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Decentralized social network Mastodon grows to 655K users in wake of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Apps, elon buys twitter, mastodon, Social, TwitterNo Comments

Open-source, decentralized social network Mastodon has been benefiting from the chaotic Twitter takeover by Elon Musk. In addition to seeing a record number of downloads for the Mastodon mobile app this past weekend, the non-profit company today announced a new milestone. In a post on Twitter — where Mastodon has been successfully marketing its app to those now considering leaving the service — it noted that 230,000 people have joined Mastodon in the last week alone. Thanks to these new sign-ups as well as people returning to old accounts they had set up previously, the network now has 655,000 active users, the post noted. This is the highest number of users Mastodon has seen to date, Mastodon said. The number of people who switched over to #Mastodon in the last week alone has surpassed 230 thousand, along with many returning to old accounts bumping the network to over 655 thousand active users, highest it’s ever been! Why? 👉 — Mastodon (@joinmastodon) November 3, 2022 This follows the recent news that the open-source network had gained over 70,000 new sign-ups on Friday, Oct. 28 — the day after Musk’s deal to acquire Twitter had closed. From Friday through Sunday, the Mastodon mobile app also saw around 91,000 new installs, third-party data from Sensor Tower indicated — a 658% increase from the 12,000 installs it saw the three days prior. This rapid growth has not been without its downsides for the Twitter alternative, however. This week, one of the most popular servers on the Mastodon network, mastodon.social, has been experiencing lags and downtime as it struggled to accommodate the influx of new users. This could turn some people off from using Mastodon as their initial experience was sub-par. Though Mastodon founder and CEO Eugen Rochko has been working long hours to optimize the service and even ordered new hardware, the upgrade process has taken time at this crucial moment for Mastodon’s future. Often, when new users who try a service for the first time get frustrated by bugs and other issues, they don’t come back a second time. Plus, some users came to Mastodon without a full understanding of how a decentralized social network works and have found the process confusing or overly technical. Unlike on Twitter, or any other traditional social network, users don’t just create an account and start posting. They have to first pick a server to join as their Mastodon home. This is the part that causes people to stumble, as they don’t know where to find a server list, how to choose the right one, or whether or not they’re limited to chatting with people only on that server. This could also turn them off from exploring Mastodon further. It’s unfortunate because this is actually the key selling point for Mastodon — you join a server that best fits your interests. And by distributing the load across a network of servers, running Mastodon doesn’t require the infrastructure and engineering — or the massive amount of capital — that a network like Twitter does. That means Mastodon can be supported through smaller revenue streams, like sponsorships and donations, instead of ads. It also means Mastodon can’t be bought or sold to someone like Musk. Each Mastodon server is operated by a different individual or organization and can set its own moderation policies. But users aren’t limited to only communicating with friends on their own server — you can find and follow friends anywhere on the network. However, you can view your server’s timeline feed and the larger, “Federated” feed separately from your own Home feed of people you follow. This is particularly helpful if the server you’ve joined is filled with community members who post about things you’re interested in. There are a number of topic-based servers to choose from, too, to help with this. For example, some topic-based servers focus on areas like technology, music, gaming, art, activism, LGBTQ+, food, and more, in addition to general servers for socializing. This allows everyone to find their own niche. Of note, decentralization is the direction that Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey is going with his new social networking protocol Bluesky, which now has over 30,000 sign-ups on its waitlist, pre-launch. A Bluesky mobile app will help people to connect using this technology in the days to come. But the open source community — including those who have been doing the hard work on Mastodon over the years — have been frustrated with the Silicon Valley exec’s decision to go his own way with Bluesky, instead of using established protocols like ActivityPub, which powers Mastodon and others. Soon, it seems, users will have to choose what sort of decentralized social networking future they want — or whether the action on Twitter, regardless of its owner, is too enticing to give up.

