An entire timeline of what Twitter has turn into

X offers verified checks again to influential customers at no cost

X is giving free blue checks to customers who’ve greater than 2,500 “verified” followers, that are individuals who subscribe to X Premium. The transfer basically reinvents the unique function of the blue verify, which was to show notoriety or identification. 

March 2024

Elon Musk says sure free customers will get entry to X Premium options

In a publish on X, Musk mentioned that accounts with greater than 2,500 “verified subscriber followers” will get entry to Premium options at no cost. Accounts with greater than 5,000 of these followers will get entry to options from the Premium+ tier at no cost.

Going ahead, all 𝕏 accounts with over 2500 verified subscriber followers will get Premium options at no cost and accounts with over 5000 will get Premium+ at no cost

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 28, 2024

X is outwardly testing NSFW grownup communities

In accordance with app researchers, X is engaged on an addition to its Communities function that will let customers create teams for grownup content material. As one of many few social networks that permits NSFW content material, the brand new function may give creators a extra direct technique to attain their viewers.

That is the way it’ll appear like on the neighborhood web page! pic.twitter.com/Sou18ze7Va

— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) February 28, 2024

Elon Musk says all X Premium subscribers will achieve entry to Grok chatbot

In a publish on X, Musk introduced that Grok will turn into accessible to all Premium subscribers. Beforehand, the AI chatbot was solely accessible to subscribers of the higher-end tier Premium+ tier.

Later this week, Grok will probably be enabled for all premium subscribers (not simply premium+) https://t.co/4u9lbLwe23

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2024

X utilization has fallen by almost a fifth since Elon Musk’s takeover, in response to a brand new report

In accordance with a latest report from Sensor Tower, X utilization within the U.S. was down 18% year-over-year as of February 2024, and down 23% since Musk’s acquisition. The report claims that the U.S. day by day lively person base has flatlined or declined each month since Musk’s takeover.

Don Lemon says Elon Musk has canceled his deal for a present on X

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon introduced that Elon Musk has canceled the deal for his upcoming speak present on X. In an announcement, Lemon says the partnership was terminated hours after he interviewed Musk for the primary episode of the present. In response, Musk mentioned the present’s “approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media.”

Information from me…#TheDonLemonShow pic.twitter.com/PzlKuvkZtj

— Don Lemon (@donlemon) March 13, 2024

X to launch a video streaming app on Samsung and Amazon TVs

Persevering with on his promise to make X the “everything app,” Elon Musk is planning to launch a YouTube-like streaming app for Samsung and Amazon good TVs. Musk mentioned the devoted app will permit customers to observe movies from X on bigger screens, just like the Samsung TV and Amazon’s Fireplace TV.

Coming quickly https://t.co/JlnlSL7eS9

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 9, 2024

X now permits Premium+ customers and organizations to publish articles

X Premium+ subscribers and verified organizations can now publish longer posts on the platform. The Articles function lets customers publish posts with textual content formatting, different X posts and embedded movies and pictures — just like a weblog publish or a Medium article. The change comes after X elevated the restrict for lengthy posts to 25,000 characters for paying customers.

https://t.co/dlJ6rIEONa

— Write (@Write) March 7, 2024

X activates voice name function that might affect your privateness

Elon Musk launched audio and video calling on X in one other bid to make it the “everything” app. The brand new function is switched on by default, leaks your IP tackle to anybody you speak with, and may be extremely complicated to determine how one can restrict who can name you. Right here’s a step-by-step information on how one can flip it off.

audio and video calling are actually accessible to everybody on X! who’re you calling first? pic.twitter.com/DYvB7ZRrbY

— Information (@XNews) February 28, 2024

Former Twitter executives sue Elon Musk, alleging owed severance funds

4 former Twitter executives, together with ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, sued Elon Musk, alleging that they’re owed over $128 million in severance funds. The lawsuit quotes Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk, which quotes the X CEO as saying he would “hunt every single one” of Twitter’s C-suite “till the day they die.”

February 2024

X goes to courtroom in Elon Musk’s struggle towards the Middle for Countering Digital Hate

X Corp is in courtroom towards the Middle for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after accusing the extremism analysis group of “actively working to assert false and misleading claims about X” in a lawsuit final yr. The nonprofit, shaped in 2018, conducts analysis on social media platforms to trace hate speech, extremism and misinformation. A choose has hinted that the swimsuit could also be dismissed.

X says it’s withholding accounts and tweets in India to obey orders

X mentioned it’s withholding particular accounts and posts in India in response to govt orders issued by the Indian authorities. The corporate mentioned it disagrees with the motion, however noncompliance would have subjected the agency to “potential penalties together with vital fines and imprisonment.

X will quickly let advertisers run adverts subsequent to a ‘curated list’ of creators

Advertisers will quickly have the ability to run adverts subsequent to pick out content material creators on X. The transfer will permit advertisers to make sure that their adverts don’t run subsequent to controversial or offensive content material, following an exodus of quite a few manufacturers from X final yr after their adverts appeared subsequent to pro-Nazi content material.

Sports activities betting is coming to X with BetMGM partnership

X has cast a take care of BetMGM, making it X’s unique Reside Odds Sports activities Betting accomplice and can introduce entry to the betting service on X. Initially, X customers within the U.S. will have the ability to discover the betting odds on professional soccer, with extra skilled and faculty sports activities to roll out over time.

Sports activities by no means sleep on @X. And now with @BetMGM, we’ll convey followers on X even nearer to the motion to cheer and now wager on their favourite groups!! Let’s do that! pic.twitter.com/MFrzhKLE78

— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) February 9, 2024

X turns into No. 1 app on U.S. App Retailer following announcement of Tucker Carlson-Putin interview

After Tucker Carlson introduced he can be interviewing Russian president Vladimir Putin on X, downloads of the app despatched it to the highest of the U.S. App Retailer in a single day. Appfigures’ early estimates point out X gained 117,000 new downloads on Tuesday, up from 93,000 the day earlier than.

𝕏 is now the #1 most downloaded app of any type! pic.twitter.com/TeqWxcmZfs

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2024

January 2024

X CEO Linda Yaccarino claims firm has 90M US customers, lower than 1% are teenagers

Throughout the Senate Judiciary Committee listening to centered on youngsters’ on-line security, Linda Yaccarino mentioned that lower than 1% of the app’s U.S. customers had been teenagers aged 13 by means of 17. Yaccarino additionally claimed that there have been 90 million X customers within the U.S. — a drop from its reported 95.4 million estimated customers as of January 2023.

X proclaims plans to rent 100 moderators in Austin

X introduced that it might employees a brand new “Trust and Safety” heart in Austin, which is able to embrace 100 full-time content material moderators. The transfer comes greater than a yr after Elon Musk acquired the corporate, which noticed him drastically decreasing headcount, together with belief and security groups, moderators, engineers and different employees.

Taylor Swift followers strike again after express deepfakes flood X

Nonconsensual deepfake porn of Taylor Swift went viral on X, with one publish garnering greater than 45 million views earlier than it was eliminated. In response, Swifties organized a fandom-driven marketing campaign to bury the AI-generated content material searched below phrases “taylor swift ai” or “taylor swift deepfake.”

X removes help for NFT profile photos

X quietly eliminated a function for paid subscribers: the power to set an NFT as their profile image. The function, which allowed Twitter Blue subscribers to set NFTs minted on Ethereum as customized hexagonal profile photos, was initially launched by earlier administration in January 2022. Those that had NFT profile photos nonetheless have hexagonal avatars, although it’s unclear if X will take away these as properly.

X guarantees peer-to-peer funds, AI advances in 2024

In a weblog publish, the corporate claims it will launch peer-to-peer funds this yr, to unlock “more user utility and new opportunities for commerce.” X additionally mentioned that AI can be used to “increasingly power the X user and advertising experience” in search, adverts and a forthcoming “See Dissimilar Posts” function.

Journalists crucial of Elon Musk had their X accounts briefly suspended

X briefly suspended the accounts of a number of journalists, commentators and podcasters who’ve been crucial of Elon Musk, together with The Texas Observer’s Steven Monacelli, The Intercept’s Ken Klippenstein, MintPress Information’ Alan MacLeod and The TrueAnon podcast. The impacted accounts had been reinstated just a few hours later.

X introduced again, then eliminated, then introduced again once more, headlines to hyperlink previews

X began exhibiting headlines on the backside of hyperlink preview playing cards once more utilizing a small font. A number of customers reported that they may see titles on hyperlink playing cards on the internet, with some titles being lower off because of character limits. The corporate seemingly pulled the brand new format hours later, nevertheless it’s now again.

X launches “Verified Organizations” function for small companies

X’s “Verified Organizations” program now has a $200 per thirty days tier supposed for small companies. The essential tier comes after X launched the $1,000 per thirty days providing for companies on the platform.

