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A beginner’s guide to Mastodon, the open-source Twitter alternative • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 8, 2022Posted in mastodon, Social, TwitterNo Comments

As Twitter users fret over the direction that new owner Elon Musk is taking the company, masses of users have hopped over to Mastodon, an open-source Twitter alternative. Since October 27, when the SpaceX and Tesla CEO formalized his Twitter takeover, Mastodon has gained nearly 500,000 new users, effectively doubling its user base. But what is Mastodon anyway, and should we all be getting our accounts set up? If you’re a Twitter purist who likes to use basic functionality like private DMing, quote-tweeting and user-friendly onboarding, Mastodon might not be for you. But if you’re looking to try something new on the social internet, then why not give Mastodon a whirl? Elon Musk isn’t there! What is Mastodon? Mastodon was founded in 2016 by German software developer Eugen Rochko. Unlike Twitter, Facebook, Reddit or any other popular social media site, Mastodon is a non-profit, meaning that, ideally, its goal is to benefit the public, rather than shareholders. “Unlike the past 5 years that I’ve been running Mastodon operations as a sole proprietor, where Mastodon’s income was my personal income (minus all the expenses), I am now an employee with a fixed wage,” Rochko wrote in a blog post last year. “My personal income will thus be lower but I was willing to go this route because I want Mastodon to have more resources for things like hiring extra developers, UX designers, developing official apps and so on, and I want there to be a clear boundary between fundraising for that cause and my personal income.” Mastodon might look like a Twitter clone at first glance, but the underlying system behind the microblogging platform is far more complex. The service is decentralized (no, not in a blockchain way), describing itself as a “federated network which operates in a similar way to email.” When you first create your account, you choose a server — similar to how you choose to open an email account on Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or wherever — which generates your profile’s address. So, for example, if you sign up for Mastodon via the climate justice server, then your address will be @[your username]@climatejustice.social. But no matter what server you sign up with, you will be able to communicate with users from any other server, just like how Gmail users email Hotmail users and vice versa. However, some servers might have blocked other servers (perhaps if it’s an unsavory group), which would mean you can’t communicate with anyone from the blocked server. The Mastodon lingo Mastodon users generally refer to individual communities as “instances” or servers. These Mastodon servers can be run by individuals, groups or organizations that each have their own set of rules regarding how users can sign up, as well as their own moderation policies. Some servers let anyone join, while others are invite-only or require approval by an admin. For example, a server for professional scientists asks applicants to include a link to their research to demonstrate that they are, indeed, professionals. Choosing which server to register your account with might seem stressful, but it’s possible to move your account later, so don’t worry. Plus, you can follow people regardless of what server they’re on. You may also hear Mastodon described as part of the “Fediverse,” or an interconnected web of various social media services. You know how having a Twitter account doesn’t mean you can use that account on Instagram? Through the Fediverse, your single Mastodon account also grants you access to other decentralized social networks, if that interests you. You may also see Mastodon’s equivalent of tweets being referred to as “toots,” but this is fading out of favor (since it’s kind of silly!). Many people are just calling them “posts” these days but “toot” is often found referenced in older third-party clients. Mastodon supports a number of Twitter conventions like replies, retweets, favorites, bookmarks, and hashtags. But its retweets are called “boosts” and it doesn’t support the concept of quote tweets. This was an intentional choice on the part of the founder who said it encourages speaking “at your audience” instead of “with the person you’re talking to.” In addition, Mastodon lists work slightly differently from Twitter as you can only add people to a list if you’re already following them. And Direct messages on Mastodon are just @username posts, not private messages coming to a DM inbox. Image Credits: Fediverse (opens in a new window) What does it mean that Mastodon is open-source? Anyone can download, modify and install Mastodon on their own server — plus, the developers of the platform don’t own the copyright. That doesn’t mean that you can grab Mastodon’s code without acknowledging the source, though. Former president Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social initially launched with Mastodon code and passed it off as if it were original software. Mastodon did not take kindly to that. How do you create a Mastodon account? When you arrive on the Mastodon website, you can click a button called “create account,” which directs you to a page listing servers to choose from. You can filter these by various factors, like region, language, topic, sign-up speed and more. There, find a server that piques your interest and join — if it’s a server that requires you to be approved, you might need to wait a bit. From there, you can start finding people to follow, regardless of whether they’re registered via your same server. How do you decide what Mastodon server to join? Mastodon’s website has helpful resources — but it’s still a bit overwhelming and challenging to find a home base that aligns with your interests. Ask friends who are already on Mastodon if they have suggestions! Or just join somewhere random, because you can always change your server affiliation later once you get into the swing of things. Can you talk to people on other Mastodon servers besides your own? Yes, you can follow people outside of your local server and reply to their posts. However, when you

