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(Reuters) – Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk has offered the social-media company’s employees stock grants at a valuation of nearly $20 billion, the Information reported on Saturday, citing a person familiar with an email Musk sent to Twitter staff. The reported valuation is less than half of the $44 billion that Musk paid to acquire the social media platform, pointing to a drop in Twitter’s value. Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ emailed request for a comment. Musk said in December that Twitter is on track to be “roughly cash flow break-even” in 2023 as top advertisers slashed their…

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk has offered the social-media company’s employees stock grants at a valuation of nearly $20 billion, the Information reported on Saturday, citing a person familiar with an email Musk sent to Twitter staff. The reported valuation is less than half of the $44 billion that Musk paid to acquire the social media platform, pointing to a drop in Twitter’s value. Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ emailed request for a comment. Musk said in December that Twitter is on track to be “roughly cash flow break-even” in 2023 as top advertisers slashed their…

(Reuters) -Meta Platforms Inc is exploring plans to launch a new social media app in its bid to displace Twitter as the world’s “digital town square”. “We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. Meta’s app will be based on a similar framework that powers Mastodon, a Twitter-like service that was launched in 2016. A Twitter-like app would allow Meta to take adva…

(Reuters) -Meta Platforms Inc is exploring plans to launch a new social media app in its bid to displace Twitter as the world’s “digital town square”. Meta’s app will be based on a decentralized framework like Mastodon, a Twitter-like service that was launched in 2016 and now has about 2 million monthly active users. “We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. …

(Reuters) -Meta Platform’s Instagram was down for thousands of users globally on Wednesday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. More than 46,000 users reported issues with accessing the photo-sharing platform in the United States at the peak of the outage, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources including user-submitted errors on its platform. Downdetector showed about 2,000 affected users from the UK, and more than 1,000 reports each from India and Australia. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request f…

(Reuters) -Meta Platform’s Instagram was down for thousands of users globally on Wednesday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. More than 46,000 users reported issues with accessing the photo-sharing platform in the United States at the peak of the outage, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources including user-submitted errors on its platform. Downdetector showed about 2,000 affected users from the UK, and more than 1,000 reports each from India and Australia. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request f…

(Reuters) – The European Union told Elon Musk to hire more human moderators and fact-checkers to review posts on Twitter, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing four people familiar with talks between Musk, Twitter executives and regulators in Brussels. The demand complicates Musk’s efforts to reorganize the loss-making business he acquired for $44 billion in October. He has slashed more than half of Twitter’s 7,500 staff, including the entire trust and safety teams in some offices, while seeking cheaper methods to monitor tweets, the report said. The massive layoffs have raised conce…

(Reuters) – The European Union told Elon Musk to hire more human moderators and fact-checkers to review posts on Twitter, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing four people familiar with talks between Musk, Twitter executives and regulators in Brussels. The demand complicates Musk’s efforts to reorganize the loss-making business he acquired for $44 billion in October. He has slashed more than half of Twitter’s 7,500 staff, including the entire trust and safety teams in some offices, while seeking cheaper methods to monitor tweets, the report said. The massive layoffs have raised conce…

(Reuters) – The European Union told Elon Musk to hire more human moderators and fact-checkers to review posts on Twitter, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing four people familiar with talks between Musk, Twitter executives and regulators in Brussels. The demand complicates Musk’s efforts to reorganize the loss-making business he acquired for $44 billion in October. He has slashed more than half of Twitter’s 7,500 staff, including the entire trust and safety teams in some offices, while seeking cheaper methods to monitor tweets, the report said. The massive layoffs have raised concer…

By Sheila Dang and Krystal Hu (Reuters) -Twitter Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the company had “a shot” at being cash flow-positive next quarter, as the social media platform has been aggressively cutting costs. Musk, speaking at a Morgan Stanley investor conference that was webcast, said it was “startling” how poorly Twitter managed to make money off its messaging service. The company has reduced its non-debt expenditures to $1.5 billion from a projected $4.5 billion in 2023, helped by cutting its cloud services bill by 40% and closing one data center, Musk said. Twitter has …

(Reuters) -Twitter Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the company had “a shot” at being cash flow-positive next quarter, as costs have been cut and users have risen. Musk, who was speaking at an investor conference that was webcast, said it was “startling” how poorly Twitter managed to make money off its messaging service. The company has cut costs sharply, including layoffs, under Musk, who offered the cash flow-positive target as he described efforts to cut expenditures, or cash burn. Twitter has been marked by chaos and uncertainty since the billionaire, who is also CEO of elect…

(Reuters) -Twitter Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the company had “a shot” at being cash flow-positive next quarter, as costs have been cut and users have risen. Musk, who was speaking at an investor conference that was webcast, said it was “startling” how poorly Twitter managed to make money off its messaging service. The company has cut costs sharply, including layoffs, under Musk, who offered the cash flow-positive target as he described efforts to cut expenditures, or cash burn. Twitter has been marked by chaos and uncertainty since the billionaire, who is also CEO of elect…

By Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) – Twitter’s lead European Union privacy regulator said on Tuesday she was concerned that the Elon Musk-owned U.S. firm had launched its Twitter Blue subscription service in the region without consulting her office, despite a pledge to do so. Twitter, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has in recent days launched the service in several EU markets, offering the kind of blue check mark previously free for verified accounts of public figures to anyone prepared to pay. It was launched last year in the United States. Ireland’s Data Protect…

By Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) – Twitter’s lead European Union privacy regulator said on Tuesday she was concerned that the Elon Musk-owned U.S. firm had launched its Twitter Blue subscription service in the region without consulting her office, despite a pledge to do so. Twitter, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has in recent days launched the service in several EU markets, offering the kind of blue check mark previously free for verified accounts of public figures to anyone prepared to pay. It was launched last year in the United States. Ireland’s Data Protect…

(Reuters) – Elon Musk’s Twitter Inc laid off dozens of employees on Saturday in what is at least the eighth round of job cuts since Musk took over the social network in late October, the Information reported. The job cuts impacted multiple engineering teams, including those supporting advertising technology, the main Twitter app as well as technical infrastructure to keep Twitter’s systems up and running, the report in the U.S. technology focused publication said early on Sunday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. Twitter did not immediately respond to Reuters request for a com…