Constancy marks down X’s valuation by 71.5%

Mutual fund firm Constancy marked down its funding in X holdings by 71.5% from the unique valuation of shares. Constancy spent $19.2 million to accumulate a stake in X again in October 2022 and made a valuation lower of 65% a yr later.

December 2023

Musk says X is bringing video to Areas quickly

X will probably be bringing video to Areas in an try and get customers to additional interact with their viewers with out having to go to a third-party platform. Musk mentioned X plans to launch the function by the top of the yr, however “certainly by early next year.”

Musk brings Alex Jones and Infowars again on X after person ballot

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his media website Infowars are again on X after they had been “permanently banned” from Twitter by the earlier administration in 2018. 

Musk ran a ballot asking whether or not it was applicable to convey Jones again to the platform. Practically 2 million folks voted, with about 70% saying Jones’ account needs to be restored.

Reinstate Alex Jones on this platform?

Vox Populi, Vox Dei.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023

xAI’s chatbot ‘Grok’ launches to X Premium+ subscribers

‘Grok,’ xAI’s “rebellious” AI chatbot, has rolled out to all U.S. X Premium+ subscribers. Musk cautioned that the beta would face many points, although it might be steadily improved. He additionally mentioned that every one English language customers who subscribe to Premium+ would achieve entry to Grok in “about a week or so.”

X is now licensed for fee processing in a dozen U.S states

Musk is transferring ahead together with his plans to morph X right into a funds platform. The corporate in late November was granted three extra cash transmitter licenses in South Dakota, Kansas and Wyoming, bringing the overall variety of states the place the corporate is allowed to have interaction in cash transfers to 12.

X says it would chase SMB advert {dollars} after dropping main advertisers

A brand new report by the Monetary Instances says X will flip to small and medium-sized advertisers to shore up income. This comes after Elon Musk alienated large manufacturers fleeing the platform over his endorsement of an antisemitic publish.

November 2023

X sues Media Issues for defamation

X filed a lawsuit alleging defamation by Media Issues over claims that main firms like IBM, Apple and Oracle had adverts seem subsequent to antisemitic content material. 

“The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company,” Musk mentioned.

Musk says X will convey headlines again to hyperlink previews

X will reportedly begin exhibiting headlines in preview playing cards with URLs on the platform after eradicating them in October. Musk mentioned an replace will overlay the headline within the higher portion of the picture of a URL card. He didn’t point out any particular timeline for rollout for the replace.

In an upcoming launch, 𝕏 will overlay title within the higher potion of the picture of a URL card

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2023

Main X advertisers pause spending after Musk endorsed an antisemitic publish

After Musk amplified antisemitic conspiracy theories on X, quite a few high-profile advertisers paused their spending on the platform. They embrace: Apple, Comcast/NBCUniversal, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, IBM, Paramount World, Lionsgate, European Fee, Walmart and as of the time of this replace’s publication, TechCrunch.

X additionally misplaced a high-profile model marketing campaign with Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media, which might have seen Hilton selling key X options like dwell video, dwell e-commerce, X Areas and extra over a two-year interval.

On the DealBook convention, Musk informed advertisers who not too long ago paused their advert spending on X to “go fuck yourself.”  X CEO Linda Yaccarino later publicly backed Musk and his remarks.

X introduces job search instrument

In pursuit of turning into the “everything app,” X is making an attempt to compete within the hiring house. X unveiled its new job search function, the place Verified Organizations can publish job listings that customers can then search by means of by key phrase and placement. X plans for extra updates sooner or later, together with extra subtle filtering instruments, a job suggestions function and the power to bookmark roles.

Introducing our job search instrument.

Begin exploring jobs on net at https://t.co/0A5snlK8Ne. pic.twitter.com/4KS0016M5N

— Hiring (@XHiring) November 16, 2023

Advertisements watchdog information FTC criticism towards X over unlabeled adverts

X was caught operating unlabeled adverts in September. Now the problem is within the palms of the FTC. Unbiased non-profit Examine My Advertisements filed a proper criticism with the FTC urging an investigation over the promoting practices at X, together with the dearth of disclosure about which posts are adverts.

X modifications algorithm to focus on smaller accounts

X’s For You feed usually surfaces in style and trending posts from its broader community alongside highlights from these you comply with. The brand new algorithm replace as an alternative surfaces posts from smaller accounts, in response to an X publish by Elon Musk.

X runs ‘timeline takeover’ advert selling anti-trans movie

As a part of a timeline takeover, conservative media nonprofit PragerU promoted the hashtag “#DETRANS” to promote an anti-trans movie. In a press launch, PragerU famous that it selected X particularly for its advert marketing campaign “as it is one of the least censored social media platforms” after being bought by Elon Musk.

October 2023

X shuts down its Circles function

On October 31, X shut down Circles, the much-beloved function that allowed customers to publish to a small, unique viewers just like Instagram’s Shut Buddies. It stays unclear why Circles was sunsetted a bit greater than a yr after its August 2022 launch.

X assessments charging $1 per yr in choose markets

“This new test was developed to bolster our already successful efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform, and bot activity while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee amount. It is not a profit driver,” the corporate mentioned.

The corporate plans to make use of fee, telephone and ID verification to cease bots.

Beginning immediately, we’re testing a brand new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines. New, unverified accounts will probably be required to join a $1 annual subscription to have the ability to publish & work together with different posts. Inside this take a look at, current customers should not affected.

This…

— Help (@Help) October 17, 2023

A brand new report claims X visitors and month-to-month lively customers are down

In accordance with information from market intelligence agency Similarweb, X’s international website visitors was down 14% YoY in September. U.S. visitors was down by 19%. Efficiency had additionally declined 17.8% YoY on cell units within the U.S., primarily based on month-to-month lively customers on iOS and Android.

X now requires customers to reply a query earlier than becoming a member of personal Communities 

Admins of personal Communities on X can now require customers to reply a query after they request to affix, together with agreeing to the group’s guidelines. The brand new function may assist admins and moderators resolve who ought to have the ability to be a part of and provide some safety towards spammers and bots.

A collection of updates had been made to Neighborhood Notes after the fact-checking system took a number of days to appropriate misinformation associated to the Israel-Hamas struggle. The modifications embrace:

• X CEO Linda Yaccarino promised Neighborhood Notes would “appear more quickly on X”
• Word previews are actually supported on each Android and the net, with help “coming soon” to iOS
• Improved media matching
• Notifications will ship to customers who Appreciated, Reposted or Replied to a publish that later acquired a be aware

X modifications its “Public interest expectations”

X/Twitter eliminated the requirement of getting a minimum of 100,000 followers for posts to be newsworthy. Previous to the coverage change, solely verified accounts can be thought-about for newsworthy posts. Nevertheless, now that X permits folks to get verified by paying for a subscription, the brand new model of the coverage says posts solely by “a high-profile account” counts as newsworthy posts.

Nevertheless, the up to date web page doesn’t give particulars on what sort of accounts are thought-about “high-profile.”

X can now restrict replies to verified customers

The brand new management isn’t restricted to paid/premium accounts. Customers who don’t pay for X Premium also can select to not let non-verified customers reply to their posts.

The function initially restricted replies to both “Accounts you follow” or “Only accounts you mention” in 2020, however customers may solely select this setting earlier than posting a tweet. In 2021, they up to date the function to permit customers to manage replies after a tweet was revealed.

X to check its three premium tiers

X CEO Linda Yaccarino mentioned the plan in a briefing to X debt holders on October fifth.

It’s not clear when the three-tier subscription plan would go dwell, however references discovered within the X app’s code by @aaronp613 reference a “Premium Basic,” “Premium Standard” and “Premium Plus” plan, which have full adverts, half the adverts or no adverts, respectively.

X is chopping headlines from hyperlink previews

Now you’ll solely have the ability to see a picture with the area title of the hyperlink on the underside left, which is simple to overlook. The change is a part of Musk’s efforts to get customers to publish “long-form content” immediately on the platform quite than encouraging customers to click on out of the platform with hyperlink playing cards.

X Corp. faces a trademark lawsuit

Trademark lawyer Josh Gerben and his agency are representing what appears to be the primary consumer to sue X over its trademark — a Florida-based social media advert company, X Social Media.

The criticism, which was filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the Center District of Florida, states that X Social Media, LLC “has continuously used the X Social Media Mark in commerce since at least early 2016,” and has considerably invested in market consciousness, which included creating a particular “X” mark that’s related to its social media promoting providers.

September 2023

X is shutting down its circle function

“X is deprecating Circles as of Oct 31st, 2023. After this date, you will not be able to create new posts that are limited to your Circle, nor will you be able to add people to your Circle. You will, however, be able to remove people from your Circle, by unfollowing them as described below,” X mentioned on its help web page.

