New York Daily News

Elon Musk announced Saturday that Twitter will soon allow media publishers to charge readers on a per-article basis, a move he says could be a “major win-win” for readers and media outlets. “This platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click,” the controversial billionaire tweeted Saturday afternoon. “This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per-article price for when they want to read an occasional article,” he added. It’s unclear how or when exactly the new feature will kick off, other than Musk saying it…

Another chapter in Stephen King’s Twitter verification saga unfolded over the weekend as the author exchanged tense tweets with Elon Musk. King was one of several celebrities who vowed not to pay for the website’s new subscription service, Twitter Blue, to maintain the blue check mark verifying his account. Last week, Twitter began removing the check marks from users that didn’t pay, but Musk said he was personally funding King’s subscription. “I think Mr. Musk should give my blue check to charity,” King tweeted Saturday. “I recommend the Prytula Foundation, which provides lifesaving services …

NPR has become one of the first media organization’s to voluntarily leave Twitter after falsely being labeled “state-affiliated media” last week. The public radio outlet “paused” tweeting last week after the label was affixed to its accounts. “NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by implying that we are not editorially independent,” it said in a statement. “We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understandi…

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s official congressional Twitter feed was briefly suspended over tweets denouncing a planned rally supporting transgender rights outside the Supreme Court. The right-wing firebrand said Wednesday the social media giant disabled the account for several hours and blocked access to tweets about the so-called “Trans Day of Vengeance” rally that is planned for Saturday. “My official Twitter account was temporarily suspended for warning about (the rally),” Greene tweeted. The lawmaker accused the leftist Antifa of being behind the rally even though the organizing Trans Ra…

Rep. George Santos defiantly vowed Tuesday to resist persistent demands that he step down from Congress over his serial lying. Denouncing calls for his ouster as “Twitter trolling,” the New York Republican insisted he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. “I’m not leaving, I’m not hiding and I am NOT backing down,” Santos tweeted. “No amount of Twitter trolling will stop me,” he added. “I’m looking forward to getting what needs to be done, DONE!” The freshman lawmaker is facing a daily drip of damaging stories about his checkered past and questionable campaign finance disclosures. Santos, 34, say…

Overexuberant fans called police to Britney Spears’ California home overnight Tuesday after she deleted her Instagram account, according to a report. The fans worried the pop star was in danger after she removed the account, police sources told TMZ. When officers with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office arrived at Spears’ home in Thousand Oaks, they learned there was no danger, TMZ reported. Spears, 41, deletes and restores her Instagram account frequently. As of Wednesday afternoon, it was still offline. In September 2021, she removed the account after getting engaged. She did it again in Aug…

The Taliban and supporters of the Afghanistan rulers have been buying up blue-check verifications on Twitter, according to a report. BBC News found that Hedayatullah Hedayat, who heads the group’s “access to information” department and Abdul Haq Hammad, the top media official at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, both had the check marks on their profiles. Between them, they have hundreds of thousands of followers. “Twitter Blue: Endorsed by the Taliban lol,” U.S. journalist Chris Taylor wrote on Twitter, linking to the BBC News story. “Interestingly, Taliban praises Elon Musk for…

The Taliban and supporters of the Afghanistan rulers have been buying up blue-check verifications on Twitter, according to a report. BBC News found that Hedayatullah Hedayat, who heads the group’s “access to information” department and Abdul Haq Hammad, the top media official at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, both had the check marks on their profiles. Between them, they have hundreds of thousands of followers. “Twitter Blue: Endorsed by the Taliban lol,” U.S. journalist Chris Taylor wrote on Twitter, linking to the BBC News story. “Interestingly, Taliban praises Elon Musk for…

A tweet by Donald Trump Jr. that mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a naked photo of Hunter Biden was deleted by Twitter on Thursday. The former president’s son posted the fake image late Wednesday after Zelenskyy received a rapturous reception for his address to a rare joint session of Congress. The mash-up image depicted a nude Hunter Biden standing next to Zelenskyy as the wartime leader handed over a Ukrainian flag signed by frontline soldiers to Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Twitter removed the image for unspecified violations of its terms o…

