
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h3>



<p>Elon Musk claimed Wednesday X, formerly known as Twitter, could one day become a trillion dollar company, a stellar valuation that few companies have achieved, despite the major turmoil arising since the billionaire took the helm last October.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<p>One of Musk’s first moves after acquiring Twitter was to immediately lay off most of the company’s workforce—staff numbers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/07/12/twitter-and-elon-musk-face-500-million-lawsuit-for-allegedly-reusing-severance-for-fired-employees/">reportedly</a>&nbsp;fell from more than 7,500 to around 1,300—raising concerns the firm would not have enough staff to properly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/28/technology/twitter-outages-elon-musk.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">maintain</a>&nbsp;the platform,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/11/24/twitter-reportedly-leaves-brussels-europes-regulatory-hub-amid-concerns-about-musks-content-moderation-plans/">moderate content or comply</a>&nbsp;with regulatory requirements.</p>



<p>The abrupt nature of the layoffs and how they were handled have triggered numerous lawsuits from former employees that could end up&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/07/12/twitter-and-elon-musk-face-500-million-lawsuit-for-allegedly-reusing-severance-for-fired-employees/?sh=89bfd311d91c">costing</a>&nbsp;the platform hundreds of millions of dollars.</p>



<p>Unpopular policy changes, notably easing content moderation, implementing an&nbsp;<a href="https://mashable.com/article/half-of-twitter-blue-earliest-subscribers-no-longer-subscribed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unpopular paid subscription</a>&nbsp;and overhauling the identity verification system, spooked users and sparked chaos when impersonators abused the new system, with advertising revenue&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/twitter-traffic-falls-under-elon-musk-threads-mastodon-bluesky-competition/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plunging</a>&nbsp;as companies pulled ads.</p>



<p>Lawsuits from former staff are just a small fraction of X’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/07/12/twitter-troubles-here-are-all-the-big-legal-hurdles-twitters-faced-since-elon-musks-takeover/">legal woes</a>, which include numerous&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/07/03/twitter-faces-lawsuit-over-unpaid-office-fees-again/?sh=2e30ea122613">reports</a>&nbsp;of unpaid office bills, a major copyright lawsuit for letting users post video and audio using copyrighted&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/06/14/twitter-sued-for-250-million-by-music-publishers-claiming-copyright-infringement/?sh=69657fb72d14">music</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a8281bf4-bd83-42ac-875f-9061ee1b357b" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">potential brushes with regulators&nbsp;</a>failing to curb the spread of illegal content online and not paying&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/08/03/twitter-gets-sued-for-allegedly-not-complying-with-french-law-that-requires-it-to-pay-news-publishers/">news publishers for content</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/08/04/twitter-hq-landlord-paid-san-francisco-over-4000-in-fees-after-musks-team-installed-x-sign-on-roof/">fees</a>&nbsp;for installing a giant illuminated “X” sign on the roof of the company’s headquarters.</p>



<p>Tech issues have also plagued the platform since Musk’s arrival, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/13/23553161/third-party-twitter-clients-apps-outage-twitterific-tweetbot" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unexplained</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/twitter-reports-glitches-outages-1235667776/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">outages</a>, privacy&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/03/twitter-circle-glitches-have-users-worried-about-privacy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">glitches</a>, randomly&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/01/twitter-is-randomly-logging-out-users-youre-welcome/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">logging</a>&nbsp;out users,&nbsp;<a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/06/twitter-bug-marks-regular-users-as-spambots-restricting-their-accounts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">restrictions</a>&nbsp;on what users can see and throttling the number of posts users could see in a day.</p>



<p>X is also fending off a number of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/07/05/leaving-elon-musks-twitter-here-are-some-alternatives-from-meta-threads-to-mastodon-to-bluesky/">rivals</a>&nbsp;vying for Twitter’s spot, including Bluesky and Spill, headed by&nbsp;<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/13/tech/twitter-competitors/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">former employees</a>&nbsp;and notably Meta’s long awaited&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/07/04/metas-twitter-rival-threads-will-launch-thursday-as-chaos-continues-on-elon-musks-platform/">Threads</a>, which became the<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/07/10/with-100-million-users-in-five-days-threads-is-the-fastest-growing-app-in-history/">&nbsp;fastest growing app i</a>n history days after launching but has since seen a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/07/28/zuckerberg-implies-less-than-half-of-threads-users-have-stuck-around/?sh=678c145489cd">slump</a>&nbsp;in users.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-peg">NEWS PEG</h2>



<p>A trillion dollar market cap for X “is not out of the question,” Musk said in a post on Wednesday. It is not the first time the billionaire has made such a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/23/musk-tesla-could-be-trillion-dollar-company-and-other-predictions.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">prediction</a>&nbsp;and he has a reputation for making sometimes outlandish forecasts. The figure would be a substantial markup from the $44 billion Musk purchased Twitter for in 2022. In a matter of months, Twitter has undergone a drastic transformation, including a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/07/25/elon-musks-twitter-rebrand-sets-stage-for-everything-app-x-to-takeoff-experts-say-heres-how/">rebrand to X</a>. Musk changed the iconic bird logo, which experts told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;risks erasing billions in brand value. Though unconventional, the transformation signals a move towards transforming the platform into an “everything app” in the vein of China’s WeChat, something Musk has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/07/25/musk-says-x-name-change-is-a-result-of-his-push-to-build-an-everything-app/?sh=50e8e10675a1">been promising</a>&nbsp;to build a rival for. These superapps are like virtual Swiss army knives that combine features from multiple apps such as ride hailing, food delivery, payments, investing and messaging and they dominate markets in some parts of Asia where they are essentially ubiquitous in everyday life. There is significant&nbsp;<a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/financial-services/us-fsi-western-super-apps.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">potential</a>&nbsp;for such a model to take off in Western markets and experts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/07/25/elon-musks-twitter-rebrand-sets-stage-for-everything-app-x-to-takeoff-experts-say-heres-how/">told</a>&nbsp;<em>Forbes&nbsp;</em>the rebrand is an opportunity for Musk to add features to elevate the platform beyond social media.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



<p>$231.2 billion. That’s how much&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=5c26ba107999">estimates</a>&nbsp;Musk is worth. He occupies the top position on&nbsp;<em>Forbes’</em>&nbsp;list of the world’s richest people, leading French luxury goods magnate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bernard-arnault/?list=rtb/">Bernard Arnault</a>, who is in second place, by around $18 billion. Musk’s fortune is largely derived from his stake in electric carmaker Tesla and a cohort of valuable companies he cofounded, including rocket firm SpaceX, brain implant company Neuralink and tunneling firm Boring Company.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



<p>Very few companies have managed to hit a $1 trillion valuation but X would not be the first of Musk’s companies to reach that threshold. Tesla topped a $1 trillion market capitalization in&nbsp;<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/25/investing/tesla-stock-trillion-dollar-market-cap/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2021</a>, the sixth company in U.S. history to pass the milestone. Its value has since dropped well below that level, though is still valued at more than $730 billion.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/07/25/elon-musks-twitter-rebrand-sets-stage-for-everything-app-x-to-takeoff-experts-say-heres-how/">Elon Musk’s Twitter Rebrand Sets Stage For Everything App ‘X’ To Takeoff, Experts Say—Here’s How</a> (Forbes)</p>


Tesla Officially Opens Gruenheide Gigafactory

Elon Musk Thinks X Could Become A Trillion Dollar Company—Here Are The Challenges Facing The Platform Since He Took Over


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Bot accounts and tweets from Twitter owner Elon Musk amplified the prices of FTX-listed cryptocurrencies, according to a Network Contagion Research Institute&nbsp;<a href="https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/NCRI_FTXReport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study published Wednesday</a>, which took a close look at the sort of spam accounts that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-twitter-vs-bad-bots-the-battle-goes-on-d25ce0ab" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Musk recently claimed</a>&nbsp;have been mostly tamed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Researchers examined more than 3 million tweets about 18 cryptocurrencies from January 1, 2019 to January 27, 2023, a time range that includes Twitter activity before, during and slightly after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the platform.</p>



<p>Using Botometer, a service that checks the activity of Twitter accounts and gives them a score based on how likely they are to be bots, researchers found that out of a total of 182,105 unique accounts that tweeted about FTX-listed coins, 172,451 accounts were given “bot” scores.</p>