Audio and video calls will probably be accessible to premium subscribers

New code within the X app reveals that each audio and video calls will probably be supported. Nevertheless, the function will solely be accessible to these with an X Premium membership, it seems. The brand new findings had been uncovered by tech veteran-turned-investor Chris Messina contained in the X app’s code.

X might not be a free website

In a live-streamed dialog with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, X Proprietor Elon Musk mentioned the corporate was “moving to a small monthly payment” for the usage of the platform. He steered that such a change can be essential to take care of the issue of bots.

Musk didn’t verify what the brand new subscription fee would price, however described it as a “small amount of money.”

X launches account verification

X has launched authorities ID-based account verification by way of a partnership with Israel-based Au10tix for paid customers to forestall impersonation and provides them advantages akin to “prioritized support.” The pop-up for ID verification signifies that the Au10tix may retailer this information for as much as 30 days.

X caught operating unlabeled adverts in customers’ Following feeds

X bans scraping and crawling

The new phrases, that are efficient from September 29, ban any sort of scraping or crawling with out “prior written consent.”

NOTE: crawling or scraping the Companies in any type, for any function with out our prior written consent is expressly prohibited.

The earlier model of the phrases allowed crawling in accordance with robots.txt.

Neighborhood Notes is an current program for crowdsourced moderation. X introduced that notes by contributors connected to a video will present up in all posts with that video.

August 2023

X will start gathering person’s biometric information together with schooling and job historical past on September 29

“Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes,” the up to date coverage reads. X hasn’t specified what it means by biometric data, however it’s normally used to explain an individual’s bodily traits, akin to their face or fingerprints. X additionally hasn’t offered particulars on the way it plans to gather it.

X permits paid customers to cover their likes

Paid customers on X now have a setting below profile customization that lets them cover the Likes tab. The transfer comes after rival social networks Threads and Bluesky rolled out the power for customers to see their very own likes.

X confirms it’s lifting the ban on political adverts

X confirmed it’s lifting its ban on paid political adverts — a transfer it dedicated to earlier this yr, shortly after Elon Musk took over the social community beforehand often called Twitter. The corporate had initially banned these adverts in 2019 below then-CEO Jack Dorsey’s administration.

X lures advertisers with a $250 advert credit score

The corporate introduced it might provide a one-time advert credit score of $250 to pick out companies after they spend $1,000 or extra on new advert campaigns over the following 30 days.

X makes modifications to retire among the legacy API endpoints

The corporate mentioned in a publish that it’s discontinuing among the endpoints whereas migrating others to the brand new v2 API. X additionally mentioned that it’s retiring the legacy Important and Elevated tiers, and prospects utilizing them might want to transfer to any of the brand new tiers.

X plans to cover headlines from information hyperlinks

Musk confirmed the transfer to roll out a brand new technique to show information hyperlinks with none headline or description in a publish, saying the transfer was coming “directly” from him. The change would “greatly improve the aesthetics,” he mentioned.

As of proper now, a Twitter card for a information article exhibits the headline and abstract textual content together with the header picture within the preview card of a publish. If the proposed change comes by means of, X will solely present the picture with a hyperlink in a publish. Meaning if a publication or a weblog doesn’t publish any accompanying textual content with the hyperlink, customers will solely see the hyperlink and the picture for that article.

Elon Musk says the ‘block’ function goes away

“Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature’, except for DMs,” Elon Musk wrote on X. “Makes no sense.” The publish was a response to a Tesla fan account who requested whether or not there was any cause to make use of block as an alternative of mute.

X now types posts by like counts 

Posts, previously known as tweets, nonetheless seem in chronological order on profiles once you’re logged into the social community, however when you sign off, they’re sorted by efficiency.

Our assessments present that even if in case you have a pinned publish, it gained’t seem on the high of your profile feed when logged out, which defeats the purpose of a pinned publish.

X rolls out a brand new ‘Highlights’ tab for paid customers

X started rolling out the brand new ‘Highlights’ tab to some subscribers in mid August. However in response to the up to date help web page, the corporate is now making the function accessible to all paid customers.

X makes X Professional a subscriber-only

Beforehand often called TweetDeck, X Professional is now a subscriber-only product. The transfer isn’t solely shocking, as on July 3, the corporate mentioned that inside 30 days TweetDeck can be accessible to solely verified customers. Nevertheless, the social community was delayed in implementing the brand new rule by just a few days.

X lowers necessities for its creator payout program

The corporate mentioned that creators who’ve garnered 5 million impressions within the final three months will probably be eligible for advert income sharing. That requirement was beforehand set to fifteen million impressions.

Creators will have the ability to withdraw as little as $10 as an alternative of $50, X mentioned. Customers nonetheless must be verified and should have a minimum of 500 followers to qualify for payouts.

X CEO claims the corporate previously often called Twitter is nearly breaking even

“I’ve been at the company eight weeks,” Yaccarino mentioned in her first broadcast interview since taking up her new position. “The operational run rate right now… we’re pretty close to break even.”

“Our data licensing and API with X is an incredible business. Our new subscription business [is] growing,” Yaccarino mentioned. “And then, part of my, what I would say, expertise and experience, and what I came to do, was to drive advertising at the company.”

Video calls are coming to X

CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed in her first TV interview that video calls will probably be a brand new function coming to the service, as a part of its transformation into an “everything app.”

X expands its partnership with Integral Advert Science

The partnership started in January to inform advertisers if their advert is positioned round inappropriate content material. Now, X is testing sensitivity settings, powered by machine studying, that allow advertisers select their thresholds for the sorts of content material they need their adverts to seem round — and in response to a tweet from X proprietor Elon Musk, advertisers should purchase these much less fascinating, “relaxed” sensitivity advert slots for much less.

Manufacturers can cut back adjacency to gore, extreme profanity and obscenity, focused hate speech, sexual content material, medicine and spam. Quickly, X will add its “relaxed” setting, which gives cheaper promoting alternatives whereas solely filtering for focused hate speech and express sexual content material.

X takes over @music deal with, hinting at future music plans

The @music account was initially operated for 16 years by software program developer Jeremy Vaught, who grew the @music deal with to roughly half 1,000,000 followers. Vaught posted in anger that X had commandeered the account for itself.

“Super pissed,” Vaught wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of the e-mail X had despatched him informing him of the change.

The function traditionally offered data to customers about why they had been seeing a reality verify appended to a tweet. After three years of improvement, the corporate says this additional context will now be eliminated for individuals who are already skilled with Neighborhood Notes.

TweetDeck is renamed to XPro

The corporate has adopted the @Professional deal with as an alternative of @TweetDeck for the instrument. Nevertheless, many components of the instrument, together with the assistance web page, nonetheless have “Twitter” and “TweetDeck” mentions. Musk hinted on the change per week prior, including that XPro will include a “wide range of psy op plugins.” There are not any particulars about what sort of plug-ins these may be.

X now permits paid customers to cover their checkmarks

Paid verification was launched final yr with the Twitter Blue relaunch. The service was not too long ago renamed to XBlue through the Twitter rebrand to X.

The thought is to assist customers profit from subscription options with out exhibiting that they’re a verified account. The choice to cover the checkmark will present up within the “Profile customization” part of account settings.

The corporate has up to date the assistance web page for paid subscriptions, saying that even if you happen to cover the checkmark it may be seen in some locations. The corporate didn’t give any additional particulars about these placeholders.

July 2023

Wish to change again to the previous Twitter app icon on iOS? Right here’s how:

• In your iPhone, navigate to the Shortcuts app. When you’ve got a more moderen iPhone, this needs to be pre-installed, but when not, you could find it within the App Retailer. In case your iPhone is operating on iOS 12.0 or increased, you’re good to go.
• From the principle Shortcuts display on the Shortcuts app, you’re going to faucet “All Shortcuts.”
• Hit the blue plus signal within the top-right nook of your display to arrange a brand new Shortcut.
• It is best to see a steered motion of “Open App” to construct your new shortcut. Faucet that.
• Now, you’ll be prompted to arrange a brand new “Open App” shortcut. Subsequent to the place it says “Open,” click on on “App” to seek for the X app. Choose that.
• When you’ve chosen the “X” app, faucet the share icon on the navigation bar on the backside of your display. This can convey up one other menu, the place you possibly can choose “Add to Home Screen.”
• Go forward and kind in Twitter as an alternative of “Open App.” Then, faucet the small Shortcut icon subsequent to the place you typed in Twitter.
• Right here, you possibly can add a picture of the Twitter brand. Nevertheless, you most likely don’t have that already saved to your telephone. Simply Google “Twitter icon.” We used this one.

Apple accepts Twitter app’s rebrand to X within the app retailer

Apple usually doesn’t permit builders to call their apps as a single character, however they appeared to have made an exception.

