Elon Musk fires roughly half of Twitter’s workforce. In a Tweet, Musk said, “Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4 million per day. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.
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Elon Musk bought Twitter on Oct. 27 for $44 billion, sparking a vicious debate about the future of the site as well as a sudden decline in revenue from advertisers. Although Musk may not be properly qualified to run any social media app, it’s highly doubtful that Twitter could ever become worse than it was under previous ownership.
Most peoples’ Twitter feeds are made up of celebrities and anyone in their immediate online circle. The comment section of the former category is often filled with spammers, scammers, and people seeking attention, nullifying almost any chance of discussion outside of inflammatory remarks. The vitriolic behavior of Twitter’s users is what makes it such a disliked platform by many– and it is something that cannot be fixed.
The most controversial change Musk plans to make includes an $8 per month charge for the verification badge as a part of Twitter Blue. Paying any amount of money for a small blue icon is an unnecessary waste widely being decried as such. If anyone can buy one, it is pointless. Regardless, this won’t change the experience of the average user. It is intended to create another revenue stream for Twitter and reduce the number of scammers and bots. It is ultimately unknown how this change could alter the platform.
Every issue Twitter faces is in the public eye, yet very few of the solutions they consider are, save only a few that are poorly addressed by Musk. His inability to know when to share his ideas makes it difficult for the public to get on board with his changes. This is mainly the fault of Elon Musk, who chose to unwisely introduce the idea of charging for verification on his page, originally for a price of $20. When Stephen King, an incredibly popular horror writer with 6.9 million followers, wrote a negative comment about this change, Musk replied, “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”
This, coupled with the fact that he fired half of Twitter’s employees, dismissed the entire board of directors, and appointed himself as the sole head of the platform, has caused a small wave of companies to abstain from advertising on the site temporarily. In a few months, however, barring Musk from making more radically controversial changes to the site, Twitter will most likely regain each and every advertiser it lost. Ultimately, Twitter hasn’t changed in a dramatic way, and, since it has not censored anyone speaking out against Musk, there is no indication that it will.