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Twitter has remained chaotic for months, and under its new CEO, the company is on a new trajectory. Elon Musk has dramatically changed the platform since he purchased it on 27th October for $44 billion. Some changes include unbanning extremist accounts, changing verification & moderation policies, and laying off half the staff. Former employees from the company’s public policy team say Elon cut half of the team and might make further layoffs.
A former employee at the company says that its public policy team consisted of over 60 employees, but now only 15 are remaining. Other substantial exits from the company include its public policy president, Mr. Sinead MC Sweeney. The new CEO looks to cut more costs with these significant layoffs. Reports indicate that he has cut the staff to less than 2000 employees from 7000 employees.
In any case, these departures and layoffs of top executives have resulted in severe concerns about whether the platform will survive. The CEDD (California Employment Development Department) is investigating whether the company filed a layoff notice. In a recent poll that involved 17.5 million users voting on whether Musk should step down, 42.5% voted no, while 57.5% voted yes.
Meanwhile, another poll questioned users on whether the company should implement a policy to block existing accounts and new accounts from advertising on other social media platforms. Around 326,890 users participated, and 87% voted no. Besides these dramatic changes, Elon Musk advocated for an $8 Twitter Blue tick premium service. Other reports suggested that the Twitter Blue tick costs $11 for iPhone app users.
These new charges appear to respond to Apple’s 30% charges on iOS purchases. Both Twitter and Apple have not responded to these claims. Yet, Apple has fully resumed ads on the platform and reportedly spends over $100 million on Twitter ads. On the other hand, Amazon has paused its Twitter ads but is planning to raise ad spending to $100 through the platform. Neither Amazon nor Twitter has commented on the paused ads.
Musk has reinstated several suspended accounts that violated the platform's terms of service. Most accounts that Elon Musk reinstated had violated rules against glorifying violence, Covid-19 misinformation, and hateful conduct. He also reinstated former US president Mr. Donald Trump’s account that the platform banned following its ban on 6th January. Twitter banned his account after his inciting tweets that possibly led to the Capitol Hill riots.