X additionally modified its App Retailer tagline from “Let’s talk.” to “Blaze Your Glory!!” Musk himself posted a tweet with this tagline with none context.

X opens up its advert income sharing program globally

The corporate introduced its “Ads Revenue Sharing” program is now accessible for eligible creators globally. This system, in response to posts by X proprietor Elon Musk, goals to offer out $5 million within the first spherical of creator funds.

Twitter is now X

The long-lasting fowl brand is formally changed with ‘X’ after Elon Musk introduced the change the weekend of July 22. Notably, Musk x.com now additionally redirects to twitter.com. Musk additionally known as this an “interim” brand, so we’d see one other brand change sooner or later.

The app additionally modified its official deal with to @x as a part of the continuing rebranding. The unique @Twitter deal with is now inactive, and its bio reads, “This account is no longer active. Follow @x for updates.” Nevertheless, the authentic proprietor of the @x deal with, Gene X Hwang of the company pictures and videography studio Orange Images, confirmed to TechCrunch that the corporate took over his account with out warning or monetary compensation, telling him the deal with is property of X.

https://t.co/bOUOek5Cvy now factors to https://t.co/AYBszklpkE.

Interim X brand goes dwell later immediately.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023

Twitter preps a job itemizing function 

Twitter hasn’t formally introduced the job postings function but, though some verified organizations have already been in a position to publish job listings below their bios. The job listings take candidates on to the corporate’s web site, the place they will be taught extra in regards to the place and submit an software.

Twitter Notes is again…kinda

Twitter Notes, the function that permits Twitter customers to publish long-form content material, seems to be again on observe, in response to a publish from Twitter proprietor Elon Musk on Tuesday. Musk confirmed the corporate’s plans in response to a person’s tweet which claimed the Twitter Notes challenge had not too long ago been rebranded as “Articles.”

On Tuesday, July 18, person @FaustoChou tweeted that Notes had been renamed to Articles, signaling maybe renewed improvement efforts on Twitter’s half. His screenshot confirmed the Notes interface, trying very similar to it did earlier than, in addition to different unlaunched options, like Twitter Cash. Musk replied to the tweet, confirming Twitter’s plans.

Twitter shares advert income with verified creators

Twitter will now pay creators for a share of the advert income earned from adverts served within the replies to their posts. Twitter Blue subscribers who’ve earned greater than 5 million tweet impressions every month for the final 3 months are eligible to affix the creator payouts.

In accordance with Elon Musk, the primary spherical of creator payouts will whole $5 million, and will probably be cumulative from the month of February onward. These payouts will probably be delivered by way of Stripe.

Regardless of this system’s vital payouts, some creators weren’t joyful — and took their complaints to Twitter proprietor Elon Musk. In a collection of tweets, Musk addressed creators’ issues over issues just like the sorts of accounts that had been eligible for monetization, fee limits and different points.

With the announcement of latest DM settings, Twitter admits to having a Verified spammer problem

Beginning “as soon as” July 14, Twitter will introduce a brand new messages setting geared toward decreasing spam in DMs by transferring messages from Verified customers you don’t comply with again to your “Message Request” inbox as an alternative of your essential inbox. Solely messages from folks you comply with will arrive in your major inbox going ahead. Notably, these modifications may also now apply to everybody who has their inboxes open to permit messages from anybody.

Earlier than turning into pay-to-play, Twitter verification indicated an individual was a public or notable determine of some type — like a politician, superstar, athlete, journalist or different well-known particular person. By making the Verified blue checkmark accessible to anybody who bought it, Twitter diluted the worth of verification.

That apparently escalated to the purpose that individuals have turn into bothered by Verified customers spamming their essential inbox, after they had set it open to obtain DMs from the blue-badged crowd. In different phrases, Twitter has a Verified person spam downside.

Twitter blocks hyperlinks to Threads

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino is pushing again at experiences that Twitter visitors is tanking on account of the July 5 launch of a brand new competitor, Instagram Threads. Nevertheless, on Monday, July 10, customers reported that Twitter appears to be selectively blocking hyperlinks to Threads.web’s web site in Twitter searches, making it tougher for anybody to floor conversations on Threads or find customers’ profiles.

Twitter threatens to sue Meta over its new Threads app

Lower than 24 hours after Threads launched, the Elon Musk-owned firm accused Meta of poaching former Twitter staff to create the brand new platform.

“Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information,” Spiro wrote within the letter, which Semafor shared on-line. “Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice to prevent any further retention, disclosure, or use of its intellectual property by Meta.”

June 2023

Solely verified customers will have the ability to entry TweetDeck after 30 days from now

After swaths of customers had been unable to entry components of TweetDeck over the previous couple of days, Twitter began rolling out a brand new model of the net app to customers July 3. The corporate additionally added that in 30 days, customers must be verified to entry TweetDeck. This implies solely Twitter Blue subscribers, verified organizations and a few of us who’ve been gifted verification by Twitter will have the ability to use TweetDeck come August.

Twitter limits the variety of tweets customers can learn in a day

Twitter is placing limits to what number of tweets its customers can learn because the social media platform suffers prolonged outage that has stymied customers’ means to trace new posts.

Verified account holders can peruse a most of 6,000 posts day by day, whereas unverified customers should cope with a drastically lowered restrict of 600 posts. Newly registered, unverified customers face even tighter restrictions with an allowance of a mere 300 posts per day, in response to Elon Musk. (He has since elevated the restrict to 10,000, 1,000 and 500, respectively.)

These learn limits impacted TweetDeck customers specifically, reporting main issues together with notifications and full columns failing to load.

Twitter requires an account to view tweets

In the event you’re not logged into your Twitter account, or don’t have one, and attempt to view a tweet, you’ll be offered with a sign-in display. Nevertheless, days later, Twitter silently eliminated the login requirement for viewing tweets.

When Twitter began implementing the login requirement, Musk mentioned that he took these “temporary” measures to forestall information scraping.

The corporate hasn’t made any official announcement about permitting customers to view hyperlinks once you aren’t logged in or given any particulars on what measures it has taken to cease scraping.

Subscribers can now publish 25,000-character-long tweets

The corporate made the change to its Twitter Blue web page immediately, indicating the restrict. An engineer at Twitter, Prachi Poddar, additionally introduced the change by posting an extended tweet.

Twitter faces a $250 million lawsuit filed by main music publishers

The Nationwide Music Publishers’ Affiliation (NMPA), representing 17 publishers, listed 1,700 songs for which it despatched a number of copyright violation notices to Twitter. The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court docket in Nashville, says that Twitter didn’t take any motion towards these notices. The publishers’ group mentioned within the submitting that it’s searching for fines of as much as $150,000 for every violation.

The lawsuit alleged that the social community “fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical ‘compositions, violating Publishers’ and others’ exclusive rights under copyright law.” It added that, not like its opponents TikTok and Instagram, Twitter hasn’t struck a music licensing deal for the usage of copyrighted music.

Twitter is being evicted from its Boulder workplace

Court docket paperwork present that Twitter owes three months’ lease to its Boulder landlord, and a choose has signed off on evicting the tech big from that workplace.

In Could the owner took it to courtroom, and on Could 31 the choose issued an order that the sheriff ought to help within the eviction of Twitter throughout the subsequent 49 days — i.e. earlier than the top of July. The case quantity is 2023CV30342 in Boulder District Court docket.

As many as 300 staff as soon as labored in Twitter’s Boulder places of work, however between layoffs, different firings, and resignations, it’s most likely lower than half of that now.

Window to edit tweets is elevated to 1 hour for Blue subscribers

The time restrict to edit tweets has elevated from half-hour to 1 hour for Blue subscribers, giving customers a much bigger window to alter their tweets and proper any typos.

Linda Yaccarino is formally Twitter CEO

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino formally began her new gig on Monday, June 5, in response to a tweet.

It occurred — first day within the books!

Keep tuned…

— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) June 6, 2023

Belief and security lead resigns

Ella Irwin took over for Yoel Roth, who famously left the corporate through the early days of Elon Musk’s chaotic Twitter takeover.

Could 2023

The newest function is an effort to place extra onus on crowdsourced moderation by permitting customers to handle situations of morphed photographs or AI-generated photographs throughout the platform the place the photographs are posted. The launches comes days after a faux AI-generated picture about an assault on the Pentagon unfold shortly as distinguished accounts retweeted it.

Twitter’s new API tier prices $5,000 per thirty days

Twitter API Professional for startups offers builders the power to fetch 1 million tweets per thirty days and publish 300,000 tweets per thirty days, and offers them entry to the total archive search endpoint.

Twitter Blue customers can now add two-hour movies

Twitter made modifications to its paid plan, permitting subscribers to add two-hour movies — increasing the earlier 60-minute restrict.