Musk to slash Twitter’s headcount by half — report • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Elon Musk, Social, TwitterNo Comments

More on rumors of looming job cuts at Twitter: Bloomberg is reporting that new owner Elon Musk will slash headcount by 50% to cut costs, citing people familiar with the matter. Its report suggests staff will begin being told Friday. Additionally, Bloomberg says Musk will reverse Twitter’s current ‘work from anywhere’ policy — and intends to require staff to work from offices, with the possibility that some exceptions could be made. The social media firm has around 7,500 employees in total globally — so halving headcount would mean cutting around 3,750 jobs. While issuing a blanket mandate to return to office working could be a strategy for Musk to accelerate the staff purge by encouraging employees to leave voluntarily if they don’t like the change of terms. We reached out to Twitter for comment on Bloomberg’s report but at the time of writing it had not responded. A number of staff already left Twitter prior to the Musk takeover, electing to leave pre-emptively rather than stay for the inevitable drama/workplace hell. Musk also fired a clutch of top execs immediately on taking over the company, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, General Counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Legal Policy, Trust and Safety Vijaya Gadde — reportedly bringing in a coterie of advisors and Tesla staff to help him decide on how to restructure Twitter. The billionaire has not yet made it clear how he will reshape the company — but he is under pressure to shrink costs given the amount of debt he’s had to take on by taking over Twitter. In recent days, he has also been lashing out at Twitter’s core customers (advertisers), following reports that some are going cold on the platform over brand safety concerns attached to his particular brand of ‘free speech’ — a self-defeating dynamic that looks set to increase Musk’s financial bind. Bloomberg’s report of looming job cuts of 50% follows a Washington Post article at the end of last month that suggested Musk planned to cut 25% of the workforce. Earlier last month the Post had also reported that Musk planned to axe 75% of Twitter staff — a report Musk denied, according to a Bloomberg report citing ‘people familiar with the matter’. While Musk does not appear to have made public remarks on any of these headcount downsizing rumors he did tweet late last month to deny a New York Times report that had suggested layoffs at Twitter would take place before November 1 in order to avoid schedule stock grant payouts — dubbing that report “false”. In the small hours this morning, Musk was instead tweeting cryptically about Twitter’s potential for “improvement”. … with a lot of room for improvement — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 3, 2022

Twitter cancels its Chirp conference for developers amid management transition • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Apps, Chirp, developers, elon buys twitter, TwitterNo Comments

Twitter is canceling its Chirp conference for developers amid management transition, the company said late Thursday. After Elon Musk took over the company last month, there have been several executive exits and directional changes in the company’s product strategy. So it is not surprising that social network is abandoning its plan for the conference’s return after more than a decade of hiatus. In a tweet, Twitter’s official account for developer-related announcements said that the company is “hard at work to make Twitter better for everyone, including developers” and it might soon share some news about the topic. We’re currently hard at work to make Twitter better for everyone, including developers! We’ve decided to cancel the #Chirp developer conference while we build some things that we’re excited to share with you soon. — Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) November 2, 2022 The company’s head of developer products, Amir Shevat, didn’t provide any details about the reason behind canceling the conference and just tweeted “Winds of change” as a reaction to it. In June, Parag Agarwal-led Twitter announced that it’s bringing back the Chirp conference in November. The company also opened up a contest for developers to show creative use cases of its new v2 API with prices like $10,000 for winners of different categories and free access to the enterprise tier of the API for a year. Twitter first held Chirp in 2010 but abandoned the event the next year. While the platform has had a strenuous relationship with developers in the last decade, it was trying to win the community back with new programs and a refreshed API. What’s more, the company opened up API access to academic researchers last year. Earlier this year, it debuted a program called Twitter Toolbox, which highlighted some third-party apps. At that time, Shevat also said that the company was open to exploring models like Twitter’s own app store. Last week, Twitter opened up new endpoints to direct messages through the v2 API that enables third-party apps to provide a better DM experience to users. It’s unclear what Twitter for developers will look like in the Musk era. The Tesla CEO has given indications of engineering-led Twitter multiple times, so developers will hope that they will get better access to the company’s tools.

Here’s what happened at Elon Musk’s meeting with civil rights leaders • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 2, 2022Posted in content moderation, Elon Musk, Social, TwitterNo Comments