<p>Researchers said the bots aided in pumping the price of crypto coins traded by insiders of defunct Alameda Research, a hedge fund and sister firm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX platform—a cryptocurrency exchange that went bankrupt in November.</p>



<p>Following promotional tweets by FTX’s official Twitter account, researchers found “activity for the coins grew increasingly inauthentic over time,” with bot-like comments growing and accounting for about half of the total chatter about the 18 coins.</p>



<p>The study also concluded that tweets by Musk mentioning altcoins, such as PEPE and PSYOP, created considerable price spikes for the cryptocurrencies.</p>



<p>Researchers cited a May 13&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1657318313532313600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1657318313532313600%7Ctwgr%5E5eb9c00b8a13cb78a726136639f2a12d3adb3131%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fco" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweet from Musk</a>&nbsp;that featured a Pepe the Frog meme that contributed to a more than 50% increase in the price of PEPE within 24 hours, with price action being fueled by “a combination of both authentic and inauthentic bot-driven activity.”</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



<p>The study did not directly link FTX or Alameda as being responsible for the bot accounts, but did note that FTX’s promotional tweets may have boosted bot engagement on coin chatter.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-twitter-vs-bad-bots-the-battle-goes-on-d25ce0ab" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">90%</a>. That is the percentage of scams on Twitter that Musk said in June had been eliminated from the platform, which has since been rebranded to X. However, the billionaire business owner has yet to provide data backing the claim.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“Since Musk’s team took over Twitter last year, API changes were made to deter bot creation, possibly reducing crypto promotion and scams,” Alex Goldenberg, lead intelligence analyst for NCRI, said in an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/02/elon-musk-tweets-twitter-bots-boosted-ftx-listed-crypto-researchers.html?__source=sharebar%7Ctwitter&amp;par=sharebar" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interview with CNBC</a>, which first reported the study. “However, these changes come with trade-offs as they also hinder independent audits by third-party researchers.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



<p>We estimate Musk’s net worth at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=58ff69fc7999">$232.7 billion</a>&nbsp;as of Wednesday, making him the world’s wealthiest person.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Prior to his acquisition of Twitter,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1517215066550116354" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Musk claimed</a>&nbsp;he would “defeat the spam bots or die trying!” Since then, bots on the social media platform&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-linda-yaccarino-elon-musk-exterminate-bots-2023-6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">have persisted</a>, though it is unclear how many bots are on the site as of today. Before Musk’s acquisition of Twitter,&nbsp;<a href="https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/is-elon-musk-right-about-the-bot-problem-on-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yale researchers</a>&nbsp;found the prevalence of active bots on the site varied from 1% to 14%. “In a study of the first impeachment of Donald Trump, we found that bots were 1% of the active users, but posted 31% of the tweets,” a Yale associate professor wrote in&nbsp;<a href="https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/is-elon-musk-right-about-the-bot-problem-on-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an article</a>&nbsp;about Twitter bots. Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-twitter-vs-bad-bots-the-battle-goes-on-d25ce0ab" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">claimed in June</a>&nbsp;at least 90% of the fake accounts littered throughout Twitter were eliminated. However, researchers found bots were still easy to find on the app, with an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton University telling the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-twitter-vs-bad-bots-the-battle-goes-on-d25ce0ab" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Wall Street Journal</em></a>&nbsp;that “bad bots remain pervasive on Twitter.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2023/03/29/sam-bankman-fried-legal-fees-funded-by-alameda-money-gifted-to-father-joe-bankman/?sh=69a1063f5757">Sam Bankman-Fried’s Legal Defense Is Being Funded With Alameda Money He Gifted His Father</a>&nbsp;(<em>Forbes</em>)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/darreonnadavis/2023/06/02/what-happened-to-ftx-the-crypto-exchange-funds-collapse-explained/?sh=235bce7b3cb7">What Happened To FTX? The Crypto Exchange Fund’s Collapse Explained</a> (<em>Forbes</em>)</p>


Elon Musk Makes Twitter Account Private

Elon Musk Tweets And Bots Boosted Price Of Altcoins Listed On FTX, Study Suggests


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Elon Musk has replaced Twitter’s iconic blue bird logo with an “X” on Monday, part of a major rebrand teased over the weekend that takes the platform another step closer to the billionaire’s dream of creating an “everything app.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>The change appeared Monday morning on the web version of the platform.</p>



<p>The new logo, a white stylized “X” on a black background, has also replaced the bird as a badge signifying an account linked to a company employee.</p>



<p>Twitter’s official&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Twitter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">account</a>—@Twitter—has also been changed in the rebrand and is now named “X,” showing just the new logo as a profile picture and a bio reading “What&#8217;s happening?!”</p>



<p>Other Twitter accounts appear to be in the process of being changed, with accounts for creators (@TwitterCreators) and verification (@verified) having been changed while others, notably the main support account (@TwitterSupport) still showing the blue bird at the time of writing.</p>



<p>Mobile apps still appear to feature the blue bird, though it is likely this will change once they are updated.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-peg">NEWS PEG</h2>



<p>Musk’s decision to replace Twitter’s iconic bird is both shocking and inevitable. On the one hand, he is jettisoning one of the company&#8217;s most recognizable assets—<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66284304" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Larry</a>, as it’s known, has represented Twitter for more than a decade—and whose features, including color and “tweets,” permeate the entire platform. On the other hand, Musk has been open about his ambition to transform Twitter into an “everything app” called ‘X, in the vein of Chinese tech behemoth WeChat. Concrete steps had already been taken toward this goal, such as changing the business name to X Corp, but these were largely back end changes that didn’t have too much of an impact on users. Musk <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/07/23/elon-musk-directs-xcom-to-twitter-plans-to-ditch-twitter-bird/">escalated</a> the transition over the weekend, when he said the site “X.com” would now redirect to Twitter and <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1682964919325724673" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">forecast</a> “soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.” In a departure from the considered, glacial and often subtle rebrands of many companies, Musk elected to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-24/musk-declares-fan-submitted-x-new-twitter-logo-in-abrupt-shift" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">crowdsource</a> Twitter, or X’s, new logo from his followers. He later shared an image of the new logo <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1683378289031761920?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">projected</a> onto the company’s headquarters.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“X is here! Let’s do this,” tweeted freshly minted CEO Linda Yaccarino. It is “exceptionally rare” to have a second chance to make another big impression, Yaccarino <a href="https://twitter.com/lindayacc/status/1683213798386147329?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>, but X is Twitter’s chance to do just that. She said there is “no limit to this transformation” and that the team is “just getting started.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



<p>$236.5 billion. That’s how much&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=5c26ba107999">estimates</a>&nbsp;Musk is worth, according to our real time tracker. His fortune places him at the very top of&nbsp;<em>Forbes’</em>&nbsp;list of the world’s richest people. Musk’s wealth largely comes from his stake in electric carmaker Tesla and the cadre of valuable companies he cofounded, including rocket firm SpaceX, brain implant company Neuralink and tunneling enterprise Boring Company. He controversially purchased Twitter for $44 billion in 2022 and started on a series of drastic overhauls, including its content moderation and verification policies and slashing headcount.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/07/23/elon-musk-directs-xcom-to-twitter-plans-to-ditch-twitter-bird/">Elon Musk Directs X.com To Twitter, Plans To Ditch Twitter Bird</a> (Forbes)</p>


Twitter logo

Elon Musk Kills Twitter Bird Logo In ‘X’ Rebrand


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Facebook and WhatsApp parent Meta will launch the firm’s long awaited competitor to Twitter, Instagram Threads, on Thursday, escalating the personal rivalry between feuding billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk and firmly throwing down the gauntlet after another chaotic weekend had the platform’s users searching for alternatives.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Meta’s app, Threads, is listed as “coming soon” on Apple’s App Store and is available for pre-order.</p>



<p>The listing said Threads is “expected July 6” and Meta’s countdown&nbsp;<a href="https://www.threads.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a>&nbsp;for the launch indicates the app will go live at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT), though it’s unclear whether Meta plans to stagger the rollout in some way.</p>



<p>Details on the full nature of Threads are scarce but the listing describes the platform as a “text-based conversation app” and screenshots show a dashboard that appears very similar to Twitter’s app, with the ability to like, share, post and repost content.</p>