The corporate additionally modified its Twitter Blue web page and mentioned the video file measurement restrict for paid customers is now elevated from 2GB to 8GB. Whereas earlier longer video add was solely potential from the net, now it’s additionally potential by means of the iOS app. Regardless of these modifications, the utmost high quality for add nonetheless stays 1080p.

The rumors are confirmed: NBCU’s chief Linda Yaccarino as the following CEO of Twitter

Musk confirmed Yaccarino’s new position in a tweet this morning (Could 12), a day after he introduced that he had accomplished his seek for a brand new CEO.

Elon Musk tweets that he has discovered a brand new CEO 

“Excited to announce that I’ve a new CEO for X/Twitter,” Musk wrote in a tweet on Could 11. “She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.”

Twitter launched its first model of encrypted DMs

At present, this function is barely accessible to verified Blue customers or accounts related to verified organizations. Moreover, the encryption function isn’t suitable with group messages and Twitter doesn’t provide safety towards man-in-the-middle assaults.

Twitter now means that you can react to DMs with emojis

Twitter has launched a brand new function that lets customers select virtually any emoji to react to a DM in a dialog. Beforehand, the corporate allowed you to react to solely the latest DM with solely a choose set of emojis. CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the brand new function is rolling out with the most recent app replace.

Twitter is purging previous accounts and releasing up desired usernames, in response to Elon Musk 

In accordance with latest tweets by proprietor Elon Musk, Twitter is purging inactive accounts which have had “no activity at all for several years.”

We’re purging accounts which have had no exercise in any respect for a number of years, so you’ll most likely see follower rely drop

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Could 8, 2023

Twitter is considering a less expensive verification plan for organizations

Twitter is considering an organizational verification plan that doesn’t price $1,000 a month. Over the Cinco de Mayo weekend, Elon Musk tweeted that the corporate is engaged on a less expensive plan for small companies, however didn’t give any particulars about the price.

We could have a decrease price tier for small companies, however have to handle the onboarding of organizations fastidiously to forestall fraud.

The $1000/month is supposed for bigger organizations.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Could 6, 2023

Twitter confirmed Circle tweets had been briefly not personal 

Twitter confirmed a safety error that made Circle tweets floor publicly. TechCrunch reported the glitch in early April, however the platform confirmed the problem Could 5 in an electronic mail despatched to Twitter Circle customers.

“In April 2023, a security incident may have allowed users outside of your Twitter Circle to see tweets that should have otherwise been limited to the Circle to which you were posting,” the e-mail mentioned. Twitter claims that the bug has now been fastened, and that the staff is aware of what precipitated it.

Twitter makes its API free for public announcement accounts 

Twitter introduced on Could 2 that it’s making its API free for verified authorities or public-owned providers posting about public utility alerts akin to climate alerts, transportation data and emergency warnings. This comes a month after the corporate introduced its new API pricing tiers.

A bug on Twitter causes legacy blue checks to reappear by updating your bio

It doesn’t appear to matter what textual content you’re including to your bio — TechCrunch reporter Amanda Silberling added just a few areas, then obtained her verify again for a second. It even confirmed up with the previous textual content that designates that she is “notable in government, news, entertainment, or another designated category,” and she or he didn’t, in reality, pay for this. However when you refresh the web page it disappears. In truth, it’s unclear whether or not anybody else may even see your verify briefly reappear.

April 2023

EU warns Twitter over disinformation

Twitter was confirmed April 25 as one in every of 19 main tech platforms topic to centralized oversight by the European Union’s govt beginning this fall, when so-called very massive on-line platforms (VLOPs) are anticipated to be compliant with the Digital Companies Act (DSA). However the Fee has not wasted any time warning the Elon Musk-owned social community that issues aren’t trying good for staying on the correct facet of the incoming regulation.

In a pair of tweets, Vera Jourova, the EU’s values and transparency VP, warned of “yet another negative sign” by Twitter — accusing the platform below Musk of “not making digital information space any safer and free from the Kremlin #disinformation & malicious influence”.

Twitter now exhibits labels on tweets with lowered visibility

Twitter mentioned that labels will probably be proven to each authors and viewers. Normally, these tweets will present textual content akin to “Visibility limited: this Tweet may violate Twitter’s rules against Hateful Conduct.”

The app’s enforcement coverage says that tweets with such labels won’t present up in search outcomes, suggestions or timelines — these tweets will probably be hidden in each the “For You” and “Following timelines. Moreover, there will probably be no adverts positioned adjoining to posts with lowered visibility.

Twitter restored Blue verification mark for high accounts, even when they didn’t pay for Twitter Blue

Over the April twenty first weekend, a number of high accounts (with greater than 1 million followers) obtained their verification marks again. Nevertheless, a lot of them, together with author Neil Gaiman, footballer Riyad Mahrez, musician Lil Nas X, actress Janel Parrish Lengthy and British TV presenter Richard Osman mentioned that they didn’t pay for the blue badge.

In March, The New York Instances reported that Twitter was contemplating handing out a free verification mark to the highest 10,000 manufacturers and corporations. It’s not clear if the corporate is making use of the identical coverage to private accounts.

Twitter removes ‘government-funded’ information labels

Twitter has eliminated “government-funded media” labels on all accounts, from NPR to the Chinese language state-affiliated Xinhua Information. The app even seems to have deleted its net web page explaining the “government-funded media” labels.

Twitter sends an electronic mail seemingly requiring advertisers to have a verified checkmark

A number of customers have posted screenshots of an electronic mail reportedly despatched by Twitter, which states that ranging from April 21, verified checkmarks are required to proceed operating adverts on the platform.

WOW… Twitter is now telling advertisers it MUST subscribe to Twitter Blue or Verified Organisations to proceed operating adverts! pic.twitter.com/4DrDu82Zi0

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) April 21, 2023

Twitter formally kills legacy blue checkmarks on 4/20

With the legacy checks gone, the app could have verification marks just for paid customers and companies, in addition to authorities entities and officers. Now if a person sees a blue verify mark and clicks on it, the label reads: “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”

Microsoft drops Twitter from its promoting platform

Microsoft is dropping the fowl app from its promoting platform beginning on April 25, almost two months after Twitter introduced that it’ll start charging a minimal of $42,000 per thirty days to customers of its API, together with enterprises and analysis establishments. The strikes imply customers will not have the ability to entry their account, or create, schedule or in any other case handle tweets by means of Microsoft’s free social media administration service.

Twitter proprietor Elon Musk threatened to take authorized motion:

They skilled illegally utilizing Twitter information. Lawsuit time.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

Twitter quietly removes coverage towards misgendering trans folks

Twitter up to date its content material moderation tips concerning hateful content material, eradicating a coverage that prohibited the focused deadnaming or misgendering of transgender folks. Enacted in 2018, the coverage explicitly said that it violated Twitter’s guidelines to repeatedly and purposefully name a transgender particular person by the improper title or pronouns.

Twitter to label tweets that get downranked for violating its hate speech coverage

Twitter plans to “soon” start including seen labels on tweets which have been recognized as probably violating its insurance policies, which has impacted their visibility. It didn’t say when precisely the system can be absolutely rolled out throughout its community.

Usually, when tweets violate Twitter’s insurance policies, one of many actions the corporate can take is to restrict the attain of these tweets — or one thing it calls “visibility filtering.” In these situations, the tweets stay on-line however turn into much less discoverable, as they’re excluded from areas like search outcomes, tendencies, beneficial notifications, For You and Following timelines, and extra.

Traditionally, the broader public wouldn’t essentially know if a tweet had been moderated on this means. Now Twitter says that may change.

10,000-character-long tweets for Blue subscribers

Twitter’s new function will let Blue subscribers publish 10,000-character-long posts — as if the social community is making an attempt to compete with a rival publication platform. Twitter has additionally added help for daring and italic textual content formatting.

Lengthy-form writing can also be not solely new. Final June, the corporate launched a program known as Twitter Notes for choose writers. Nevertheless, that program was shut down below Musk. After taking up the corporate he additionally killed publication instrument Revue, a startup Twitter had acquired in 2021.

NPR, PBS and a handful of different information organizations bail on Twitter as Musk meddles with account labels

A PBS spokesperson confirmed to Axios that PBS had “no plans to resume tweeting” after Twitter gave it a murky “government-funded media” label over the weekend. A number of different information entities appeared to have adopted swimsuit, together with the distinguished Boston NPR affiliate WBUR, Hawaii Public Radio and LA-based native information supply LAist.

The Australian Broadcasting Firm (ABC Australia), Australia’s Particular Broadcasting Service (SBS), New Zealand’s public broadcaster RNZ, Sweden’s SR Ekot and SVT, and Catalonia’s TV3.cat a had been labeled “government-funded media” weeks later.

Twitter companions with eToro to indicate real-time inventory and crypto data

This expands upon the social community’s Cashtag function, which offered information about a restricted variety of shares and crypto cash by means of TradingView information.

