Twitter: before and after with Elon Musk – Photo

The boss of Tesla controlled Twitter only a week ago, but it is raining reactions to his radical decisions, promises of all kinds and provocations. His absolute view of freedom of expression causes so much concern that, on Saturday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk intervened, urging him to ensure that these rights are respected in the influential social network. Jack Dorsey, the charismatic co-founder of Twitter, spoke to him to praise the “stability” of the platform’s employees, while half of the approximately 7,500 employees of the San Francisco group were laid off on Friday. “I realize that many of you are angry with me. I take responsibility for everything in this situation: I grew the business too much. I apologize for that,” said one who gave up control of the company a year ago. The rest of the employees are witnessing a change in their company’s culture. Last Friday, Elon Musk launched his first flagship project, the redesign of the Twitter Blue subscription, which makes several teams tireless, putting their jobs in the balance, with the aim of a potential -activated on Monday.

Pay for a certified account

Twitter’s mobile application already offers, since Saturday, an update that should allow as soon as possible to subscribe to the new formula, for users who want a certified account and practical benefits . “Get Twitter Blue for $7.99 a month if you sign up today,” says the app, which is currently only on iPhones. “New Blue is not live yet – the sprint to launch is ongoing but some people may see updates as we test the changes in real time,” tweeted Esther Crawford, Chief Product Officer. business development in California. “The Twitter team is legendary. The New Blue is coming!” he added. On Wednesday, he reposted a photo of himself sleeping on the office floor in a sleeping bag. Currently, this $5 subscription pack comes with premium features, such as a more comfortable reading mode. Elon Musk wants to add account certification, currently free but reserved for certain accounts (governments, personalities, etc.). So it served as a guarantee of authenticity. “The current system of lords and farmers, with those with blue ticks and those without, is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8 a month,” the Tesla boss and SpaceX said Tuesday. “Blue Badge: Power to the People: Your account will receive a blue tick, just like the celebrities, businesses and politicians you already follow,” the app promises today. Subscribers’ tweets will be shown in priority and they will be able to post longer videos and audio messages. “As you support Twitter in its fight against automated accounts, we’ll reward you with half the ads, twice as relevant,” the app further specified. The California company has had to diversify its revenues, 90% of which come from advertising, and while some advertisers have suspended their spending on the platform since its takeover.

Many associations and authorities are concerned that the platform will, even more than at present, be flooded with misinformation and hate speech if Elon Musk completely relaxes content moderation. “Twitter has a responsibility to prevent the promotion of content that violates people’s rights,” Türk said in his open letter. In this sense, the information that the entire Twitter team dedicated to human rights has been removed is “not, from my point of view, an encouraging start”, regretted the High Commissioner. Throughout the week, Elon Musk assured that content moderation is a priority, that the rules have not changed, and that he will create a council dedicated to this task. But he also criticized NGOs that are “trying to destroy free speech in America.” The social network was losing more than $4 million a day, he claimed Friday, to justify the layoffs. He promised Saturday that Twitter will evolve, with more convenient sharing and search tools, and ways for creators to monetize content.