Elon Musk asked Twitter users whether he should stay CEO. When a clear majority said go, he pondered which votes should count, before saying he’ll quit as CEO “as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” Sure thing, Elon. We hope Musk’s chaotic and disastrous run atop Twitter not only punctures the myth of the former eBay and current Tesla CEO as a genius, but that it takes many other would-be masters of the universe down a peg or three. When Musk took Twitter private, he predicted he could turn the oft-criticized but actually pretty well-run social media platform into a profita…

In April, when Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter, he spoke in elevated terms about fulfilling a high moral purpose. “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” he said, adding “since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.” Read that again, then read the news, then laugh hard for an hour. The transformation under Musk’s…

Journalist Taylor Lorenz’s Twitter account was reinstated Sunday, hours after being suspended for what platform owner Elon Musk described as “prior doxxing action.” Lorenz, a technology columnist for The Washington Post, wrote on Substack that Musk issued the ban Saturday night after she tweeted an inquiry for a story she was working on. “Hi Elon, @drewharwell and I sent you a couple emails about this,” Lorenz’s tweet reads. “We’ve learned some information that we’d like to share and discuss with you. We’re taking this very seriously and want to ensure this is pursued in the right way. Thanks….

Elon Musk has reinstated the Twitter accounts of several high-profile journalists who had been suspended earlier this week. “The people have spoken,” the controversial new owner of the social media platform tweeted early Saturday morning. The seven temporarily blocked accounts “will have their suspension lifted now,” Musk added. The announcement came after respondents of a Twitter poll overwhelmingly voted for the accounts to be reinstated immediately. On Thursday, several high-profile journalists were abruptly suspended from the platform, including Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Donie O…

Twitter has disabled its live audio feature, Twitter Spaces, after a group of journalists realized they could still use it despite having suspended accounts. Musk, Twitter’s new owner, acknowledged the glitch late Thursday night, adding that the audio service should be back up and running sometime Friday. Earlier in the evening, some of the suspended reporters convened on Twitter Spaces after their accounts were suddenly banned without warning or explanation. They were briefly joined by Musk, who defended the temporary suspensions. “As I’m sure everyone who has been doxed can agree, showing re…

Elon Musk took aim at Twitter staffers leaking internal information to the media, vowing that those who continue to do so will face legal action moving forward, a journalist reported Saturday. The billionaire Twitter CEO made the threat in a companywide email, journalist Zoë Schiffer reported. Schiffer stopped short of posting the document itself, writing that “Twitter is doing everything it can to catch sources.” According to a tweet thread posted by Shiffer, Musk wrote in the email that he was concerned about a “few people” at Twitter who “continue to act in a manner contrary to the company’…

Britney Spears is apparently enjoying life with no rules. The pop star, 41, whose Instagram account went dark Tuesday and was revived two days later, returned to Instagram with a post Friday that celebrates her relatively new freedom from the conservatorship that had her under her father’s thumb for much of her career. “Yep it’s my b-day all week and I know my Instagram has been down a few times but honestly I did the last two times myself !!! Oops … I accidentally pressed wrong button,” the “Oops!…I Did It Again” singer captioned a video of her dancing sensually in a bright red bodysuit. …

Keeping “InfoWars” host Alex Jones off Twitter appears to be something Elon Musk is taking personally. Since completing a $44 billion purchase of the social media platform in late October, Musk has reactivated the accounts of questionable characters including rapper Ye, who used Twitter to promote antisemitism, and former President Donald Trump, whose lies about the 2020 presidential election preceded a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. But the 51-year-old enterpreneuer — a self-described “free speech absolutist” — appears to be drawing the line when it comes to spreading conspiracy theories …

