Welcome to Elon Musk’s Twitter (now X), where the guidelines are invented and the verification badges don’t count.
Safeguard the freedom of expression and eliminate spam robots, with great enthusiasm, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX initially revealed his intention to purchase Twitter in April 2022.
“I don’t care about all of it. I don’t care about economics at all.” Musk said this on the day he made his offer at the TED conference, emphasizing the importance of a broadly inclusive and highly trusted public platform for the future of civilization. This is just my strong intuitive sense.
Even though his social media platform was considered average, billionaire Elon Musk attempted to terminate the October deal that forced him to reveal embarrassing texts during the chaotic legal discovery process. Some of these texts, which were included in the public filings, claimed that Twitter had more bots than genuine users. Despite this controversy, Musk, one of the world’s richest men with a net worth of $44 billion, expressed passionate declarations about expanding the scale and scope of public discourse through his platform, even willing to spend a significant amount of money to acquire it.
Since Musk acquired Twitter, the microblogging platform has experienced significant rebranding, including notable layoffs, staggering reversals, bans, shakeups, and increased chaos verification. The news around the private company has been rife with access to API.
CEO X also transitioned from his role as CTO and chair to serve as its executive and chair. It was announced that Linda Yaccarino will step in as the next CEO X. Yaccarino will be leaving her role as chairman of NBCU’s Partnerships & Advertising Global.
August 2023
X lowers requirements for its creator payout program
The company stated that creators who have accumulated 5 million impressions in the past three months will qualify for ad revenue sharing. In the past, the threshold for eligibility was set at 15 million impressions.
X mentioned that creators can now withdraw as little as $10 instead of $50. However, in order to be eligible for payouts, users still need to be verified and have a minimum of 500 followers.
X CEO claims the company formerly known as Twitter is almost breaking even
Yaccarino mentioned in her initial televised interview since assuming her new position, “I have been with the organization for a duration of eight weeks.” “We are quite near to achieving a balanced financial state… The current operational rate.”
Yaccarino stated, “was to propel advertising within the company.” And my objective, “is] expanding,” according to Yaccarino. Our fresh membership enterprise “Our data licensing and API with X is an extraordinary business. Component of my, what I would describe, skill and knowledge.
Video calls are coming to X
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO, has confirmed in her first TV interview that video calls will be a new feature coming to the service as part of its transformation into an “everything app.”
X expands its partnership with Integral Ad Science
The partnership began in January, allowing advertisers to choose thresholds for the kinds of content they want their ads to appear around using machine-powered sensitivity testing. According to a tweet from Elon Musk, the owner of X, advertisers can now buy less ad slots and have a “relaxed” sensitivity, which means they can let the machine learning settings determine whether their ads are placed around inappropriate content.
Gore, an abundance of swearing and indecency, focused hateful language, explicit sexual material, drugs, and unsolicited messages can decrease the proximity to brands. X will soon introduce a “Relaxed” option, providing more affordable advertising options while only filtering for targeted hate speech and explicit sexual content.
X takes over @music handle, hinting at future music plans
The @music account, originally operated by Jeremy Vaught, a software developer who grew to handle roughly half a million followers, had been commandeered by X, resulting in anger posted in Vaught’s account.
“Extremely angry,” Vaught wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of the email X had sent him notifying him of the modification.
X streamlines Community Notes
The company states that individuals who are already familiar with Community Notes will have the additional context eliminated, following three years of development. In the past, this feature offered users information regarding the reason they were encountering a fact check attached to a tweet.
TweetDeck is renamed to XPro
The company has adopted the handle Pro@ instead of the @TweetDeck handle for the tool, which includes many parts, including a page help and a wide range of psy op plugins. Musk hinted at a change in the prior week, with XPro coming to add those kind of plugins. However, there are no details about it.
X now allows paid users to hide their checkmarks
The Twitter service was recently renamed to XBlue during the rebranding process. The introduction of Paid verification was made last year with the relaunch of Blue Twitter.
In the “Profile customization” section of account settings, the ability to conceal the tick symbol will appear. Users will reap the advantages of subscription features without revealing their verified account status. The aim is to provide assistance.
The company didn’t provide any further details about those placeholders. Even if you hide the checkmark, it is possible that some places may still be visible, as the company has updated the help page for paid subscriptions.
July 2023
Want to change back to the old Twitter app icon on iOS? Here’s how:
Apple accepts Twitter app’s rebrand to X in the app store
Typically, Apple does not allow developers to tag their apps with just one character, but it seems they have made an exception.
Musk personally shared a tweet with the tagline: “Ignite Your Greatness!!” X also modified its App Store tagline from “Engage in Conversation.”
X opens up its ad revenue sharing program globally
The company announced that Elon Musk, the owner of X, intends to give out $5 million in the first round of payments to creators according to the program. Now, the program “Sharing Revenue Ads” is available globally to eligible creators.
Twitter is now X
In the coming years, there is a possibility of witnessing another alteration in the logo, which is why Musk referred to it as a “temporary” logo. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that Musk’s x.Com now redirects to twitter.Com. Following Elon Musk’s announcement during the weekend of July 22, the renowned bird logo has been officially substituted with the letter ‘X’.
As part of the ongoing rebranding, the official handle of X @x on Twitter has now changed. The original owner of Orange studio videography and corporate photography, Hwang X Gene, no longer handles the account. TechCrunch has confirmed that the company took over his account without giving him any financial compensation or warning. “This account is now inactive and its bio reads, ‘Follow @Twitter @original for updates,'” stated the rebranded account.
https://t.co/bOUOek5Cvy now points to https://t.co/AYBszklpkE.
