Twitter blues
Why Elon Musk, the New Twitter Boss Is Vain✋
Twitter feels increasingly alive— Elon Musk
Recently People Magazine named its sexiest man alive in 2022, and it is Elon Musk, lols, emojis 🖕— kidding.
It is Chris Evans, you twit!
But I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tweeted that it was Elon Musk, his minions will believe, or even his not-so-fans.
Twitter has become the la la land of misinformation that you have to read tweets twice and make sure that the tweet is indeed coming from the person or company it says it is, even if it has the Twitter Blue tick which means the account has been verified.
Yes, it is so confusing and unfunny.
Not a day passes by, that newly minted Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator Elon Musk tweets, becomes a trending topic, and cast doubts on the future of Twitter, the social media platform he bought for a measly $44 billion.
All to add to his name,
Chief Twit Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator
I can only think of Carly Simon’s You’re so Vain. Move over Warren Beatty.
Musk buys Twitter. Everyone was blindsided when it happened. He wanted to walk away from the deal, maybe it was all about bruised ego when Parag Agrawal engaged him in a Twitter drama.
Or was it all part of the plan for Twitter to be so chaotic that by the time the $44 billion check was cleared, anything he does will be seen as a means to fix a broken Twitter?
Today, Twitter remains broken.
Elon Musk calls Senator Warren, Senator Karen
Every day I wake up and Musk said or does something that makes everyone belly laugh (not) at his jokes — As he said, “Comedy is now legal on Twitter.”
But that didn’t age well after he started charging $8 for Twitter Blue and people were impersonating public figures including himself — Actors like Valerie Bertinelli, Sarah Silverman, and Kathy Griffin started “being Elon Musk” on their Twitter accounts, and Musk thought that was ‘unfunny.’
But it was Kathy Griffin that really got into his hair rather his head, and after discussing it with himself decides to unilaterally suspend Kathy Griffin’s account.
Or was it a permanent ban? All the while Kanye West or Ye his antisemitic ‘buddy’ is back on Twitter.
There’s no second chance for Kathy Griffin, she is Twitter's new TOS ‘patient zero.’
You may not impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations to mislead, confuse, or deceive others, nor use a fake identity in a manner that disrupts the experience of others on Twitter.- TOS
And then Twitter said, you can impersonate, you just have to use ‘parody’ as part of your account name but it also has a lot of caveats.
What is a parody, commentary, or fan account? Under this policy, a parody, commentary, or fan account is an account that depicts another person, group, or organization in their profile to discuss, satirize, or share information about that entity. While these accounts may use elements of another’s identity, they also feature profile language that indicates the account is not affiliated with the subject of the profile. Accounts that post news updates about a specific entity, commonly known as newsfeed accounts, and role playing accounts may also fall under this designation. — Twitter ToS
Well, that’s the end of Kathy Griffin. Not so fast, she is now tweeting using her dead mom’s Twitter account. I will leave it at that.
As I was writing this story, breaking news. The $8 Twitter Blue has been paused according to Washington Post after tweets from fake former president George Bush & former PM Tony Blair's accounts blew up the Twitterverse metaphorically — well the real George Bush had this gaffe a few months back.
Shortly after Twitter rolled out the subscription service on Wednesday, a blue tick account pretending to be Bush tweeted “I miss killing Iraqis” accompanied by a sad-face emoji.
An account impersonating former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair retweeted the post, adding: “Same tbh.” — Excerpt, Fake Trump, Bush, Tesla storm Twitter after verification dropped
But last year, Elon Musk calls Elizabeth Warren ‘Senator Karen’ in fight over taxes.
Was Elon Musk trying to impersonate a late-night TV comedian? Let that sink in!
Fifty Shades of Twitter Grey or Blue
It was supposed to be all fun. Elon Musk is the knight in shining armor who champions free speech something he misunderstood as a free-for-all.
And UN’s Chief Communicator Melissa Fleming said it here in her piece Why the United Nations is needed on Twitter — ‘The nemesis of free speech is not content moderation. It’s disinformation, hate speech, incitement to violence.’
Musk says free speech is “the bedrock of a functioning democracy.” On that much we can agree. But we let’s be careful of too narrow an understanding of free speech. The kind of free speech that underpins democracy isn’t about being unorthodox for the thrill of it. And this is not a game; democracy is in a critical moment.