The brand new partnership with eToro goes past simply displaying data. It additionally redirects customers to the eToro website the place they will interact in buying and selling. In the event you seek for a inventory on Twitter, you will notice a button saying “View on eToro,” which redirects to the positioning.

🎉Very excited to be launching a brand new $Cashtags partnership with @Twitter which is able to allow Twitter customers to see real-time costs for a a lot wider vary of shares, crypto & different belongings in addition to having the choice to take a position by means of eToro. @elonmusk https://t.co/Iv2q9iNxbf

— eToro (@eToro) April 13, 2023

Elon Musk says he solely purchased Twitter as a result of he thought he’d be compelled to 

Elon Musk gave a uncommon interview to an precise reporter late on Tuesday, chatting with BBC reporter James Clayton on Twitter Areas. Throughout the interview, Clayton pressed Musk on whether or not his buy of Twitter was, in the long run, one thing he went by means of with willingly, or whether or not it was one thing he did as a result of the lively courtroom case on the time through which Twitter was making an attempt to pressure him to undergo with the sale was going badly.

The reply was that Musk did certainly solely do the deal as a result of he believed legally, he was going to be compelled to take action anyway.

Elon Musk says Twitter will formally take away legacy checkmarks on 4/20

That is the “final date,” he mentioned in a tweet. If the transfer goes by means of, Twitter could have verification marks just for paid customers and companies, and authorities entities and officers.

Remaining date for eradicating legacy Blue checks is 4/20

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 11, 2023

Twitter, Inc. is now X Corp.

Twitter, Inc. is now known as X Corp., in response to a courtroom submitting in California.

Since Twitter is not a public firm, it doesn’t should report updates like title modifications to the SEC. However in any case, the brand new title was noticed in an April 4 doc associated to far-right activist Laura Loomer’s lawsuit towards Twitter and Fb.

“Twitter, Inc. has been merged into X Corp. and no longer exists,” the doc states.

Ex-Twitter CEO and different execs sue agency over unpaid authorized payments

The lawsuit, filed in Delaware Chancery Court docket, alleged that Twitter has to pay greater than $1 million to the previous executives for authorized payments they incurred whereas on the firm to reply to requests by the Division of Justice and Securities and Alternate Fee.

Twitter Circle tweets aren’t very personal

Quite a few Twitter customers reported a bug on April 10 through which Circle tweets are surfacing on the algorithmically generated For You timeline. That signifies that your supposedly personal posts may breach containment to succeed in an unintended viewers, which may shortly spark some uncomfortable conditions.

TechCrunch has spoken to a number of customers who’ve additionally skilled this glitch firsthand; many extra have reported the glitch of their tweets. Most frequently, evidently Circle tweets are being surfaced within the For You timeline to customers who comply with the poster, however should not of their Circle. Others have reported that their Circle tweets are reaching even additional than those that comply with them.

A yr later, Twitter is now resurfacing official Russian accounts in search outcomes

The Elon Musk-owned platform has resumed surfacing accounts of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Embassy in search outcomes. A former Twitter worker informed the publication that this transfer is probably going due to a coverage change.

Twitter gained’t allow you to retweet, like or reply to Substack hyperlinks

Twitter is censoring Substack hyperlinks by making the posts inconceivable to answer to, like or retweet. Whereas quote-tweeting works, merely urgent the retweet button surfaces an error message: “Some actions on this Tweet have been disabled by Twitter.”

You didn’t hear this from us, however if you happen to hyperlink to a Substack by way of a redirected URL, it appears to publish with out restrictions.

Twitter Blue subscribers will now be proven ‘half ads’ on the platform

Twitter is rolling out extra options for Blue subscribers together with exhibiting 50% of adverts of their timeline in comparison with non-paid customers and a visibility increase in search.

“As you scroll, you will see approximately twice as many organic or non-promoted Tweets placed in between promoted Tweets or ads. There may be times when there are more or fewer non-promoted Tweets between promoted Tweets,” Twitter’s description of the function says.

Whereas Twitter is claiming to scale back adverts on paid subscribers’ feeds, it’s exhausting to show if they’re truly seeing fewer adverts other than anecdotal experiences.

Twitter singles NPR out with deceptive state-backed media label

NPR’s Twitter account on the platform now comes with a tag denoting it as “US state-affiliated media.” However NPR doesn’t meet Twitter’s personal definition for a state-affiliated account:

State-affiliated media is outlined as retailers the place the state workout routines management over editorial content material by means of monetary sources, direct or oblique political pressures, and/or management over manufacturing and distribution…

State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, just like the BBC within the UK for instance, should not outlined as state-affiliated media for the needs of this coverage.

GET REKT @NPR

Properly carried out, @elonmusk 🤣 pic.twitter.com/jvX15QWSf5

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 5, 2023

NPR later introduced that it’ll not be posting content material to its 52 official Twitter feeds, turning into the primary main information group to go silent on the social media platform.

Twitter’s verification modifications really feel like an unintentional April Fools’ joke

Musk had claimed that beginning on April 1, blue checkmarks that beforehand indicated that an account was official, verified and notable can be maintained solely for individuals who have a subscription to Twitter Blue. The change can be a part of a wider push for Twitter to gate beforehand free options, and bundle new ones, below the $8 per thirty days Twitter Blue subscription, which prices $11 on iOS and Android units.

As quite a few celebrities and companies spoke out to say they wouldn’t pay the $8 price, it appeared that eradicating so many blue checks can be simpler mentioned than carried out. As an alternative, Twitter merely up to date the textual content accompanying a blue verify to make it unclear whether or not somebody was verified for being notable, or for paying for Twitter Blue. In an final act of pettiness, Twitter eliminated The New York Instances’ verification verify when the information big mentioned it wouldn’t pay for verification.

Based mostly on early returns, the revamped Twitter Blue has but to contribute considerably to Twitter’s backside line, with simply $11 million generated from cell signups in its first three months.

March 2023

Twitter proclaims new API tiers; free, fundamental and enterprise ranges

The three API tiers embrace a free degree meant for content material posting bots, a $100/month fundamental degree and a expensive enterprise degree. Subscribing to any degree will get entry to the Advertisements API at no extra price. 

Twitter talked about that over the following 30 days, the corporate will discontinue previous entry ranges, together with Normal (for v1.1), Important and Elevated (for v2), and Premium.

Builders stay sad with Twitter’s new API construction.

Introducing a brand new type of Free (v2) entry for write-only use instances and people testing the Twitter API with 1,500 Tweets/month on the app degree, media add endpoints, and Login with Twitter.

Get began: https://t.co/CqCRD3vbE5

— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) March 29, 2023

Elon Musk says Twitter will solely present verified accounts on its “For You” timeline beginning April 15

Musk justified the transfer by saying this was the “only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over.”

Beginning April fifteenth, solely verified accounts will probably be eligible to be in For You suggestions.

The is the one lifelike technique to tackle superior AI bot swarms taking up. It’s in any other case a hopeless dropping battle.

Voting in polls would require verification for identical cause.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023

New Twitter accounts now have to attend solely 30 days to buy Twitter Blue

Twitter decreases the wait to buy Twitter Blue for newly created Twitter accounts from 90 days to 30 days.

“New subscriptions to Twitter Blue are available globally on web, iOS, or Android. Not all features are available on all platforms. Newly created Twitter accounts will not be able to subscribe to Twitter Blue for 30 days. We may also impose waiting periods for new accounts in the future at our discretion, and without notice,” the Twitter Blue web page reads.

Twitter to kill ‘legacy’ blue checks on April 1

Twitter introduced that the removing of legacy blue checkmarks will start April 1 for customers that aren’t subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Elon tweeted again in December that the corporate will take away legacy checkmarks “in a few months.” After that, customers with legacy blue checks had been seeing a pop-up after they clicked on their checkmark, which learn, “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.” However as soon as Twitter botched this removing of checkmarks, they modified the copy once more — as of now, customers can’t distinguish whether or not somebody has a checkmark as a result of they paid, or as a result of they had been deemed notable.

On April 1st, we are going to start winding down our legacy verified program and eradicating legacy verified checkmarks. To maintain your blue checkmark on Twitter, people can join Twitter Blue right here: https://t.co/gzpCcwOpLp

Organizations can join https://t.co/RlN5BbuGA3…

— Twitter Verified (@verified) March 23, 2023

Twitter’s privacy-preserving Tor service goes darkish

Twitter’s Tor service, a model of the positioning that might be accessed even in nations the place the social community is banned, has gone darkish after the corporate did not renew its certificates, which expired on March 6.

Pavel Zoneff, director of strategic communications on the Tor Venture, informed TechCrunch that the positioning “is no longer available seemingly with no plans to renew.”

Twitter Blue is now accessible in additional than 20 nations

This growth makes the social community’s subscription service accessible in additional than 35 nations internationally.

