Elon Musk Buys Twitter: Updates: Elon Musk Takes Over Twitter (Published 2022) (2024)

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Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, closes a blockbuster purchase.

Antisemitic campaign tries to capitalize on Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover.

The A.D.L. said the antisemitic tweet campaign was hatched on 4chan, the fringe message board that is loosely moderated and where hate speech has thrived. On Thursday, an anonymous 4chan user posted instructions for sharing antisemitic content on Twitter after Mr. Musk’s takeover was made official. The post was circulated on Telegram, the chat app popular with the far right, according to the A.D.L.

“Now that Elon is taking over Twitter it’s time to finally put our skills to use,” read the post, which told users to argue with Jewish users and “like” tweets from other participants.

The anonymous user also credited Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who was restricted from posting on Twitter nearly two weeks ago after sharing an antisemitic tweet. The sentiment was included in tweets sent on Friday as part of the campaign.

“Ye broke the dam,” read one tweet identified by the A.D.L., which included an antisemitic meme that was widely circulated on unmoderated message boards.

“We hope Musk will take the necessary technical and policy measures to assure Twitter does not become a hellscape and haven for antisemitism, extremism and hate,” Oren Segal, the vice president of the A.D.L.’s Center on Extremism, said in an email. “This coordinated antisemitic campaign suggests time is of the essence.”

Several accounts that posted prohibited material on Friday were suspended from the platform.

Mr. Musk said in a tweet on Friday that the company would not be making major content decisions or reinstating banned accounts until a “content moderation council” had been formed. He did not provide additional details about the council or his plans.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Will Elon Musk be able to keep Twitter’s advertisers happy?

He explained that he bought the company “because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square” and because he feared that social media was in danger of splintering into echo chambers “that generate more hate and divide our society.”

He sought to ease Madison Avenue’s fears about brand safety — that their ads could appear next to distasteful content and be soiled by association — by stressing that “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” Without making any promises about content moderation, which many advertising trade groups have encouraged in recent years, Mr. Musk promised a platform that followed government regulations and was “warm and welcoming to all.”

Bob Hoffman, the advertising industry veteran behind the Ad Contrarian newsletter said in an email that advertisers were unclear which Musk — the free-speech absolutist or the savvy businessman — was now at the helm.

“If it’s the ‘free-speech absolutist,’ he’s in big trouble,” he wrote. “If Twitter becomes the go-to platform for the knucklehead brigade, advertisers will run, not walk.”

Mr. Hoffman noted that, while many companies felt that they had to advertise on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, few felt the same for Twitter.

“Twitter occupies a different place in the social media pantheon,” he said. “This is a difficult position to be in because any reason to bail is reason enough.”

General Motors, a competitor to Mr. Musk’s electric vehicle business Tesla, said in a statement on Friday that it would suspend its advertising on Twitter but continue to use the platform to interact with users.

“We are engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership,” the company said. “As is normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily paused our paid advertising.”

Even before Mr. Musk began pursuing Twitter, many advertising executives complained that the company’s ability to target ads trailed that of competitors like Facebook, Google and Amazon. Many had said they would consider moving their business elsewhere if Mr. Musk’s permissive attitude toward free speech risked putting their campaigns in proximity to hate speech and conspiracy theories.

Two advertising executives, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss potential plans, said some clients had indicated that they would pause business with Twitter in order to evaluate their options while others are considering leaving the platform entirely if former President Donald J. Trump were allowed to resume tweeting. Mr. Trump’s Twitter account was suspended after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Arun Kumar, the chief data and technology officer at the ad giant IPG, said Mr. Musk’s message to advertisers made it clear that he did not want them to leave Twitter.

“The attitude is more or less just wait and watch,” Mr. Kumar said of clients. “Advertisers still share the same concerns around content moderation that existed before, and, given the economic environment right now, any missteps and there will be quick reactions.”

Twitter’s advertising sales, which make up more than 90 percent of its total revenue, have been on the upswing, totaling $2.18 billion in the first half of the year (revenue sources like subscriptions have been declining). The top five advertisers this year on the platform — HBO, Mondelez, Amazon, IBM and PepsiCo — spent more than $155 million through this week, according to estimates from the advertising analytics platform Pathmatics.

HBO said in a statement that it “will be assessing the platform under its new leadership” and that it will “determine appropriate next steps.” The other companies did not immediately provide comment on Mr. Musk’s ownership of Twitter.

Elon Musk moves to form a content moderation council for Twitter.

He added that “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”

The announcement appeared to be a step back from Mr. Musk’s position that Twitter should be an anything-goes platform. Earlier this year, Mr. Musk even said he would “reverse the permanent ban” of former President Donald J. Trump and let him rejoin the social network. It is unclear whether such a decision will now come before the planned council.

Mr. Musk’s move to form a council mirrors similar efforts at Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, launched a 20-person “oversight board” in 2018 that is made up of former political leaders, human rights activists and journalists.

The board deliberates over Meta’s content decisions. It has weighed in on issues such as female nudity on the platform and the company’s role in the spread of anti-Muslim hate speech in Myanmar.