Interim X logo goes live later today.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023
Twitter preps a job listing feature
The job listings posted under their bios on the company’s website allow applicants to learn more about where they can submit their application and the position. Although some verified organizations have already been able to post job listings, there are still others that have not yet been able to take advantage of this feature.
Twitter Notes is back…kinda
On Tuesday, Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, confirmed in response to a user’s tweet that the project known as Notes Twitter had recently been rebranded as “Articles.” This feature allows users to publish long-form content on Twitter, appearing to track back to Musk’s original post.
On Tuesday, July 18, Elon Musk replied to Twitter’s confirming tweet about the plans. He showed a screenshot of the Notes interface, which looked a lot like Twitter’s Coins feature and other unlaunched features. This tweet from user @Fausto signaled a renewed development effort on Twitter’s part, as they had previously renamed Articles to Notes.
Twitter shares ad revenue with verified creators
Twitter Blue subscribers who have accumulated over 5 million tweet impressions per month for the past 3 months are qualified to participate in the creator payouts. Henceforth, Twitter will compensate creators by sharing a portion of the advertising revenue generated from ads displayed in response to their posts.
According to Elon Musk, payouts to creators will be delivered via Stripe starting from the month of February onward. These payouts will be cumulative, and the total amount will reach $5 million in the first round.
Musk responded to creators’ apprehensions regarding matters such as the categories of accounts that were qualified for earning revenue, limitations on rates, and various other concerns through a sequence of tweets. Despite the substantial compensations provided by the program, certain creators expressed dissatisfaction and vented their grievances to Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter.
With the announcement of new DM settings, Twitter admits to having a Verified spammer issue
Starting in July, Twitter will introduce a new setting aimed at reducing spam by moving messages from Verified users to your main inbox instead of your primary inbox. Notably, everyone who has an inbox will also have the ability to open inboxes, and only messages from people you follow will arrive in your primary inbox. Don’t forget to follow back and not to follow back users who request messages from your “Message Request” inbox.
The availability of Twitter verification, which allowed anyone to obtain the Verified blue checkmark by purchasing it, diminished the significance of verification. Prior to the introduction of a paid system, Twitter verification served as an indication that a person held a public or significant position, such as a politician, celebrity, athlete, journalist, or other widely recognized individual.
Apparently, there has been an escalation to the point where people have become bothered by Verified users spamming their main inbox when they had it set to receive DMs from the blue-badged crowd.
Twitter blocks links to Threads
Users have reported that Twitter appears to be selectively obstructing links to Threads.Net’s website in Twitter searches, thereby increasing the challenge for individuals to discover conversations on Threads or find users’ profiles. This was observed on Monday, July 10. However, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino is refuting claims that Twitter’s traffic is declining, especially in light of the recent launch of a new competitor, Instagram Threads, on July 5.
Twitter threatens to sue Meta over its new Threads app
Less than 24 hours after Threads launched, Meta was accused by the company owned by Elon Musk of recruiting ex-Twitter employees to develop the new platform.
Twitter wrote in a letter shared online through Semafor that it intends to enforce its intellectual property rights and demands immediate action from Meta to stop using any highly confidential information or trade secrets of Twitter, without further notice, to prevent any further use or disclosure. Twitter reserves all rights, including the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief.
June 2023
Only verified users will be able to access TweetDeck after 30 days from now
In the last few days, Twitter has started rolling out a new version of the web app for users. After experiencing difficulties accessing certain parts of TweetDeck, some individuals and verified organizations who have been gifted with Twitter verification will now be able to use TweetDeck. This means that only subscribers with a Blue Twitter badge will have access to TweetDeck.
Twitter limits the number of tweets users can read in a day
Twitter is putting limits on how many tweets its users can read, as the social media platform suffers an extended outage that has stymied the ability of users to post new tracks.
Elon Musk states that recently enrolled, unconfirmed users encounter even stricter limitations with a meager allocation of only 300 submissions every day. He has subsequently raised the threshold to 10,000, 1,000, and 500, respectively. Confirmed account holders have the ability to browse up to a maximum of 6,000 submissions on a daily basis, whereas unverified users must cope with a significantly diminished restriction of 600 posts.
These imposed restrictions affected users of TweetDeck, specifically causing significant issues such as notifications not working and entire columns failing to load.
Twitter requires an account to view tweets
Observing tweets, Twitter discreetly eliminated the need to log in several days afterwards. Nonetheless, if you are not currently authenticated with your Twitter profile, or do not possess one, and attempt to access a tweet, you will encounter a sign-in page.
When Twitter began implementing the login mandate, Musk stated that he implemented these “temporary” precautions to deter data scraping.
The company has not made any official announcement regarding the measures it has taken or provided any details on enabling users to access links without being logged in in order to prevent scraping.
Subscribers can now post 25,000-character-long tweets
Today, the corporation implemented the modification to its Twitter Blue page, signifying the restriction. The modification was additionally declared by Prachi Poddar, a Twitter engineer, through the publication of an extended tweet.
Twitter faces a $250 million lawsuit filed by major music publishers
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in Nashville, stating that Twitter did not take any action against these notices, which listed 1,700 songs and were sent by multiple publishers representing 17 listed violations of copyright. The organization is seeking fines of up to $150,000 for each violation.
Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, unlike its competitors, have not struck a deal for the use of copyrighted music. It has been added that the alleged lawsuit “fuels the social network’s business” with countless infringing copies of others’ exclusive copyright rights and violating musical compositions.