These nations embrace Netherlands, Poland, Eire, Belgium, Sweden, Romania, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Croatia, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus.

February 2023

Layoffs proceed

Twitter laid off greater than 200 staff in its fourth spherical of cuts, together with loyalist Esther Crawford — the chief govt of Twitter funds who oversaw the corporate’s Twitter Blue verification subscription.

Twitter’s employees is down from about 7,500 staff to lower than 2,000 since Musk.

A lot of hypothesis amongst ex staff that Musk have to be about to put in a complete new regime and that’s why he’s cleansing home. In any other case the cuts don’t make sense. “Hard to keep the lights on with the people who are still left,” one ex supervisor informed me.

— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) February 26, 2023

One of many quite a few rounds of cuts eradicated the platform’s total accessibility staff. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) known as on Elon Musk to convey the accessibility staff again in an open letter. Markey requested a response by March 17.

Twitter permits hashish adverts in states the place it’s authorized

After updating its advert coverage on February 15, Twitter grew to become the primary social media app within the U.S. to permit hashish promoting. Hashish adverts will run on Twitter in U.S. states the place hashish is authorized and in Canada.

Twitter delays launch of its new API platform…once more

The preliminary date set to chop free entry to Twitter’s API was February 9, which was then prolonged to February 13. Now, the social community has delayed the shutdown once more, this time with no date set.

There was an immense quantity of enthusiasm for the upcoming modifications with Twitter API. As a part of our efforts to create an optimum expertise for the developer neighborhood, we will probably be delaying the launch of our new API platform by just a few extra days.

Extra data to comply with…

— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 13, 2023

The delay jeopardizes the plans of builders and startups constructing instruments across the Twitter API as they wouldn’t have any readability on future spending and funds allocation on the developer platform.

Twitter’s fundamental tier of its API will price $100 per thirty days

The corporate initially deliberate to close down free entry to its API on February 9. Now it has prolonged this deadline to February 13. Twitter mentioned that it’ll cost $100 per thirty days for the essential tier of API. This can get builders entry to a “low level of API usage,” in addition to the Advertisements API.

We’ve been busy with some updates to the Twitter API so you possibly can proceed to construct and innovate with us.

We’re excited to announce an extension of the present free Twitter API entry by means of February 13. Right here’s what we’re delivery then 🧵

— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 8, 2023

When builders making an attempt to hunt readability across the new API guidelines went to the developer discussion board web site, they discovered that the positioning had been put behind a login. The discussion board was lastly accessible 4 days afterward February 13.

Twitter Blue introduces 4,000-character tweets

Twitter introduced the power to publish longer tweets for paid customers on February 8. As an alternative of being restricted to 280 characters, paying Blue subscribers can publish tweets which can be as much as 4,000 characters.

Whereas solely Twitter Blue subscribers can publish lengthy tweets, all customers will have the ability to learn them. You will note solely the primary 280 characters on the timeline, and if you wish to learn extra, you possibly can click on on “Show more.”

want greater than 280 characters to precise your self?

we all know that a number of you do… and whereas we love a great thread, generally you simply wish to Tweet every part unexpectedly. we get that.

so we’re introducing longer Tweets! you’re gonna wish to verify this out. faucet this 👉…

— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) February 8, 2023

Elon Musk claims Twitter will begin sharing advert income with creators

Elon Musk introduced in a tweet on February 3 that the corporate would quickly start sharing promoting income with creators on the platform for the primary time. He follows up the announcement with a catch: Eligible customers have to be signed up for Twitter Blue.

Payouts have but to attain creators’ wallets.

Extra monetization pushes: Twitter Blue expands new nations, brings again Areas curation

Twitter Blue subscriptions are actually accessible in Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, making it 12 areas in whole to which customers can subscribe to it as of February 2. On February 8, Twitter Blue prolonged providers additional to India, Indonesia and Brazil.

Twitter additionally introduced launching a brand new Areas tab with curated stations for dwell and recorded areas, together with podcasts. The social community is making podcasts accessible solely to Blue subscribers and “some people on Twitter for iOS and Twitter for Android apps.”

Twitter to finish free entry to its API

Twitter will discontinue providing free entry to the Twitter API beginning February 9 and can launch a paid model, Twitter mentioned because it appears for extra avenues to monetize the platform.

Beginning February 9, we are going to not help free entry to the Twitter API, each v2 and v1.1. A paid fundamental tier will probably be accessible as an alternative 🧵

— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 2, 2023

Per week later and days earlier than the February 9 deadline, Elon Musk mentioned that after getting suggestions from builders, Twitter will present a write-only API for “bots providing good content that is free.”

Twitter discontinues CoTweets

Twitter introduced February 1 that it’s discontinuing CoTweeting, a function that allowed two customers to co-author a tweet. Customers will have the ability to view the set of co-tweets for a month. After that, they are going to be robotically transformed to retweets on the co-author’s profile.

January 2023

Twitter companions with DoubleVerify and IAS on model security initiative

Because of declining advert income and advertiser exits, Twitter introduced on January 25 that it has teamed up with adtech firms DoubleVerify and Integral Advert Science (IAS) to inform advertisers if their advert is positioned round inappropriate content material. This system, accessible first for U.S.-based promoting campaigns, permits manufacturers to research the content material adjoining to — primarily tweets above and beneath the advert — all sorts of adverts, together with promoted tweets.

Twitter rolls out its bookmark function on iOS

The brand new design shows the bookmark button below the expanded tweet view, making it simpler so as to add a publish to your bookmarks.

Earlier than the change, you needed to faucet on the share button to open the sharing card after which faucet on the bookmark choice to save lots of a tweet. Along with the brand new button, as quickly as you faucet on the button, you will notice a banner on the high of the display that claims “Show all bookmarks.”

The choice is presently seen solely on the iOS app, however we are able to count on that Twitter will roll this out to Android and the net quickly.

Twitter quietly bans third-party shoppers

After chopping off distinguished app makers like Tweetbot and Twitterific, Twitter quietly up to date its developer phrases to ban third-party shoppers altogether on January 19.

The “restrictions” part of the corporate’s developer settlement was up to date with a clause prohibiting “use or access the Licensed Materials to create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications.” Earlier within the week, the corporate mentioned that it was “enforcing long-standing API rules” in disallowing shoppers entry to its platform however didn’t cite which particular guidelines builders had been violating.

Consequently, third-party Twitter shoppers started offloading their apps from App Shops.

Twitter now gives an annual Blue subscription

Customers now have an opportunity to get a reduction for $84/yr in the event that they buy an annual Blue subscription on the internet.

Twitter Blue, together with the brand new annual plan, is presently accessible within the U.S., the U.Okay., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Twitter HQ furnishings auctions

In a wierd try and become profitable, Twitter is auctioning off surplus workplace furnishings (public sale is now closed) that it doesn’t want anymore, now that hundreds of staff have both left the corporate or been laid off. Once you’re quickly dropping advertisers and apparently not paying your lease, why not go for the hail mary?

Twitter makes algorithmic “For You” timeline the default

The corporate has tried to drag this stunt beforehand, solely to offer the choice to change again to a chronological timeline after a variety of backlashes.

What’s totally different this time? The Elon Musk-led firm is now exhibiting each algorithmic and chronological feeds side-by-side. Customers can swap between them by swiping on their telephone screens. Till now, customers needed to faucet on the glint icon within the top-right nook to change between the “Home” and “Latest” timelines. Twitter is justifying its newest change by saying that customers can now simply swipe between the renamed “For You” and “Following” timelines.

• January 13: Twitter rolled out the dual-timeline replace to the net however at the moment the social community used to recollect your selection.
• January 20: The corporate made the “For You” feed default on the internet when customers first opened Twitter in a tab or refreshed the web page.
• January 24: Now, Twitter remembers your selections once more.
• February 7: Twitter remembers your selections once more on iOS and Android, too.

Now you can simply swap between “For you” and “Following” on net. Android coming quickly 👀

— Twitter Help (@TwitterSupport) January 13, 2023

Twitter’s superior search filters for cell are mentioned to be coming quickly

In accordance with social media analyst Matt Navarra, Twitter’s superior search filters for cell are coming quickly.

Right here’s what it appears like:

NEW! Twitter Superior Search function on iOS is coming quickly 👀👇 https://t.co/ae56yE3JTU pic.twitter.com/xbQUpQJAlS

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) January 4, 2023

Twitter lifts the political advert ban to bolster income

The corporate initially enforced the ban again in 2019. At the moment, it mentioned that “political message reach should be earned, not bought.” Twitter charted a unique path from different social networks like Fb and Instagram, which allowed political adverts.

The corporate’s announcement to elevate the political advert ban comes at a time when advertisers have been pulling again spending on the platform, and the corporate has been chopping down its inside income projections.