After meeting with a group of civil rights leaders about his content moderation plans, new “Chief Twit” Elon Musk has committed to uphold existing election integrity policies until at least after the results of next week’s U.S. midterm elections have been certified. According to statements from leaders who attended the meeting, the mogul said he will not reinstate previously banned Twitter users until there is a transparent process for doing so. Musk also committed to including representatives from groups that suffer from hate-fueled violence in his proposed content moderation council. “Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on [the] platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks,” Musk wrote in a tweet about the meeting. He did not elaborate on which users would qualify to be reinstated. Musk has not always followed through on promises he has made about his business plans, making it hard to take his plans at face value. But for now, he has claimed he won’t be making vital content moderation decisions alone. According to Musk’s tweets, his meeting included representatives from Free Press, the Asian American Foundation (TAAF), Color of Change, the NAACP, the Bush Center, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). ZebethMedia reached out to these groups to independently confirm their attendance; all but the Bush Center, LULAC and TAAF have confirmed thus far. “The NAACP met with Elon Musk to express our grave concerns with the dangerous, life-threatening hate and conspiracies that have proliferated on Twitter under his watch. According to a report, hate speech increased by approximately 500% in the first 12 hours following his acquisition. Now let that sink in,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson in an emailed statement. “Nazi memes, racial slurs, and extreme far-right propaganda do not belong in the ‘town square’ of any democracy or online platform. […] In the immediacy, it is critical that Twitter’s existing election integrity policies remain in effect until at the very least after the midterm elections have been certified.” Multiple leaders present at yesterday’s meeting have been vocal critics of Musk’s ideas for Twitter. The CEO of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, wrote a statement after Musk took leadership of Twitter on Thursday, expressing the organization’s concern about the safety of marginalized groups on the platform. “We are concerned that Mr. Musk’s acquisition of Twitter may accelerate what ADL has seen repeatedly: the pushing out of marginalized communities from social media,” the statement reads. “As with Telegram, Gab, Parler, Rumble, and other platforms that refuse to address incitement and slander in the name of free speech, such platforms have become hotbeds for radicalism and hate. This invariably reduces the diversity of views on these services and narrows rather than expands the public conversation.” This was certainly a productive meeting & I appreciate @ElonMusk’s willingness to hear our concerns. With these 3 commitments, we’re cautiously optimistic about the future of @Twitter & will provide input & insight whenever possible. Ultimately, actions speak louder than words. — Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) November 2, 2022 After he and ADL Vice President Yael Eisenstat participated in the virtual call with Musk, Greenblatt said that he is “cautiously optimistic” about Musk’s promises. Free Press has also taken action to respond to Musk’s ownership of Twitter. Yesterday, Free Press and dozens of other civil society groups published an open letter, calling on top-20 advertisers to demand that Musk uphold the network’s existing content moderation policies. “These commitments are a good first step but really just the beginning of a long process,” wrote Free Press co-CEO Jessica J. González in a statement. “As the report Free Press published last week shows, hate, abuse and conspiracy theories are rampant on Twitter. There is much more to do to make Twitter a space for robust and healthy dialogue.” Musk had already stated that he wants to build a content moderation council, which will discuss issues like the ban on former President Donald Trump’s account, which Musk has said he believes was a mistake. Twitter permanently banned Trump’s account in the days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol because his tweets violated Twitter’s Glorification of Violence policy. Even though Musk claims he will not re-platform any banned users until a clear process is established, users are concerned about how these plans will impact vulnerable groups, like the LGBTQ community. Last week, Musk replied to a tweet from the daughter of academic and self-help author Jordan Peterson, who was suspended from the platform for deadnaming trans actor Elliott Page and calling Page’s surgeon a “criminal physician” over the summer. When she asked if he would bring her father back on the platform, he replied: “Anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail.” Even Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has tweeted at the SpaceX and Tesla CEO about reversing Peterson’s ban. Anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022 Even though Musk promised these civil rights leaders that his content moderation council will include members of groups who face hate-fueled violence, this claim is at odds with Musk’s recent platforming of anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theories. Musk’s own Twitter history doesn’t set a reassuring precedent either. In April, he posted a meme making fun of Twitter’s head of policy and trust, Vijaya Gadde (who he fired immediately upon securing his takeover). The post, which criticized her for having a left-wing bias, incited a torrent of abusive, racist tweets at the executive. Earlier this month, Musk also warmly welcomed Ye (formerly Kanye West) to Twitter after he was suspended from Instagram for posting antisemitic messages. But 12 hours later, Ye was suspended from Twitter as well — he had continued his antisemitic tirade on the platform now owned by Musk, threatening that he was “going death [sic] con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” For the last week, Musk’s

Twitter CMO is the latest to leave in a string of exec departures • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 1, 2022Posted in elon buys twitter, leslie berland, Media & Entertainment, TwitterNo Comments