Twitter is being evicted from its Boulder office
The court documents show that Twitter owes three months’ rent to its landlord in Boulder, and a judge has signed an eviction notice from the tech giant’s office.
In May, the landlord took the case to court and on May 31, the judge issued an order that the sheriff should assist in the eviction on Twitter within the next 49 days, i.E. Before the end of July, in the 2023CV30342 case in Boulder District Court.
Once upon a time, there were approximately 300 employees who worked in Twitter’s Boulder offices, but now there are probably less than half of that number due to resignations, firings, and other layoffs.
Window to edit tweets is increased to one hour for Blue subscribers
Blue users now have an extended time limit of one hour to edit their tweets, providing them with a larger opportunity to modify their posts and rectify any spelling mistakes.
Linda Yaccarino is officially Twitter CEO
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of Twitter, officially began her new job on Monday, June 5, as stated in a tweet.
It happened — first day in the books!
Stay tuned…
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) June 6, 2023
Trust and safety lead resigns
Ella Irwin took over for Yoel Roth, who famously left the company during the early days of Elon Musk’s chaotic Twitter takeover.
May 2023
Twitter launched Community Notes for images in posts
The latest feature is an effort to put more onus on users, allowing them to address scenarios of AI-generated or morphed images across the platform, where photos are posted. After days, the image of a fake AI-generated attack on the Pentagon quickly spread as retweeted by prominent accounts.
Twitter’s new API tier costs $5,000 per month
The Pro API of Twitter offers developers the ability to fetch 1 million tweets per month and access the full archive of endpoint search, providing a great opportunity for startups.
Twitter Blue users can now upload two-hour videos
Twitter made changes to its premium subscription, allowing users to upload videos that can now be as long as two hours, thus increasing the previous time restriction of 60 minutes.
The company Blue Twitter has now increased the limit size of video files and pages. The limit size for video files that users have to pay for has been increased from 8GB to 2GB. It is now also possible to upload videos through the iOS app, whereas earlier it was only possible through the web. Despite these changes, the maximum quality for video uploads remains at 1080p.
The rumors are confirmed: NBCU’s leader Linda Yaccarino as the next CEO of Twitter
One day after he declared that he had finished his quest for a fresh Chief Executive Officer, Musk verified Yaccarino’s recent position in a tweet earlier today (May 12).
Elon Musk tweets that he has found a new CEO
“Musk announced with excitement in a tweet on May 11 that he has selected a new CEO for X/Twitter. He stated that she will commence her position in approximately six weeks. As the executive chair and CTO, he will oversee the product, software, and sysops while his role undergoes a transition.”
Twitter released its first version of encrypted DMs
Only verified Blue users or accounts linked to verified organizations have the current capability to access this feature. Additionally, the encryption feature is not compatible with group messages and Twitter does not offer safeguards against man-in-the-middle attacks.
Twitter now allows you to react to DMs with emojis
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, recently tweeted about the new feature in the app that allows users to select a set of emojis to react to the most recent DM. Previously, Twitter introduced a new feature that lets users choose almost any emoji to react to a DM in a conversation.
Twitter is purging old accounts and freeing up desired usernames, according to Elon Musk
According to recent tweets from Elon Musk, Twitter is purging inactive accounts that have been inactive for several years.
We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2023
Twitter is contemplating a cheaper verification plan for organizations
The company tweeted over the weekend that Elon Musk is working on a cheaper plan for small businesses, but didn’t give any details about the $1,000 cost per month. Twitter is thinking about an organizational verification plan.
We will have a lower cost tier for small businesses, but need to manage the onboarding of organizations carefully to prevent fraud.
The $1000/month is meant for larger organizations.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2023
Twitter confirmed Circle tweets were temporarily not private
TechCrunch reported in early April that users encountered a glitch on the Twitter platform when attempting to send emails in the May 5th issue. Twitter publicly confirmed the security error that Circle’s tweets brought to light.
The team knows what caused the incident, and claims that the bug has now been fixed, said the email. It states that in April 2023, outside users of your Twitter Circle should have limited access to see the tweets.
Twitter makes its API free for public announcement accounts
The company announced on Twitter that it is making its new pricing API available for free, after a month of announcing emergency warnings and information about transportation alerts and weather alerts, such as public utility alerts, government services, or verified posting for free.
A bug on Twitter causes legacy blue checks to reappear by updating your bio
If it’s unclear whether anyone else can see your check, briefly reappear to make sure. Even if the page disappears, refresh it once. However, Amanda Silberling, a reporter for TechCrunch, didn’t pay attention to this and added a few extra spaces to your bio, showing the old text. But it doesn’t seem to matter what you add to your text, as long as it designates that she is notable in the designated category of entertainment, news, or government.
April 2023
EU warns Twitter over disinformation
The social network owned by Elon Musk has promptly cautioned that the prospects of abiding by the impending law are unfavorable. Nonetheless, the Commission has affirmed that Twitter, along with 18 other prominent technological platforms, will be subject to centralized supervision by the executive body of the European Union, commencing this autumn. This regulation will apply to the so-called very large online platforms (VLOPs) once they become compliant with the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Vera Jourova, the Vice President of the EU’s values and transparency, criticized the platform led by Musk for “failing to create a safer and Kremlin-free area for digital information, and protect against disinformation and harmful influence.” Jourova also expressed concern about Twitter’s actions, referring to them as “another negative indication,” in a series of tweets.
Twitter now shows labels on tweets with reduced visibility
Viewers and creators will be presented with labels that Twitter stated. Twitter’s rules may infringe upon Hateful Conduct, and users can tweet this: “Visibility restricted: typically, such tweets will display text like this.”
