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☆ Twitter to Remove Legacy Blue Check Marks Starting April 1
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter Inc. said it would start taking away legacy blue check marks on April 1 for users whose accounts were verified before Elon Musk took over the platform. Mr. Musk has said he wanted to end the legacy verifications since he bought Twitter in October. He has repeatedly criticized the way Twitter verified accounts before he took over the company.

"Our 2-year investigation has concluded that Block has systematically taken advantage of the demographics it claims to be helping," the short seller said in its report. Up to 35% of Cash App's revenue is derived from interchange fees, Hindenburg alleged. But Block avoids that regulatory cap imposed on large financial institutions by routing the revenue through a small bank, Hindenburg alleged. The small-bank routing method is one employed by Block rival PayPal , the short seller claimed, and which prompted a Securities and Exchange Commission probe. Hindenburg took issue with Cash App's practices during the pandemic, when the government issued stimulus checks to qualified American adults.

☆ Companies Face Another Packed Year of Sustainability Shareholder Votes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

U.S. companies are facing fewer shareholder proposals on social issues this year but more calls for climate action. Proposals focused on social issues were again the most popular this year, mentioned in 338 of the filings, down more than 9% from 373 last year. Included in the grand total were 48 so-called anti-ESG proposals focused on the risk of ESG-promoting policies, up from 27 in the same period last year. These typically ask companies to audit or report on gender-and-racial pay differences. Companies will avoid votes when shareholders withdraw some current proposals, usually after they reach an agreement with the company on an issue.

☆ Have the Ads in Your Twitter Feed Changed? There’s a Reason for That
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Patrick Coffee | Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter has been catering to direct marketers as some big brand advertisers continue to stay away. Lesser-known advertisers seeking clicks and other direct responses are becoming more prominent on Twitter Inc. as the social-media company shifts its sales strategy and some household-name brands continue to stay away. Twitter throughout most of its history appealed to big marketers that bought ads to raise awareness. Some 85% of its annual ad revenue came from brand advertising budgets and the rest from so-called performance advertising, the company said in 2021. Previous management said its long-term goal was to even out that ratio, and built technology to try to make that happen.

☆ Meta explores decentralized social network app for text updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 10 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) is exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates, a company spokesperson said on Friday, in what could be a direct competitor to billionaire Elon Musk's Twitter Inc."We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there's an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests," a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. The report said Meta's new content app would support ActivityPub, the decentralized social networking protocol that powers Twitter-rival Mastodon and other federated apps. Meta's new app would be Instagram-branded and will allow users to register or login through their Instagram credentials, according to the Moneycontrol report. Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Twitter and Elon Musk Face Legal Risks in FTC Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—New details about the Federal Trade Commission’s probe into Twitter Inc. point to the significant and potentially costly legal risks the company faces as Elon Musk tries to get the company on the road to long-term profitability. The FTC’s hundreds of written demands to the company in recent months, reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier this week, show it is investigating Mr. Musk’s personal role in high-profile decisions including massive layoffs, rapid changes to Twitter’s features and the sharing of internal company records with journalists.

☆ Where Musk’s Twitter Gambit Stands, Nearly Five Months In
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The clock is ticking for Elon Musk to put Twitter Inc. back on a path to profitability as the social-media company continues to burn through cash nearly five months after the billionaire’s $44 billion takeover. Twitter’s finances remain strained in part because of an advertiser pullback and high-cost debt. As a result, Mr. Musk, the company’s owner and chief executive, has taken aggressive steps to stem the cash burn by slashing costs, including reducing Twitter’s workforce by about 75%.

☆ Elon Musk Says Twitter Could Be ‘Cash-Flow Positive’ Within Months
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Alexa Corse | Alexander Saeedy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Elon Musk said Twitter Inc. has a shot at being cash-flow positive next quarter, and he is optimistic about the company’s future after what he called a difficult past few months. “I definitely don’t want to count chickens before they hatch,” he added Tuesday about his latest expectations for the company’s financial situation.

☆ FTC Twitter Investigation Sought Elon Musk’s Internal Communications, Journalist Names
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Ryan Tracy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission has demanded Twitter Inc. turn over internal communications related to owner Elon Musk and detailed information about layoffs and other business decisions as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the company, documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal show. In 12 letters sent to Twitter and its lawyers since Mr. Musk’s Oct. 27 takeover, the FTC also asked the company to “identify all journalists” granted access to company records and to provide information about the launch of the revamped Twitter Blue subscription service, the documents show.

☆ U.S. FTC asks Twitter for details on Musk's internal communications, layoffs - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The FTC sent 12 letters to Twitter and its lawyers since Musk's takeover in October. It also asked the company to "identify all journalists" who were granted access to company records and to provide information about the launch of the revamped Twitter Blue subscription service, the report said. The FTC is also looking to get Musk to testify in connection with the probe, the WSJ reported. Twitter, the FTC and Musk did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Parts of Twitter Went Down for Some Users After Internal Change
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Elon Musk said the latest Twitter Inc. disruption Monday demonstrated the need for the social-media company to completely rewrite some of the software underpinning the platform. The outages and issues some users experienced Monday resulted from an internal change on the platform that created unintended problems, the company said.

☆ Parts of Twitter Down for Some Users After Internal Change
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some Twitter users experienced error messages on Monday when trying to use the social-media site. Twitter Inc. appeared to experience some issues Monday due to an internal change on the platform, the company said. The Twitter Support account said in a tweet Monday parts of the platform weren’t working as usual because of “an internal change that had some unintended consequences.”