By Sam Tobin LONDON (Reuters) -Facebook on Monday temporarily fought off a collective lawsuit valued at up to 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) over allegations the social media giant abused its dominant position to monetise users’ personal data. However, a London tribunal gave the proposed claimants’ lawyers up to six months to “have another go” at establishing any alleged losses by users. Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of the Facebook group, faces a mass action brought on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in Britain. Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the cas…

By Sam Tobin LONDON (Reuters) -Facebook on Monday temporarily fought off a collective lawsuit valued at up to 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) over allegations the social media giant abused its dominant position to monetise users’ personal data. However, a London tribunal gave the proposed claimants’ lawyers up to six months to “have another go” at establishing any alleged losses by users. Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of the Facebook group, faces a mass action brought on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in Britain. Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the cas…

By Sam Tobin LONDON (Reuters) – Facebook on Monday temporarily fought off a collective lawsuit valued at up to 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) over allegations the social media giant abused its dominant position to monetise users’ personal data. However, a London tribunal gave the proposed claimants’ lawyers up to six months to “have another go” at establishing any alleged losses by users. Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of the Facebook group, faces a mass action brought on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in Britain. Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the ca…

By Sam Tobin LONDON (Reuters) – Facebook on Monday temporarily fought off a collective lawsuit valued at up to 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) over allegations the social media giant abused its dominant position to monetise users’ personal data. However, a London tribunal gave the proposed claimants’ lawyers up to six months to “have another go” at establishing any alleged losses by users. Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of the Facebook group, faces a mass action brought on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in Britain. Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the ca…

By Sam Tobin LONDON (Reuters) – Facebook on Monday temporarily fought off a collective lawsuit valued at up to 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) over allegations the social media giant abused its dominant position to monetise users’ personal data. However, a London tribunal gave the proposed claimants’ lawyers up to six months to “have another go” at establishing any alleged losses by users. Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of the Facebook group, faces a mass action brought on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in Britain. Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the ca…

(Reuters) -Thousands of Twitter users were unable to access the social media platform on Wednesday, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector.com. More than 8,000 users reported issues with the micro-blogging site in the United States, Downdetector said. Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform. The outages could have affected a larger number of users. Twitter Inc did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment and the social network’s status page showed that all systems were operati…

(Reuters) -Thousands of Twitter users were unable to access the social media platform on Wednesday, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector.com. More than 8,000 users reported issues with the micro-blogging site in the United States, Downdetector said. Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform. The outages could have affected a larger number of users. Twitter Inc did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment and the social network’s status page showed that all systems were operati…

(Reuters) – U.S.-based advisory firm Innisfree M&A Incorporated sued Twitter on Friday in New York State Supreme Court, seeking about $1.9 million for what it says are unpaid bills after it advised the social media company on its acquisition by Elon Musk last year. “As of December 23, 2022, Twitter remains in default of its obligations to Innisfree under the Agreement in an amount of not less than $1,902,788.03,” the lawsuit said. Twitter and a lawyer for Innisfree did not immediately respond to request for comment. Musk in October closed the $44 billion deal announced in April that year and t…

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – Elon Musk asked a U.S. judge to throw out a lawsuit claiming that his delayed disclosure of a large stake in Twitter Inc defrauded shareholders who sold Twitter stock at artificially low prices because they were kept in the dark. In the federal court case in Manhattan, investors accused Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, of waiting 11 days past a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission deadline the previous March to disclose he had bought 5% of its stock. The shareholders said Musk saved more than $200 million by adding to his holdings…

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – Elon Musk asked a U.S. judge to throw out a lawsuit claiming that his delayed disclosure of a large stake in Twitter Inc defrauded shareholders who sold Twitter stock at artificially low prices because they were kept in the dark. In the federal court case in Manhattan, investors accused Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, of waiting 11 days past a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission deadline the previous March to disclose he had bought 5% of its stock. The shareholders said Musk saved more than $200 million by adding to his holdings…

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – Elon Musk asked a U.S. judge to throw out a lawsuit claiming that his delayed disclosure of a large stake in Twitter Inc defrauded shareholders who sold Twitter stock at artificially low prices because they were kept in the dark. In the federal court case in Manhattan, investors accused Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, of waiting 11 days past a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission deadline the previous March to disclose he had bought 5% of its stock. The shareholders said Musk saved more than $200 million by adding to his holdings…

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union industry chief Thierry Breton will hold a video call with Twitter owner Elon Musk on Tuesday to discuss two key EU tech initiatives, a European Commission official said, ramping up pressure on the company amid concerns it may fall short on compliance efforts. The two held a video call two months ago during which Breton warned Musk of “huge work ahead” for Twitter to apply transparent use policies, significantly reinforce content moderation and protect freedom of speech. Such obligations are set out in the EU’s Digital Services Act, which enter…

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU industry chief Thierry Breton will hold a video call with Twitter owner Elon Musk on Tuesday to discuss two key EU tech initiatives, a European Commission official said on Tuesday. “The call is to discuss Twitter’s implementation of the Digital Services Act and its implementation of the Code of Practice on disinformation,” the official said. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)

By Sam Tobin LONDON (Reuters) – Facebook on Monday asked a London tribunal to block a collective lawsuit valued at up to 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) over allegations the social media giant abused its dominant position to monetise users’ personal data. Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of the Facebook group, is facing a mass action brought on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in Britain. Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the case, said Facebook users were not properly compensated for the value of personal data that they had to provide to use the platform. He…

By Sam Tobin LONDON (Reuters) – Facebook on Monday asked a London tribunal to block a collective lawsuit valued at up to 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) over allegations the social media giant abused its dominant position to monetise users’ personal data. Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of the Facebook group, is facing a mass action brought on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in Britain. Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the case, said Facebook users were not properly compensated for the value of personal data that they had to provide to use the platform. He…