Given the limited clarity, advertisements will not be positioned next to posts. Those tweets will be concealed in both the “For You” and “Following” timelines — tweets with these designations will not appear in search outcomes, suggestions, or timelines as per the app’s implementation guidelines.
Twitter restored Blue verification mark for top accounts, even if they didn’t pay for Twitter Blue
Actress Janel Parrish Long, along with British TV presenter Richard Osman, musician Lil Nas X, footballer Riyad Mahrez, and writer Neil Gaiman, among others, claimed that they did not make payment for the blue badge. Nevertheless, during the weekend of April 21st, several prominent profiles (with over 1 million followers) had their verification symbols reinstated.
The organization is implementing the identical policy to individual accounts. It remains uncertain if Twitter was contemplating providing a complimentary verification badge to the top 10,000 brands and corporations, as stated by The New York Times in March.
Twitter removes ‘government-funded’ news labels
Twitter has removed labels such as “government-funded media” from all accounts, including the web page explaining its deletion, even the app. NPR reports that Chinese state-affiliated news outlet Xinhua is among those affected.
Twitter sends an email seemingly requiring advertisers to have a verified checkmark
According to an email reportedly sent by Twitter, several users have shared screenshots of, running advertisements on the platform will still necessitate verified checkmarks starting from April 21.
WOW… Twitter is now telling advertisers it MUST subscribe to Twitter Blue or Verified Organisations to continue running ads! pic.twitter.com/4DrDu82Zi0
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) April 21, 2023
Twitter officially kills legacy blue checkmarks on 4/20
This account is verified because they have their phone number verified and subscribed to Blue Twitter. If a user sees a blue check mark when they click on it and read the label, it means the account is verified. The app will only have verification marks for officials, government entities, businesses, and paid users, with the legacy checks gone.
Microsoft drops Twitter from its advertising platform
Microsoft announced that starting in April, Twitter users will no longer be able to access or create accounts on the social media platform through Microsoft’s free service management tool. Instead, Microsoft will begin charging a minimum of $42,000 per month for its API users, including research institutions and enterprises. This move comes after nearly two months of dropping the bird app from its advertising platform.
Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, issued a warning of potential legal consequences.
They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023
Twitter quietly removes policy against misgendering trans people
In 2018, Twitter explicitly enacted a policy stating that the act of deadnaming, which targets transgender individuals by using incorrect names or pronouns, is prohibited. Recently, Twitter updated its content moderation guidelines to remove any content that promotes hate.
Twitter to label tweets that get downranked for violating its hate speech policy
Once the system is completely implemented across its entire network, it is unclear when exactly it will be launched. The visibility of tweets has been affected, and potentially violating policies have been identified by adding visible labels to tweets. Twitter has plans to start implementing these changes “soon”.
Twitter’s policies typically call it “visibility filtering” or something similar, where tweets that violate the company’s actions limit can become less discoverable online but still remain visible to recommended trends, search areas, and notifications for users who follow you.
That will be altered, now Twitter states that the general public may not necessarily be aware if a tweet had been moderated in this manner in the past.
10,000-character-long tweets for Blue subscribers
If the social network is trying to compete with a rival platform newsletter, Twitter also has the feature of formatting text and using italic bold for support. This new feature allows Twitter subscribers to post long 10,000-character posts.
In the year 2021, Twitter obtained a startup named Revue, which was also terminated by Musk. During Musk’s tenure, that particular initiative was closed after he assumed control of the company. Certain authors were introduced to a tool named Twitter Notes in June of last year, but extensive writing is also not completely novel.
NPR, PBS and a handful of other news organizations bail on Twitter as Musk meddles with account labels
LAist, a news outlet rooted in Los Angeles, Hawaii Public Radio, and the renowned Boston NPR partner WBUR, seemed to have imitated this action. Twitter bestowed PBS with an ambiguous “government-funded media” designation during the weekend, causing PBS to verify that it had “no intentions of recommencing tweeting.” A representative from PBS confirmed this detail to Axios.
Several weeks later, the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC Australia), the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) of Australia, the public broadcaster RNZ of New Zealand, Sweden’s SR Ekot and SVT, and Catalonia’s TV3.Cat were classified as “media funded by the government”.
Twitter partners with eToro to show real-time stock and crypto information
This expands the social network’s Cashtag feature by providing limited information about trading data for cryptocurrencies and stocks.
The eToro site redirects users to the “View on eToro” button, where you can see the Twitter stock if you search for it. The eToro site also redirects users to engage in trading, where they can access additional information. Furthermore, the new partnership with eToro goes beyond just displaying information.
🎉Very excited to be launching a new $Cashtags partnership with @Twitter which will enable Twitter users to see real-time prices for a much wider range of stocks, crypto & other assets as well as having the option to invest through eToro. @elonmusk https://t.co/Iv2q9iNxbf
— eToro (@eToro) April 13, 2023
Elon Musk says he only bought Twitter because he thought he’d be forced to
Twitter was attempting to force him to go through with the sale, but things did not end well due to the active court case at the time.
Therefore, he had to go against his will, as he believed that the only way to complete the deal was to do so legally, which Musk indeed confirmed as the answer.
Elon Musk says Twitter will officially remove legacy checkmarks on 4/20
Government officials, businesses, and individual users who require verification will now have to pay for the service. Twitter has announced this move, stating that the “final date” for implementation is mentioned in a recent tweet.
Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 11, 2023
Twitter, Inc. is now X Corp.
According to a court filing in California, Twitter, Inc. Has been rebranded as X Corp.