Elon Musk’s Twitter faces US midterm elections, his first high-stakes test • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 7, 2022Posted in misinformation, Social, social platformsNo Comments

As the U.S. braces for midterm elections, the first major voting cycle since the violence on January 6, Elon Musk’s intensely chaotic Twitter takeover adds more uncertainty to an already tense time. While other major platforms pull out their dusty playbooks for dealing with viral misinformation, coordinated attacks and misleading claims about election results, Twitter’s new owner just slashed the company in half, sending some teams tasked with handling elections and misinformation packing in the process. Twitter is a relatively small social network but it plays an outsized role in politics due to its superiority as a breaking news source and the fact that most elected leaders (and many other government officials) spend time there. With Musk in charge and half the company gone, including some people who weren’t supposed to be eliminated — oops, Twitter’s policies and likely even its products are about to be put to the test. One day before the U.S. midterm elections, Musk inexplicably waded into the political fray, throwing his weight behind Republicans. “Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” Musk wrote. Musk isn’t the first tech CEO to hold political beliefs, but his last-minute advocacy shows that he isn’t interested in being “politically neutral,” no matter how he frames it. For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2022 Like almost everything he’s tweeted since taking over at Twitter, Musk’s shallowly-reasoned last minute political endorsement only undermines trust in his ability to run the platform. The political message isn’t particularly surprising given recent spats with high profile Democrats on Twitter, but it’s still alarming that these are the issues Twitter’s new owner is frittering away his (and our) time with. Since buying the company, Musk has clashed with both Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hillary Clinton, and the latter interaction offered a particularly alarming glimpse at just how little Twitter’s new owner understands or cares about trustworthy information, particularly when it doesn’t suit his worldview. With a week until Election Day, Musk demonstrated his seriousness on the subject by replying to Clinton with an easily debunked conspiracy theory from a known misinformation source offering a false narrative about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s violent assault. Musk has since deleted the tweet, demonstrating that at least one of the sycophants in his inner circle must have flagged the reply as a risk on some level, likely to advertisers. Twitter’s new owner quickly moved on to sowing discord around other topics without taking any accountability — or a sorely needed news literacy course. Not great. There’s a lot that can go wrong when it comes to election misinformation, both on Election Day and in the vote-tallying days that follow. It’s not just about the big calls — which party takes the House and the Senate, for example — but the thousands of critical little calls coming from state and local election administrators. Two years after the January 6 insurrection, election deniers in states like Arizona continue to spread false narratives about past election results while making efforts to seize oversight for local elections for themselves. Will Twitter have the staff or the political will to quickly fact-check conspiracy theories this time around? We’re surely in for a wave of unsubstantiated claims about voting irregularities, mail-in ballots and political fates that shift over time as more votes are counted. Musk hasn’t yet rewritten Twitter’s policies, but he’s already sent the platform into a critical situation with a skeleton crew. The company’s layoffs were so haphazard and so fast that it’s likely some core knowledge about how to operate the company and respond to threats walked out the door along with half of its workforce. In spite of reassurances from Yoel Roth, Twitter’s Head of Safety and Integrity who apparently has Musk’s ear at the moment, the company cut more than one team that touched election integrity. That includes Twitter’s curation team, which provided context, monitored for misinformation and curated Twitter’s trending and moments modules during live events — like elections. The curation team topped different parts of the platform with fact-checked updates that filled information voids and served as counter-programming for misinformation, which spreads quickly in fast-moving news environments. “With early voting underway in the US, our efforts on election integrity — including harmful misinformation that can suppress the vote and combatting state-backed information operations — remain a top priority” Roth said. Here are the facts about where Twitter’s Trust & Safety and moderation capacity stands today: tl;dr: While we said goodbye to incredibly talented friends and colleagues yesterday, our core moderation capabilities remain in place. — Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) November 4, 2022 Twitter also reportedly cut half of its public policy team, including a former director of public policy and elections who worked to prepare the platform for the U.S. midterms. NBC reports that the Twitter layoffs also significantly reduced its the engineering team focused on “user health,” which plays an active role in content moderation. The only positive news is that someone at Twitter convinced Musk to pump the brakes on his pay-for-play verification plan, so the platform just barely dodged the absolute chaos that a flood of newly verified accounts gifted with algorithmic priority would have created on Election Day. Open season Misinformation with domestic origins is a massive concern this election cycle, but Putin allies in Russia are proactively scaremongering around their own efforts to undermine U.S. elections. Russian entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin boasted that “we have interfered, are interfering and will interfere” in U.S. politics, though ominous statements are certainly cheaper than the hiring necessary to see that agenda through, likely to similar effect. Meta’s Head of Security Policy Nathaniel Gleicher made some good points on that front: 3/ Threat actors try perception hacking to trick the public & the media into doing the

