Microsoft drops Twitter from its promoting platform

Microsoft is dropping the hen app from its promoting platform beginning on April 25, almost two months after Twitter introduced that it’s going to start charging a minimal of $42,000 per thirty days to customers of its API, together with enterprises and analysis establishments. The strikes imply customers will now not be capable to entry their account, or create, schedule or in any other case handle tweets by way of Microsoft’s free social media administration service.

Twitter proprietor Elon Musk threatened to take authorized motion:

Twitter quietly removes coverage towards misgendering trans individuals

Twitter up to date its content material moderation pointers concerning hateful content material, eradicating a coverage that prohibited the focused deadnaming or misgendering of transgender individuals. Enacted in 2018, the coverage explicitly said that it violated Twitter’s guidelines to repeatedly and purposefully name a transgender particular person by the fallacious title or pronouns.

Twitter to label tweets that get downranked for violating its hate speech coverage

Twitter plans to “quickly” start including seen labels on tweets which have been recognized as probably violating its insurance policies, which has impacted their visibility. It didn’t say when precisely the system can be totally rolled out throughout its community.

Sometimes, when tweets violate Twitter’s insurance policies, one of many actions the corporate can take is to restrict the attain of these tweets — or one thing it calls “visibility filtering.” In these situations, the tweets stay on-line however change into much less discoverable, as they’re excluded from areas like search outcomes, traits, beneficial notifications, For You and Following timelines, and extra.

Traditionally, the broader public wouldn’t essentially know if a tweet had been moderated on this approach. Now Twitter says that may change.

10,000-character-long tweets for Blue subscribers

Twitter’s new characteristic will let Blue subscribers publish 10,000-character-long posts — as if the social community is attempting to compete with a rival publication platform. Twitter has additionally added assist for daring and italic textual content formatting.

Lengthy-form writing can be not completely new. Final June, the corporate launched a program known as Twitter Notes for choose writers. Nevertheless, that program was shut down below Musk. After taking on the corporate he additionally killed publication instrument Revue, a startup Twitter had acquired in 2021.

NPR, PBS and a handful of different information organizations bail on Twitter as Musk meddles with account labels

A PBS spokesperson confirmed to Axios that PBS had “no plans to renew tweeting” after Twitter gave it a murky “government-funded media” label over the weekend. A number of other news entities appeared to have adopted go well with, together with the outstanding Boston NPR affiliate WBUR, Hawaii Public Radio and LA-based native information supply LAist.

The Australian Broadcasting Firm (ABC Australia), Australia’s Particular Broadcasting Service (SBS), New Zealand’s public broadcaster RNZ, Sweden’s SR Ekot and SVT, and Catalonia’s TV3.cat a had been labeled “government-funded media” weeks later.

Twitter companions with eToro to point out real-time inventory and crypto info

This expands upon the social community’s Cashtag characteristic, which supplied data about a restricted variety of shares and crypto cash by way of TradingView information.

The brand new partnership with eToro goes past simply displaying info. It additionally redirects customers to the eToro web site the place they will have interaction in buying and selling. If you happen to seek for a inventory on Twitter, you will note a button saying “View on eToro,” which redirects to the positioning.

Elon Musk says he solely purchased Twitter as a result of he thought he’d be pressured to 

Elon Musk gave a uncommon interview to an precise reporter late on Tuesday, chatting with BBC reporter James Clayton on Twitter Areas. Through the interview, Clayton pressed Musk on whether or not his buy of Twitter was, ultimately, one thing he went by way of with willingly, or whether or not it was one thing he did as a result of the lively courtroom case on the time through which Twitter was attempting to drive him to undergo with the sale was going badly.

The reply was that Musk did certainly solely do the deal as a result of he believed legally, he was going to be pressured to take action anyway.

Elon Musk says Twitter will formally take away legacy checkmarks on 4/20

That is the “remaining date,” he stated in a tweet. If the transfer goes by way of, Twitter may have verification marks just for paid customers and companies, and authorities entities and officers.

Twitter, Inc. is now X Corp.

Twitter, Inc. is now known as X Corp., in line with a court filing in California.

Since Twitter is now not a public firm, it doesn’t must report updates like title adjustments to the SEC. However in any case, the brand new title was noticed in an April 4 doc associated to far-right activist Laura Loomer’s lawsuit towards Twitter and Fb.

“Twitter, Inc. has been merged into X Corp. and now not exists,” the doc states.