Twitter and Facebook filed a lawsuit against Laura Loomer’s document, which showcases her activities as a far-right activist on April 4. However, it is worth noting that Twitter, being a non-public company, is not obligated to inform the SEC about any changes in its name.
“According to the document, Twitter, Inc. Has been consolidated into X Corp. And no longer exists.”
Ex-Twitter CEO and other execs sue firm over unpaid legal bills
The company has been sued in the Delaware Court of Chancery. Twitter is alleged to have requested the former executives to pay more than $1 million in legal bills incurred while they were at the company, as requested by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Twitter Circle tweets aren’t very private
Numerous Twitter users have reported a bug in the Circle timeline, which means that posts generated algorithmically on your timeline could potentially reach an unintended audience, sparking uncomfortable situations and a possible breach of containment for supposedly private tweets.
Their Circle tweets are reaching a wider audience than just those who follow them. These tweets are surfacing in the For You timeline most frequently for users who follow the poster, but are not part of their Circle. Many users have reported experiencing the glitch in their tweets, and multiple users have also shared their firsthand experiences with TechCrunch.
A year later, Twitter is now resurfacing official Russian accounts in search results
According to a former Twitter employee, this move by the Elon Musk-owned platform to display accounts of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Embassy in search results is likely to result in a policy change.
Twitter won’t let you retweet, like or reply to Substack links
Twitter has disabled certain functions for this Tweet, prompting an error message: one can still retweet by simply pressing the button, but quote-tweeting, liking, or retweeting impossible posts shared via Substack links are censored by Twitter.
Without limitations, it appears to publish if you connect to a Substack through a redirected URL, but this information did not come from us.
Twitter Blue subscribers will now be shown ‘half ads’ on the platform
Twitter is rolling out additional features for Blue subscribers, including showing ads in their timeline compared to non-paid users and boosting visibility.
When you scroll, you may see approximately twice as many non-promoted or organic tweets as promoted tweets between tweets on Twitter’s feature. There may be times when there are fewer or more non-promoted or organic tweets.
Besides anecdotal accounts, it is challenging to substantiate whether they are genuinely encountering a decreased number of advertisements on the feeds of paid subscribers, despite Twitter’s assertion of ad reduction.
Twitter singles NPR out with misleading state-backed media label
NPR’s Twitter account does not meet Twitter’s definition for being state-affiliated media, but now the platform comes with a tag denoting it as “US media.”
State-affiliated media is defined as outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution…
State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.
GET REKT @NPR
Nicely done, @elonmusk 🤣 pic.twitter.com/jvX15QWSf5
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 5, 2023
NPR later announced that it will no longer be posting content to its official Twitter feeds, making it the first major news organization to go silent on social media platforms.
Twitter’s verification changes feel like an accidental April Fools’ joke
The introduction of Twitter Blue subscription, priced at $11 for iOS and Android devices, signifies a broader effort by Twitter to restrict access to certain features that were previously available for free and offer new features as a bundle. This modification will specifically apply to Twitter Blue subscribers, beginning from April 1. Musk had acquired the blue checkmarks, which previously served as a verification symbol for authentic and prominent accounts.
The news organization stated that it would not be worthwhile to undergo verification, as Twitter took away The New York Times’ verification badge in a final display of spitefulness. It was uncertain whether individuals were verified for subscribing to Twitter Blue or for being prominent, as Twitter simply modified the text that accompanies a blue badge. Removing a large number of blue badges would not be easy, as numerous celebrities and businesses expressed their refusal to pay the $8 fee.
Twitter’s recent revamp has already made a significant contribution to its bottom line, generating a whopping $11 million in just the first three months from mobile signups alone.
March 2023
Twitter announces new API tiers; free, basic and enterprise levels
Subscribing to any level grants access to the three tiers of the API, which include a free level intended for content posting bots, a basic level priced at $100/month, and an expensive enterprise level. There are no additional costs to access the API Ads.
Twitter has announced that it will be phasing out Premium and Elevated (for v2), Essential, and Standard (for v1.1) access levels within the next 30 days.
Developers continue to be dissatisfied with the new API framework of Twitter.
Introducing a new form of Free (v2) access for write-only use cases and those testing the Twitter API with 1,500 Tweets/month at the app level, media upload endpoints, and Login with Twitter.
Get started: https://t.co/CqCRD3vbE5
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) March 29, 2023
Elon Musk says Twitter will only show verified accounts on its “For You” timeline starting April 15
Musk justified his choice by asserting that this was the “only feasible strategy to address the problem of advanced AI bot swarms prevailing.”
Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.
The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.
Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023
New Twitter accounts now have to wait only 30 days to purchase Twitter Blue
Twitter reduces the waiting period to buy Twitter Blue for newly registered Twitter accounts from 90 days to 30 days.
The Twitter Blue page states that Twitter Blue subscriptions can now be accessed worldwide on the web, iOS, or Android. It should be noted that certain features may not be accessible on all platforms. Additionally, individuals who have recently created Twitter accounts will have to wait for 30 days before they can subscribe to Twitter Blue. Furthermore, Twitter reserves the right to impose waiting periods for new accounts in the future, at their own discretion and without prior notice.
Twitter to kill ‘legacy’ blue checks on April 1
Twitter announced that the removal of legacy blue checkmarks will begin April 1 for users that are not subscribed to Twitter Blue.
This account is a legacy verified account, which means that users cannot distinguish whether someone has been paid to be deemed notable or if they have earned the checkmark legitimately. However, this removal of blue legacy checks has been botched by Twitter once again, so it may not be considered notable. Elon Musk tweeted that the company will remove legacy checkmarks in a few months, which has led users to see a pop-up when they click on their checkmark.