<p>Threads will be directly linked to Meta’s popular photo sharing platform Instagram and screenshots suggest users can keep their usernames and easily follow the same accounts they do on Instagram on the new platform.</p>



<p>From the listing, Threads looks likely to be a free service in exchange for personal data, a model in line with many of Meta’s other popular apps and other free online services.</p>



<p>Instagram Threads users will need to be at least 12 years old, according to the App Store listing.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-don-t-know">WHAT WE DON’T KNOW</h2>



<p>It’s not clear when Threads will be launched on Android systems or whether the network will be accessible without the app. A similar listing of Threads&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/1/23781271/instagram-threads-twitter-leak-android-google-play" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly appeared</a>&nbsp;on the Google Play store—which serves Android devices—on Saturday showing similar features, images and descriptions. The post, which did not list a release date, was seemingly in error and was swiftly removed from the store.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-peg">NEWS PEG</h2>



<p>Meta’s release of a product to rival Twitter is both timely and expected. Meta, formerly Facebook, has a well documented history of lifting features from competitors—its short-form video feature Reels draws from TikTok,&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/13/meta-announces-discord-like-community-chats-on-messenger/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">community chats</a>&nbsp;from Discord and disappearing video and photo feature Stories from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-developer-mark-zuckerberg-invented-instagram-stories-copied-snapchat-2020-4?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Snapchat</a>—to varying degrees of success. Twitter is an obvious target, with many users keen to jump ship given the parade of controversy and service issues that has followed Elon Musk’s takeover last year, including drastic revisions to longstanding verification and content moderation policies, cutting company headcount to the bone, changes to who can access platform data and numerous system outages. Most recently, Musk limited the number of posts users—even paying users—could see on Twitter and required users to have registered for accounts to view tweets. With each new development, rivals like Bluesky, Trump’s Truth Social and Mastodon have&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/03/twitter-competitors-soar-after-yet-another-bad-musk-move/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">benefited handsomely</a>, though none have yet managed to gain the kind of traction needed to fully take on an established social media giant like Twitter. With its vast resources and established social networks, Threads’ arrival could pose a serious threat to Twitter.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



<p>$101.5 billion. That’s how much&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/?list=rtb/&amp;sh=470e77f63e06">estimates</a>&nbsp;Mark Zuckerberg is worth, according to our live tracker. Zuckerberg’s fortune is largely derived from his stake in Meta and it makes him the 10th richest person in the world. Musk is worth an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=595dbf9d7999">estimated</a>&nbsp;$249.4 billion and currently holds the top position in&nbsp;<em>Forbes’</em>&nbsp;list of the world’s wealthiest people. The two billionaires have reportedly been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-cage-fight-b71fa4ff" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">feuding</a>&nbsp;for years, though this recently spilled out into the public domain and the pair are apparently primed to settle things with a literal fight. It is unclear whether the agreed upon “cage match” will ever happen.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-cage-fight-b71fa4ff" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Behind the Musk-Zuckerberg ‘Cage Match’ Is a Yearslong Billionaire Feud</a> (WSJ)</p>


In this photo illustration, a user sees in his download

Meta’s Twitter Rival Threads Will Launch Thursday As Chaos Continues On Elon Musk’s Platform


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Many of Twitter&#8217;s most active users abandoned the platform in recent years and have shown no sign of coming back, according to company documents obtained by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-where-did-tweeters-go-twitter-is-losing-its-most-active-users-internal-2022-10-25/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters</a>, sparking serious concerns about Twitter&#8217;s future just days before Elon Musk is slated to take control of it.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>The number of &#8220;heavy tweeters,&#8221; which Twitter defines as someone who uses the platform six or seven days a week and tweets at least three times a week, has been in &#8220;absolute decline&#8221; since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an internal report viewed by Reuters.</p>



<p>Interest in mainstay topics popular with advertisers like sports, news and entertainment has been in decline among English-speaking frequent users, according to Reuters, while interest in cryptocurrency and pornographic &#8220;not safe for work&#8221; content has been on the rise.</p>



<p>&#8220;Heavy tweeters&#8221; are reportedly responsible for 90% of tweets and half of the company&#8217;s revenue, despite making up less than 10% of all monthly users.</p>



<p>The most significant user losses appear to be among accounts that tweeted about celebrities like the Kardashians, with the company reportedly finding a &#8220;devastating&#8221; decline in that area, possibly due to users migrating to Instagram or TikTok.</p>



<p>Interest in world news and liberal politics have also suffered massive declines, according to Reuters.</p>



<p>Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“It seems as though there is a significant discrepancy between what I might imagine are our company values and our growth patterns,” a company researcher reportedly wrote.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p>237.8 million. That&#8217;s how many total daily active users Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/826641620/files/doc_financials/2022/q2/Final_Q2'22_Earnings_Release.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;in the second quarter of this year, up almost 17% from a year prior. Some 41.5 million active users were U.S.-based.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



<p>A Delaware judge has given Musk, the world&#8217;s richest person, until Friday afternoon to close his $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter and take it private. If the deal doesn’t close by then, a lawsuit from the social media company seeking to force him to follow through with the deal will go to trial. Musk told bankers he plans to abide by the Friday deadline,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/10/25/elon-musk-reportedly-tells-bankers-hell-buy-twitter-by-friday-deadline/?sh=6cbd56814a4c">Bloomberg reported Tuesday</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/20/musk-twitter-acquisition-staff-cuts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Washington Post</em></a>&nbsp;reported last week that Twitter is planning massive staffing cuts due to its turbulent financial situation. The company has a reported goal of slashing $800 million in payroll by 2023, which would impact critical infrastructure such as data centers, potentially making the platform and its users more susceptible to security threats. Musk, meanwhile, has reportedly told prospective investors he’s eyeing even deeper cuts: According to the&nbsp;<em>Post</em>, he plans&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2022/10/20/musk-plans-to-cut-75-of-twitter-workforce-report-says/?sh=7f91de2e496c">to eliminate about 75%</a>&nbsp;of Twitter&#8217;s 7,500-person workforce if the deal closes. The billionaire also reportedly promised potential investors he will triple the number of users who see ads by the end of his third year as owner, while he&#8217;s also floated a subscription service offering users access to premium content for a fee as a way to raise revenue.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



<p>We estimate Musk to be worth $219.6 billion, making him the richest&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=2c0b1ec77999">person in the world</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-where-did-tweeters-go-twitter-is-losing-its-most-active-users-internal-2022-10-25/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Exclusive: Twitter is losing its most active users, internal documents show</a>(Reuters)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2022/10/20/musk-plans-to-cut-75-of-twitter-workforce-report-says/?sh=7f91de2e496c">Musk Plans To Cut 75% Of Twitter Workforce, Report Says</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/10/25/elon-musk-reportedly-tells-bankers-hell-buy-twitter-by-friday-deadline/?sh=6cbd56814a4c">Elon Musk Reportedly Tells Bankers He’ll Buy Twitter By Friday Deadline</a>(Forbes)</p>



<p><strong><em>By Nicholas Reimann, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


In this photo illustration the Twitter logo seen displayed

Twitter Hemorrhaging Its Most Active Users, Report Says￼


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal became the company’s new CEO Monday after co-founder Jack Dorsey&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/11/29/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-steps-down/">stepped down</a>, culminating what Dorsey called a “rigorous process” for the company’s board to select a new leader for one of the world’s most powerful social media companies.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 following stints at Microsoft, AT&amp;T and Yahoo, and has served as the company’s CTO since October 2017, where he had been in charge of technical strategy involving machine learning.</p>



<p>Dorsey said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1465347002426867720?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">company email</a>&nbsp;Agrawal was his top choice as he’s been “behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around.”</p>



<p>Agrawal holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford University and became Twitter’s first Distinguished Engineer for his impact on the re-acceleration of audience growth in 2016 and 2017, according to a news release.</p>



<p>He&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/paraga/status/1465349749607854083/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;in a company email “the world is watching us right now,”&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/paraga/status/1465349749607854083/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adding</a>&nbsp;in a news release he is “incredibly energized” by the opportunities ahead for the company as it “reshapes the future of public conversation.”</p>