Ex-Twitter CEO and different execs sue agency over unpaid authorized payments

The lawsuit, filed in Delaware Chancery Court docket, alleged that Twitter has to pay greater than $1 million to the previous executives for authorized payments they incurred whereas on the firm to reply to requests by the Division of Justice and Securities and Trade Fee.

Twitter Circle tweets aren’t very non-public

Quite a few Twitter customers reported a bug on April 10 through which Circle tweets are surfacing on the algorithmically generated For You timeline. That signifies that your supposedly non-public posts may breach containment to succeed in an unintended viewers, which might shortly spark some uncomfortable conditions.

TechCrunch has spoken to a number of customers who’ve additionally skilled this glitch firsthand; many more have reported the glitch of their tweets. Most frequently, evidently Circle tweets are being surfaced within the For You timeline to customers who comply with the poster, however are usually not of their Circle. Others have reported that their Circle tweets are reaching even additional than those that comply with them.

A 12 months later, Twitter is now resurfacing official Russian accounts in search outcomes

The Elon Musk-owned platform has resumed surfacing accounts of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Embassy in search outcomes. A former Twitter worker informed the publication that this transfer is probably going due to a coverage change.

Twitter received’t allow you to retweet, like or reply to Substack hyperlinks

Twitter is censoring Substack hyperlinks by making the posts not possible to answer to, like or retweet. Whereas quote-tweeting works, merely urgent the retweet button surfaces an error message: “Some actions on this Tweet have been disabled by Twitter.”

You didn’t hear this from us, however when you hyperlink to a Substack by way of a redirected URL, it appears to publish with out restrictions.

Twitter Blue subscribers will now be proven ‘half advertisements’ on the platform

Twitter is rolling out extra options for Blue subscribers together with displaying 50% of advertisements of their timeline in comparison with non-paid customers and a visibility increase in search.

“As you scroll, you will note roughly twice as many natural or non-promoted Tweets positioned in between promoted Tweets or advertisements. There could also be occasions when there are extra or fewer non-promoted Tweets between promoted Tweets,” Twitter’s description of the characteristic says.

Whereas Twitter is claiming to scale back advertisements on paid subscribers’ feeds, it’s exhausting to show if they’re truly seeing fewer advertisements other than anecdotal experiences.

Twitter singles NPR out with deceptive state-backed media label

NPR’s Twitter account on the platform now comes with a tag denoting it as “US state-affiliated media.” However NPR doesn’t meet Twitter’s personal definition for a state-affiliated account:

State-affiliated media is outlined as shops the place the state workout routines management over editorial content material by way of monetary sources, direct or oblique political pressures, and/or management over manufacturing and distribution…

State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, just like the BBC within the UK for instance, are usually not outlined as state-affiliated media for the needs of this coverage.

NPR later announced that it’s going to now not be posting content material to its 52 official Twitter feeds, turning into the primary main information group to go silent on the social media platform.

Twitter’s verification adjustments really feel like an unintended April Fools’ joke

Musk had claimed that beginning on April 1, blue checkmarks that beforehand indicated that an account was official, verified and notable can be maintained solely for individuals who have a subscription to Twitter Blue. The change can be a part of a wider push for Twitter to gate beforehand free options, and bundle new ones, below the $8 per thirty days Twitter Blue subscription, which prices $11 on iOS and Android units.

As quite a few celebrities and companies spoke out to say they wouldn’t pay the $8 payment, it appeared that eradicating so many blue checks can be simpler stated than performed. As an alternative, Twitter merely up to date the textual content accompanying a blue examine to make it unclear whether or not somebody was verified for being notable, or for paying for Twitter Blue. In an final act of pettiness, Twitter eliminated The New York Occasions’ verification examine when the information big stated it wouldn’t pay for verification.

Primarily based on early returns, the revamped Twitter Blue has but to contribute considerably to Twitter’s backside line, with simply $11 million generated from cell signups in its first three months.

March 2023

Twitter pronounces new API tiers; free, fundamental and enterprise ranges

The three API tiers embody a free degree meant for content material posting bots, a $100/month fundamental degree and a pricey enterprise degree. Subscribing to any degree will get entry to the Adverts API at no extra price. 

Twitter talked about that over the following 30 days, the corporate will discontinue outdated entry ranges, together with Commonplace (for v1.1), Important and Elevated (for v2), and Premium.

Builders stay sad with Twitter’s new API construction.

Elon Musk says Twitter will solely present verified accounts on its “For You” timeline beginning April 15

Musk justified the transfer by saying this was the “solely lifelike option to tackle superior AI bot swarms taking on.”