The rapper formerly known as Kanye West surfaced on Twitter on Sunday with a “test” to see if his account was working after a series of outrageous anti-Semitic statements had gotten him suspended from the platform and compelled many businesses to ditch him. “Testing Testing,” tweeted the artist who now goes by just Ye. “Seeing if my Twitter is unblocked.” The post came a day after new Twitter owner Elon Musk reinstated former President Donald Trump on the platform, the latest in a series of controversial decisions. Ye followed his “test” tweet up with a one-word post stating “Shalom : )” — a H…

Democrats lamented the reinstatement of former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account over the weekend, with Rep. Adam Schiff calling the move “a terrible mistake.” The California lawmaker noted Trump used Twitter to encourage his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “As we showed in the Jan. 6 hearings, the president used that platform to incite that attack on the Capitol. His comments about the vice president — his own vice president — put Mike Pence’s life in danger,” Schiff said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” After Twitter banned Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 siege,…

Donald Trump found a popular vote he can win. Elon Musk asked Twitter users if the former president should be reinstated on the platform, and as of Saturday afternoon they were voting 52% to 48% in favor. Musk created a basic Twitter poll Friday night, offering “yes” and “no” options to a simple premise: “Reinstate former President Trump.” “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk, 51, wrote beneath the poll, using a Latin phrase that translates to “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” Slightly more than 13.6 million people had voted in the poll by 4 p.m. Saturday, three hours before it closed. Tru…

New Twitter owner Elon Musk warned on Wednesday that all of the platform’s staff must be “extremely hardcore” or face firing. Employees learned in a midnight email, obtained by the Washington Post, they had until Thursday to decide whether they wanted to remain with the social media company. Those interested in working on Musk’s new iteration of Twitter were instructed to click a link in the email, and those who fail to do so by the deadline would automatically be dismissed with three months of severance pay. “Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly co…

Check yourself, Twitter. Howard Stern said on his radio show Monday that he has no interest in paying Twitter to formally recognize the self-proclaimed King of All Media’s identity on the social media platform. Debate over blue check marks denoting an author’s “verification” on Twitter began last week when Elon Musk, who recently acquired the social media platform for $44 billion, suggested he might charge $20 to users who want to be authenticated. After celebrities including top-selling author Stephen King tweeted to clarify he would not pay to be verified by Twitter, Musk brought that price …

The world’s richest man has a message for America: Vote Republican. Billionaire Elon Musk took time out from his chaotic takeover of Twitter on Monday to suggest that people should back the GOP in the midterm elections to provide a check on President Joe Biden’s policies. “Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” Musk tweeted. “Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge!” he added. Musk, a na…

Elon Musk didn’t invent Facebook, but he seems to be living up to the social media company’s unofficial motto from its early years — move fast and break things. The new Twitter CEO has already fired the company’s board of directors, announced some big changes and had several other plans leak. Verification to cost $8 per month Musk was initially planning to charge $20 per month for Twitter’s famous blue checkmark, according to reports. However, he publicly changed his mind Monday in a back-and-forth with Stephen King. “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertiser…

Days after hinting at retirement, “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak has come under fire for a photo that surfaced of him and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The undated photo appears to have been taken earlier this month, according to TMZ. The game show host is flanked by the Republican Greene and Right Side Broadcasting Network reporter Bryan Glenn. RSBN is known for promoting right-wing views, and Greene, among other things, makes a hobby of harassing mass-shooting victims and thinks that Sandy Hook massacre denier Alex Jones got a raw deal in court. “First Chuck Woolery. Now Pat Sajak….