(Reuters) – Twitter users will be able to appeal account suspensions and be evaluated under the social media platform’s new criteria for reinstatement, starting Feb. 1, the company said on Friday. Under the new criteria, which follow billionaire Elon Musk’s purchase of the company in October, Twitter accounts will only be suspended for severe or ongoing and repeat violations of the platform’s policies. Severe policy violations include engaging in illegal content or activity, inciting or threatening violence or harm, and engaging in targeted harassment of other users, among others. Twitter said…

(Reuters) – Twitter users will be able to appeal account suspensions and be evaluated under the social media platform’s new criteria for reinstatement, starting Feb. 1, the company said on Friday. Under the new criteria, which follow billionaire Elon Musk’s purchase of the company in October, Twitter accounts will only be suspended for severe or ongoing and repeat violations of the platform’s policies. Severe policy violations include engaging in illegal content or activity, inciting or threatening violence or harm, and engaging in targeted harassment of other users, among others. Twitter said…

By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) – Twitter Inc has asked a federal judge to toss out a proposed class action claiming the company targeted female employees during its recent mass layoffs, saying the plaintiffs failed to identify any actual discrimination. Twitter said the December lawsuit fails to allege that company managers who decided which workers would lose their jobs used discriminatory criteria or made comments showing bias against women, in a filing in San Francisco federal court on Thursday. Twitter laid off about 3,700 workers in November after the company was acquired by Elon Musk. The …

(Reuters) – Meta Platforms Inc said on Wednesday it will restore former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks, following a two-year suspension after the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot. (Reporting by Eva Mathews and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru)

(Reuters) -Elon Musk’s team has been exploring using as much as $3 billion in new fundraising to help repay some of the $13 billion in debt tacked onto Twitter Inc for his buyout of the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. According to the report, Musk’s representatives discussed selling up to $3 billion in new Twitter shares in December. Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Responding to a question whether the WSJ report was accurate, Musk said “no” in a tweet. The Tesla boss borrowed $13 billion to cl…

BERLIN (Reuters) – A group of Jewish students and an anti-hate speech association have filed a legal complaint against Twitter at a German court, they said on Wednesday, arguing the company did not remove anti-Semitic content. The European Union of Jewish Students and HateAid criticised what they described as a lack of moderation regarding content which could incite hatred. The complaint, filed at a Berlin court, concerns six posts which the groups said were anti-Semitic but not deleted even though they were reported. In one case, the deleting of a post which denied the Holocaust was explicitl…

(Reuters) – Advertising spend on Twitter Inc dropped by 71% in December, data from an advertising research firm showed, as top advertisers slashed their spending on the social-media platform after Elon Musk’s takeover. The recent data by Standard Media Index comes (SMI) as Twitter is moving to reverse the advertiser exodus. It has introduced a slew of initiatives to win back advertisers, offering some free ads, lifting a ban on political advertising and allowing companies greater control over the positioning of their ads. According to the SMI data, ad spending on Twitter in November fell 55% f…

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Crown Estate, an independent commercial business that manages the property portfolio belonging to the monarchy, said on Monday it had begun court proceedings against Twitter over alleged unpaid rent on its London headquarters. Court lists showed the case against Twitter had been filed at the High Court in London last week. In a statement, the Crown Estate, which owns some of the most expensive land in central London, said the action related to “rental arrears” on the social media platform’s office space in the British capital. Twitter did not immediately respond fo…

(Reuters) – Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that a higher priced subscription of the social media platform will not carry advertisements. The billionaire also said that ads are “too frequent on Twitter and too big,” and that steps will be taken to address those issues in coming weeks. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Twitter earns nearly 90% of its revenue from selling digital ads and Musk recently attributed a “massive drop in revenue” to rights organizations that have pressured brands to pause their Twitter ads. Earlier in December, Musk announced tha…

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc has about 2,300 active employees, Elon Musk said in a Tweet on Saturday. CNBC on Friday reported that Twitter’s full-time headcount has reduced to about 1,300 active, working employees, including fewer than 550 full-time engineers by title. About 75 of the company’s 1,300 employees are on leave including about 40 engineers, CNBC said, citing internal records. “The note is incorrect. There are about 2300 active, working employees at Twitter,” billionaire Musk tweeted in a response to a tweet quoting CNBC. “There are still hundreds of employees working on trust & safety, …

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it was offering an annual plan for its subscription service called Twitter Blue, which includes its sought-after “verified” badge, at a discount to its monthly price. Users can subscribe to the service for an annual price of $84, instead of a monthly subscription price of $8 on the web and $11 on Apple devices. The discount would be available in countries including United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, Twitter said. Since billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter for $44 billion last year, he has brought changes to …

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc is offering free advertisements to brands that advertise on its platform, an attempt to woo brands back to the social-media platform, which has seen its ad business deteriorate following Elon Musk’s takeover, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Twitter is dangling free ad space by offering to match advertisers’ ad spending up to $250,000, the report said, citing emails reviewed by the Journal. Twitter did not respond to Reuters request for a comment after business hours. (Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc has mulled selling user names to bring in new revenue, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The social media firm did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

(Reuters) -Twitter Inc made further staff cuts in the trust and safety team handling global content moderation and in the unit related to hate speech and harassment, Bloomberg news reported on Saturday. At least a dozen more cuts on Friday night affected workers in the company’s Dublin and Singapore offices, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Those laid off at the social media platform owned by Elon Musk include Nur Azhar Bin Ayob, a relatively recent hire as head of site integrity for the Asia-Pacific region, and Analuisa Dominguez, Twitter’s senior director of revenue p…

(Reuters) -Twitter Inc made further staff cuts in the trust and safety team handling global content moderation and in the unit related to hate speech and harassment, Bloomberg news reported on Saturday. At least a dozen more cuts on Friday night affected workers in the company’s Dublin and Singapore offices, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Those laid off at the social media platform owned by Elon Musk include Nur Azhar Bin Ayob, a relatively recent hire as head of site integrity for the Asia-Pacific region, and Analuisa Dominguez, Twitter’s senior director of revenue p…