On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here: https://t.co/gzpCcwOpLp
Organizations can sign up for https://t.co/RlN5BbuGA3…
— Twitter Verified (@verified) March 23, 2023
Twitter’s privacy-preserving Tor service goes dark
The social network, Twitter, has been banned in countries where even a version of the site could be accessed through the Tor network after the company failed to renew its expired certificate on March 6 and went dark.
Pavel Zoneff, director of strategic communications at the Tor Project, informed TechCrunch that the service is currently inaccessible and there are no indications of any future plans to reinstate it.
Twitter Blue is now available in more than 20 countries
This expansion enables the availability of the social network’s subscription service in over 35 countries worldwide.
These countries include Cyprus, Malta, Luxembourg, Croatia, Estonia, Slovenia, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Greece, Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Poland, and the Netherlands.
February 2023
Layoffs continue
In its fourth round of cuts, Esther Crawford, the CEO of Twitter payments who supervised the company’s Twitter Blue verification subscription, which includes loyalist, terminated over 200 employees.
The number of employees at Twitter has decreased from approximately 7,500 to fewer than 2,000 since Musk’s involvement.
Lots of speculation among ex employees that Musk must be about to install a whole new regime and that’s why he is cleaning house. Otherwise the cuts don’t make sense. “Hard to keep the lights on with the people who are still left,” one ex manager told me.
— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) February 26, 2023
On March 17, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) sent an open letter to Elon Musk, requesting a response. In the letter, Senator Markey urged Musk to prioritize accessibility and make necessary improvements to the entire platform, as several rounds of cuts have resulted in the elimination of numerous accessibility features.
Twitter allows cannabis ads in states where it’s legal
Canada and the United States are both countries where cannabis is legal. Twitter has become the first social media app to allow advertising for cannabis. In February, Twitter updated its ad policy to accommodate this change.
Twitter delays launch of its new API platform…again
The social network’s shutdown has once again been delayed, with no specific date set. This time, the shutdown, which was initially scheduled to cut free access to Twitter’s API on February 9th, has been extended to February 13th.
There has been an immense amount of enthusiasm for the upcoming changes with Twitter API. As part of our efforts to create an optimal experience for the developer community, we will be delaying the launch of our new API platform by a few more days.
More information to follow…
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 13, 2023
On the developer platform, developers and startups constructing tools around the Twitter API lack clear information regarding future expenditures and budget distribution, which endangers their plans and causes delays.
Twitter’s basic tier of its API will cost $100 per month
Developers will be able to access this API at a lower level. This includes the API Ads as well as the “usage API.” The company had originally planned to shut down free access to its API on February 9, but now it has extended the deadline to February 13.
We have been busy with some updates to the Twitter API so you can continue to build and innovate with us.
We’re excited to announce an extension of the current free Twitter API access through February 13. Here’s what we’re shipping then 🧵
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 8, 2023
On February 13th, the forum became available after a delay of four days. It was discovered that the website had been placed behind a login page when developers who were seeking clarification on the new API regulations visited the developer forum site.
Twitter Blue introduces 4,000-character tweets
On February 8th, Twitter unveiled the capability to publish lengthier tweets for its paying subscribers. Blue subscribers can now share tweets with a maximum of 4,000 characters, instead of being constrained to the previous limit of 280 characters.
On clicking “Show more,” if you want to read more, you will only see the first 280 characters on the timeline. All users will be able to read them, while only Blue Twitter subscribers can post long tweets.
need more than 280 characters to express yourself?
we know that lots of you do… and while we love a good thread, sometimes you just want to Tweet everything all at once. we get that.
so we’re introducing longer Tweets! you’re gonna want to check this out. tap this 👉…
— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) February 8, 2023
Elon Musk claims Twitter will start sharing ad revenue with creators
Elon Musk revealed in a tweet on February 3rd that, for the very first time, the company will soon commence distributing advertising earnings to content creators on the platform. However, there is a condition attached to this announcement: users who meet the requirements must be registered for Twitter Blue.
Payments have not yet been transferred to the wallets of creators.
More monetization pushes: Twitter Blue expands new countries, brings back Spaces curation
On February 8, Twitter Blue expanded its services to India, Indonesia, and Brazil. As of February 2, users have the option to subscribe to Twitter Blue in a total of 12 regions, which include Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
Twitter is making podcasts accessible solely to Blue subscribers and “certain individuals on Twitter for iOS and Twitter for Android applications.” Additionally, the social network revealed the introduction of a new Spaces tab that features handpicked stations for both live and recorded spaces.
Twitter to end free access to its API
Twitter announced that starting on February 9th, they will launch a paid version of their platform and discontinue offering free access to their API, in an effort to monetize the platform further.
Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead 🧵
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 2, 2023
For API write-only, Twitter developers are receiving feedback after Elon Musk said that bots are providing high-quality content that is available for free. The deadline is set for February 9th, a few days before the end of the week.
Twitter discontinues CoTweets
Twitter announced on February 1st that they will be discontinuing the CoTweeting feature, which allowed users to view a set of co-tweets for a month and convert them into retweets.
January 2023
Twitter partners with DoubleVerify and IAS on brand safety initiative
Promoted tweets, including various types of ads, allow brands to primarily analyze adjacent content in order to advertise their campaigns. The first available program for U.S.-Based advertising, Science Ad Integral and DoubleVerify, has teamed up with Twitter to notify advertisers if their ads are inappropriately placed around content. This announcement was made on January 25th due to the decline in advertiser revenue and ad exits.