Signal is the latest app to roll out a Stories feature • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 7, 2022Posted in Apps, signal, Social, storiesNo Comments

End-to-end encrypted messaging app Signal is rolling out a new Stories feature to all users on Android and iOS, the company announced on Monday. The official launch comes a few weeks after the company first began beta testing the feature with select users. Signal plans to release its Stories feature on desktop soon. As with other platforms’ Stories features, Signal Stories allow users to create and share images, videos and texts that automatically disappear after 24 hours. Signal notes that like everything else in its app, Stories are end-to-end encrypted. Signal users have the option to choose who can see their Stories by navigating to their settings. From there, you can choose to share your Stories with everyone in your phone’s contact list who uses Signal, anyone you’ve had a one-on-one conversation with in Signal or anyone whose message request you’ve accepted. You also have the option to manually hide your Story from specific people. If you would rather choose to share your Stories with a smaller subset of people, you can create a custom Story. In addition, you have the option to share Stories to existing group chats. Like with read receipts for chats, you can decide if you want to send view receipts for Stories you look at and whether you see who’s seen your Stories. You can turn view receipts on or off in the Settings menu. You may be wondering why a messaging app like Signal is adding Stories, but the company says Stories “happen to be one of the most common feature requests” among users, which is why it decided to add them to its platform. Image Credits: Signal “Stories have emerged to serve these specific functions and others in the broader communications landscape, and many of us have integrated them as one of the ways that we connect with one another,” the company said in a blog post. “That’s why they have a natural place in any messaging app, including Signal. People use them, people want them, so we’re providing a way to do stories privately. And without having to wade through a sea of ads.” Signal is aware that not everyone will see Stories as a welcome addition to the app, which is why it’s offering an opt-out setting for the feature. If you’re not interested in seeing or posting Stories, you can opt out by going into your settings and selecting the “Turn of stories” option. The company says although the addition of Stories may seem like a “big shift” for the app, they’re just another way for users to privately communicate with people. Signal notes that its Stories feature isn’t designed to help people build a following or amplify content for engagement, and that it instead sees Stories as a way to facilitate intimate conversations. Signal is a little late to game when it comes to Stories, which first rose to popularity through Snapchat. Over the years, the ephemeral feature has been adopted by nearly every popular platform, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Boosted by Twitter drama, Mastodon reaches 1 million active monthly users • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 7, 2022Posted in Apps, mastodon, Social, social media, social networkNo Comments