Twitter’s long-awaited — and controversial — edit button is finally here. The social media company announced Thursday that it has started testing the option internally before plans to roll it out to Twitter Blue subscribers “in the coming weeks.” “If you see an edited Tweet it’s because we’re testing the edit button,” the company tweeted Thursday morning. “This is happening and you’ll be okay.” In the current iteration, tweets can be edited only in the first 30 minutes after they are sent. Edited tweets will include a special icon, a timestamp for the edit and a label “so it’s clear to readers…

Marco Rubio isn’t taking White House criticism lying down. A day after the White House launched a Twitter attack on lawmakers who benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program but disapprove of the Biden administration’s decision to ease student debt, Rubio fired back. The Florida senator, one of the PPP law’s co-authors claimed the White House’s media blitz is misguided. Dan Holler, Rubio’s chief of staff, said in an email to The New York Daily News Friday that “federal student loans were just that, loans.” Holler said that according to Rubio — who co-drafted bipartisan legislation that resu…

Rap superstar Lil Uzi Vert has changed their pronouns to they/them on Instagram. The North Philadelphia-born rapper — known for their chart-topping hits, their love for fashion, and their gender-nonconforming style — quietly made the changes on the social media platform over the weekend, but made no announcements about their gender identity. The Grammy-nominated performer, real name Symere Bysil Woods, didn’t elaborate on the subtle change. Early on Sunday, however, fellow rapper and frequent collaborator Yeat tweeted “Yo they,” to which Uzi responded, “Yo yeat.” The move led to speculations a…

She’s logging out. Sheryl Sandberg announced Wednesday that she is stepping down as the chief operating officer of Meta after 14 years with the company formerly known as Facebook. Sandberg, who joined the company in 2008, is largely credited with turning Facebook into the internet’s premiere advertising venue after previously helping Google grow its advertising business. She will keep her spot on the company’s board of directors. “When I took this job in 2008, I hoped I would be in this role for five years,” Sandberg said in a Facebook post. “Fourteen years later, it is time for me to write th…

Salvador Ramos updated his Facebook friends on his day as he shot his grandmother, then killed 21 people at a Texas elementary school, police said Wednesday. Ramos, 18, warned on Facebook that he planned to shoot up an elementary school Tuesday, barely 30 minutes before he drove down the road to Robb Elementary School and opened fire, Steve McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety said during a news conference with state and local officials. “I’m going to shoot my grandmother,” read the first post. “I shot my grandmother,” read the second. “I’m going to shoot an elementary…

Elon Musk is no stranger to making big claims and his latest is a big ’un. Musk has been making even more waves than usual after he announced he was buying Twitter. While the world waits for the deal to close — no sure thing — Musk is out and about sketching out his $44 billion vision of Twitter as a “free speech” platform. One thing he’ll change? Bringing back former President Donald Trump because it was a “mistake” to ban him in the first place. “I think it was a morally bad decision to be clear and foolish in the extreme,” he said at a Future of the Car event, according to The Washington Po…

Britney Spears is temporarily stepping away from social media. “I’m going on a social media hiatus for a little while,” the pop star announced in an Instagram post Sunday. “I send my love and God bless you all.” Spears, 40, is typically active on Instagram, where she posts dancing videos and uplifting quotes. She previously used social media to address her court-ordered conservatorship, which was terminated last November after 13 years. The singer recently announced on Instagram that she’s expecting her third child, and first with fiancé Sam Asghari. “So I got a pregnancy test … and uhhhhh wel…

Twitter users who do not believe in climate change will no longer be able to advertise such beliefs on the social media platform. Under the new policy — announced on Friday, which was also Earth Day — “misleading advertisements on Twitter that contradict the scientific consensus on climate change” will be prohibited along side other types of banned content, which include campaigns that contain violence, profanity or personal attacks. “We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the clim…

They might want to rethink the name. Devin Nunes went on Fox Business on Thursday to spin the notion that Truth Social — the struggling social media platform launched by former President Donald Trump and headed by Nunes — is giving Twitter a run for its money. The explanation given by the dairy-farmer-turned-congressman-turned-tech-CEO sounded as confused as the social media users wanting to join Truth Social. Appearing on Fox Business Thursday, Nunes was asked by host Maria Bartiromo how he felt about multibillionaire Elon Musk becoming Twitter’s largest shareholder this week, as Truth Social…