New Twitter accounts now have to attend solely 30 days to buy Twitter Blue

Twitter decreases the wait to buy Twitter Blue for newly created Twitter accounts from 90 days to 30 days.

“New subscriptions to Twitter Blue can be found globally on internet, iOS, or Android. Not all options can be found on all platforms. Newly created Twitter accounts won’t be able to subscribe to Twitter Blue for 30 days. We may additionally impose ready durations for brand new accounts sooner or later at our discretion, and with out discover,” the Twitter Blue web page reads.

Twitter to kill ‘legacy’ blue checks on April 1

Twitter introduced that the removing of legacy blue checkmarks will start April 1 for customers that aren’t subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Elon tweeted again in December that the corporate will take away legacy checkmarks “in a number of months.” After that, customers with legacy blue checks had been seeing a pop-up after they clicked on their checkmark, which learn, “It is a legacy verified account. It could or is probably not notable.” However as soon as Twitter botched this removing of checkmarks, they modified the copy once more — as of now, customers can not distinguish whether or not somebody has a checkmark as a result of they paid, or as a result of they had been deemed notable.

Twitter’s privacy-preserving Tor service goes darkish

Twitter’s Tor service, a model of the positioning that may very well be accessed even in nations the place the social community is banned, has gone darkish after the corporate did not renew its certificates, which expired on March 6.

Pavel Zoneff, director of strategic communications on the Tor Venture, informed TechCrunch that the positioning “is now not accessible seemingly with no plans to resume.”

Twitter Blue is now accessible in additional than 20 nations

This enlargement makes the social community’s subscription service accessible in additional than 35 nations internationally.

These nations embody Netherlands, Poland, Eire, Belgium, Sweden, Romania, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Croatia, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus.

February 2023

Layoffs proceed

Twitter laid off greater than 200 workers in its fourth spherical of cuts, together with loyalist Esther Crawford — the chief government of Twitter funds who oversaw the corporate’s Twitter Blue verification subscription.

Twitter’s employees is down from about 7,500 workers to lower than 2,000 since Musk.

One of many quite a few rounds of cuts eradicated the platform’s complete accessibility workforce. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) known as on Elon Musk to convey the accessibility workforce again in an open letter. Markey requested a response by March 17.

Twitter permits hashish advertisements in states the place it’s authorized

After updating its ad policy on February 15, Twitter grew to become the primary social media app within the U.S. to permit hashish promoting. Hashish advertisements will run on Twitter in U.S. states the place hashish is authorized and in Canada.

Twitter delays launch of its new API platform…once more

The preliminary date set to chop free entry to Twitter’s API was February 9, which was then prolonged to February 13. Now, the social community has delayed the shutdown once more, this time with no date set.

The delay jeopardizes the plans of builders and startups constructing instruments across the Twitter API as they wouldn’t have any readability on future spending and price range allocation on the developer platform.

Twitter’s fundamental tier of its API will price $100 per thirty days

The corporate initially deliberate to close down free entry to its API on February 9. Now it has prolonged this deadline to February 13. Twitter stated that it’s going to cost $100 per thirty days for the essential tier of API. This may get builders entry to a “low degree of API utilization,” in addition to the Adverts API.

When builders attempting to hunt readability across the new API guidelines went to the developer forum website, they discovered that the positioning had been put behind a login. The discussion board was lastly accessible 4 days in a while February 13.

Twitter Blue introduces 4,000-character tweets

Twitter introduced the flexibility to publish longer tweets for paid customers on February 8. As an alternative of being restricted to 280 characters, paying Blue subscribers can publish tweets which are as much as 4,000 characters.

Whereas solely Twitter Blue subscribers can publish lengthy tweets, all customers will be capable to learn them. You will note solely the primary 280 characters on the timeline, and if you wish to learn extra, you possibly can click on on “Present extra.”

Elon Musk claims Twitter will begin sharing advert income with creators

Elon Musk introduced in a tweet on February 3 that the corporate would quickly start sharing promoting income with creators on the platform for the primary time. He follows up the announcement with a catch: Eligible customers should be signed up for Twitter Blue.

Payouts have but to reach creators’ wallets.

Extra monetization pushes: Twitter Blue expands new nations, brings again Areas curation

Twitter Blue subscriptions at the moment are accessible in Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, making it 12 areas in complete to which customers can subscribe to it as of February 2. On February 8, Twitter Blue prolonged companies additional to India, Indonesia and Brazil.