Mastodon, the decentralized social network that’s increasingly being positioned as an alternative to Twitter, has eclipsed 1 million active monthly users. That’s according to CEO and lead developer Eugen Rochko, who revealed the milestone in a post on Monday morning. Germany-based Mastodon has experienced rapid growth since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, with nearly half a million users joining the network since October 27. While a fraction of the size of Twitter’s 238 million daily active users, Mastodon’s user base remains on a steep upward trajectory, growing from 60-80 new user registrations per hour prior to October 27 to thousands of registrations per hour today. Twitter’s controversial new ownership — and recent product changes — have supercharged Mastodon’s expansion. Some users say that they were inspired to switch to Mastodon over to concerns about how Twitter’s functionality may change under Musk’s control, while others joined as a form of protest against Twitter’s new paid verification scheme and Musk’s heavy-handed approach to moderating certain forms of satire. Mastodon offers an experience in many ways comparable to Twitter’s, with features like hashtags, replies, bookmarking and retweet-like “boosting.” But unlike Twitter, the network is ad-free and distributed across thousands of servers organized around interests and geographic regions, run largely by volunteers who join their individual systems together in a federation. Once they sign up and pick a server via the web or a mobile client, Mastodon users can swap posts and links with others on their own server as well as users on other servers across the network. Each server can choose to limit or filter out undesirable types of content, such as harassment and gratuitous violence, while users on any server can block and report others to administrators. Founded in 2016, Mastodon — supported through crowdfunding and a small grant from the European Commission — isn’t governed by a central entity. No one server owner can impose their will or shut the network down; server owners can easily cut ties with any one server that embraces policies they view as too extremist. As my colleague Sarah Perez notes, the decentralized design has the added benefit of reducing the cost of overhead and making it impossible for a single entity — like Elon Musk — to acquire. Twenty-five-year-old Rochko is the project’s only full-time employee, programming at his home in Germany on a modest €2,400 ($2,394.96) monthly salary. He’s been working 12- to 14-hour days to keep up with the influx in demand, he noted in a recent post, purchasing more powerful hardware to upgrade Mastodon’s database server.

Twitter said to delay verification check mark rollout until after US midterm elections • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 6, 2022Posted in election security, Elon Musk, Social, Startups, Twitter, twitter blue, verificationNo Comments

Twitter is reportedly delaying the rollout of verification check marks to subscribers as the social network attempts to steer clear of possible impact to Tuesday’s midterm elections. The Elon Musk-owned social media company had planned to rollout the revamped version of its subscription service, Twitter Blue, on Monday. The firm started testing the new features on Saturday, according to an app update note. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The reported move to delay the rollout of verification badges comes just days before the U.S. midterm elections, with polls closing on November 8. The New York Times reports that the move was aimed at limiting the potential fallout of verified users impersonating political or government figures, such as President Biden, or news outlets claiming false results that may discourage others from voting. Jen Easterly, the director of CISA, the U.S. government agency tasked with overseeing election security and protecting voting infrastructure, said last week that the agency it found “no information credible or specific about efforts to disrupt or compromise,” but warned of the ongoing risks that disinformation campaigns sown by foreign actors aimed at undermining confidence in the elections system. Security experts like Chris Krebs, the former CISA director who was fired by President Trump for refuting false claims of election fraud, warned that Twitter’s new verification rules would be a “major risk” ahead of the midterm elections. At the time of writing, several verified users were impersonating Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, despite the risk of having their accounts suspended for impersonation. The revamped Twitter Blue, which will cost $7.99 a month in the U.S., includes a range of new features including the coveted blue check mark to anyone who subscribes as well as cuts down the number of ads served to them on the platform. Musk is betting on turning the subscription service into a major revenue source for Twitter, which he acquired last month for $44 billion. Musk financed $13 billion for the purchase from banks and needs to pay more than $1 billion a year in interest payments. The company began cutting costs earlier this week, laying off roughly half its workforce, or about 3,700 jobs. In a series of tweets earlier this weekend, Musk claimed the company’s revamped Twitter Blue “can beat” the ad-revenue YouTube offers to creators, and that he was also working on fixing the search functionality on Twitter. Twitter will soon allow users to attach long-form texts to tweets, he said. Twitter plans to roll out the revamped Twitter Blue to subscribers in many markets in the coming months. In response to a tweet, Musk said he is hopeful that Twitter Blue will roll out to users in India “in less than a month.”