(Reuters) -Twitter Inc made further staff cuts in the trust and safety team handling global content moderation and in the unit related to hate speech and harassment, Bloomberg news reported on Saturday. At least a dozen more cuts on Friday night affected workers in the company’s Dublin and Singapore offices, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Those laid off at the social media platform owned by Elon Musk include Nur Azhar Bin Ayob, a relatively recent hire as head of site integrity for the Asia-Pacific region, and Analuisa Dominguez, Twitter’s senior director of revenue p…

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc made further staff cuts in the trust and safety team handling global content moderation and in the unit related to hate speech and harassment, Bloomberg news reported on Saturday. At least a dozen more cuts on Friday night affected workers in the company’s Dublin and Singapore offices, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Twitter, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. (Reporting by Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)

By Raphael Satter LONDON (Reuters) – Hackers stole the email addresses of more than 200 million Twitter users and posted them on an online hacking forum, a security researcher said Wednesday. The breach “will unfortunately lead to a lot of hacking, targeted phishing and doxxing,” Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity-monitoring firm Hudson Rock, wrote on LinkedIn. He called it “one of the most significant leaks I’ve seen.” Twitter has not commented on the report, which Gal first posted about on social media on Dec. 24, nor responded to inquiries about the breach since that date. It was…

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc was down for thousands of users on Wednesday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. Over 10,000 users reported issues with accessing the social media website in the United States as of 7:40 pm ET. Some users also complained that their Twitter notifications were not working. (Reporting by Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc was down for thousands of users on Wednesday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. Over 10,000 users reported issues with accessing the social media website in the United States as of 7:40 pm ET. Some users also complained that their Twitter notifications were not working. (Reporting by Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

By Paresh Dave, Fanny Potkin and Sheila Dang (Reuters) – Twitter Inc removed a feature in the past few days that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking up certain content, according to two people familiar with the matter who said it was ordered by new owner Elon Musk. The removal of the feature, known as #ThereIsHelp, has not been previously reported. It had shown at the top of specific searches contacts for support organizations in many countries related to mental health, HIV, vaccines, child sexual exploitation, COVID-19, gender-based violence, natur…

By Paresh Dave, Fanny Potkin and Sheila Dang (Reuters) – Twitter Inc removed a feature in the past few days that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking up certain content, according to two people familiar with the matter who said it was ordered by new owner Elon Musk. The removal of the feature, known as #ThereIsHelp, has not been previously reported. It had shown at the top of specific searches contacts for support organizations in many countries related to mental health, HIV, vaccines, child sexual exploitation, COVID-19, gender-based violence, natur…

(Reuters) -Elon Musk said on Tuesday he will step down as chief executive of Twitter after finding a replacement. “I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams,” Musk wrote on Twitter. This is the first time Musk has mentioned steeping down as chief of the social media platform, after Twitter users voted decisively in a poll for him to step down, which the billionaire launched on Sunday evening. Wall Street calls for Musk to step down had been growing for weeks and recently even Tesla Inc bulls have ques…

(Reuters) – Elon Musk said on Tuesday he will step down as chief executive of Twitter after finding a replacement. “I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams,” Musk wrote on Twitter. (Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)

By Milana Vinn (Reuters) – Aliya Capital Partners LLC, one of the biggest investors that joined Elon Musk’s $44-billion acquisition of Twitter Inc, said on Tuesday it expects to make up to five times its money despite the social media company’s problems. Twitter has been hemorrhaging advertisers after Musk let more than half of its 7,500 employees go and alienated some users with his fast-changing moderation policy decisions. Musk tweeted earlier this week that the social media company has been “in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May.” He took over Twitter on Oct. 27 and this week said he wi…

By Milana Vinn (Reuters) – Aliya Capital Partners LLC, one of the biggest investors that joined Elon Musk’s $44-billion acquisition of Twitter Inc, said on Tuesday it expects to make up to five times its money despite the social media company’s problems. Twitter has been hemorrhaging advertisers after Musk let more than half of its 7,500 employees go and alienated some users with his fast-changing moderation policy decisions. Musk tweeted earlier this week that the social media company has been “in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May.” He took over Twitter on Oct. 27 and this week said he wi…

By Milana Vinn (Reuters) – Aliya Capital Partners LLC, one of the biggest investors that joined Elon Musk’s $44-billion acquisition of Twitter Inc, said on Tuesday it expects to make up to five times its money despite the social media company’s problems. Twitter has been hemorrhaging advertisers after Musk let more than half of its 7,500 employees go and alienated some users with his fast-changing moderation policy decisions. Musk tweeted earlier this week that the social media company has been “in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May.” He took over Twitter on Oct. 27 and this week said he wi…

(Reuters) – The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is deepening its probe into Twitter Inc’s privacy and data security practices, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The FTC’s lawyers have questioned two former company executives in the past month on the social media platform’s compliance with the agency’s 2011 consent decree, the report added. The agency has asked the company if it has the required resources to comply with the privacy consent decree, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters last week. Twitter in May agreed to pay a fine…

(Reuters) – Shares of Tesla Inc fell nearly 6% on Tuesday after a string of brokerages cut their price targets on the electric-vehicle maker’s stock, citing the risk from Elon Musk’s Twitter distraction. Tesla’s shares hit a more than two-year low of $140.86. Analysts say investors are worried that Musk may need to sell shares further to fund Twitter and sentiment around the acquisition of the social media firm could hurt the EV maker’s brand. Evercore ISI, which slashed its price target on the company’s shares to $200 from $300 said investors fear damage to the Tesla brand. Daiwa Capital Mark…

(Reuters) – Shares of Tesla Inc fell nearly 6% on Tuesday after a string of brokerages cut their price targets on the electric-vehicle maker’s stock, citing the risk from Elon Musk’s Twitter distraction. Tesla’s shares hit a more than two-year low of $140.86. Analysts say investors are worried that Musk may need to sell shares further to fund Twitter and sentiment around the acquisition of the social media firm could hurt the EV maker’s brand. Evercore ISI, which slashed its price target on the company’s shares to $200 from $300 said investors fear damage to the Tesla brand. Daiwa Capital Mark…

By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) – Twitter Inc on Tuesday was accused by 100 former employees of various legal violations stemming from Elon Musk’s takeover of the company, including targeting women for layoffs and failing to pay promised severance. Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the workers, said she had filed 100 demands for arbitration against Twitter that make similar claims to four class action lawsuits pending in California federal court. The workers all signed agreements to bring legal disputes against the company in arbitration rather than court, Liss-Riordan said, which means they wil…

