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Twitter has been vastly reworked underneath Musk, who can also be additionally CEO of Tesla, because the world’s second-richest individual has ushered in insurance policies maximizing his view of “free speech” whereas shedding 1000’s of staffers, aggressively reducing prices and experimenting with little regard for whether or not his adjustments would possibly break the location. Twitter has leaned right into a subscription mannequin underneath Musk, providing its signature blue “verified” test marks to anybody keen to pay $8, and eradicated most of the content material moderation safeguards geared toward impersonators and people trafficking in misinformation.
However Musk, the bombastic chief of the social media web site, hailed most of the adjustments he has made since shopping for the corporate in October and shedding greater than two-thirds of the workers within the ensuing weeks. The layoffs, he mentioned, had been “not enjoyable in any respect … painful.” Musk mentioned Twitter is right down to about 1,500 staffers, from extra than 7,000. Musk additionally acknowledged issues, similar to shutting down a Twitter knowledge heart in December, resulting in troubles with the corporate’s servers.
“It was fairly catastrophic,” Musk mentioned, and Twitter rushed to revive it.
He known as out Twitter’s open-sourcing of its advice algorithm, the location’s emphasis on video, and its resilience within the face of huge transformation. He mentioned Twitter is breaking roughly even from a monetary standpoint, that advertisers had been returning to the location, and Twitter utilization and development are passable.
“Many have predicted Twitter will stop to operate,” Musk mentioned. “Their predictions haven’t come true … We’re actually on Twitter now.”
Musk confronted controversy relating to his tweet on Paul Pelosi’s assault within the rapid aftermath of his acquisition.
The billionaire made the feedback in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday night time over the corporate’s dwell audio characteristic, Twitter Areas. Within the interview, Musk mentioned Twitter would tweak a brand new label Twitter has added to accounts together with NPR and the BBC referring to them as state-affiliated media — highlighting as an alternative their reliance on public funding.
However Musk additionally contested that misinformation and hate speech had been extra prevalent on the location, after the journalist was unable to call a particular instance of the phenomenon.
“You mentioned you see extra hateful content material however you possibly can’t even title a single one,” Musk mentioned, his tone rising agitated. “You simply lied!”
The 2 continued in a back-and-forth.
“Give me one instance! You actually can’t title one,” he mentioned. “You actually mentioned you expertise extra hateful content material after which couldn’t title a single instance, that’s absurd.”
The Washington Submit reported final month that Twitter was amplifying hate speech in its “For You” web page, the curated timeline the place it recommends posts to customers based mostly on their pursuits. A Submit evaluation confirmed that accounts following these designated “extremist” or “extremist-associated” had been subjected to hate-promoting tweets, together with a tweet with a quote and portrait of Adolf Hitler.
The subject shifted to covid.
“Covid is not a problem,” Musk mentioned.
Because the interview went on, Musk — who appeared in a jovial temper — made repeated jokes together with innuendo about Twitter’s title, and the thought of his canine operating the corporate.
One among Musk’s most criticized strikes got here in December when Twitter adopted a coverage banning the promotion of sure exterior social media platforms. Musk, in response to fierce backlash, launched a ballot on whether or not he ought to step down as CEO.
After customers within the nonscientific Twitter ballot declared he ought to, mentioned he had abided by that pledge (as a result of his canine is in cost.)
“I did stand down,” he mentioned. “I preserve telling you I’m not the CEO of Twitter, my canine is the CEO of Twitter.”
“I mentioned I’d appoint a brand new CEO and I did and it’s my canine,” he mentioned later.
Musk confronted renewed backlash this month after Twitter restricted engagement on tweets linking to the e-newsletter web site Substack, after it introduced a characteristic that resembled a Twitter clone in look.
Musk, within the House interview Tuesday, additionally laid out his guidelines for avoiding Twitter controversies.
He mentioned he most likely shoudn’t tweet after 2 or 3 a.m. And he acknowledged the controversies his tweets have invited.
“Have I shot myself within the foot with tweets a number of instances?” he requested. “Yeah. I would like bullet proof footwear at this level.”
Musk mentioned Twitter had sought to show considered one of its buildings, which is now vacant, right into a homeless shelter, however was turned down by the property supervisor of Twitter’s San Francisco workplace.
In the meantime, Musk appeared to affirm a information report that Twitter was accumulating highly effective computing {hardware} to pursue generative synthetic intelligence, the sector that has developed giant language fashions similar to ChatGPT.
Musk, who additionally banned a Twitter account monitoring his non-public jet throughout a spate of controversies in December, denied utilizing Twitter’s platform to make choices benefiting himself.
He reserved a few of his harshest criticism for individuals who predicted Twitter’s demise.
Finally, he mentioned, “they had been improper.”
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