Twitter rolls out its bookmark feature on iOS
The new design displays the bookmark button under the expanded tweet view, making it easier to add a post to your bookmarks.
“Display all saved links.” Declares the banner located at the top of the display immediately upon pressing the button. Furthermore, prior to the modification, in order to store a tweet, you were required to select the bookmark feature and subsequently access the sharing menu by tapping on the share button.”
We can expect Twitter to roll out soon on the web and Android, but for now, the option is only visible on the iOS app.
Twitter quietly bans third-party clients
After quietly updating its terms of service, Twitter banned third-party developers like the makers of Twitterific and Tweetbot, cutting off access for their clients altogether on January 19.
The company enforced long-standing API rules earlier in the week, which prohibited developers from accessing clients on the platform by violating specific rules. The company disallowed attempts to create a similar or substitute product or service to Twitter, as well as attempts to access or use the Licensed Materials in any way.
Consequently, third-party Twitter applications started removing their apps from App Stores.
Twitter now offers an annual Blue subscription
Customers now have a chance to receive a yearly discount of $84 if they purchase an internet-based Blue subscription on an annual basis.
Twitter Blue, which offers the new annual membership, is currently available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
Twitter HQ furniture auctions
Twitter is now auctioning off surplus office furniture in a strange attempt to make money, since thousands of employees have been laid off or left the company, advertisers are rapidly losing, and apparently you’re not paying rent for the reason why Mary isn’t being hailed. (The auction is currently closed)
Twitter makes algorithmic “For You” timeline the default
Following numerous criticisms, the company has previously attempted to execute this maneuver, but ultimately provided the choice to revert to a sequential timeline.
Twitter has renamed the “Following” and “For You” timelines, allowing users to easily switch between them by swiping. Until now, users had to tap on the sparkle icon in the top-right corner to switch between the “Latest” and “Home” timelines. Users can now switch between them by swiping on their phone screens. Is the Elon Musk-led company now showing both side-by-side feeds and chronological algorithmic feeds? What’s different this time?
You can now easily switch between “For you” and “Following” on web. Android coming soon 👀
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) January 13, 2023
Twitter’s advanced search filters for mobile are said to be coming soon
According to social media specialist Matt Navarra, the upcoming period will see the introduction of Twitter’s advanced search capabilities for mobile devices.
Here is a visual representation:
NEW! Twitter Advanced Search feature on iOS is coming soon 👀👇 https://t.co/ae56yE3JTU pic.twitter.com/xbQUpQJAlS
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) January 4, 2023
Twitter lifts the political ad ban to bolster revenue
Other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram permitted political advertisements, whereas Twitter took a distinct approach. During that period, the company stated that “political message exposure must be earned, not purchased” and initially implemented the prohibition in 2019.
The company has been cutting down its internal revenue projections and pulling back on spending on the platform when advertisers come to lift the ban on political ad.
December 2022
Twitter Blue users can now upload 60-minute videos
On December 23rd, the Blue Twitter page updated its declaration, stating that subscribers can now upload videos of 60 minutes in 1080p resolution and a file size of 2GB from the web.
Layoffs continue, impacting employees in public policy, engineering
Twitter reduced its public policy team by fifty percent, as per statements on Twitter and LinkedIn made by a former employee on December 22nd.
Ever since Elon Musk assumed control of the organization in October, approximately 75% of the workforce has either opted to depart or has been terminated. On December 16, the company additionally terminated certain infrastructure engineers through email. Twitter approximations indicate this throughout the entire organization.
Twitter now displays stock and cryptocurrency prices directly in search results
As per your request, the display of current prices for cryptocurrencies or stocks may not always be consistent, but there are some instances where it works without using the dollar symbol ($). Twitter will also display the current price by searching for the relevant ticker symbol preceded by the dollar symbol (e.G., ETH”$” or “GOOG$”). This new feature allows users to easily access the type of symbol just by using the relevant ticker symbol preceded by the dollar symbol.
If someone desires to acquire additional information regarding a stock or cryptocurrency, they can click on the “View on Robinhood” button.
$Cashtags, now with data 📈
👀 $SPY 👇 pic.twitter.com/XgOK6gf02E
— Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) December 21, 2022
You can now see how many people view your tweets
The number of views on a tweet will be visible to everyone, not only the account owner.
Elon Musk tweeted, “This video is normal, you can see how many times a tweet has been seen by counting the views on Twitter!”. Actions such as public replies or likes may not seem as alive on Twitter as reading tweets, but it shows that over 90% of Twitter users are actively engaging with the platform.
Twitter Blue for Business now allows companies to identify their employees
In the upcoming year, the organization intends to extend this initiative to additional establishments. According to Esther Crawford, Twitter’s product manager, the social networking site will introduce a trial initiative called Blue for Business, focusing on a few specific companies.
We’re launching the pilot of Blue for Business so beginning today you’ll start seeing company badges on select profiles. We’ll soon be expanding the program and look forward to having more businesses added in the new year! https://t.co/ytnMRO5rcE
— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) December 19, 2022
Twitter goes on an account suspension spree, including prominent journalists
After crafting a new policy, Twitter suspended an account from Mastodon, a competitor source that also tracks Elon Musk’s private jet. The decision to ban the account was made to explain its actions.
The suspensions of the journalists regarding the response from Elon Musk in a tweet led to the suspension of a significant number of prominent journalists on Twitter within the same day, due to the application of rules on doxxing without any prior warning on the platform.
Temporarily, the application withdrew its Spaces team audio function following Musk personally joining a group discussion on Spaces initiated by a group of prohibited reporters. However, prohibited users were permitted to engage in Twitter Spaces because of a malfunction that the company apparently experienced.