By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) – Twitter Inc on Tuesday was accused by 100 former employees of various legal violations stemming from Elon Musk’s takeover of the company, including targeting women for layoffs and failing to pay promised severance. Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the workers, said she had filed 100 demands for arbitration against Twitter that make similar claims to four class action lawsuits pending in California federal court. The workers all signed agreements to bring legal disputes against the company in arbitration rather than court, Liss-Riordan said, which means they wil…

By Paresh Dave OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) – Mark Zuckerberg considered saying in a 2017 speech that Facebook was looking into “organizations like Cambridge Analytica,” according to details from a deposition of him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But he decided to remove reference to the political consultancy which harvested data on millions of Facebook users ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a previously unreported move that could add fuel to shareholder allegations that Zuckerberg and other executives hid information from the public about one of its biggest privacy …

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission on Monday said it has warned Facebook parent company Meta that it is breaching EU antitrust laws by distorting competition in markets for online classified advertising and abusing its dominant position. The Commission said in a preliminary view that it would further investigate and that it could impose a fine of up to 10% of the company’s annual global turnover, if there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of European Union rules. “The claims made by the European Commission are without foundation,” Meta spokesperson Tim Lamb said in a statement…

(Reuters) -A poll by Elon Musk on whether he should quit as Twitter CEO showed the majority of users of the social media platform who took part voted in favor of the move, after the poll ended on Monday. About 57.5% votes were for “Yes”, while 42.5% were against the idea of Musk stepping down as the head of Twitter, according to the poll the billionaire launched on Sunday evening. Over 17.5 million people took part in the vote. Musk said on Sunday he will abide by the results of the poll, but did not give details on when he would step down if results said he should. Shares of Tesla Inc, the el…

(Reuters) – Elon Musk launched a poll on Sunday asking: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? He added, “I will abide by the results of this poll.” (Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

(Reuters) – Elon Musk launched a poll on Sunday asking: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? He added, “I will abide by the results of this poll.” (Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

(Reuters) – Twitter on Sunday said that it will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames. The move would impact content from social media platforms like Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram, along with Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post while allowing cross-content posting, Twitter support said in a tweet. The policy change follows other chaotic actions at Twitter since Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, bought the social network. He fired top management and laid off thousands of employee…

By Hyunjoo Jin (Reuters) -Elon Musk’s team has reached out to investors to raise new funds for his struggling social media platform Twitter, one of the investors said. Ross Gerber, president and CEO at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, told Reuters that he was contacted by a Musk representative about offering more shares at the same price, $54.20, that Musk paid to take the company private in October. Jared Birchall, the managing director of Elon Musk’s family office reached out to potential investors this week, news platform Semafor reported on Friday, citing two people familiar…

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German Foreign Office tweeted screenshots on Friday of the accounts of journalists suspended by Twitter, telling the social media platform that suspending their accounts was unacceptable. “Press freedom cannot be switched on and off on a whim,” the ministry wrote on its official Twitter account. “The journalists below can no longer follow us, comment and criticise. We have a problem with that, @Twitter.” Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who had posted about its new owner Elon Musk. The German government has said it is reviewing …

By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) – Twitter Inc must notify the thousands of workers who were laid off after its acquisition by Elon Musk of a proposed class action accusing the company of failing to give adequate notice before terminating them, a San Francisco federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge James Donato in a three-page order on Wednesday said that before asking workers to sign severance agreements waiving their ability to sue the company, Twitter must give them “a succinct and plainly worded notice” of the lawsuit filed last month. Twitter laid off roughly 3,700 employees in early No…

By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) – Twitter Inc must notify the thousands of workers who were laid off after its acquisition by Elon Musk of a proposed class action accusing the company of failing to give adequate notice before terminating them, a San Francisco federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge James Donato in a three-page order on Wednesday said that before asking workers to sign severance agreements waiving their ability to sue the company, Twitter must give them “a succinct and plainly worded notice” of the lawsuit filed last month. Twitter laid off roughly 3,700 employees in early No…

(Reuters) -Twitter Inc suspended an account tracking its owner Elon Musk’s private jet in real-time, with the billionaire threatening legal action against the account’s operator after saying his son had been mistakenly followed by a “crazy stalker”. The suspension comes just a month after Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, said his commitment to free speech extended to not banning the account. ElonJet, operated by 20-year-old university student Jack Sweeney, had tracked the movements of Musk’s private jet using data available in the public domain before the suspension. Sweene…

(Reuters) -Twitter Inc suspended an account tracking its owner Elon Musk’s private jet in real-time, with the billionaire threatening legal action against the account’s operator after saying his son had been mistakenly followed by a “crazy stalker”. The suspension comes just a month after Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, said his commitment to free speech extended to not banning the account. ElonJet, operated by 20-year-old university student Jack Sweeney, had tracked the movements of Musk’s private jet using data available in the public domain before the suspension. Sweene…

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc will relaunch a revamped version of its subscription service Twitter Blue on Monday at a higher price for Apple users, the company said in a tweet on Saturday. The company said users could subscribe to the revamped service that will allow subscribers to edit tweets, upload 1080p videos and get a blue checkmark post account verification, for $8 per month through the web but for $11 per month through Apple iOS. Twitter did not explain why Apple users were being charged more than others on the web but there have been media reports that the company was looking for ways to o…

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc will relaunch a revamped version of its subscription service Twitter Blue on Monday at a higher price for Apple users, the company said in a tweet on Saturday. The company said users could subscribe to the revamped service that will allow subscribers to edit tweets, upload 1080p videos and get a blue checkmark post account verification, for $8 per month through the web but for $11 per month through Apple iOS. Twitter did not explain why Apple users were being charged more than others on the web but there have been media reports that the company was looking for ways to o…

(Reuters) -British musician Elton John quit Twitter on Friday, the latest high-profile celebrity to leave the social media platform following its acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk. John, who is currently on his last-ever global tour, blamed Twitter’s recent policy change as a reason for quitting. “All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world,” John tweeted to his 1.1 million followers. “I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation t…