Elon Musk’s Twitter Blue subscription with verification may launch in India in ‘less than a month’ • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 6, 2022Posted in Apps, Asia, Elon Musk, india, Social, Twitter, twitter blueNo Comments

Twitter may extend its subscription service to India in “less than a month,” its owner and chief executive Elon Musk said, offering a glimpse at just how aggressively he plans to roll out Twitter Blue to the larger world. Twitter launched Twitter Blue in four markets — US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — last year. The Elon Musk-owned firm plans to launch a revamped version of the subscription service in those four markets on Monday. Musk has ramped up Twitter Blue’s offerings, promising a verified checkmark to anyone who subscribes, among other features, including long form video content and having to sift through fewer ads. Those who already have the verified checkmark will need to subscribe to Twitter Blue over the coming months to retain it, Musk said in another tweet. He has previously said that Twitter Blue, which is priced at $7.99 a month in the U.S., will be more affordable in some countries to account for local purchase parity. “Power to the people,” Twitter’s iOS app update note said in anticipation of Monday rollout. “Your account will get a blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow.” Musk is betting on turning the subscription service into a major revenue driver for Twitter, which he acquired last month for $44 billion — $13 billion of which he lent from banks. Musk needs to pay more than $1 billion a year in interest payments. The company this week laid off roughly half the company’s workforce, or about 3,700 jobs. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Musk offered a few more updates on Twitter Blue. He claimed the company “can beat” YouTube’s ad-revenue split to creators, and that fixing the search functionality on Twitter “is a high priority” for the firm. Twitter will soon allow users to attach long-form texts to tweets, he said. Many users who have wished to post longer texts have over the years posted screenshots of texts written on a note app. Musk said the new revamp will end such “absurdity.”

Twitter begins rolling out $7.99 Twitter Blue plan with verification, fewer ads • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 5, 2022Posted in Apps, Elon Musk, Media & Entertainment, Social, social media, Twitter, twitter blueNo Comments

Just days after newly minted Twitter CEO Elon Musk floated changes to Twitter’s system for verifying user accounts, including charging $8 per month for the privilege, Twitter appears to have begun rolling out a new tier of Twitter Blue, its premium subscription service, that reflects some of the changes that Musk has proposed. According to an in-app iOS notification viewed by ZebethMedia, the upgraded Twitter Blue, starting at $7.99 per month, will add the blue verification checkmark previously reserved for accounts that applied through Twitter’s free verification process. Other benefits include “half the ads” seen by non-paying Twitter users as well as ostensibly “twice as relevant” ads, and the ability to post longer videos to Twitter (although it’s not clear just how long; the notification doesn’t specify). Image Credits: ZebethMedia The new, pricier Twitter Blue will also offer priority ranking for “quality content,” promising to boost subscribers’ visibility in replies, mentions and search. Twitter’s making the claim that this will help “lower the visibility of scams, spam and bots,” but time will time will tell whether that’s truly the case. Image Credits: ZebethMedia Musk earlier claimed that Twitter, which recently ended support for ad-free articles offered under Blue, would create a new program for bypassing paywalls for publishers willing to work with the company. But if he intends to follow through with the proposal, the program doesn’t appear to have made it into the new Blue — at least not at launch. Available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. on iOS to start, the new Twitter Blue arrives after mass layoffs at Twitter affecting roughly half of the company’s staff, including employees on key human rights, accessibility, AI ethics and curation teams. Musk has claimed that the cuts — along with the introduction of new paid features — are necessary to bring Twitter to profitability, as the company faces an estimated $1 billion a year in interest payments on $13 billion in debt. It’s likely to be an uphill battle. Data from analytics firm Sensor Tower suggests that Twitter’s app has generated only $6.4 million in in-app purchases to date, with Blue being the top purchase. Musk’s management of Twitter doesn’t appear to have instilled much confidence in major advertisers, however, many of whom have paused campaigns on the platform. In a tweet on Friday, Musk blamed a “massive drop” in Twitter revenue on “activist groups pressuring advertisers,” likely referring to an open letter sent Tuesday by civil society organizations urging Twitter advertisers to suspend their ads if Musk didn’t commit to enforcing safety standards and community guidelines.