Twitter additionally introduced launching a brand new Areas tab with curated stations for reside and recorded areas, together with podcasts. The social community is making podcasts accessible solely to Blue subscribers and “some individuals on Twitter for iOS and Twitter for Android apps.”

Twitter to finish free entry to its API

Twitter will discontinue providing free entry to the Twitter API beginning February 9 and can launch a paid model, Twitter stated because it appears to be like for extra avenues to monetize the platform.

Every week later and days earlier than the February 9 deadline, Elon Musk stated that after getting suggestions from builders, Twitter will present a write-only API for “bots offering good content material that’s free.”

Twitter discontinues CoTweets

Twitter announced February 1 that it’s discontinuing CoTweeting, a characteristic that allowed two customers to co-author a tweet. Customers will be capable to view the set of co-tweets for a month. After that, they are going to be routinely transformed to retweets on the co-author’s profile.

Screenshot of Twitter's new policy in sunsetting CoTweets

January 2023

Twitter companions with DoubleVerify and IAS on model security initiative

Attributable to declining advert income and advertiser exits, Twitter introduced on January 25 that it has teamed up with adtech firms DoubleVerify and Integral Advert Science (IAS) to inform advertisers if their advert is positioned round inappropriate content material. This system, accessible first for U.S.-based promoting campaigns, permits manufacturers to investigate the content material adjoining to — primarily tweets above and beneath the advert — all sorts of advertisements, together with promoted tweets.

Twitter rolls out its bookmark characteristic on iOS

The brand new design shows the bookmark button below the expanded tweet view, making it simpler so as to add a publish to your bookmarks.

Earlier than the change, you needed to faucet on the share button to open the sharing card after which faucet on the bookmark possibility to save lots of a tweet. Along with the brand new button, as quickly as you faucet on the button, you will note a banner on the high of the display that claims “Present all bookmarks.”

The choice is at present seen solely on the iOS app, however we will count on that Twitter will roll this out to Android and the online quickly.

Picture Credit: Twitter

Twitter quietly bans third-party shoppers

After reducing off outstanding app makers like Tweetbot and Twitterific, Twitter quietly up to date its developer phrases to ban third-party clients altogether on January 19.

The “restrictions” part of the corporate’s developer agreement was up to date with a clause prohibiting “use or entry the Licensed Supplies to create or try and create a substitute or related service or product to the Twitter Functions.” Earlier within the week, the corporate stated that it was “implementing long-standing API guidelines” in disallowing shoppers entry to its platform however didn’t cite which particular guidelines builders had been violating.

In consequence, third-party Twitter shoppers started offloading their apps from App Shops.

Twitter now gives an annual Blue subscription

Customers now have an opportunity to get a reduction for $84/12 months in the event that they buy an annual Blue subscription on the internet.

Twitter Blue, together with the brand new annual plan, is at present accessible within the U.S., the U.Ok., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

monthly and annual pricing for Twitter Blue for iOS and Web depending on country

Picture Credit: Twitter

Twitter HQ furnishings auctions

In an odd try and generate income, Twitter is auctioning off surplus office furniture (public sale is now closed) that it doesn’t want anymore, now that hundreds of workers have both left the corporate or been laid off. Whenever you’re quickly dropping advertisers and apparently not paying your rent, why not go for the hail mary?

Twitter makes algorithmic “For You” timeline the default

The corporate has tried to drag this stunt previously, solely to offer the choice to modify again to a chronological timeline after plenty of backlashes.

What’s totally different this time? The Elon Musk-led firm is now displaying each algorithmic and chronological feeds side-by-side. Customers can swap between them by swiping on their cellphone screens. Till now, customers needed to faucet on the flicker icon within the top-right nook to modify between the “Dwelling” and “Newest” timelines. Twitter is justifying its newest change by saying that customers can now simply swipe between the renamed “For You” and “Following” timelines.

  • January 13: Twitter rolled out the dual-timeline replace to the online however at the moment the social community used to recollect your alternative.
  • January 20: The corporate made the “For You” feed default on the internet when customers first opened Twitter in a tab or refreshed the web page.
  • January 24: Now, Twitter remembers your selections once more.
  • February 7: Twitter remembers your selections once more on iOS and Android, too.

Twitter’s superior search filters for cell are stated to be coming quickly

In response to social media analyst Matt Navarra, Twitter’s superior search filters for cell are coming quickly.