At times, Meta’s oversight board has returned content decisions to Mr. Zuckerberg, such as the question of whether to remove Mr. Trump from Facebook after the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The oversight board told Mr. Zuckerberg that it needed more information on the move and that the decision to bar Mr. Trump should be revisited by the company.

On Friday, Meta’s Oversight Board tweeted that it would “welcome the opportunity to discuss Twitter’s plans in more detail.”

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Some far-right accounts on Twitter saw surge in new followers, researchers say.

Representative Lauren Boebert, a Republican of Colorado, gained over 18,679 new followers in the last 24 hours, a 1,200 percent jump above normal, Memetica said. Nearly half of those new followers were also new to Twitter.

And Candace Owens, a conservative media personality, gained over 3,700 new followers in the last 24 hours, 300 percent above normal. Of her new followers, over 2,300 accounts were new to Twitter, according to Memetica.

It’s unclear if the activity was connected to Mr. Musk’s ownership of Twitter. The billionaire has described himself as a “free speech absolutist” who wants to make the social media platform a more freewheeling place for all types of commentary.

Ben Decker, the chief executive of Memetica, said the findings were alarming because many of the far-right figures who experienced spikes in followers “are really well known purveyors of disinformation, harassment, and hate.” The accounts have shared misinformation about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential elections and made unsubstantiated claims about potential fraud in the upcoming Nov. 8 midterm elections.

“The more followers and wider reach these accounts have, the more distribution these ideas have,” said Mr. Decker, who also advises The New York Times on security.

Mr. Decker added that the fact that many of the new followers of the far-right accounts were recently created Twitter accounts “could be an indication that far-right people are migrating back to Twitter as they see the potential for a more friendly environment.”

Researchers also found that Twitter accounts for progressive politicians and celebrities were losing followers on Friday. Former President Barack Obama, Representative Alexandria Ocazio-Cortez, a Democrat of New York, and Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC host, were among the Twitter accounts that lost the most followers since Thursday, according to data from Social Blade, a social media analytics firm.

Several left-wing influencers pleaded with their followers on Twitter to stay on the website and not delete their accounts.

“If decent moderates and people on the Left keep abandoning platforms, we allow the extremist Right to own the narrative and we give the truth no voice,” John Pavlovitz, a writer and pastor, wrote to his 410,000 followers.

Groups who study misinformation and hate speech online also said on Friday that Mr. Musk’s public statements regarding free speech on Twitter were disquieting.

“The danger here is that in the name of ‘free speech,’ Musk will turn back the clock and make Twitter into a more potent engine of hatred, divisiveness and misinformation about elections, public health policy and international affairs,” said Paul Barrett, the deputy director of the N.Y.U. Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.

A group of nonprofit organizations that include the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Accountable Tech, and Global Project Against Hate and Extremism also issued a joint statement about their concern over Mr. Musk’s Twitter ownership.

“Elon Musk’s plans for Twitter will make it an even more hate-filled cesspool, leading to irreparable real-world harm,” the groups said. “Musk’s plans will leave the platform more vulnerable to security threats, rampant disinformation and extremism just ahead of the midterm elections.”

Mr. Musk sought to allay some of those fears. On Friday, he tweeted that he would be forming a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.”

“No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes,” he wrote.

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What should Twitter users do?

In a note addressed to advertisers before the deal closed, he wrote: “Twitter obviously cannot be a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences! In adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.”

Time will tell how he executes on that vision, though many have raised concerns about how the site would maintain its security infrastructure and moderation policies if Mr. Musk guts the staff.

What should I do to secure my account?

Some users have asked if the change in ownership will affect their account’s security, how they can protect their account and if they should consider deleting their account.

No matter who owns Twitter or similar social media sites that you use, there are best security practices you should always follow.

On Twitter, you should create a complex password and follow the steps on its site to set up two-factor authentication, which involves receiving a temporary code sent to your phone, to prevent others from accessing your account.

With any tech service, I always advise having an exit strategy — a plan for what to do with your data — in case something changes that makes you unhappy. Follow the steps listed on Twitter’s site to download a copy of your account data. Then, if there are new threats to your privacy or security, you could take actions such as deleting sensitive information like direct message conversations.

I also recommend everyone periodically purge their tweets for privacy purposes. There are tools, like Semiphemeral, to automatically do that.

If worse comes to worse, you can deactivate your account, which is a button in your account settings.

No, the ban on Ye’s Twitter account was not lifted.

Restricted accounts cannot post or interact on the platform, but remain visible on the service, including past tweets that did not violate the company’s rules. A ban or suspension means the account and its tweets are entirely removed.

After Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, completed his purchase of the social media platform Thursday night, several news outlets published reports that the rapper was allowed back on the platform or that his account was visible again.

Twitter did not immediately respond to questions about whether the restriction was still in place. Ye has not posted since his account was restricted.

The belief that Mr. Musk would welcome Ye back to the platform despite his antisemitic comments reflects the challenges Twitter could face if, as expected, the company pursues a more relaxed content moderation strategy. Mr. Musk has described his approach as: “If in doubt, let the speech exist.”