Elon Musk just axed key Twitter teams like human rights, accessibility, AI ethics and curation • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 4, 2022Posted in Elon Musk, Social, TwitterNo Comments

Elon Musk is wasting no time making extremely deep cuts at Twitter, calving off many teams doing essential work at the company in the process. News of layoffs swept the platform on Friday, showing that Twitter’s billionaire owner is painting in broad strokes when it comes to trimming down the team by half. The same day that Musk complained about supposed activists impacting Twitter’s ad revenue, he cut some departments outright — actions that are sure to make advertisers all the more skittish about Musk’s ability to steer a ship with a skeleton crew. As he’s only owned the company for a single week, it’s impossible to imagine that such sweeping layoffs won’t lead to dysfunction at Twitter, from the content moderation policies sure to prove crucial for Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections to product teams keeping the platform humming. Here are some of the teams either eliminated outright or hit hard by the layoffs and what the new incarnation of Twitter will be losing in the process. Human Rights Former Twitter Former Human Rights Counsel Shannon Raj Singh shared news that the company’s human rights team was eliminated Friday. The team worked to protect users facing human rights violations around the globe, including activists, journalists and people affected by conflicts like the war in Ukraine. Yesterday was my last day at Twitter: the entire Human Rights team has been cut from the company. I am enormously proud of the work we did to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights, to protect those at-risk in global conflicts & crises including Ethiopia, — Shannon Raj Singh (@ShannonRSingh) November 4, 2022 Accessibility Experience Twitter now former head of accessibility confirmed that the company cut the accessibility experience team, which improved the product for people with disabilities. The team appears to have had a lot still in the works before it was disbanded. So, the Accessibility Experience Team at Twitter is no longer. We had so much more to do, but we worked hard! There aren’t very many people that have had the opportunity to make such an important global platform like Twitter accessible, but we understood the mission. — Gerard K. Cohen (@gerardkcohen) November 4, 2022 November #TwitterA11yStatusLaunched:– Image description reminderIn progress:– ALT badge copy/paste for mobile– Improved image description educationNext:– Setting to disable keyboard shortcuts on WebExploring:– Closed captions toggle– Anniversary images missing alt text — Twitter Accessibility (@TwitterA11y) November 1, 2022 Communications It’s not yet clear what parts of Twitter’s communications team have been cut outright, but the cuts are deep enough that many prominent comms employees at the company, including many contacts that ZebethMedia has spoken with over the years, were affected. Musk signaled his distaste for internal communications immediately after taking over the company, conveying little information to Twitter employees about the changes, so it’s no surprise that the internal communications team is affected as well, including the head of internal comms. Twitter is so special. After 4 yrs, I’m leaving with the fullest 💙, experiences I never imagined, and unbreakable bonds with so many Tweeps. My head is held high, knowing I gave it my absolute all. @TwitterComms: We have so much to be proud of. Time to fly even higher! #OneTeam pic.twitter.com/5tVUP575A6 — Julie Steele (@juliezsteele) November 4, 2022 Many don’t know all the details that went into internal comms this year, but I do. I also know that the people at Twitter embody #OneTeam . No one goes harder than @TwitterComms. Ultimately, I get to leave with the best people alongside me. Cheers — Colette Zakarian (@colzakarian) November 4, 2022 Machine learning ethics, transparency and accountability Musk dissolved a team known internally as META, which was well-respected for its exploratory work in ethical AI and algorithmic transparency. Rumman Chowdhury, the team’s director, was eliminated, along with the team’s engineers and other members. 🫡 Yep, the team is gone. The team that was researching and pushing for algorithmic transparency and algorithmic choice. The team that was studying algorithmic amplification. The team that was inventing and building ethical AI tooling and methodologies. All that is gone. — Joan Deitchman (@JoanDeitchman) November 4, 2022 Curation Some of the layoffs make sense given the things Musk apparently has little regard for (human rights and accessibility, alarming!), but Twitter’s new owner apparently also made cuts to teams that seemed poised to help him extract more value from the company. The curation team curated the moments tab, programmed the trending topics section, provided context on those topics and also handled live events — many of the things Twitter does best. So Twitter’s Curation team is no more. This site 👇 was recently launched to tell the world about our work. Give it a look for two reasons: 1) to see how it will impact your experience 2) if you want to hire the people behind it, get in touch via DM — Andrew Haigh (@AndrewHaigh) November 4, 2022 Looks like Elon Musk fired the entire curation team. These were the folks who tackled misinfo, contextualized conversations via the ‘Explore’ page, and helped make Twitter an unmatched source for breaking news. This will make Twitter noisier, more dangerous & less interesting — Richie Assaly (@rdassaly) November 4, 2022 Public policy Politico reports that half of the company’s public policy team was let go, including Michele Austin, the former director of public policy and elections in Canada and the U.S. who was actively working on the U.S. midterms. Those cuts reportedly also included Twitter team members who work to verify the accounts of political figures. I helped lead the 2022 US midterms on platform. Same with #Elxn44 in Canada. I was responsible for social impact work in both countries. Twitter gave me amazing opportunities. — Michele Austin (@_MicheleAustin) November 4, 2022 This story is developing…