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) – Twitter Inc will roll out new controls as soon as next week to let companies prevent their ads from appearing above or below tweets containing certain keywords, the social media platform told advertisers in an email on Thursday. The new controls are part of Twitter’s effort to reassure and lure back advertisers that have pulled ads off the platform since it was purchased in October by billionaire Elon Musk, amid reports from civil rights groups that hate speech has risen since the acquisition and after several banned or suspended accounts were reinstated. Twitter ear…

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) – Twitter Inc will roll out new controls as soon as next week to let companies prevent their ads from appearing above or below tweets containing certain keywords, the social media platform told advertisers in an email on Thursday. The new controls are part of Twitter’s effort to reassure and lure back advertisers that have pulled ads off the platform since it was purchased in October by billionaire Elon Musk, amid reports from civil rights groups that hate speech has risen since the acquisition and after several banned or suspended accounts were reinstated. Twitter ear…

By Max Hunder KYIV (Reuters) – A top Ukrainian presidential aide criticised Twitter owner Elon Musk on Sunday for the billionaire’s “magical simple solutions,” citing ideas put forward by Musk on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Twitter content moderation. Mykhailo Podolyak listed “exchang(ing) foreign territories for an illusory peace” and “open(ing) all private accounts because freedom of speech has to be total”, as examples of such suggestions. “(Elon Musk) prefers so-called magical ‘simple solutions’,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter, an apparent reference to self-described free speech advocate …

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc is planning to restart advertising on Twitter at about $100 million per year, pending some security tweaks to the social media company’s ads platform, according to a Platformer reporter tweet on Saturday. Twitter CEO Elon Musk also said Apple Inc has resumed advertising on the platform, according to a Bloomberg report, citing comments made during a Twitter Spaces conversation on Saturday. Amazon, Apple and Twitter did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the matter. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc is planning to restart advertising on Twitter at about $100 million per year, pending some security tweaks to the social media company’s ads platform, according to a Platformer reporter tweet on Saturday. Twitter CEO Elon Musk also said Apple Inc has resumed advertising on the platform, according to a Bloomberg report, citing comments made during a Twitter Spaces conversation on Saturday. Amazon, Apple and Twitter did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the matter. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc is planning to restart advertising on Twitter at about $100 million per year, pending some security tweaks to the social media company’s ads platform, according to a Platformer reporter tweet on Saturday. Twitter CEO Elon Musk also said Apple Inc has resumed advertising on the platform, according to a Bloomberg report, citing comments made during a Twitter Spaces conversation on Saturday. Amazon, Apple and Twitter did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the matter. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

By Katie Paul and Sheila Dang (Reuters) -Elon Musk’s Twitter is leaning heavily on automation to moderate content, doing away with certain manual reviews and favoring restrictions on distribution rather than removing certain speech outright, its new head of trust and safety told Reuters. Twitter is also more aggressively restricting abuse-prone hashtags and search results in areas including child exploitation, regardless of potential impacts on “benign uses” of those terms, said Twitter Vice President of Trust and Safety Product Ella Irwin. “The biggest thing that’s changed is the team is full…

By Katie Paul and Sheila Dang (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s Twitter is leaning heavily on automation to moderate content, doing away with certain manual reviews and favoring restrictions on distribution rather than removing certain speech outright, its new head of trust and safety told Reuters. Twitter is also more aggressively restricting abuse-prone hashtags and search results in areas including child exploitation, regardless of potential impacts on “benign uses” of those terms, said Twitter Vice President of Trust and Safety Product Ella Irwin. “The biggest thing that’s changed is the team is ful…

(Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron met with Elon Musk on Friday afternoon and discussed efforts that have to be made by Twitter to comply with European regulations, the French president said in a tweet. “Transparent user policies, significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech: efforts have to be made by Twitter to comply with European regulations,” Macron said in a tweet on Saturday. (Reporting Akriti Sharma; Editing by Sandra Maler)

(Reuters) – The European Union has threatened Elon Musk’s Twitter with a ban unless the billionaire abides by its strict rules on content moderation, setting up a regulatory battle over the future of the social media platform, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Twitter and the EU did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. (Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

(Reuters) -Twitter Inc has rolled back a policy that was aimed at tackling misinformation related to COVID-19 on the social media platform, lending itself to the risk of a potential surge in false claims even as cases rise in China and some parts of the world. The move also comes amid concerns of Twitter’s ability to fight misinformation after it let go about half of its staff, including those involved in content moderation, under new boss Elon Musk. “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” according to an update on its blog page…

(Reuters) -Twitter Inc has rolled back a policy that was aimed at tackling misinformation related to COVID-19 on the social media platform, lending itself to the risk of a potential surge in false claims even as cases rise in China and some parts of the world. The move also comes amid concerns of Twitter’s ability to fight misinformation after it let go about half of its staff, including those involved in content moderation, under new boss Elon Musk. “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” according to an update on its blog page…

By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) -The lead privacy regulator for Twitter in the European Union said it was concerned about the potential impact of layoffs at the social media company on its ability to meet privacy obligations, but said it was so far getting answers to its questions. Twitter has fired top executives and enforced steep job cuts with little warning following billionaire Elon Musk’s tumultuous takeover of the company last month. About half of the workforce – around 3,700 employees – has been laid off, while more than 1,000 have resigned. Prior to the cuts, Twitter employed aroun…

PARIS (Reuters) – Twitter has shown a lack of transparency in the fight against misinformation, France’s regulator in charge of digital communications Arcom said on Monday, as the social media platform faced heightened scrutiny following steep job cuts. In a third yearly report on “the fight against the manipulation of information,” Arcom pointed to Twitter’s “very loose transparency regarding data” on the matter, adding that the company had provided “imprecise” details on how its automated tools worked. A spokesperson for Twitter in France did not immediately respond to messages seeking comme…