But the issue I have with Musk’s take is bigger than that. The problem is being framed all wrong. The nemesis of free speech is not content moderation. It’s disinformation, hate speech, incitement to violence. Platforms must face facts: They’re constantly being abused by bad actors seeking to distort reality, undermine democratic institutions, and erode trust in science. — Why the United Nations is needed on Twitter by Melissa Fleming
But with the fun comes the $44 billion price tag, and have we forgotten that Elon Musk is a businessman first, rather than someone who will save the planet or someone as pioneering as Steve Jobs?
With any business venture, Twitter has to start making money to make its investors happy. When Elon Musk bought Twitter he brought along with it some Saudi money, and some senators believe it is a cause of concern, invoking national security.
When did social media becomes a threat to national security? Well, the 2016 elections showed us how social media can be weaponized for a few thousand dollars by targeting American voters with disinformation.
As soon as the $44 billion check was handed to the Twitter board, the first act by Elon Musk the Chief Twit as he called himself, was to fire then-CEO Parag Agrawal.
Parag Agrawal started as a fanboy, inviting Musk to be on the Twitter board, the tweet exchange between the two was sugary until that tweet got Parag so riled up that their Twitter drama became very public.
Is Twitter dying? — Elon Musk
Why Elon Musk Fired Twitter CEO? Maybe Parag Agrawal didn’t get the memo. Elon Musk is a vindictive billionaire, not my words.
- He compared the Canadian Prime Minister to Hitler.
- He shared transphobic memes to get back at his ex-partner.
- He set out to destroy the life of a whistleblower at Tesla.
So, while there was a time Parag wanted to be on Musk’s good side, he was the first Twitter employee to be escorted out of the Twitter HQ once Elon Musk came barging in with a sink. Again because he wanted to show everyone, the world rather that he is now the Twitter boss while trying to show his comedic talent — or lack of it.
Let that sink in. — Elon Musk
Parag Agrawal, sashay away
Parag Agrawal is out, and the kitchen sink is in. But here comes the not-so-funny part, Musk also laid-off half of Twitter's workforce. More than 3,000 people have lost their job at Twitter, let that sink in!
But don’t feel so bad for Agrawal, Bloomberg reported he could end up with a $50 million windfall. He was also with Twitter for 11 years, and $50 million is a great retirement pay for someone who only served a year as CEO of the beleaguered social media platform.
But wait, only if Elon Musk doesn’t find any ‘cause’ for non-payment.
Research film Equilar director of research Courtney Yu said the fired Twitter executives “should be getting these payments unless Elon Musk had cause for termination, with cause in these cases usually being that they broke the law or violated company policy.” — Excerpt, Elon Musk fired Parag Agrawal, Vijaya Gadde but they are set to get $100 million after leaving Twitter
And yet his fanboys wanted more, they reward Musk’s behavior with hearts and RTs. Anyone who publicly takes on Elon gets trolled. Most of his fanboys are also crypto fanatics, who often than not act like creeps or rappers like the alleged crypto thief Razzlekhan.
And the reward they get? Musk’s replies to their tweets. It is the closest they can get to a hug probably none of them got from their own mothers.
Many top executives have left. Today, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of integrity and safety one of the public faces of Twitter just left and nobody can blame him or anyone who wants out while they can.
Elon Musk in a meeting with his employees told them that bankruptcy isn't off the table. And if that isn't enough, Musk wanted all of Twitter's employees back in the office. He doesn’t believe in remote working and expects everyone to be working for 40 hours.
Otherwise, anyone who ain't happy is considered — resigned.
In an audio clip shared with ABC News,
“Even if people returned to the office,” a Twitter employee can be heard replying to Musk, “the offices are separate offices — we won’t be in person anyways.”
“Yes,” Musk responds on the audio. “But you can still maximize the amount of in-person activity.” Musk continued throughout the meeting to compare the company to Tesla.
“Tesla is not one place either, but you know, it’s basically if you can, if you can show up at an office and you do not show up at the office, resignation accepted — end of story,” Musk is heard saying. — Excerpt, Meeting audio reveals Musk told Twitter staff either return to office or ‘resignation accepted’
As a reminder, this isn’t the first time Elon Musk fired even his most loyal employee, remember Mary Beth Brown, you must have heard her story. Elon Musk’s long-time assistant Mary Beth Brown asked for a raise and instead was fired.
