Elon Musk Live Blog: Twitter Chaos "” What Is Happening? There's Twitter and Then There's the Drama

Elon Musk Live: Twitter Chaos – What's Happening? There's Twitter and Then There's the Drama

**Elon Musk (Image credit: Shutterstock / thongyhod / Twitter) elon musk**

Elon Musk Live: Twitter Chaos – What's Happening? There's Twitter and Then There's the Drama

After a protracted process in which the world's richest man attempted to pull out several times, Elon Musk finally purchased Twitter on October 28 for $44 billion. It has been a wild and unpredictable ride ever since.

Anyone who followed Musk's on-again, off-again, and finally on-again acquisition of Twitter can be forgiven for thinking that once it was done, the drama would be over.

In reality:

It was just the beginning. In the two weeks since Musk bought Twitter, there have been mass layoffs, high-profile departures, a mass exodus of users and advertisers, and features dropped as fast as they were added.

It's hard to keep up with all of it, so we launched this live blog to keep you updated on the latest developments at the social network, and to try to figure out what's happening and what it means for Twitter users around the world.

Bad News, Not Necessarily Bad News

It may not come as a surprise to most of you who have been following the Elon Musk Twitter saga for a while that Musk is not much of a listener.

According to a new newsletter from Casey Newton of Platformer(opens in a new tab), Musk was warned in a lengthy memo ahead of the November 9 rollout of the paid verification plan that there was a problem.

The document, obtained by the outlet, reads more like a historical document than a "what if" document. It explains how the plan would lead to "impersonation of world leaders, advertisers, brand partners, election officials, and other prominent individuals."

This is exactly what happened before Musk hit the brakes, and he now appears to have no follow-up plan for Twitter Blue and a paid Blue Check verification.

They also warned that the new plan would alienate existing verified users. Some left because they were no longer protected from identity impersonation.

Nevertheless:

We do have some good news. According to Newton, Twitter currently has no easy way to remove verification checkmarks from those who choose not to pay. In other words, if you have a verified account right now (one you obtained before the payment system was implemented), you may have it for longer, especially since Musk laid off many of the people who might have helped with a program involving such a change.

Among those departing Twitter is Sachee MacCaw, a Twitter software engineer who relentlessly trolled Musk on Twitter, particularly after he criticized the way the system worked on Android — until she was fired.(opens in a new tab). – Lance Ulanoff.

We've started seeing some tweets reporting that two-factor authentication is not working. If you entered an email or mobile phone number to help verify your account when logging in, it appears it is not working correctly.

The code required to help you log in is not being sent, though it appears to work with email for some and not with a phone number.

In any case, it is concerning that a feature designed to help secure your account has started showing errors and refusing to work for some users.

If you are concerned, it may be best to check that email verification is turned on for your account as soon as possible.

After a Moderately Quiet Friday:

Musk was responding to a range of users today, confirming that the "sent from iPhone" message would disappear.

In case you're not aware, when you send a tweet from an iPhone or Android device, the tweet mentions that. This has led to some embarrassing moments for brands, where a tweet advertising an Android device would be sent from an iPhone.

So this removal could again be advertising-related, not just because Musk and his team are unsure why this feature has existed for years.

Former Twitter employees are tweeting at Musk with corrections to his tweets, but this time Musk responded to Tracy Hawkins here, arguing that the tweet was allegedly false.

Expect to see more of these tweets in the near future — we are in a period where employees are uncertain about the company's roadmap and their own future at Twitter.

If you are experiencing some issues while using Twitter, you are not alone.

It also seems as though you'll be dealing with these issues for a little while longer, as a "change freeze" has been implemented. This essentially means that any changes to Twitter's code — from how it works to any features under development — have been temporarily paused.

Twitter Blues

While Twitter Blue subscriptions are currently paused, we may finally have some insight into how successful (or not) the new program was.

According to a report published on Mashable(opens in a new tab),

which obtained some Twitter Blue subscription numbers from app-tracking firm Sensor Tower(opens in a new tab),

Twitter Blue subscriptions generated $488,000 — at $8 per pop, that's 61,000 subscribers.

Let's just say this is not exactly a blue wave. That's not terrible, but Twitter has hundreds of millions of daily active users and only a fraction of them have been legacy-verified. We should have seen millions of people subscribing to Twitter Blue, right?

If 91% of Twitter's revenue was generated from advertising (approximately $5 billion in 2021),

then Twitter Blue has a very long way to go before it can support 50% of Twitter's total revenue.

As of this moment, however, there are no Twitter Blue subscriptions,

and there likely won't be until Musk and Twitter can figure out how to get people to subscribe without causing major verification and identity problems.

This System Is a Joke

More in the Washington Post, technology journalist Geoffrey Fowler(opens in a new tab), with the permission of a senator and a stand-up comedian, created two fake "verified" accounts on Twitter's Blue Check service within minutes.

Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and comedian Blair Erskine agreed to allow Fowler to create the fake accounts in their names.

As Fowler wrote:

“Twitter said accounts that impersonate people are not allowed and face suspension when detected. It suspended comedian Kathy Griffin after she changed her Twitter screen name to Elon Musk. But there is very little about Twitter's new paid service that prevents you from verifying a fake account. As of the time this column was published, its systems had not detected that these were not authentic accounts and they remained online.”

What does this prove? That there is no verification in this "verification." Elon Musk created a broken system (since taken down) and others have already gamed it to even more damaging effect.

Someone created a fake "verified" Twitter account for Eli Lilly and Co. and then tweeted that insulin was now free(opens in a new tab). While it may have been a coincidence. The real pharmaceutical company's stock dropped.