<p>He is now tasked with meeting Twitter’s aggressive goals, including doubling annual revenue this year and reaching 315 million monetizable daily active users by the end of 2023, CNBC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/25/twitter-sets-goals-to-double-revenue-reach-315-million-users-by-end-of-2023.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“The Board ran a rigorous process considering all options and unanimously appointed Parag. He’s been my choice for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs,” Dorsey&nbsp;<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FFX1IQ0WUAEqaLH.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;in a company-wide email announcing his departure. “He leads with heart and soul, and is someone I learn from daily. My trust in him as our CEO is bone deep.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Twitter’s user growth struggled in recent years, both with getting existing users to use the app again and with recruiting new users, Recode&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/1/21160375/jack-dorsey-twitter-elliott-management-paul-singer-ceo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>. Twitter stopped reporting its monthly active users in 2019 as the numbers were stagnating around 300 million—at the time, Facebook reported having approximately 2.5 billion monthly users. Elliott Management, an “activist investor” firm and Twitter stakeholder,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-29/singer-s-elliott-is-said-to-seek-to-replace-twitter-ceo-dorsey" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">attempted</a>&nbsp;to oust Dorsey from his position in 2020 over the company’s slow growth, according to a Bloomberg report. The management group also thought that by replacing Dorsey, who was CEO of Twitter and Square at the time, with a full-time CEO could make Twitter more favorable and valuable on Wall Street, Bloomberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-29/singer-s-elliott-is-said-to-seek-to-replace-twitter-ceo-dorsey" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/10/26/twitter-shares-jump-after-apples-privacy-changes-have-minimal-impact-on-quarterly-earnings/?sh=49d38c4d7169">reported</a>&nbsp;user growth and revenue that met analysts’ expectations in the third quarter of this year, despite Apple’s iPhone privacy changes.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/29/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-is-expected-to-step-down-sources-say.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reports</a>&nbsp;of Dorsey’s impending resignation surfaced Monday morning, and he confirmed he was stepping down, effective immediately in a company-wide&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1465347002426867720?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email</a>. Dorsey said in the email he believes a company being founder-led is “severely limiting and a signal point of failure,” adding that “there aren’t many founders who choose their company over their own ego.” Dorsey co-founded Twitter in 2006 and served as CEO until he was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/5/9457277/jack-dorsey-twitter-ceo-timeline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pushed out</a>&nbsp;in 2008, but&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2015/06/11/twitters-ceo-costolo-steps-down-dorsey-returns-as-interim-ceo/">returned</a>&nbsp;to the role in 2015 after Dick Costolo stepped down. He still serves as CEO of Square, of another company he co-founded in 2010.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h2>



<p>Dorsey faced criticism in recent years for his hesitations to censor users, including controversial public figures, on the app. Paul Barrett, deputy director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, said in a statement Dorsey “leaves behind a mixed legacy.” “A platform that&#8217;s useful and potent for quick communication but one that&#8217;s been exploited by a range of bad actors, including former President Donald Trump, who did his best on Twitter to undermine democracy—until Dorsey&#8217;s people finally had enough and shut him down,” Barrett said.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/11/29/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-steps-down/?sh=5f067f931901">Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Steps Down: ‘Finally Time For Me To Leave’</a> (<em>Forbes</em>)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan-1/"></a><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan-1/">Anna Kaplan</a>Follow</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan-1/"></a></p>


Twitter tests several new features for its mobile app

What To Know About Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s New CEO


<p id="h-topline"><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Nigeria blocked access to Twitter in the country indefinitely on Friday evening, shortly after the company deleted a tweet by the country’s president, adding Africa’s most populous country to a short list of nations that have barred their citizens from using Twitter:</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<p><strong>Nigeria</strong>: The government&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/FMICNigeria/status/1400843062641717249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">claimed</a>&nbsp;Twitter was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerian-telecoms-firms-suspend-twitter-access-2021-06-05/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">banned</a>&nbsp;for “undermining Nigeria&#8217;s corporate existence,” and the Ministry of Justice has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57368535" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">promised to prosecute</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/05/africa/nigeria-prosecute-twitter-users-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">violators</a>.</p>



<p><strong>China</strong>: Twitter and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/major-us-tech-companies-blocked-from-operating-in-china-2019-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">several other</a>&nbsp;Western social media networks are barred from operating in China, and authorities&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/11/21/chinas-social-media-crackdown-targets-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">have spent several years</a>&nbsp;reportedly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-censors-go-old-school-to-clamp-down-on-twitter-a-knock-on-the-door/2019/01/04/1bd462e4-f331-11e8-9240-e8028a62c722_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cracking down</a>&nbsp;on people who manage to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/business/china-twitter-censorship-online.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">circumvent</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-is-now-sending-twitter-users-to-prison-for-posts-most-chinese-cant-see-11611932917" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Twitter ban</a>.</p>



<p><strong>North Korea</strong>: The government generally&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37426725" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">doesn’t allow</a>&nbsp;its citizens to access&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/01/north-korea-announces-blocks-on-facebook-twitter-and-youtube" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">foreign websites</a>, instead confining computer users to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/11309882/Internet-in-North-Korea-everything-you-need-to-know.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heavily restricted</a>&nbsp;and walled-off intranet.</p>



<p><strong>Iran</strong>: Twitter and Facebook have been off-limits&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/technology/iran-protests-social-media.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">since 2009</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/02/02/will-twitter-ban-irans-supreme-leader-next/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">amid</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ali-khamenei-ap-top-news-elections-international-news-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-ab649e2190834e19b1f006f76493645f?utm_campaign=socialflow&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=ap" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">protests</a>&nbsp;and brutal crackdowns following former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election win, though many Iranians&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-10/iran-s-attempt-to-ban-instagram-is-doomed-to-fail" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">use VPNs</a>&nbsp;to dodge their country’s internet restrictions.</p>



<p><strong>Temporary Or Uncertain Bans</strong>: Egypt&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/26/egypt-blocks-social-media-websites" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cut off access</a>&nbsp;to Twitter during the 2011 Arab Spring protests, Turkey&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/03/21/turkey-bans-twitter-and-twitter-explodes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">banned Twitter</a>&nbsp;for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/04/world/middleeast/turkey-lifts-ban-on-twitter.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">two weeks</a>&nbsp;in 2014, Uganda&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uganda-election/uganda-bans-social-media-ahead-of-presidential-election-idUSKBN29H0KH" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cut off social media</a>&nbsp;ahead of an election earlier this year, Pakistan has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-18138278" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sporadically</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/pakistan-socialmedia-block/update-2-pakistan-restores-social-media-apps-after-temporary-block-on-security-grounds-officials-idUSL1N2M90E0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blocked</a>&nbsp;social media sites for brief periods, and Turkmenistan has restricted access to Twitter according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/turkmenistan/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. State Department</a>.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



<p>Nigeria’s faceoff with Twitter started earlier this week, when President Muhammadu Buhari threatened to deal with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world/africa/2021-04-06-separatist-group-attacks-nigerian-prison-as-more-than-1800-inmates-escape/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">separatist groups</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerian-police-launch-operation-southeast-quell-violence-it-blames-separatists-2021-05-18/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">accused of violence</a>&nbsp;“in the language they understand,” a reference to the country’s brutal civil war more than 50 years ago. Twitter blocked Buhari from tweeting for 12 hours and ordered him to delete the post, which it claimed violated the site’s rules, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57336571" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BBC reported</a>.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h3>



<p>Many governments with Twitter bans still use the social media platform, often to disseminate information to foreign audiences. Chinese&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/china-diplomacy-twitter-7a6b8287-f7f0-4dc1-be8a-0eb146b111bc.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">diplomats</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/12/chinas-wolf-warrior-diplomats-like-talk-tough/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">staffers</a>&nbsp;regularly use Twitter to lash out at the country’s critics, Iran’s&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hassanrouhani?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">president</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JZarif?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">foreign minister</a>&nbsp;are both active on the site, and Nigeria announced its decision to ban Twitter via tweet.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h3>