Twitter shuts down Revue, its newsletter platform
Everything before January 18, 2023, was deleted in order to retrieve their data, until the writers had made the difficult decision to shut down Revue. The platform acquired the newsletter Revue and sent a message to writers in a newsletter on December 14, 2021, declaring the difficult decision.
Twitter disperses the Trust & Safety Council
The Safety & Trust council received an email on Monday, stating that the current structure of the company is not the best way to incorporate external insights into the company’s strategy, policy, and product. The council consists of approximately 100 independent researchers and human rights activists from around the world, who are dispersed on Twitter.
Elon Musk says Twitter will remove all legacy verifications ‘in a few months’
Twitter purchased Musk prior to December 12th in order to verify notable and legitimate active accounts of both entities and individuals. Elon Musk tweeted, “In the next few months, Twitter will eliminate all the blue legacy checkmarks.”
“Many holders have seen a pop-up when they click on the blue checkmark, indicating that it may or may not be noteworthy.”
Twitter Blue relaunches with new verification process, plus Blue for Business
Twitter is officially bringing back the Blue Subscription on December 12th, expanding rapidly to five countries before starting to verify users’ phone numbers to specify the terms of its updated app.
In January 2023, Blue Twitter became available on Android at the same price as iOS. The company’s tweet stated that access to features including only-subscriber access will cost $11 per month for iOS sign-ups and $8 per month for Web sign-ups.
In addition to the relaunch of Twitter, a company called Blue Business also began rolling out a new offering called Gold Accounts, which adds a checkmark to businesses.
Twitter’s Community Notes feature is now global
Community Notes, previously known as Birdwatch, are now visible around the world. Community Notes is the social media giant’s crowdsourced fact-checking system.
Twitter incorporated moderators from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand in January 2023. Prior to this worldwide expansion, Community Notes were solely visible to users in the United States. Users are given the ability to vote on the usefulness of the context and moderators who are part of the program can append notes to tweets for additional context.
Twitter announces charging $11 on iOS for Blue subscription to offset App Store fees
The Twitter Blue program is currently paused, despite the fact that the company is billing iOS users $11 for the latest subscription package in an effort to compensate for App Store charges. During the introduction of Twitter’s new subscription plan on November 9, users were charged $7.99 per month in exchange for a verification badge.
November 2022
Twitter’s Community Notes updated to better address ‘low quality’ contributions
Further clarification and context provide to tweets appended are that users by written notes are, Community Notes, fact-checking system crowdsourced platform’s the.
The Community Notes algorithm modification includes evaluating notes where contributors clarify why a tweet should not be considered deceptive.
Twitter announces a new multicolored verification system
Elon Musk announced that the new multicolored verification system on Twitter will utilize the blue checkmark for the company’s planned $8 per month paid subscription and existing verified accounts, regardless of whether individuals are celebrities. Government officials will be given a grey checkmark, whereas companies will be granted a gold checkmark.
If you’re uncertain about all the ticks, you’re not alone. Here’s a brief guide on what each tick and badge signifies.
Twitter Blue verification chaos ensues
According to a tweet by former product lead Esther Crawford, some users saw notifications as part of a test, but the new Blue Twitter plan wasn’t live yet. The social media company began rolling out a new tier of its premium subscription service seemingly. On November 9th, Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, floated changes to Twitter’s user account verification system, including charging $8 per month for it.
The new Blue isn’t live yet — the sprint to our launch continues but some folks may see us making updates because we are testing and pushing changes in real-time. The Twitter team is legendary. 🫡 New Blue… coming soon! https://t.co/ewTSTjx3t7
— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 5, 2022
The “Official” grey labels that Crawford clarified are still being phased out as part of Twitter’s new product. However, Elon Musk’s launch was killed within hours. Additionally, notable politicians and companies also launched official accounts with grey-colored checkmarks.
Disseminate false information and establish profiles as influential individuals, or else have brands and public figures assume the role of accounts, generating a multitude of counterfeit profiles. The exclusive blue “verified” symbol, which was the sole feature offered at that time, commenced its release to iOS users in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The recently introduced Twitter Blue subscription plan costs $8.
The Twitter exodus begins with mass layoffs and exits
Twitter was sued in a class action lawsuit, alleging that the company violated labor protection laws by not giving advance notice of a mass layoff. Almost half of its staff, about 3,700 employees, were laid off shortly after the acquisition was completed by Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter.
One week later, the application contacted certain previous staff members to come back since they were mistakenly laid off.
In addition to layoffs, there was also a round of executive departures that swept through the company, as mentioned by Musk in his first email to his new staff, discussing the fight against spam as a top priority and the end of remote work.
October 2022
Elon Musk is revamping Twitter’s verification system
In the United States, Twitter Blue was priced at $4.99 per month and provided users with a verified badge. Twitter is revamping a fresh and pricier edition of Twitter Blue, the paid subscription of the platform, allegedly priced at $19.99 per month.
According to a report from The Verge, the company intends to eliminate verification badges from existing holders if they fail to subscribe to Twitter Blue within a period of 90 days.
Elon Musk officially owns Twitter
On the first day of clearing house and taking Twitter private, Musk fired Vijaya Gadde, who is in charge of Legal, Trust and Safety, Sean Edgett, the general counsel, Ned Segal, the CFO, and former CEO Parag Agrawal. Prior to the acquisition of the bird app for $44 billion on October 27, 2022, there was a prolonged period of uncertainty, accompanied by unfavorable memes and legal complications.