A story Elon Musk denied.
‘Official’ is officially back again (for now)
Twitter Blue was paused. Suddenly some legacy verified accounts have the grey tick on their accounts meaning their Twitter account is the official account.
Ok, that’s smart.
So, it is a double whammy? A blue and a grey tick, that’s a lot of ticks IMHO. And not a day passed, Elon Musk killed the grey tick, and the ‘official’ was officially dead. He killed it, he said it himself in a tweet.
The Verge has just reported that ‘official’ is officially back again. I can’t even finish this story with so many updates that are happening.
End of story
I read Matt Navarra’s take on what is happening to Twitter,
Elon Musk, by the way, blocked Matt, he blocks his critics, because all he cares about are his fanboys.
While Elon Musk continues to hang out with his fanboys, Eli Lilly got hit by a fake tweet from a ‘parody’ Twitter account impersonating Eli Lilly and tweeted —“We are excited to announce insulin is free now.”
The company lost 3.5% of its value. No one can say if that fake tweet did it, but for many including myself, there is no lost love for a company that has the monopoly on a life-saving drug like insulin. #Justsaying.
Blue or Grey, colors that now mean nothing to the millions of Twitter users. To the advertisers who have paused their ads, to the companies who are now wondering if the social media platform would still complement their social media messaging, your problems pale in comparison to what real problems, real people are facing on Twitter.
Now with fewer people handling safety, bad actors are pushing the boundaries as to how much hate, vitriol, and bigotry they can throw around until the Twitter storm if you can call this calms down.
Take what happened to Paul Pelosi, didn’t Elon Musk share a conspiracy theory that his fanboys believed to be ‘accurate’, a tweet he later deleted?
Elon Musk had a lot of plans for Twitter, and some of them may work. Twitter does appear to operate like a new startup company, throwing anything and everything until something works.
Yes, that includes the kitchen sink!
Sink or swim. The morale of the remaining employees is low, and how can you blame them? Not even an apology from Jack Dorsey can calm their nerves.
Folks at Twitter past and present are strong and resilient. They will always find a way no matter how difficult the moment. I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that. I am grateful for, and love, everyone who has ever worked on Twitter. I don’t expect that to be mutual in this moment…or ever…and I understand. — Jack
Who wants to work for Elon Musk, when not only you are pressured to deliver the goods, but you will be constantly blamed if the company doesn't make money?
Mainstream media will still thrive, but increased competition from citizens will cause them to be more accurate, as their oligopoly on information is disrupted. — Elon Musk
He doesn’t stop fueling right-wing political agenda, and that is to blame everything on mainstream media.
Twitter needs to become by far the most accurate source of information about the world. That’s our mission. — Musk
To which Jack Dorsey, tweeted.
And don’t be fooled that they are no longer besties, Jack remains to be an investorino the new Twitter,and he may no longer be the boss, but didn’t he say he has faith in Elon Musk?
“I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.” — Jack.
And you may want to check this story by Dave Troy — No, Elon and Jack are not “competitors.” They’re collaborating.
It isn’t what you think it is, think again.
Final words
You’re so vain. It is a song that has always been one of my favorites, especially after a breakup. A song by Carly Simons who later confirmed it was a song about Warren Beatty.
Move over, Taylor Swift.
You are right into thinking that this story is all about Elon Musk, or if you are one of his fanboys, let me leave you parts of the song, You’re so vain.
You’re so vain You probably think this song is about you You’re so vain (so vain) I bet you think this song is about you Don’t you don’t you don’t you?
And what did John Milton played by Al Pacino said in the movie, The Devil’s Advocate?
“Vanity, Definitely my favorite sin.”
So everyone on Twitter, Welcome to HELL!
Thank you for reading.
Sources:
Elon Musk, Who Consistently Tries to Silence His Critics, Complains About Free Speech on Twitter
Why Elon Musk Fired Twitter CEO Who Asked for A Hand Raise Emoji✋
Here are some of my stories, all complimentary.
👉Why Elon Musk Fired Twitter CEO Who Asked for A Hand Raise Emoji✋ — Free Reading.
👉Back the F*CK Off, Tom Hanks — Free Reading.
👉Claim your offer.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider joining Medium by clicking on this link. I may earn a little commission to buy myself a decent cup of coffee and food for my fur babies Crocker and Miss Phi. Thank you.