<p>Buhari is the latest head of state to face sanctions from Twitter. Earlier this year, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">banned</a>&nbsp;former President Donald Trump and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-dubai-iran-united-arab-emirates-middle-east-b8767244595af326b423316a53635d86" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deleted an account</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/22/959736537/twitter-bans-account-linked-to-irans-supreme-leader" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ostensibly linked</a>&nbsp;to Iran’s supreme leader. Likewise, Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/06/facebook-response-to-oversight-board-recommendations-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said Friday</a>&nbsp;it will stop giving deference to politicians when deciding whether to delete newsworthy content that violates its rules.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/world/africa/nigeria-twitter-president.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nigeria Bans Twitter After President’s Tweet Is Deleted (New York Times)</a></p>



<p><strong><em>By Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


SAFRICA-NIGERIA-DIPLOMACY

Nigeria Has Banned Twitter — Along With These Other Countries


<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Tech CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and Jack Dorsey will soon have to answer to lawmakers about the rise of misinformation on their platforms and how they plan to address it, as the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced Thursday a hearing with the Facebook, Google and Twitter leaders will take place on March 25.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<p>Zuckerberg, Pichai and Dorsey—who lead Facebook, Google and Twitter, respectively—will testify at a remote hearing on “misinformation and disinformation plaguing online platforms,” the House committee announced.</p>



<p>The hearing will further the committee’s work of “holding online platforms accountable” for the issues on their platforms, committee chair Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) and subcommittee chairs Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said in a statement.</p>



<p>The lawmakers singled out misinformation on election fraud and the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccine as particular matters of concern.</p>



<p>The tech leaders have previously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/17/facebook-twitter-ceos-senate-judiciary-committee-prepared-testimony.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">testified</a>&nbsp;before lawmakers in recent months, including an October&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/28/facebook-google-and-twitter-ceos-testify-in-congress-over-section-230-live-updates.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hearing</a>&nbsp;with all three CEOs before the Senate Commerce Committee on Section 230, which shields tech companies from legal liability for the content their users post.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h3>



<p>“For far too long, big tech has failed to acknowledge the role they’ve played in fomenting and elevating blatantly false information to its online audiences. Industry self-regulation has failed,” Pallone, Doyle and Schakowsky said in a statement. “We must begin the work of changing incentives driving social media companies to allow and even promote misinformation and disinformation.”</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h3>



<p>93%. That’s the percentage of Americans who say they are either very or somewhat about the spread of misinformation on the internet, according to a Gallup/Knight Foundation&nbsp;<a href="https://knightfoundation.org/articles/most-americans-would-believe-social-media-misinformation-warnings/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;conducted in September.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h3>



<p>The House Judiciary Committee also separately announced plans to investigate big tech Thursday, unveiling a series of antitrust hearings aimed at curbing tech giants’ market dominance as it develops antitrust legislation. The renewed investigation will continue the antitrust subcommittee’s ongoing work probing the tech giants and their monopolistic power, which included a July&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/07/29/republicans-use-tech-antitrust-hearing-to-rail-against-anti-conservative-bias/?sh=6f7e186855aa">hearing</a>&nbsp;with Dorsey, Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



<p>Online misinformation and its spread on major social networks has come under significant scrutiny in recent months, particularly amid the Covid-19 pandemic and around the November election. Social media companies have taken significant&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/01/31/heres-how-facebook-twitter-and-tiktok-are-battling-coronavirus-misinformation/?sh=2dfca99c6651">steps</a>&nbsp;to curb the spread of false information, such as Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/10/09/twitter-new-rules-try-to-prevent-election-and-trump-related-chaos-misinformation/?sh=262d250f6840">adding safeguards</a>&nbsp;to limit sharing posts that have been flagged for misinformation and Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2021/02/18/facebook-continues-fight-against-misinformation-plans-to-debunk-climate-change-myths/?sh=7cac8aee4804">announcing</a>&nbsp;Thursday new efforts to combat misinformation around climate change. Despite their efforts, however, misinformation still continues to persist: an October study by the German Marshall Fund of the United States&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/10/12/facebook-users-interacting-with-misinformation-way-more-now-than-in-2016-study-finds/?sh=403d34415973">found</a>&nbsp;that engagement with false content producers on Facebook had gone up by 102% since 2016, for instance, while a September&nbsp;<a href="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news/releases/covid-related-misinformation-videos-spread-primarily-through-facebook-as-its-fact-checkers-fail-to-spot-false-information-finds-new-oxford-study/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;from the University of Oxford found Facebook’s third-party fact checkers had only caught less than one percent of Covid-19 misinformation videos on the platform.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/18/house-antitrust-amazon-apple-facebook-google/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">House to grill Facebook, Google, Twitter CEOs as Washington seeks to crack down on disinformation, antitrust</a>&nbsp;(Washington Post)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2021/02/18/facebook-continues-fight-against-misinformation-plans-to-debunk-climate-change-myths/?sh=7cac8aee4804">Facebook Continues Fight Against Misinformation, Plans To Debunk Climate Change Myths</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/01/31/heres-how-facebook-twitter-and-tiktok-are-battling-coronavirus-misinformation/?sh=2dfca99c6651">Here’s How Facebook, Twitter And TikTok Are Battling Coronavirus Misinformation</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/10/12/facebook-users-interacting-with-misinformation-way-more-now-than-in-2016-study-finds/?sh=403d34415973">Facebook Users Interacting With Misinformation Way More Now Than In 2016, Study Finds</a> (Forbes)</p>



<p><em>By Alison Durkee, Forbes Staff</em></p>


US-politics-computers-internet

Facebook, Google, Twitter CEOs Set To Testify About Misinformation


<p id="h-topline"><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Twitter’s shares plunged 7% in pre-market trading on Monday after the platform permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account Friday — Twitter was one of several sites to deplatform the president for his role in inciting violence among supporters Wednesday, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



<p>After a review of Trump’s recent tweets, Twitter said it felt there was a “risk of further incitement of violence” from the president, who at the time was one of the most followed people on the platform.</p>



<p>The company then virtually chased Trump across the internet to take down posts as the president repeatedly tried to subvert the ban and tweet from other accounts he had access to, such as the official presidential @POTUS account and his presidential campaign account.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The president&nbsp;<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/08/president-trump-responds-to-twitter-account-ban-in-tweet-storm-from-potus-account/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">claimed</a>&nbsp;he would set up his own social media network in the future.</p>



<p>Twitter also cracked down on the accounts of a number of Trump’s supporters who were encouraging violence and spreading misinformation, like lawyer L. Lin Wood who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2021/01/07/lin-wood-lawyer-closely-tied-to-trump-permanently-banned-from-twitter-after-claiming-capitol-siege-was-staged/?sh=44dc23851be3">suggested</a>&nbsp;the Wednesday insurrection was a coup “staged” by antifa protesters and described Vice President Mike Pence as a traitor and communist.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<p>After years of pressure to crack down on misinformation, conspiracy and hate speech from Trump, platforms are now abandoning him in droves after the president incited violence among his supporters Wednesday. Of these, Twitter is the most consequential. Twitter was Trump’s preferred way of engaging with the world around him and the president used the platform for everything from announcing policies and denouncing detractors to spreading hate, misinformation and lies. Trump’s communications channels are certainly narrowing — Facebook also banned the president and right wing app Parler has been practically&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/01/10/conservative-social-media-app-parler-is-pretty-much-dead/?sh=73e7a2a66a53">run off the internet</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h4>



<p>Twitter and San Francisco police are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-braces-for-possible-pro-Trump-15860077.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;preparing for a pro-Trump protest outside the company’s headquarters on Monday in the wake of the ban.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h4>



<p>88 million. That’s how many Twitter followers Trump had when his account was suspended. This made him one of the most followed on the platform.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<p><a href="https://www.axios.com/platforms-social-media-ban-restrict-trump-d9e44f3c-8366-4ba9-a8a1-7f3114f920f1.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All the platforms that have banned or restricted Trump so far</a> <em>(Axios)</em></p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2021/01/08/twitter-permanently-bans-trump/?sh=3969f0e3158d">Twitter Permanently Bans Trump</a> <em>(Forbes)</em></p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/01/10/conservative-social-media-app-parler-is-pretty-much-dead/?sh=73e7a2a66a53">Conservative Social Media App Parler Is Pretty Much Dead</a><em> (Forbes)</em></p>