Twitter CMO Leslie Berland is the latest executive leaving the social network, just days into its Elon Musk era, Bloomberg and the New York Times report. Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg also writes that Jean-Philippe Maheu, the vice president of global client solutions, is leaving the company. Berland hasn’t said anything publicly about the job change yet, other than tweeting out a simple blue heart emoji. Despite the tweet’s brevity, it seems to have been signal enough to usher in a flood of responses, including other Twitter employees sending blue heart emojis right back. A VP of product quote tweeted Berland’s tweet and added that “it’s not hyperbolic to say that no one had a bigger impact on Twitter the service — and Twitter the company…she always had your back, she always listened, she always did right, and she made Twitter ‘what’s happening’.” Berland’s LinkedIn and Twitter bios haven’t been updated to reflect any job change. ZebethMedia reached out to Berland prior to publishing for comment but did not immediately hear back. Berland’s reported departure comes over a decade after they first joined the company – and continues a string of departures that were announced today including chief consumer officer Sarah Personette and chief people and diversity officer Dalana Brand. As my colleague Amanda Silberling noted, the cohort of Twitter’s pre-Musk executives still at the company is getting smaller and smaller. Jay Sullivan, Twitter’s head of product, deleted the bio on his Twitter account, which previously denoted his role at the company. The previous head of product, Kayvon Beykpour, was let go by former CEO Parag Agrawal in May. Agrawal himself, along with CFO Ned Segal, General Counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Legal Policy, Trust and Safety Vijaya Gadde, were let go on Thursday when Musk took over, reports say. Current and former Twitter employees can reach out to Natasha Mascarenhas at natasha.m@techcrunch.com, or Signal, a secure messaging app, at (925) 271 0912.

Elon Musk floats $8 Twitter subscription that includes verification, long-form video and audio posting and fewer ads • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 1, 2022Posted in Apps, elon buys twitter, Elon Musk, Twitter, twitter blueNo Comments

After much uncertainty around Twitter Blue’s revamp, Elon Musk laid out the company’s approach. He said that the new paid plan will cost $8 per month — something that he mentioned in a reply to Stephen King’s tweet. Plus, the price will be adjusted according to purchasing power parity of the company, hinting towards a global launch of Twitter Blue. Musk’s tweet also says that the social network’s current verification system is akin to a “lords & peasants” system. His tweet about the new paid plan indicated offering verification to subscribers. Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022 Musk also noted some of the features that will roll out with this new plan including fewer ads, priority in replies (something which verified handles get through the “Verified” notification channel) mentions and search, and the ability post longer videos than the current limit of 2 minutes 20 seconds You will also get:– Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam– Ability to post long video & audio– Half as many ads — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022 Musk has a tendency of changing his mind quickly, so we should take this announcement with a grain of salt. These might not be the final set of features when Twitter rolls out its new subscription plan. Earlier this week, reports noted that Musk and Twitter are revamping the verification process, and it might involve a fee as high as $20 per month. However, the billionaire has seemed to settle on the $8 per month pricing for now. The reports also noted that the current set of verified users will lose their blue checkmark if they don’t pay for the new paid plan. Musk hasn’t mentioned any such measure in the new Twitter thread about the subscription plan. Earlier today, ZebethMedia reported that Twitter is ending support for ad-free articles offered under its Twitter Blue program. The company sent an email to participating publisher partners about the program’s end. While Twitter is ending payments and partnerships with the current set of publishers, Musk said that it will create a new program for bypassing paywalls for publishers willing to work with the company. He also mentioned that the subscription revenue stream will help Twitter in rewarding content creators — but didn’t specify how. This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022 (Story is developing)

Twitter ad sales head resigned amid turbulent Musk takeover • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 1, 2022Posted in Elon Musk, Sarah Personette, Social, TwitterNo Comments

