X (social network)
X, formerly called Twitter (2006–2023), is a corporation and social networking service where users share text messages, images, and videos (originally called "tweets"). With over 500 million users, it is one of the world's largest social networks and the fifth-most visited website in the world. The service is owned by the American company X Corp., the successor of Twitter, Inc. On 17 May 2024, the URL was officially changed to X.com.
History
In October 2022, businessman Elon Musk acquired Twitter for US$44 billion, gaining control of the platform and becoming CEO.[1][2][3][4] Linda Yaccarino succeeded Musk as CEO on June 5, 2023, with Musk remaining as Chairman and CTO.[5][6] In July 2023, Musk announced that Twitter would be rebranded to X and that the bird logo would be retired.[7][8] Musk has described himself as a “free speech absolutist” and says he bought Twitter to create a space where “a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.”[9]
Censorship (Twitter)
"In the latest undercover Project Veritas video investigation, current and former Twitter employees are on camera explaining steps the social media giant is taking to censor political content that they don’t like. [...] “One strategy is to shadow ban so you have ultimate control. The idea of a shadow ban is that you ban someone but they don’t know they’ve been banned, because they keep posting and no one sees their content. So they just think that no one is engaging with their content, when in reality, no one is seeing it.” [...] more left-leaning content would go through their selection process with less political scrutiny [...] this selection process wasn’t exactly Twitter policy, but rather they were following unwritten rules from the top: “A lot of unwritten rules, and being that we’re in San Francisco, we’re in California, very liberal, a very blue state. You had to be… I mean as a company you can’t really say it because it would make you look bad, but behind closed doors are lots of rules.” [...] details how the shadow-banning algorithms targeting right-leaning are engineered: "Yeah you look for Trump, or America, and you have like five thousand keywords to describe a redneck. Then you look and parse all the messages, all the pictures, and then you look for stuff that matches that stuff.” When asked if the majority of the algorithms are targeted against conservative or liberal users of Twitter, Singh said, “I would say majority of it are for Republicans.”"[10]
In 2016, Twitter was criticized for censoring conservatives or more specifically that "on closer inspection it appears that Twitter’s war on free speech is directed at a specific generation of libertarians and alternative conservative voices, many of whom are vocal and enthusiastic supporters of Donald Trump."[11][12][13]
In 2016, Twitter unveiled a "Trust and Safety Council" which included many controversial organizations.[14]
After Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, Twitter conducted a mass purge of prominent Alt-Right accounts.[15] Another mass purge occurred in December 2017.
Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump’s twitter account (@realDonaldTrump) in January 2021.[16] The ban drew criticism from European leaders, who saw it as an interference on freedom of speech. On 20 November 2022, Trump's account was reinstated by Musk, albeit Trump, active on his own platform Truth Social, only started using it again on 25 August 2023.
Networks
Former British Liberal politician Nick Clegg became employed by the social media giant Facebook after leaving parliament and is now head of their international political operations. In May 2021 he joined forces with google to persuade British government ministers against appointing Paul Dacre, former editor of the Daily Mail newspaper, and Boris Johnson's favourite for the post, as Chairman of the media watchdog OFCOM. Dacre had in 2018 called for the tech giants to be broken up. OFCOM has the power to block the likes of Facebook and Twitter from operating in the UK and/or to sting them with huge fines worth up to a tenth of their turnover.[17]
See also
External links
References
- ↑ Isaac, Mike; Hirsch, Lauren (April 25, 2022). "Musk's deal for Twitter is worth about $44 billion.". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/25/business/elon-musk-twitter/musks-deal-for-twitter-is-worth-about-44-billion?smid=url-copy.
- ↑ Feiner, Lauren (April 25, 2022). Twitter accepts Elon Musk's buyout deal.
- ↑ Elon Musk is officially Twitter's new owner, and he's firing executives already.
- ↑ Olmstead, Todd (October 28, 2022). Twitter Purchased by Elon Musk: A Timeline of How It Happened.
- ↑ Miller, Monica (December 21, 2022). "Elon Musk to quit as Twitter CEO when replacement found" (in en-GB). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64037261.
- ↑ "Twitter's New CEO Linda Yaccarino Has First Day in the Role" (in en). Bloomberg.com. June 6, 2023. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-06/twitter-s-new-ceo-yaccarino-has-first-day-in-the-role.
- ↑ Valinsky, Jordan (July 24, 2023). Twitter X logo: Elon Musk rebrands social media platform (en).
- ↑ Elon Musk reveals rebranding of Twitter as X - and what he wants us to now call a tweet (en).
- ↑ Elon Musk Is a ‘Free Speech Absolutist,’ Except at Work
- ↑ Undercover Video: Twitter Engineers to "Ban a Way of Talking" Through "Shadow Banning", Algorithms to Censor Opposing Political Opinions
- ↑ Twitter Is Gearing Up To Interfere In The Election
- ↑ Twitter’s Attempt to Silence Generation Trump
- ↑ EXCLUSIVE: Twitter Shadowbanning ‘Real and Happening Every Day’ Says Inside Source
- ↑ Twitter Unveils New ‘Trust and Safety Council’ Featuring Feminist Frequency
- ↑ Twitter Initiates Mass Purge Of Prominent Alt-Right Accounts Following Trump Victory
- ↑ BREAKING: Twitter Bans President Donald Trump — PERMANENTLY
- ↑ The Daily Telegraph, Business section, p.1, 26th May 2021.