Right here’s what it appears to be like like:

Twitter lifts the political advert ban to bolster income

The corporate initially enforced the ban again in 2019. At the moment, it stated that “political message attain needs to be earned, not purchased.” Twitter charted a special path from different social networks like Fb and Instagram, which allowed political advertisements.

The corporate’s announcement to raise the political advert ban comes at a time when advertisers have been pulling again spending on the platform, and the corporate has been reducing down its internal revenue projections.

December 2022

Twitter Blue customers can now add 60-minute movies

On December 23, the Twitter Blue page was up to date declaring that subscribers can now add 60-minute movies from the online at 1080p decision and 2GB in file measurement.

Layoffs proceed, impacting workers in public coverage, engineering

In response to posts on Twitter and LinkedIn from a former public coverage worker on December 22, Twitter minimize half of its public coverage workforce.

The corporate additionally laid off some engineers in infrastructure by way of e mail on December 16. Throughout all of Twitter, it’s estimated that about 75% of workers have both chosen to depart or have been laid off since Elon Musk took possession of the corporate in October.

Twitter now shows inventory and cryptocurrency costs straight in search outcomes

To entry the brand new characteristic, customers have to simply sort the greenback image adopted by the related ticker image, e.g. “$GOOG” or “$ETH” (minus the quote marks), within the search bar and Twitter will show the present worth. This additionally works with out utilizing the $ image in some cases, however it’s much less constant and doesn’t at all times return the inventory or crypto costs as requested.

If somebody desires to know extra particulars a few inventory or cryptocurrency, they will hit the “View on Robinhood” button.

Now you can see how many individuals view your tweets

A tweet’s View Depend will probably be seen to everybody, not simply the proprietor of the account.

“Twitter is rolling out View Depend, so you possibly can see what number of occasions a tweet has been seen! That is regular for video,” Elon Musk wrote in a tweet. “Exhibits how far more alive Twitter is than it could appear, as over 90% of Twitter customers learn, however don’t tweet, reply or like, as these are public actions.”

Twitter Blue for Enterprise now permits firms to determine their workers

Twitter’s product supervisor Esther Crawford said the social media platform is launching a pilot program for Blue for Enterprise with choose companies. The corporate plans to increase this to extra organizations subsequent 12 months.

Twitter goes on an account suspension spree, together with outstanding journalists

A day after Twitter crafted a brand new coverage to elucidate its determination to ban an account that tracks Elon Musk’s non-public jet, Twitter additionally suspended its open supply competitor Mastodon from the service.

Throughout the similar day, Twitter suspended a lot of outstanding journalists on the platform with out warning. “Identical doxxing guidelines apply to ‘journalists’ as to everybody else,” Elon Musk tweeted in a reply concerning the journalists’ suspensions.

The corporate seemingly had a glitch that allowed banned customers to nonetheless take part in Twitter Areas. A bunch of the banned journalists began a gaggle dialog on Areas the place Musk himself joined in. Shortly after, the app pulled its Areas group audio characteristic quickly.

Twitter shuts down Revue, its publication platform

Revue, the publication platform acquired by Twitter in January 2021, sent a message to newsletter writers on December 14 declaring, “We’ve made the troublesome determination to close down Revue.” Writers had till January 18, 2023 to retrieve their information at the start was deleted.

Twitter disperses the Belief & Security Council

Twitter dispersed the advisory group consisting of roughly 100 impartial researchers and human rights activists from around the globe. The council members acquired an e mail on Monday, December 12 from the corporate saying that the Belief & Security Council is “not the most effective construction” to get exterior insights into the corporate product and coverage technique.

Elon Musk says Twitter will take away all legacy verifications ‘in a number of months’

Twitter will take away all legacy blue checkmarks “in a number of months,” Elon Musk tweeted on December 12. Earlier than Musk purchased Twitter, checkmarks had been used to confirm people and entities as lively, genuine and notable accounts of curiosity.

This previous week, many blue checkmark holders have been seeing a pop-up after they click on on their blue checkmark that reads, “It is a legacy verified account. It could or is probably not notable.”

Twitter Blue relaunches with new verification course of, plus Blue for Enterprise

Twitter is formally bringing again the Twitter Blue subscription on December 12, beginning in 5 nations earlier than quickly increasing to others. The app up to date its phrases to specify that customers might want to confirm their cellphone numbers earlier than buying the Twitter Blue subscription.