<p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-11/twitter-shares-fall-6-following-permanent-trump-ban?srnd=premium" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter Shares Fall 7% Following Permanent Trump Ban</a><em> (Forbes)</em></p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/01/10/parler-at-risk-of-going-offline-after-bans-from-amazon-apple-and-google/?sh=31fcce28312b">Parler At Risk Of Going Offline After Bans From Amazon, Apple And Google</a> <em>(Forbes)</em></p>



<p><em>-By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Twitter Permanently Suspends President Donald Trump’s Twitter Account

Twitter Shares Down 7% In Pre-Market Trading After Trump Is Permanently Banned From The Platform


<p id="h-topline"><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Twitter has permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account, the company announced Friday, a striking move that comes as the social media network faced growing pressure to remove him following the deadly Capitol riots earlier this week.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1283816163-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="48752" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1283816163-1-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2020/11/04/twitter-flags-trump-tweet-baselessly-accusing-biden-of-trying-to-steal-the-election/attachment/president-donald-trump-holds-election-night-event-at-the-white-house/" class="wp-image-48752" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1283816163-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1283816163-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1283816163-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1283816163-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1283816163-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GettyImages-1283816163-1-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption">WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; NOVEMBER 04: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on election night in the East Room of the White House in the early morning hours of November 04, 2020 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></li></ul></figure>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



<p>Twitter said it decided to ban the president “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after a review of his recent tweets.</p>



<p>Though Twitter has long been criticized for not doing enough to stem the spread of misinformation and hate speech on Trump’s account, the last few days have ratcheted up pressure from prominent figures in tech, Democrats, as well as Twitter’s own employees, for a permanent ban.</p>



<p>Up until this point, Twitter had only locked Trump’s account for 12 hours over tweets where he said he “loved” the rioters and explained the insurrection as “things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously &amp; viciously stripped away.”</p>



<p>After the suspension expired, Trump used Twitter to call his supporters “American Patriots,” say the MAGA movement will have a “GIANT VOICE long into the future” and indicate he would skip Joe Biden’s inauguration.</p>



<p>Twitter said those tweets prompted the ban because they are being interpreted by his supporters as a veiled plan to “continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election,” especially considering “plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">After close review of recent Tweets from the <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.<a href="https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y">https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y</a></p>&mdash; Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1347684877634838528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



<p>“President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the Inauguration is being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate and is seen as him disavowing his previous claim made via two Tweets (<a href="https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1347103015493361664" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1347103016311259136" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2</a>) by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Scavino, that there would be an ‘orderly transition’ on January 20th,” Twitter said in its assessment of his final tweets.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CHIEF CRITIC</h4>



<p>Trump immediately tweeted from the @POTUS account that Twitter’s employees were coordinating with Democrats and the “Radical Left” to silence him. But moments later Twitter removed those posts.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The president tweeted this from the <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> account but the tweets have already been taken down by Twitter. <a href="https://t.co/pRqpFw8hYY">pic.twitter.com/pRqpFw8hYY</a></p>&mdash; Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1347718683351601152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<p>Trump’s Twitter account was his primary way of communicating with the world. He’s used it to announce policies, go after critics, spread falsehoods and, most recently, promote conspiracy theories about election fraud. But after years of pressure to clean up its platform, Twitter began cracking down on Trump this year by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-twitter-keep-fact-checking-trump-voting-mail-he-s-n1241339" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fact-checking</a>&nbsp;false tweets about mail-in voting, Covid-19 and the election results. The company’s actions angered Trump so much he launched a crusade against tech’s legal shield, Section 230, claiming that social media companies are biased against conservatives.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h4>



<p>Trump isn’t the only person who got permanently suspended in the wake of the deadly insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol. Twitter also <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2021/01/08/twitter-bans-sidney-powell-mike-flynn-for-sharing-qanon-conspiracy-theories/?sh=1eea67932d66">removed </a>several accounts that pushed QAnon conspiracy theories, including Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn, and former 8kun administrator Ron Watkins.</p>



<p><em>-By Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Twitter Permanently Bans Trump


<p>After Joe Biden expressed optimism about his prospects of winning the election during remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, President Trump fired off a tweet in which he falsely claimed votes were being “cast after the polls closed” and accused the Democratic nominee of trying to “steal” the election—a baseless accusation that the president has floated for weeks—and Twitter flagged the tweet for spreading misinformation about the election.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



<p>“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election,” Trump wrote in a tweet without proof, adding “Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1323864823680126977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1323864823680126977%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fembedly.forbes.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext2Fhtmlkey%3Dcfc0fb0733504c77aa4a6ac07caaffc7schema%3Dtwitterurl%3Dhttps3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Frealdonaldtrump%2Fstatus%2F1323864823680126977image%3D
</div></figure>



<p>Twitter slapped a label on the tweet, saying some of the “content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”</p>



<p>Facebook followed suit, placing a label on Trump’s tweet that did not comment on the content of the president’s message but did remind users that the results are not final.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">And now an update. Facebook&#39;s label has now changed. It makes no comment about the content of Trump&#39;s post but suggests that the results are not final. <a href="https://t.co/EWw4guUAL0">pic.twitter.com/EWw4guUAL0</a></p>&mdash; Ryan Mac🙃 (@RMac18) <a href="https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/1323872220821643265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>For weeks, Trump has laid the groundwork to object to results of the election he doesn’t like, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/23/916221894/trump-says-he-expect-election-results-to-end-up-at-supreme-court" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">refused</a>&nbsp;repeatedly to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.</p>



<p>The president has also repeatedly argued the results of the election must be known on election night, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/01/930140373/fact-check-trump-falsely-claims-that-votes-shouldnt-be-counted-after-election-da" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">falsely claimed</a>&nbsp;&#8220;that&#8217;s the way it&#8217;s been and that&#8217;s the way it should be.&#8221;</p>



<p>Trump put out the tweet after Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/11/04/it-aint-over-till-every-vote-is-counted-biden-says-hes-on-track-to-win-rejects-trumps-victory-declaration/">told</a>&nbsp;a crowd in Wilmington, Delaware that he felt confident about the election results, saying, &#8220;We believe we&#8217;re on track to win this election.&#8221;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<p>There is no evidence votes were cast after the polls closed in any state, as the president baselessly claimed. Many states&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/11/02/when-well-know-what-on-election-day-a-guide-to-poll-closing-times-vote-counting-procedures-and-the-states-to-watch/">accept ballots</a>&nbsp;postmarked on or before Election Day to account for mail delays.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h4>



<p>Biden currently&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/11/04/electoral-college-2020-trump-takes-florida-biden-wins-minnesota-most-swing-states-too-close-to-call/?sh=2900329f14cd">leads</a>&nbsp;Trump in the electoral college vote 223 to 174, with several key battlegrounds not yet projected, including Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SURPRISING FACT</h4>



<p>Historian Michael Beschloss notes we did not know the winner on election night during six presidential elections since 1960.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We did not know Presidential winner for certain before midnight on election nights in 1960, 1968, 1976, 2000, 2004, 2016.  No one should pretend there would be anything historically unusual if that happens again in 2020.</p>&mdash; Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1322993565199380491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/11/04/it-aint-over-till-every-vote-is-counted-biden-says-hes-on-track-to-win-rejects-trumps-victory-declaration/?sh=15d523062258">‘It Ain’t Over Till Every Vote Is Counted’: Biden Says He’s ‘On Track’ To Win, Rejects Trump’s Victory Declaration</a>&nbsp;(<em>Forbes</em>)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/11/04/electoral-college-2020-trump-takes-florida-biden-wins-minnesota-most-swing-states-too-close-to-call/?sh=15dcb314cd61">Electoral College 2020: Trump Takes Florida, Biden Wins Minnesota, Most Swing States Too Close To Call </a>(<em>Forbes</em>)</p>



<p><em>-By Jack Brewster, Forbes Staff</em></p>


President Donald Trump Holds Election Night Event At The White House

Twitter Flags Trump Tweet Baselessly Accusing Biden Of Trying To ‘Steal The Election’


<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong>   Twitter announced Wednesday that it will test a new feature that will prompt users to open up a link to an article before sharing it, which appears to be a move to further combat the spread of misinformation on the platform.</p>