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Republicans and Democrats differ over Musk’s Twitter.

Many of her colleagues sounded a similar note. Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado said that “lot of suppressed truths, on social media and in Congress, will be coming to light in the next two years.”

Representative Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who could chair the House Judiciary Committee if Republicans retake a majority in the chamber during the midterms, tweeted an apparent reference to the deal: “Free speech. Liberal tears.”

Conservatives have attacked social media sites in recent years for taking down posts from right-leaning publishers and personalities when they violated the platforms’ policies. Their outrage peaked when Twitter and Facebook barred former President Donald J. Trump from their sites in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Since then, lawmakers in Texas and Florida have successfully passed legislation that would make it harder for the sites to take down political content and candidates’ accounts. The tech industry has challenged both laws in court.

Democratic lawmakers, who are generally more supportive of Silicon Valley’s efforts to take down misinformation and hate speech, were less vocal about Mr. Musk’s purchase.

But Representative Andy Levin of Michigan said that the firing of top executives from Twitter on Thursday as Mr. Musk completed the deal validated employees’ fears about the acquisition.

“RIP, somewhat sane Twitter,” he said. “The bloodletting has begun.”

A big topic on Twitter? Twitter.

Conservatives appeared to relish in warnings from progressive users, who feared that a more relaxed moderation environment would create a toxic platform filled with hate speech and misinformation.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio captured that tension in four words: “Free speech. Liberal tears.”

Progressives threaten to leave Twitter — or warn against leaving

The buyout prompted a discussion from progressive users about leaving Twitter or deleting their accounts — followed by pleas from left-wing influencers to stay. There was no evidence that people were abandoning Twitter in large numbers.

The discussion reflected the shifting landscape of social media ownership over the past year. Former President Donald J. Trump co-founded Truth Social, a right-wing social media company modeled after Twitter that launched in February. Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, signaled he would buy Parler, another right-wing social media company.

Public Citizen, a progressive nonprofit, summarized the ownership landscape as “a win for the billionaires.”

Users test the limits of Twitter’s content moderation

Mr. Musk has repeatedly said he would introduce a more relaxed content moderation strategy to bolster “free speech.” Some far-right accounts reacted to Mr. Musk’s takeover by tweeting racist, anti-Semitic or transphobic content, or by testing the limits of Twitter’s rules around vaccine and election misinformation.

At least some of the accounts were suspended.

On Telegram, a chat app popular with the far-right, an influencer associated with QAnon, the online conspiracy theory movement, described his plans for using Twitter.

“We ALL NEED to get back on Twitter and rebuild regroup,” the person said to more than 61,000 followers there. “Our collective voice on there goes VERY far. We plan out our strategy here, and then EXECUTE it on Twitter.”

Shortly after, on Twitter, the same person tweeted one hashtag: “#QAnon.”

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Trump says he’s ‘very happy’ about Musk’s Twitter takeover.

The possibility of Mr. Trump’s return to Twitter — he was banned after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — has been the subject of much speculation since Mr. Musk announced his intentions to buy the company and take a less heavy-handed approach with users who post objectionable and provocative content. He has said he wants to make the platform more of a place where a wide range of ideas can be debated openly. And he has said the decision to permanently ban Mr. Trump was wrong.

Whether Mr. Trump would agree to return to Twitter is not clear given his financial stake in Truth Social. Twitter is a rival, to be sure, but also one that has a far greater reach than his fledgling new platform. According to the research firm Similarweb, Truth Social’s monthly traffic recently has hovered around 10 million users. Mr. Trump’s account has roughly 4.4 million followers.

That is a far cry from the nearly 90 million followers he had on Twitter.

Why the cryptocurrency exchange Binance says it invested in Musk’s purchase of Twitter.

Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, who goes by CZ, first reached out to Mr. Musk about potentially helping out with a deal around April, Mr. Hillmann said. That was the same month that Mr. Musk agreed to buy Twitter. At the time, Mr. Zhao was particularly interested in Mr. Musk’s focus on fake accounts on Twitter, given the concerns that those in the crypto community have expressed about the proliferation of such accounts, Mr. Hillmann said.

Mr. Hillmann said he and Mr. Zhao had since kept in touch with Mr. Musk’s advisers at the investment bank Morgan Stanley and at Mr. Musk’s family office. Mr. Musk hasn’t offered Binance frequent updates on his plans for Twitter, Mr. Hillmann added.

“We went through a series of initial discussions with his team on what sort of his general plan is, but when we inquired about being a part of this deal, they were very clear that — and we agreed — that Elon would drive the management of Twitter 100 percent,” he said.

“Apart from those initial discussions on kind of what his overarching plan was, he doesn’t share the sort of day-to-day management plan with us. And that’s OK,” he said. “That’s not why we’re involved in this.”

At one point, Mr. Musk tried to back out of buying Twitter. Mr. Hillmann said the billionaire did not consult Binance about that decision, nor did he consult about his reversal to recommit to the blockbuster purchase.

“We gave them complete sort of freedom to go and manage this deal,” Mr. Hillmann said.