Just weeks after publicly questioning whether Twitter holds up free speech, Elon Musk has dropped nearly $3 billion to become its largest stakeholder. The Tesla CEO has purchased a 9.2% stake in the social media company, more than quadruple the position of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission 13G filing released Monday. Based on Twitter’s closing price Friday, Musk’s newly acquired 73,486,938 shares are worth $2.89 billion. The 50-year-old entrepreneur hasn’t publicly commented on his purchase, but it comes as he has seemingly grown more upset with h…

He blew up the Death Star in an instant, but it took nearly a decade to get a verified Twitter account in his own name. Mark Hamill, famous for playing “Star Wars” hero Luke Skywalker, celebrated securing the handle @MarkHamill over the weekend. “After almost 10 years as @HamillHimself-@Twitter has finally allowed my account to use my own name,” he said Saturday. “Welcome to @MarkHamill & I hope there’s no confusion or nostalgia for the loss of alliteration or any questions about why I don’t also use my middle name: Richard.” Hamill’s very popular account may have a new name, but he was able t…

Things are still going south for Kanye West. The divisive artist has been suspended from Instagram for 24 hours, according to a report. Instagram locked his account after a racist post about Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show,” TMZ reported. West, who legally changed his name to Ye, will be prevented from commenting, posting and messaging on the app. In his attack on Noah, West repeatedly called the talk show host a “k–n” after Noah said the Kanye-Kim Kardashian-Pete Davidson mess was “terrifying to watch.” West, 44, has been posting on Instagram for weeks about his relationship with Kardashian a…

Russian President Vladimir Putin is putting his information crackdown into a new gear. Russia’s telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said Friday that it plans to cut the country off from Facebook. The move amounts to a major escalation in the Kremlin’s efforts to freeze its citizens’ access to independent reporting on Russia’s bloody invasion of neighboring Ukraine. In a statement, Roskomnadzor portrayed its block on Facebook as a move to improve media freedom and cited 26 cases of “discrimination” against Russian news outlets since October 2020. Last week, the Kremlin said it was parti…

Live from Instagram, it’s Pete Davidson — and Kanye West’s keeping an eye on him. The “Saturday Night Live” star, 28, has quietly returned to Instagram, with zero posts, nearly 1 million followers, and just two people he’s chosen to follow — including girlfriend Kim Kardashian. Sebastian Stan is the only other person Davidson is following at the time of publication, though the link between the comedian and the “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” star remains murky. Davidson following Kardashian, 41, is no surprise. They’ve been linked since shortly after her late 2021 “SNL” hosting gig and Davidso…

Whoa, Nelly! Nelly has apologized for a sexually explicit video that appeared on the rapper’s Instagram page earlier this week, featuring a woman performing oral sex on him. The video was quickly deleted from the Grammy Award-winning rapper’s page, but not before some of his followers captured screen recordings and reposted them. “I sincerely apologize to the young lady and her family,” the 47-year-old Texas native, whose name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., told US Weekly. “This is unwanted publicity for her/them. This was an old video that was private and never meant to go public,” he added. The…

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s been kicked off another social media site. The Georgia Republican said Monday that her Facebook account has been locked for 24 hours, calling it “beyond censorship of speech.” “I’m an elected member of Congress representing over 70,000 US tax-paying citizens and I represent their voices, values, defend their freedoms, and protect the Constitution,” she said in a statement. A spokesperson for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, told the Daily News Monday that one of Greene’s posts “violated our policies” and was removed, but would not specify the content…

Britney Spears doesn’t appear to be in perfect harmony with her younger sister. The “Toxic” singer unfollowed her sibling, Jamie Lynn Spears, on Instagram, according to Elle magazine. It’s unclear when the elder Spears stopped following the younger one. Jamie Lynn, 30, shared her support for Britney, 40, in June amid the pop star’s efforts to end a court-ordered conservatorship. The following month, Britney shared an Instagram post condemning those who didn’t do enough to support her during the saga, which some people speculated to include her sister. The conservatorship was officially lifted …