Musk blames ‘activist groups’ for major advertisers pausing spending on Twitter • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 4, 2022Posted in advertising, content moderation, Government & Policy, report, Social, social media, TwitterNo Comments

As mass layoffs begin at Twitter, major advertisers are pausing their campaigns on the social network — a move that’s gotten the attention of newly-minted CEO Elon Musk. In a tweet this morning, Musk blamed a “massive drop” in Twitter revenue on “activist groups pressuring advertisers,” likely referring to an open letter sent Tuesday by civil society organizations urging Twitter advertisers to suspend their ads if Musk didn’t commit to enforcing safety standards and community guidelines. Musk bemoaned the activist efforts, claiming that “nothing has changed with content moderation” on Twitter. But recent developments tell a different story. Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022 Sarah Personette, Twitter’s chief customer officer, who managed the company’s relationships with advertisers, resigned from the company late last Friday. According to Bloomberg, Twitter shut off employee access to certain content moderation and policy enforcement tools, prompting workers to cite concerns about misinformation ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. (Musk later agreed to restore access to the tools.) And as a part of the layoffs today, Twitter eliminated its curation team, which was responsible for providing factual context — and corrections, if necessary — to trending terms and conversations on the platform. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that General Mills, Audi and Pfizer have joined the growing list of companies temporarily pausing their Twitter ads. (Automaker GM last week became the first major brand to announce a pause.) Oreo maker Mondelez and Volkswagen are also reevaluating their ad spend with the network, reportedly spooked by the departure of top executives over the past week including chief marketing officer Leslie Berland and VP of global client solutions Jean-Philippe Maheu. Mondelez, whose brands also include Ritz, Chips Ahoy!, Trident and Tate’s Bake Shop, is among the top largest 20 advertisers on Twitter in terms of ad spend. Given that ad sales accounted for more than 90% of Twitter’s revenue in Q2 2022, its pullback alone is likely to have a substantial impact on the platform’s bottom line. On Tuesday, a New York Times report revealed that that IPG — one of the world’s largest advertising companies, with customers such as Coca-Cola, American Express, Johnson & Johnson, Mattel and Spotify — issued a recommendation for clients to temporarily pause their spending on Twitter because of moderation concerns. According to the piece, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), a coalition of platforms, advertisers and industry groups fighting harmful content on social media, also said it was monitoring how Twitter planned to uphold previous commitments to deal with content moderation. Musk has made increasing efforts to reassure advertisers that Twitter remains “brand safe,” publishing an open letter to advertisers saying that Twitter wouldn’t become a “free-for-all hellscape” and announcing plans to form a council to advise on content moderation. In recent days, Musk has also participated in video calls with ad companies including WPP PLC, according to the Wall Street Journal, during which he’s promised to rid Twitter of bots, add community management tools and introduce new ways to give advertisers the ability to choose which content to be near. Musk has little choice but to make good with Twitter’s sponsors. His deal to buy the company included making Twitter take on $13 billion in debt from banks, which means the social network will owe about $1 billion a year in interest payments.