Twitter’s Chief Consumer Officer Sarah Personette has left the company, she wrote in a Twitter thread Tuesday morning. Personette, who was in charge of Twitter’s ad sales business, said that she resigned on Friday, and her work access was officially cut off by Tuesday. The day before her resignation, Musk fired four key executives immediately after his takeover: CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, General Counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Legal Policy, Trust and Safety Vijaya Gadde. It has been the greatest privilege to serve all of you as a leader and a partner. Many have heard me say this but the most important role I believe I played in the company was championing the requirements of brand safety. — Sarah Personette (@SEP) November 1, 2022 With Personette out of the picture, the number of remaining pre-Musk executives at Twitter is dwindling, with more key personnel rumored to be leaving as well. Jay Sullivan, Twitter’s head of product, deleted the bio on his Twitter account, which previously denoted his role at the company. The previous head of product, Kayvon Beykpour, was let go by former CEO Agrawal in May. A former Facebook marketing VP, Personette had worked at Twitter since October 2018, when she joined as a VP of Global Client Solutions, per LinkedIn. She was promoted to Chief Customer Officer in August 2021. That role is crucial to Twitter’s business, since the majority of its revenue comes from ad sales. With Musk expected to make changes to content moderation policies, ad sales could be impacted. As newly installed “Chief Twit” Elon Musk took over on Thursday, he posted a screenshot of a letter he wrote to Twitter advertisers, vowing that the platform “obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape.” Personette quote-tweeted his message, saying that he had a great conversation with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. She added, “Our continued commitment to brand safety for advertisers remains unchanged. Looking forward to the future!” But by the following evening, she had resigned. “It has been the greatest privilege to serve all of you as a leader and a partner,” Personette said. “Many have heard me say this but the most important role I believe I played in the company was championing the requirements of brand safety.”

Twitter to end ad-free news articles as part of its revamp of the Twitter Blue subscription • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 1, 2022Posted in Ads, Apps, Elon Musk, Twitter, twitter blueNo Comments

It’s public knowledge now that one of the first things Elon Musk is concentrating on after taking over Twitter is revamping the Twitter Blue program. While a lot of attention has been around a potential verification feature being included in the paid program, the company is also removing some of the existing features like publisher partnerships, according to an email received by one of the partners. According to 9to5Mac, which was one of the partners in the program, the company sent an email to all publishers on October 31 notifying them that the Twitter Blue partnership is ending. The program allowed paid users to see ad-free articles on participating publications, and the social network would pay publishers an equivalent amount of ad revenue earned from one view. It had more than 350 publishers on board including the likes of The Washington Post, L.A. Times, Reuters, and The Atlantic. “In the coming weeks, we’ll be launching an update to Twitter Blue. In the course of this work, we have made the decision to discontinue Ad-free Articles, effective as of the close of business today, October 31, 2022. This hard decision will allow us to focus our resources on adding additional value for our members. Expect to hear more from us soon,” the email read. “Starting tomorrow, we will stop displaying the “Twitter Blue Publisher” label on any Tweets containing your articles. We will no longer be sending a Twitter Blue token when people on Twitter access articles from your properties. This will prevent the ad-free experience on your site from loading.” Currently, some users can still see labels accompanying this article, but Twitter will gradually stop showing them. Publishers, meanwhile, were informed they could remove any Twitter Blue code from their website and were told they would only be able to access the Twitter Blue Publisher portal through the end of November. All payouts will continue on the regular schedule until the program, which the email described as a “test,” is shut down. Image Credits: ZebethMedia Twitter didn’t immediately comment on the development. The feature’s closure is not only abrupt, it also squanders Twitter’s investment in the ad-free reading experience. The company acquired the news reading service Scroll in May 2021, with the goal of making it a part of its own subscription offering. It later shut down Scroll in the fall of last year as it moved the service’s feature set into Twitter Blue. The service itself may not have been profitable, as it would redirect a portion of subscription revenue to support the publishers that readers engaged with. This could cut into Twitter’s bottom line for a subscription that, in and of itself, wasn’t doing very well. According to new data from app intelligence provider Sensor Tower, Twitter’s app had only generated $6.4 million in consumer spending to date, with Blue as the top in-app purchase. That’s not a lot considering the subscription has been available since last year and Twitter has some 238 million monetizable daily active users. Twitter Blue is currently available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In addition to ad-free news, it has offered features like a button to edit tweets within a 30-minute timeframe, a bookmarks folder, custom icons and navigation, and early access to experimental features. Reports have suggested that Musk could price the new Twitter Blue at $20 per month — but in a reply to writer Stephen King, he suggested $8 per month. It’s clear there’s no decision yet on pricing. According to CNBC, the Tesla and SpaceX exec has set very aggressive deadlines for the Twitter Blue revamp with some employees having to work in 12-hour shifts. Additional reporting: Sarah Perez