By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) -The lead privacy regulator for Twitter in the European Union said it was concerned about the potential impact of layoffs at the social media company on its ability to meet privacy obligations, but said it was so far getting answers to its questions. Twitter has fired top executives and enforced steep job cuts with little warning following billionaire Elon Musk’s tumultuous takeover of the company last month. About half of the workforce – around 3,700 employees – has been laid off, while more than 1,000 have resigned. Prior to the cuts, Twitter employed aroun…

By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) -Ireland’s data privacy regulator imposed a 265 million euro ($277 million) fine on social media giant Facebook on Monday, bringing the total it has fined parent group Meta to almost 1 billion euros. The penalty resulted from an investigation, started last year, into the discovery of a collated set of personal data that had been scraped from Facebook between May 2018 and September 2019, and made available online. Facebook was also ordered to make a range of corrective measures. Meta said it had cooperated fully with the investigation by Ireland’s Data Privacy…

PARIS (Reuters) – Twitter has shown a lack of transparency in the fight against misinformation, France’s regulator in charge of digital communications Arcom said on Monday, as the social media platform faced heightened scrutiny following steep job cuts. In a third yearly report on “the fight against the manipulation of information,” Arcom pointed to Twitter’s “very loose transparency regarding data” on the matter, adding that the company had provided “imprecise” details on how its automated tools worked. A spokesperson for Twitter in France did not immediately respond to messages seeking comme…

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s data privacy regulator imposed a 265 million euro ($277 million) fine on social media giant Facebook on Monday, bringing the total it has fined parent group Meta to almost 1 billion euros. The penalty resulted from an investigation, started in April 2021, related to the discovery of a collated dataset of Facebook personal data that had been made available online. Facebook was also ordered to make a range of corrective measures. Monday’s fine is the fourth Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner (DPC) has levied against one of Meta’s companies. It is Meta’s lead privacy…

(Reuters) -Twitter will tentatively launch its blue check subscription feature next Friday, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in a tweet, after holding off on the launch earlier this week. The social media platform will use different color checks for organizations and individuals, Musk said. “Gold check for companies, grey check for governments, blue for individuals (celebrities or not). Painful, but necessary,” Musk said in a tweet. All verified accounts will be manually authenticated before the check is activated, Musk said. The company had paused its recently announced $8 blue check su…

(Reuters) -Twitter will tentatively launch its blue check subscription feature next Friday, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in a tweet, after holding off on the launch earlier this week. The social media platform will use different color checks for organizations and individuals, Musk said. “Gold check for companies, grey check for governments, blue for individuals (celebrities or not). Painful, but necessary,” Musk said in a tweet. All verified accounts will be manually authenticated before the check is activated, Musk said. The company had paused its recently announced $8 blue check su…

(Reuters) – Elon Musk said on Thursday that Twitter will provide a “general amnesty” to suspended accounts starting next week after running a poll on whether to do so for users who had not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam. In a poll Musk posted on Twitter on Wednesday, 72.4% of the more than 3.16 million users who took part voted in favor of bringing back those who had been suspended by the social media platform. “The people have spoken,” Musk, who acquired Twitter last month, tweeted on Thursday. “Amnesty begins next week.” Last week, Musk, the world’s richest person, reinstated so…

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Twitter’s decision to shut down its Brussels office and the laying off of thousands of employees are drawing concerns on whether the company can comply with new tough European Union rules against illegal online content, EU justice chief Didier Reynders said on Thursday. Reynders, who met with Twitter representatives at the social media platform’s European headquarters in Dublin, sought clarifications from the company, a European Commission official told Reuters. “Twitter representatives reaffirmed the commitment of the company to ensure full compliance with…

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Twitter’s decision to shut down its Brussels office and the laying off of thousands of employees are drawing concerns on whether the company can comply with new tough European Union rules against illegal online content, EU justice chief Didier Reynders said on Thursday. Reynders, who met with Twitter representatives at the social media platform’s European headquarters in Dublin, sought clarifications from the company, a European Commission official told Reuters. “Twitter representatives reaffirmed the commitment of the company to ensure full compliance with…

(Reuters) – Elon Musk said on Thursday that Twitter will provide a “general amnesty” to suspended accounts starting next week after running a poll on whether to do so for users who had not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam. In a poll Musk posted on Twitter on Wednesday, 72.4% of the more than 3.16 million users who took part voted in favor of bringing back those who had been suspended by the social media platform. “The people have spoken,” Musk, who acquired Twitter last month, tweeted on Thursday. “Amnesty begins next week.” Last week, Musk, the world’s richest person, reinstated so…

PARIS (Reuters) – Twitter has met a Thursday deadline to respond to France’s communications regulator about whether the company can meet its legal obligations, a spokesperson for the regulator said. Arcom sent a letter on Monday to Twitter asking if it can meet its legal obligation to guarantee transparent information in spite of steep job cuts at the firm. “Twitter responded to our letter,” the spokesperson for Arcom said. “We will analyze their response. The dialogue is continuing.” (Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Mark Potter)

BERLIN (Reuters) -Volkswagen’s brands have halted all paid activities on Twitter until further notice, a spokesperson for the company said on Wednesday. Earlier this month, Volkswagen, which owns Audi together with the VW, Seat, Cupra, Lamborghini, Bentley, Ducati and Porsche, said it had recommended the brands pause paid advertising on Twitter until further notice following Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform. A spokesperson for Volkswagen said all the brands had followed the advice, while Audi had opted to halt organic activities, such as direct posts, and only respond to questions from cli…

BERLIN (Reuters) – German carmaker Audi has halted all activities on Twitter until further notice, WirtschaftsWoche reported on Wednesday, citing company sources. Earlier this month, Volkswagen, which owns Audi together with the VW, Seat, Cupra, Lamborghini, Bentley, Ducati and Porsche brands, said it had recommended they pause paid advertising on Twitter until further notice following Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform. Audi was not immediately available for comment. The company has not tweeted since Nov. 1 after previously tweeting almost every day. Musk took ownership of Twit…

BERLIN (Reuters) – German carmaker Audi has halted all activities on Twitter until further notice, WirtschaftsWoche reported on Wednesday, citing company sources. Earlier this month, Volkswagen, which owns Audi together with the VW, Seat, Cupra, Lamborghini, Bentley, Ducati and Porsche brands, said it had recommended they pause paid advertising on Twitter until further notice following Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform. Audi was not immediately available for comment. The company has not tweeted since Nov. 1 after previously tweeting almost every day. Musk took ownership of Twit…