☆ Twitter's revenue, adjusted earnings drop about 40% in December - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 3 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc reported a drop of about 40% year-over-year in both revenue and adjusted earnings for the month of December, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter. Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Musk, who warned in November about the possibility of the Twitter going bankrupt, said in December that the company was on track to be "roughly cash flow break-even" in 2023. Twitter made its first interest payment in January on a loan that banks provided to help finance billionaire Musk's purchase of the social media company last year. Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ How Many People Does Elon Musk Need to Run Twitter? Silicon Valley Wants to Know
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Alexa Corse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Elon Musk is trying to run Twitter Inc. with an ever-shrinking fraction of the staff the company had when he took over. Silicon Valley is watching to see if he will succeed. Across the tech industry and many businesses broadly, companies are trying to do more with less—using layoffs to unwind recent hiring sprees and cutting back on some long-shot projects.

☆ Twitter Outages Hit Users Worldwide
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Gareth Vipers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An outage on Twitter Inc.’s social-media platform appeared to be mostly resolved early Wednesday, after the service failed to load for users across several regions. Thousands of users reported problems with the site to Downdetector, a website that tracks service disruptions. The site said around 10,000 people had reported experiencing the outage, starting at around 5 a.m.

☆ Twitter Users Unable to Access Platform in Apparent Outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Gareth Vipers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Thousands of Twitter users reported problems with the site on Wednesday morning. Some Twitter Inc. users were unable to access the social-media platform early Wednesday, in what appeared to be an outage affecting multiple regions. Thousands of users reported problems with the site to Downdetector, a website that tracks service disruptions. The site said around 10,000 people had reported experiencing the outage, starting at around 5 a.m.

☆ Elon Musk Calls U.S. Media Racist Over ‘Dilbert’ Comic Strip Backlash
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Gareth Vipers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

‘The media is racist,’ Twitter CEO Elon Musk said in a thread on the platform. Elon Musk has suggested the U.S. media is racist against white and Asian people as he appeared to defend the creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip, which was recently dropped by several newspapers. The Twitter Inc. chief executive made the remarks in a thread on the platform in response to an article posted by the San Francisco Chronicle that detailed the saga surrounding racist comments by Scott Adams .

☆ Elon Musk’s Twitter Cuts More Jobs as Platform Seeks to Slash Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Alexa Corse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Constanza Hevia H. for The Wall Street JournalTwitter has shed employees since Elon Musk acquired it last year. Twitter Inc. conducted another round of job cuts over the weekend, people familiar with the matter said, the latest among thousands of staff reductions under new owner Elon Musk. The cuts come as billionaire Mr. Musk has been pursuing sweeping changes to the platform, including slashing costs, releasing new features and changing content-moderation policies.

☆ Twitter lays off at least 50 in relentless cost cuts, The Information reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 26 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's Twitter Inc laid off dozens of employees on Saturday in what is at least the eighth round of job cuts since Musk took over the social network in late October, the Information reported. In early November, Twitter laid off about 3,700 employees in a cost-cutting measure by Musk, who acquired the company for $44 billion. The Information reported that the latest job cuts aim to offset a plunge in revenue following Musk's takeover and further whittle down a staff that had shrunk by at least 70% to roughly 2,000. Musk in November said that the service was experiencing a "massive drop in revenue" as advertisers pulled spending amid concerns about content moderation. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Twitter lays off at least 50 in relentless cost cuts- The Information
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Television equipment is seen outside the U.S. Supreme Court as Justices hear oral arguments on Twitter's appeal to an anti-terror law violation, in Washington, U.S., February 22, 2023. Both lawsuits were brought under a U.S. law that enables Americans to recover damages related to "an act of international terrorism." Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch said the statute focuses liability on aiding a person who engaged in a terrorist act. Islamic State called the attack revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. In the Twitter case, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S.

[1/2] Television equipment is seen outside the U.S. Supreme Court as Justices hear oral arguments on Twitter's appeal to an anti-terror law violation, in Washington, U.S., February 22, 2023. The lower court dismissed that case largely based on Section 230 immunity. In the Twitter case, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Islamic State called the attack revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. Twitter in court papers has said that it has terminated more than 1.7 million accounts for violating rules against "threatening or promoting terrorism."

☆ Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Whether Twitter Is Liable in Terror Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jan Wolfe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter and other social-media companies have said in court filings that they have made extensive efforts to remove Islamic State content. WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear oral arguments over whether Twitter Inc. and other social-media companies can be sued for allegedly aiding Islamic State, the second in a pair of arguments this week testing the liability of internet providers for user posts. The case being argued on Wednesday, Twitter v. Taamneh, was brought by family members of Nawras Alassaf, who was killed in an Islamic State attack at an Istanbul nightclub in 2017.

Both lawsuits were brought under a U.S. law that enables Americans to recover damages related to "an act of international terrorism." The lower court dismissed that case largely based on Section 230 immunity. In the Twitter case, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Islamic State called the attack revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. Twitter in court papers has said that it has terminated more than 1.7 million accounts for violating rules against "threatening or promoting terrorism."

☆ Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Whether Twitter Is Liable in Terror Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jan Wolfe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter and other social-media companies have said in court filings that they have made extensive efforts to remove Islamic State content. WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court heard oral arguments over whether Twitter Inc. and other social-media companies can be sued for allegedly aiding Islamic State, the second in a pair of arguments this week testing the liability of internet providers for user posts. The case being argued Wednesday, Twitter v. Taamneh, was brought by family members of Nawras Alassaf , who was killed in an Islamic State attack at an Istanbul nightclub in 2017.

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