With Bret Taylor out as Twitter board chair, he can focus entirely on Salesforce • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 1, 2022Posted in Bret Taylor, elon buys twitter, Elon Musk, Enterprise, Salesforce, TwitterNo Comments

Usually being a board chair is a job that involves running some meetings and pushing through routine company business, but when Bret Taylor became Twitter board chair last year, he was getting a lot more than he bargained for. Taylor was promoted to the job in November 2021, the same day Jack Dorsey resigned as CEO. That in itself was an inauspicious start, and it would only get rockier. As though that weren’t enough for one person to take on, Bret was also promoted to co-CEO at Salesforce in the same week. It seemed like a good thing at the time, helping run two of the most influential tech companies out there, but the situation with Twitter quickly devolved. By April, Elon Musk bought a 9.2% stake and demanded a board seat before backing off that and making a $43 billion offer to buy the company outright. It’s been a roller-coaster ride ever since, with the board accepting the offer, then Musk trying to back out, the board initiating a court case to force him to go through with it, and finally Musk taking over this week and promptly dissolving the board under the terms of the merger agreement. That’s quite a ride by any measure, and after all that, who would blame Taylor for being anything but relieved that the gig was over. Truth be told, the board chair gig probably took up a bit more of his attention than he had anticipated when he agreed to take the job. But now Taylor can devote himself, fully unencumbered, to his day job being co-CEO at Salesforce, leading the CRM giant with co-founder, chairman and co-CEO Marc Benioff. Meanwhile, Salesforce has been having some issues of its own, with its stock price down 34% this year. To be fair, many SaaS stocks are down double digits this year, but it has left it vulnerable to activist investors. And earlier this month, Starboard Value took an undetermined stake in the company with plans to work with Salesforce to increase its value. That’s enough of a headache to deal with without another job gnawing at your consciousness, especially one that involved the mercurial Musk. The company also announced big plans to reach $50 billion in revenue by FY2026, which pleases investors, even Starboard, but they want to see the company increase growth and profitability. In its most recent earnings report at the end of August, the company reported revenue over $7.7 billion, putting it on a run rate over $30 billion, but that’s a fair distance from the stated goal of $50 billion in about two and a half years. It wasn’t that long ago that $20 billion was the goal, so I wouldn’t put it past them, but it’s going to take focus to get there, and being involved in the Twitter saga could have been an unnecessary irritant pulling Taylor away from this central task. The bottom line is Taylor has a lot going on. He is co-leading a company with over 70,000 employees with activist investors breathing down the company’s neck. Getting let go by Elon Musk frees him to devote his full attention to Salesforce. And that might not be a bad thing.

Twitter’s verification chaos is now a cybersecurity problem • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 1, 2022Posted in phishing, Security, TwitterNo Comments

Cybercriminals are already capitalizing on Twitter’s ongoing verification chaos by sending phishing emails designed to steal the passwords of unwitting users. The phishing email campaign, seen by ZebethMedia, attempts to lure Twitter users into posting their username and password on an attacker’s website disguised as a Twitter help form. The email is sent from a Gmail account, abd links to a Google Doc with another link to a Google Site, which lets users host web content. This is likely to create several layers of obfuscation to make it more difficult for Google to detect abuse using its automatic scanning tools. But the page itself contains an embedded frame from another site, hosted on a Russian web host Beget, which asks for the user’s Twitter handle, password and phone number — enough to compromise accounts that don’t use stronger two-factor authentication. Google took down the phishing site a short time after ZebethMedia alerted the company. A Google spokesperson told ZebethMedia: “Confirming we have taken down the links and accounts in question for violations of our program policies.” A screenshot of the phishing email designed to steal Twitter users’ credentials. Image Credits: ZebethMedia. The campaign appears crude in nature, likely because it was quickly put together to take advantage of the recent news that Twitter will soon charge users monthly for premium features, including verification, as well as the reported possibility of taking away verified badges of Twitter users who don’t pay. As of the time of writing, Twitter has yet to make a public decision about the future of its verification program, which launched in 2009 to confirm the authenticity of certain Twitter accounts, such as public figures, celebrities and governments. But it clearly hasn’t stopped cybercriminals — even on the lower-skilled end — from taking advantage of the lack of clear information from Twitter since it went private this week following the close of Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover. ZebethMedia also alerted Beget to the phishing pages, but did not immediately hear back. A spokesperson for Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.