<p><strong>KEY FACTS</strong></p>



<ul><li>Some Twitter uses may be subject to a prompt to click on a link if they try to retweet without reading the article first, billed by Twitter as a feature “designed to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1270821434462539783?s=20" target="_blank">empower</a> healthy and informed public conversation.”</li></ul>



<ul><li>English speakers on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1270783537667551233?s=20" target="_blank">Android devices</a> will be the first to see the tests.Users will still have the ability to retweet a message without clicking the link first if they chose to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1270783537667551233?s=20" target="_blank">tap through</a> the prompt.</li></ul>



<ul><li>According to Twitter Support, an official company account, the platform will only check if a user has clicked the article link recently <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1270804405886091266?s=20" target="_blank">through Twitter</a>, not elsewhere on the internet.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Twitter denied some skeptical users’ accusations that the platform is testing the feature to establish a revenue stream via click-through to outside websites, saying the platform is not <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1270821781843124227?s=20" target="_blank">testing ad products</a> with the prompts.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Twitter Support told one user it would watch to see if reminding users to read an article before they share it leads to more <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1270809139917225985?s=20" target="_blank">informed discussion</a>.</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it.<br><br>To help promote informed discussion, we&#39;re testing a new prompt on Android –– when you Retweet an article that you haven&#39;t opened on Twitter, we may ask if you&#39;d like to open it first.</p>&mdash; Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1270783537667551233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p><strong>CRUCIAL QUOTE</strong></p>



<p>“It&#8217;s easy for links [and] articles to go viral on Twitter. This can be powerful but sometimes dangerous, especially if people haven&#8217;t read the content they&#8217;re spreading. This feature (on Android for now) encourages people to read a linked article prior to retweeting it,” Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/kayvz/status/1270788548002631681?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">commented</a>&nbsp;upon the announcement of the feature testing.</p>



<p><strong>KEY BACKGROUND</strong></p>



<p>The new prompt tests are the latest Twitter effort to curb the spread of misinformation on the platform. Twitter last month displayed <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/iainmartin/2020/05/29/twitter-flags-trump-tweet-threatening-violence-against-minneapolis-protesters/#5684bf57bc33">fact-check tags</a> on two of President Donald Trump’s tweets that featured misleading information regarding mail-in ballots and voter fraud. Twitter also rolled out testing for a new feature to allow users to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.theverge.com/21286855/twitter-articles-prompt-unread-feature-conversations" target="_blank">limit</a> who can reply to their tweets. The platform has faced <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/05/27/heres-why-twitter-is-facing-attacks-from-both-trump-and-democrats/#3a95dad95df0">criticism</a> from both sides of the aisle in recent weeks, from conservatives over accusations of censorship and from the left for not doing enough to stifle misinformation.</p>



<p><em>&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/">Carlie Porterfield</a>, Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/business">Business</a></em></p>


gettyimages-1196063843-594×594

Twitter Begins Asking Users To Actually Read Articles Before Sharing Them


<p>Twitter published its latest diversity report on Wednesday, revealing, for the sixth consecutive year, that the bulk of its staff is white or Asian and skews male.</p>



<p>Still, the social platform did make good on its two-year&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2018/growingtogetherattwitter.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">diversity targets</a>&nbsp;for female, black and Latinx employees—meeting and, in some cases, exceeding its goals.</p>



<p>Globally, women represent 42.5% of all roles, just half a percentage point shy of Twitter’s 2018 target, and a bump from 38.4% two years ago. Black and Latinx employees make up 5.8% and 4.9% of all roles, compared to 3.4% for both groups at the end of 2017. Twitter’s two-year timeline was 5% for each.</p>



<p>While Twitter’s 2018 goals weren’t exactly ambitions, the results are a promising step in the right direction and show a slight headway on an issue that has long eluded the tech industry.</p>



<p>Broken down by technical and leadership roles, however, the diversity numbers aren’t so laudable. Women represent just a quarter of all technical positions and nearly 36% of leadership positions, while black and Latinx employees combined make up almost 8% of technical roles and 8.7% of leadership roles. Interestingly, a majority of the small percentage of black and Hispanic employees are in leadership positions: 86% and 76% respectively.</p>



<p>Twitter says that its vision is to become the world’s “most diverse and inclusive tech company,” but the company’s relatively homogeneous workforce still mirrors the broader industry’s, and doesn’t fully reflect the community that it serves.Take, for instance, the popularity and influence of Black Twitter. About&nbsp;<a href="https://www.walterkaitz.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/nielsen-from-consumers-to-creators.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">28% of Twitter’s 67 million users</a>&nbsp;are African-American, though they represent just 14% of the total U.S. population, and 40% of African-Americans are on Twitter.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“The stakes are incredibly high and we don’t have the luxury of time or incrementalism. We have a unique responsibility to be bold, move fast–and get this right,” Dalana Brand, Twitter’s head of inclusion and diversity, writes in a blog post.</p>



<p>For Twitter, that means committing to new diversity goals. By 2025, the company pledges to have women comprise half of its global workforce, 42% of technical roles and 41% of leadership positions. The company also set a 25% target for the representation of minority ethnic and racial groups–specifically black, Latinx, Native American, Alaskan or Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or multiracial–and is launching an Inclusive Hiring Program, although no details were given on when that initiative will begin.</p>



<p>Later this year, Twitter plans to publish its progress on workforce representation of military veterans, employees with disabilities and LGBT+ workers for the first time.</p>



<p>Since introducing diversity targets in 2018, the company’s global representation of women has increased by 4% and the figures for black and Latinx employees in the U.S. has climbed by 2.4% and 1.5%. In 2019, nearly half of all new hires were women, 47.1%, and 15.7% of U.S. hires were black or Latinx.</p>



<p><em>&#8211; <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthumoh/">Ruth Umoh</a>, Forbes Staff,  <a href="https://www.forbes.com/diversity-inclusion">Diversity &amp; Inclusion</a> </em><br></p>


gettyimages-1206514294-594×594

Twitter’s 2020 Diversity Report Shows Modest Gains As Company Sets New Goals For Representation


<p>Facebook is hiring a small team of journalists to help curate breaking news and repair its strained relationship with news publishers, the social media giant announced Tuesday. </p>



<p>The company says it will employ journalists to select breaking news and top stories that will appear in its soon-to-be-launched feature called News Tab, rather than using algorithms to determine what is shared with its vast network of users.</p>



<p>With the move, Facebook is part of a growing trend in the tech industry. Apple, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Snapchat have all employed journalists to help their companies sort through the news and cozy up to news organizations.</p>



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<p>Apple, for example, has used some form of human curation since its subscription Apple News app launched in 2015. In June 2017, the company hired former <em>New York</em> magazine executive editor Lauren Kern as the app’s editor-in-chief. Twitter has also employed some form of human news curation since 2015. </p>



<p>Even with a team of in-house journalists, companies like Twitter continue to struggle in the fight against misinformation. On Monday, Twitter announcedit will no longer accept advertising from state-controlled media, in large part as a response to the discovery that China ran a misinformation campaign to combat Hong Kong protesters. </p>



<p>Facebook, facing similar scrutiny for the same Chinese misinformation campaign, said that employing journalists will help “surface more high quality news.”</p>



<p>“Our goal with the News tab is to provide a personalized, highly relevant experience for people,” Campbell Brown, Facebook’s head of news partnerships said in a statement sent to <em>Forbes</em>. “The majority of stories people will see will appear in the tab via algorithmic selection. To start, for the Top News section of the tab we’re pulling together a small team of journalists to ensure we’re highlighting the right stories.”</p>



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<p>Facebook says the team will take into account user controls, pages and publisher as well as the news that users interact with or share,&nbsp;and other unnamed signals from its vast network to personalize content.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The company has been under pressure to mitigate its misinformation problem since it was revealed in 2016 that Russian operatives carried out a misinformation campaign in a “sweeping and systematic fashion” on the network, as it was described by special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.</p>



<p>The Mueller Report found that Russia spent $1.25 million per month on digital advertisements in an effort to sow discord in the U.S. and influence the presidential election. On Monday, Facebook came under fire for taking money from China to spread disinformation about Hong Kong protests.</p>



<p>The social media giant remains an important part of many Americans lives, much more than its rivals Twitter and Snapchat. According to Pew Research, about 69% of American adults use Facebook, and of those who use it, about 74% visit the site once a day. By comparison, only one in five U.S. adults (22%) use Twitter.</p>