December 2022

Twitter Blue customers can now add 60-minute movies

On December 23, the Twitter Blue web page was up to date declaring that subscribers can now add 60-minute movies from the net at 1080p decision and 2GB in file measurement.

Layoffs proceed, impacting staff in public coverage, engineering

In accordance with posts on Twitter and LinkedIn from a former public coverage worker on December 22, Twitter lower half of its public coverage staff.

The corporate additionally laid off some engineers in infrastructure by way of electronic mail on December 16. Throughout all of Twitter, it’s estimated that about 75% of staff have both chosen to go away or have been laid off since Elon Musk took possession of the corporate in October.

Twitter now shows inventory and cryptocurrency costs immediately in search outcomes

To entry the brand new function, customers have to simply sort the greenback image adopted by the related ticker image, e.g. “$GOOG” or “$ETH” (minus the quote marks), within the search bar and Twitter will show the present value. This additionally works with out utilizing the $ image in some cases, nevertheless it’s much less constant and doesn’t all the time return the inventory or crypto costs as requested.

If somebody desires to know extra particulars a few inventory or cryptocurrency, they will hit the “View on Robinhood” button.

$Cashtags, now with information 📈

👀 $SPY 👇 pic.twitter.com/XgOK6gf02E

— Twitter Enterprise (@TwitterBusiness) December 21, 2022

Now you can see how many individuals view your tweets

A tweet’s View Rely will probably be seen to everybody, not simply the proprietor of the account.

“Twitter is rolling out View Count, so you can see how many times a tweet has been seen! This is normal for video,” Elon Musk wrote in a tweet. “Shows how much more alive Twitter is than it may seem, as over 90% of Twitter users read, but don’t tweet, reply or like, as those are public actions.”

Twitter Blue for Enterprise now permits firms to establish their staff

Twitter’s product supervisor Esther Crawford mentioned the social media platform is launching a pilot program for Blue for Enterprise with choose companies. The corporate plans to broaden this to extra organizations subsequent yr.

We’re launching the pilot of Blue for Enterprise so starting immediately you’ll begin seeing firm badges on choose profiles. We’ll quickly be increasing this system and look ahead to having extra companies added within the new yr! https://t.co/ytnMRO5rcE

— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) December 19, 2022

Twitter goes on an account suspension spree, together with distinguished journalists

A day after Twitter crafted a brand new coverage to clarify its determination to ban an account that tracks Elon Musk’s personal jet, Twitter additionally suspended its open supply competitor Mastodon from the service.

Inside the identical day, Twitter suspended numerous distinguished journalists on the platform with out warning. “Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” Elon Musk tweeted in a reply in regards to the journalists’ suspensions.

The corporate seemingly had a glitch that allowed banned customers to nonetheless take part in Twitter Areas. A gaggle of the banned journalists began a bunch dialog on Areas the place Musk himself joined in. Shortly after, the app pulled its Areas group audio function briefly.

Twitter shuts down Revue, its publication platform

Revue, the publication platform acquired by Twitter in January 2021, despatched a message to publication writers on December 14 declaring, “We’ve made the difficult decision to shut down Revue.” Writers had till January 18, 2023 to retrieve their information in the beginning was deleted.

Twitter disperses the Belief & Security Council

Twitter dispersed the advisory group consisting of roughly 100 impartial researchers and human rights activists from all over the world. The council members acquired an electronic mail on Monday, December 12 from the corporate saying that the Belief & Security Council is “not the best structure” to get exterior insights into the corporate product and coverage technique.

Elon Musk says Twitter will take away all legacy verifications ‘in a few months’

Twitter will take away all legacy blue checkmarks “in a few months,” Elon Musk tweeted on December 12. Earlier than Musk purchased Twitter, checkmarks had been used to confirm people and entities as lively, genuine and notable accounts of curiosity.

This previous week, many blue checkmark holders have been seeing a pop-up after they click on on their blue checkmark that reads, “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.”

Twitter Blue relaunches with new verification course of, plus Blue for Enterprise

Twitter is formally bringing again the Twitter Blue subscription on December 12, beginning in 5 nations earlier than quickly increasing to others. The app up to date its phrases to specify that customers might want to confirm their telephone numbers earlier than buying the Twitter Blue subscription.

Internet sign-ups will price $8 per thirty days and iOS signal ups will price $11 per thirty days for “access to subscriber-only features, including the blue checkmark,” per a tweet from the corporate account. Twitter Blue grew to become accessible on Android on the identical value as iOS in January 2023.

Along with the relaunch of Twitter Blue, the corporate additionally started rolling out a new providing known as Blue for Enterprise that provides a gold checkmark to firm accounts.

Neighborhood Notes, beforehand often called Birdwatch, are actually seen all over the world. Neighborhood Notes is the social media big’s crowdsourced fact-checking system.

Moderators who’re a part of this system can add notes to tweets so as to add context and customers can then vote in the event that they decide the context to be useful. Previous to this international growth, Neighborhood Notes had been solely seen to customers within the U.S. Twitter added moderators from the U.Okay., Eire, Australia and New Zealand in January 2023.

Twitter proclaims charging $11 on iOS for Blue subscription to offset App Retailer charges

When Twitter launched its new subscription plan with a verification mark on November 9, it charged customers $7.99 per thirty days. In an try and offset App Retailer charges, the corporate is charging iOS customers $11 for the brand new subscription plan — although the Twitter Blue plan is on halt.

November 2022

The platform’s crowdsourced fact-checking system, Neighborhood Notes, are notes written by customers which can be appended to tweets to supply additional clarification and context.

The Neighborhood Notes algorithm change entails scoring notes the place contributors clarify why a tweet shouldn’t be deemed deceptive.

Twitter proclaims a brand new multicolored verification system

Elon Musk proclaims that Twitter will tentatively roll out a brand new multicolored verification system the place firms will get a gold checkmark, authorities officers will get a gray checkmark and the blue checkmark will probably be devoted to people even when they aren’t celebrities. Meaning the blue checkmark will probably be used with legacy verified accounts and people who purchase the corporate’s proposed $8 per thirty days paid plan.

In the event you’re confused about all of the checkmarks, you’re not alone. Right here’s a fast information on what every checkmark and badge means.

Twitter Blue verification chaos ensues

On November 9, CEO Elon Musk floated modifications to Twitter’s system for verifying person accounts, together with charging $8 per thirty days for it. The social media firm seemingly started rolling out a brand new tier of Twitter Blue, its premium subscription service. In accordance with a tweet by Esther Crawford, a former product lead, the brand new Twitter Blue plan wasn’t but dwell, however some customers noticed notifications as a part of a dwell take a look at.

The brand new Blue isn’t dwell but — the dash to our launch continues however some of us may even see us making updates as a result of we’re testing and pushing modifications in real-time. The Twitter staff is known. 🫡 New Blue… coming quickly! https://t.co/ewTSTjx3t7

— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 5, 2022

The corporate additionally launched grey-colored official checkmarks for notable accounts akin to firms and politicians. However inside hours of the launch, Elon Musk killed it. Crawford clarified that the gray “Official” labels are nonetheless going out as a part of the brand new Twitter Blue product.

The brand new $8 Twitter Blue plan started rolling out to iOS customers within the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.Okay with the one function accessible on the time being the blue “verified” checkmark. This precipitated a variety of faux accounts pretending to be celebrities, manufacturers and in any other case influential folks to create accounts and unfold misinformation.

The Twitter exodus begins with mass layoffs and exits

Elon Musk laid off 3,700 folks on November 3, virtually half its employees, shortly after finishing the acquisition. Twitter was sued in a category motion lawsuit in response to not giving staff advance discover of a mass layoff, alleging Twitter violated employee safety legal guidelines.

Per week later, the app reached out to some former staff to return as they had been laid off “by mistake.”

Along with layoffs, a spherical of govt departures additionally swept by means of the corporate. In Musk’s first electronic mail to his new employees, he talked about ending distant work and making the battle towards spam a precedence.

October 2022

Elon Musk is revamping Twitter’s verification system

Twitter begins overhauling a brand new and costlier model of Twitter Blue, the platform’s paid plan, that may reportedly price $19.99 per thirty days and provides customers a verified badge. On the time, Twitter Blue price $4.99 per thirty days within the U.S.

In accordance with a report from The Verge, the corporate plans to take away verification badges from present holders in the event that they don’t pay for Twitter Blue inside 90 days of launching the brand new verification system.

Elon Musk formally owns Twitter

Elon Musk closed on his $44 billion acquisition of the fowl app on October 27, 2022. The deal got here after months of authorized drama, unhealthy memes and will-they-or-won’t-they-chaos. After sealing the deal, Musk took Twitter personal and commenced clearing home. On day one, he fired former CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, common counsel Sean Edgett and head of Authorized, Belief and Security Vijaya Gadde.