Internet sign-ups will price $8 per thirty days and iOS signal ups will price $11 per thirty days for “entry to subscriber-only options, together with the blue checkmark,” per a tweet from the corporate account. Twitter Blue grew to become accessible on Android on the similar worth as iOS in January 2023.

Along with the relaunch of Twitter Blue, the corporate additionally started rolling out a brand new providing known as Blue for Enterprise that provides a gold checkmark to firm accounts.

Twitter’s Neighborhood Notes characteristic is now world

Neighborhood Notes, beforehand often called Birdwatch, at the moment are seen around the globe. Neighborhood Notes is the social media big’s crowdsourced fact-checking system.

Moderators who’re a part of this system can add notes to tweets so as to add context and customers can then vote in the event that they decide the context to be useful. Previous to this world enlargement, Neighborhood Notes had been solely seen to customers within the U.S. Twitter added moderators from the U.Ok., Eire, Australia and New Zealand in January 2023.

Twitter pronounces charging $11 on iOS for Blue subscription to offset App Retailer charges

When Twitter launched its new subscription plan with a verification mark on November 9, it charged customers $7.99 per thirty days. In an try and offset App Retailer charges, the corporate is charging iOS customers $11 for the brand new subscription plan — although the Twitter Blue plan is on halt.

November 2022

Twitter’s Neighborhood Notes up to date to higher tackle ‘low high quality’ contributions

The platform’s crowdsourced fact-checking system, Neighborhood Notes, are notes written by customers which are appended to tweets to supply additional clarification and context.

The Neighborhood Notes algorithm change entails scoring notes the place contributors clarify why a tweet shouldn’t be deemed deceptive.

Twitter pronounces a brand new multicolored verification system

Elon Musk pronounces that Twitter will tentatively roll out a brand new multicolored verification system the place firms will get a gold checkmark, authorities officers will get a gray checkmark and the blue checkmark will probably be devoted to people even when they don’t seem to be celebrities. Which means the blue checkmark will probably be used with legacy verified accounts and people who purchase the corporate’s proposed $8 per thirty days paid plan.

If you happen to’re confused about all of the checkmarks, you’re not alone. Right here’s a fast information on what every checkmark and badge means.

Twitter Blue verification chaos ensues

On November 9, CEO Elon Musk floated adjustments to Twitter’s system for verifying person accounts, together with charging $8 per thirty days for it. The social media firm seemingly started rolling out a brand new tier of Twitter Blue, its premium subscription service. In response to a tweet by Esther Crawford, a former product lead, the brand new Twitter Blue plan wasn’t but reside, however some customers noticed notifications as a part of a reside take a look at.

The corporate additionally launched grey-colored official checkmarks for notable accounts similar to firms and politicians. However inside hours of the launch, Elon Musk killed it. Crawford clarified that the gray “Official” labels are nonetheless going out as a part of the brand new Twitter Blue product.

The brand new $8 Twitter Blue plan started rolling out to iOS customers within the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.Ok with the one characteristic accessible on the time being the blue “verified” checkmark. This brought on a lot of pretend accounts pretending to be celebrities, manufacturers and in any other case influential individuals to create accounts and unfold misinformation.

The Twitter exodus begins with mass layoffs and exits

Elon Musk laid off 3,700 individuals on November 3, virtually half its employees, shortly after finishing the acquisition. Twitter was sued in a category motion lawsuit in response to not giving workers advance discover of a mass layoff, alleging Twitter violated employee safety legal guidelines.

Every week later, the app reached out to some former workers to return as they had been laid off “by mistake.”

Along with layoffs, a spherical of government departures additionally swept by way of the corporate. In Musk’s first e mail to his new employees, he talked about ending distant work and making the battle towards spam a precedence.

October 2022

Elon Musk is revamping Twitter’s verification system

Twitter begins overhauling a brand new and costlier model of Twitter Blue, the platform’s paid plan, that may reportedly price $19.99 per thirty days and provides customers a verified badge. On the time, Twitter Blue price $4.99 per thirty days within the U.S.

In response to a report from The Verge, the corporate plans to take away verification badges from present holders in the event that they don’t pay for Twitter Blue inside 90 days of launching the brand new verification system.

Elon Musk formally owns Twitter

Elon Musk closed on his $44 billion acquisition of the hen app on October 27, 2022. The deal got here after months of authorized drama, dangerous memes and will-they-or-won’t-they-chaos. After sealing the deal, Musk took Twitter non-public and started clearing home. On day one, he fired former CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, common counsel Sean Edgett and head of Authorized, Belief and Security Vijaya Gadde.



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