<p>According to a survey conducted in 2018, about four in ten (43%) U.S. adults get at least some news from Facebook.</p>



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<p>In January 2017, Facebook hired Campbell Brown, a former television news anchor, to lead its news partnerships team. She remains a key figure in easing the tension between large national news outlets—those who have historically provided an endless trove of free content for the social media giant—and the company.</p>



<p>Publishing executives have slammed Facebook for siphoning advertising revenue away from traditional news publishers while also demanding that those same companies provide content for free. Following years of backlash, the social media company is now trying to work with publishers to create a more even relationship.</p>



<p>Facebook’s news partnership program involves deals that are potentially worth millions of dollars. The<em> Wall Street Journal</em> reports that several news outlets including the <em>Washington Post</em>, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, and the <em>New York Times</em> have discussed receiving as much as $3 million per year to license news content.</p>



<p>The News Tab, which has not been publicly viewed, is being positioned in stark contrast to the company’s Trending Topics news section, which shut down in 2016 following increasing pressure from users.</p>



<p>In 2016, the tech website Gizmodo published an article alleging contractors hired to curate the now-defunct Trending Topics feed were actively suppressing conservative news stories. In a letter to Congress, Facebook said, “We could not reconstruct reliable data logs from before December 2014, so were unable to examine each of the reviewer decisions from that period,” thus suggesting that it may have very well suppressed conservative news when the tool first launched.</p>



<p>-Michael Nuñez; Forbes</p>


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Facebook Joins Other Tech Giants In Employing Journalists To Curate News


<p>Many perspectives have been shared on influencer marketing, but very few from the brands themselves. What are its business imperatives and ROI?</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p>In the heart of Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile, is
Brittany Preece, a social media manager at Investec Bank. </p>



<p>As part of the Private Banking marketing team, Preece and
her team have managed to successfully implement disruptive digital strategies
to meet the growth objectives of the bank. </p>



<p>Traditionally, the role of marketing has been to support business objectives. Yet when companies experience financial difficulty, more often than not, marketing is seen to be the first in line on the chopping block. As a way of adapting to this reality, most marketing managers have had to look at cost-effective, yet creative, ways of achieving business impact.</p>



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<p>Social and digital media have given room for new ways
businesses can engage and sell to their customers. </p>



<p>Increasingly gaining traction in South Africa is influencer
marketing, an entirely new branch of the sales and marketing funnel which has
seen brands leverage popular personalities on social media to promote their
products and services online. Globally, the influencer marketing industry is
forecast to be worth $5 billion to $10 billion by 2020, according to a study by
Mediakix.</p>



<p>For Investec, attracting and diversifying into new markets
has informed their decision to leverage influencers as part of their marketing
strategy. </p>



<p>“Since 2015, we as Investec, have predominantly used influencer marketing to reach the young professional audience,” Preece says. </p>



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<p>“We (Investec Private Bank) have recently evolved our
qualifying criteria. We’re no longer just the preferred banking partner for
accountants, engineers, lawyers, doctors and actuaries. We’re positioned to be
the bank of choice for those who are under the age of 30, consistently earning
more than R600,000 ($42,582)a year, with a university degree and working in
their area of expertise.” </p>



<p>Seated in front of a glass wall which looks out to a view of
a bustling and upbeat office environment, she elaborates that to effectively
reach the young professionals’ target market, it is important to identify
individuals that can speak to that audience. </p>



<p>“What influencer marketing gives you, that a lot of the other marketing channels can’t, is great reach and engagement with your target audience. Using [influencers] brings a lot of authenticity to the brand, where Investec Private Banking was seen as unattainable to a lot of young professionals,” Preece says. </p>



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<p>In the digital universe, content is king. Authenticity is
paramount. A study conducted by the Mobile Marketing Association reported that
most consumers have banner blindness and suffer from advertising fatigue. They
cannot recall the last digital banner ad that they saw. </p>



<p>Ad-blocking continues to be a growing phenomenon, further
demonstrating the shift in consumer behavior. Consumers simply don’t want to be
marketed to. To this effect, influencers assist brands to reach their customers
through content that is more relevant to those consumers.</p>



<p>According to Business Insider’s 2018 Influencer Marketing
Report: Research, Strategy &amp; Platforms for Leveraging Social Media
Influencers, the average social media engagement rate from influencer marketing
averages 5.7% per post. </p>



<p>This is a feat compared to content generated by brands which
fluctuates around 2% – 3% per post. </p>



<p>With this in mind, it’s even more essential for brands to
involve influencers upfront to co-create an envisioned campaign. </p>



<p>“You want your influencer to buy into what you stand for as a brand. It shouldn’t be a hard sell – consumers see through that. If not done properly, it can look very fake and [we] never want to make it feel like an ad,” Preece says. </p>



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<p>Brands and agencies measure awareness and engagement by
analyzing a few parameters, including, inter alia, number of likes, comments,
shares and followers. Proponents of this theory believe an increase in these
parameters lead to brand success. </p>



<p>Detractors of the theory believe awareness and engagement
alone are not sufficient indicators of brand success. “Likes and follows are
unimpressive without an increase in the bottom line,” says Sinesipho Maninjwa,
a financial analyst and commentator. </p>



<p>But technology has its limitations. Dianne Joseph, the
Commercial Director of Digital at Nielsen, a leading global information, data
and measurement company, elaborates that there are real challenges in measuring
sales attribution as a result of influencer marketing. </p>



<p>“The influencer models are difficult to measure because most
influencers use their own personal pages to post, and these organic posts don’t
offer us the opportunity to implement a tag (for tracking purposes) and,
therefore, we aren’t able to track the outcomes,” Joseph says.</p>



<p>The ability to measure what is happening on and off digital
platforms, or across social media platforms, is a challenge that most digital
marketers face. Different platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have their own
unique methods of tracking and storing data. The link between these platforms
is, therefore, a lot more tenuous. </p>



<p>But in support of influencer marketing, a number of global
studies have come out and shown that influencer marketing does yield a positive
return on investment (ROI). </p>



<p>Pierre Cassuto, of social media influencer platform Humanz,
who recently set up shop in South Africa from Tel Aviv in Israel, believes that
the use of influencers can lead to increased sales. “In the US market, there is
about a four times ROI on money spent in the influencer marketing space for
retailers, cosmetics and FMCG brands,” he adds.</p>



<p>Cassuto agrees that engagement on its own doesn’t yield conversion. For influencer marketing to yield conversion, the message being broadcast by influencers has to be well thought out and carefully constructed to achieve that objective. </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>There has to be a reason for someone to do something now as opposed to anytime. That can be around creating urgency around something specific, it can be around creating a limited time availability offer.</p></blockquote>



<p>Essentially, brands can become creative and purposeful in
how they design their entire campaign to track conversion from the ground up.
“The way we suggest measuring conversion is by making sure that the influencers
have a way that [brands] can track the relationship between the influencers
post and the actual conversion,” Cassuto says.</p>



<p>The first looks at providing the influencer a coupon code
that they can distribute and share. In doing so, the specific brands will know
that the people who redeemed the coupon code came from the influencers. The
second options measures sell over time related to increase in traffic due to
influencer marketing towards a landing page that the brand is driving to. With
this, Cassuto states that brands can do A/B testing to see the impact on days
influencers are posting and days when they’re not. </p>



<p>With all the advantages of influencer marketing, should
brands solely invest in this sales channel? </p>



<p>Preece firmly holds the view that influencer marketing on
its own isn’t the be all and end all. “I do believe that it should be a mix. I
believe that an integrated marketing plan that uses out-of-home, billboards, TV
and digital is where you see the most results.”</p>



<p>“Things can go wrong with influencer marketing. You are
putting faith and trust into a human being who is imperfect. We have a saying:
A tweet can tank an economy,” Preece says.</p>



<p>With consumers becoming increasingly selective about what
they consume, influencer marketing continues to grow as an attractive sales
channel. It is imperative that brands place the necessary care and due
diligence before partnering with any influencer. </p>



<p>The perfect fit between an influencer and the brand will
determine the overall ROI. After all, effective influencer marketing is the
online equivalent of the highly valuable word-of-mouth advertising that
marketers have always coveted.</p>


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