(Reuters) – Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk said on Monday that the social media company is holding off the relaunch of its blue check subscription service, a delay from his initial tentative timeline to bring back the service on the platform. “Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation,” Musk said in a tweet. “Will probably use different color check for organizations than individuals,” he added. Twitter had paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service, as fake accounts mushroomed and had said Twitter’s sought-after blue che…

PARIS (Reuters) -Twitter Inc’s head of French operations, Damien Viel, said he was quitting the social media platform, whose new owner Elon Musk recently fired top executives and enforced steep job cuts at the company. “It’s over,” Viel tweeted on Sunday, thanking his team in France, which he led for the last seven years. Viel confirmed he was leaving Twitter in a separate message to Reuters. He didn’t elaborate on the circumstances of his departure and declined to say how many people Twitter employed in France either before or after Musk’s takeover of the company last month. Labour laws in Fr…

PARIS (Reuters) -Twitter Inc’s head of French operations, Damien Viel, said he was quitting the social media platform, whose new owner Elon Musk recently fired top executives and enforced steep job cuts at the company. “It’s over,” Viel tweeted on Sunday, thanking his team in France, which he led for the last seven years. Viel confirmed he was leaving Twitter in a separate message to Reuters. He didn’t elaborate on the circumstances of his departure and declined to say how many people Twitter employed in France either before or after Musk’s takeover of the company last month. Labour laws in Fr…

PARIS (Reuters) – French regulator Arcom said on Monday it had sent a letter to Twitter asking it to ensure by Nov. 24 that it can meet its legal obligation to guarantee transparent information despite a series of drastic job cuts. Arcom, the regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, said that following Twitter’s takeover by Elon Musk, Twitter had announced its decision to drastically reduce its workforce by firing half of its employees and terminating the contracts of several thousand contract workers. “Arcom would like to express its deep concern about the direct conseq…

PARIS (Reuters) – French regulator Arcom said on Monday it had sent a letter to Twitter asking it to ensure by Nov. 24 that it can meet its legal obligation to guarantee transparent information despite a series of drastic job cuts. Arcom, the regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, said that following Twitter’s takeover by Elon Musk, Twitter had announced its decision to drastically reduce its workforce by firing half of its employees and terminating the contracts of several thousand contract workers. “Arcom would like to express its deep concern about the direct conseq…

PARIS (Reuters) – French regulator Arcom said on Monday it had sent a letter to Twitter asking it to ensure by Nov. 24 that it can meet its legal obligation to guarantee transparent information despite a series of drastic job cuts. Arcom, the regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, said that following Twitter’s takeover by Elon Musk, Twitter had announced its decision to drastically reduce its workforce by firing half of its employees and terminating the contracts of several thousand contract workers. “Arcom would like to express its deep concern about the direct conseq…

PARIS (Reuters) – French regulator Arcom said in a statement on Monday it had sent a letter to Twitter asking it to ensure it can meet its legal obligation to guarantee transparent information despite a series of drastic job cuts. Arcom, the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, said that following Twitter’s takeover by Elon Musk, Twitter announced its decision to drastically reduce its workforce by firing half of its employees and terminating the contracts of several thousand contract workers. “Arcom would like to express its deep concern about the direct cons…

By Sheila Dang and Helen Coster (Reuters) -Donald Trump on Saturday said he had no interest in returning to Twitter even as a slim majority voted in favor of reinstating the former U.S. President, who was banned from the social media service for inciting violence, in a poll organized by new owner Elon Musk. Slightly over 15 million Twitter users voted in the poll with 51.8% voting in favor of reinstatement. “I don’t see any reason for it,” the former president said via video when asked whether he planned to return to Twitter by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership mee…

By Sheila Dang and Helen Coster (Reuters) – Donald Trump on Saturday said he had no interest in returning to Twitter even as a slim majority voted in favor of reinstating the former U.S. President, who was banned from the social media service for inciting violence, in a poll organized by new owner Elon Musk. With less than 40 minutes before the poll closed, some 14.8 million Twitter users voted in the poll with 51.8% voting in favor of the reinstatement. “I don’t see any reason for it,” the former president said via video when asked whether he planned to return to Twitter by a panel at the Rep…

By Hyunjoo Jin (Reuters) -Elon Musk emailed Twitter staff on Friday asking that any employees who write software code report to the 10th floor of Twitter’s office in San Francisco early afternoon, according to an email reviewed by Reuters. The billionaire said in a follow-up email, “I would appreciate it if you could fly to SF to be present in person,” adding that he would be at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters until midnight and would return Saturday morning. He said the engineers should report at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) on Friday. The emails came a day after hundreds of Twitter employees w…

By Hyunjoo Jin (Reuters) -Elon Musk emailed Twitter staff on Friday asking that any employees who write software code report to the 10th floor of Twitter’s office in San Francisco at 2 p.m., according to an email reviewed by Reuters. The billionaire said in a follow-up email, “I would appreciate it if you could fly to SF to be present in person,” adding that he would be at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters until midnight and would return Saturday morning. Musk ordered employees to email him a summary of what their software code has “achieved” in the past six months, “along with up to 10 scr…

By Hyunjoo Jin (Reuters) -Elon Musk emailed Twitter staff on Friday asking that any employees who write software code report to the 10th floor of Twitter’s office in San Francisco at 2 p.m., according to an email reviewed by Reuters. “There will be short, technical interviews that allow me to better understand the Twitter tech stack,” Musk wrote in the memo. The billionaire said, “I would appreciate it if you could fly to SF to be present in person,” adding that he would be at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters until midnight and would return Saturday morning. Musk ordered employees to email…

By Sheila Dang, Paresh Dave and Hyunjoo Jin (Reuters) -Hundreds of Twitter employees are estimated to be leaving the beleaguered social media company following an ultimatum from new owner Elon Musk that staffers sign up for “long hours at high intensity,” or leave. In a poll on the workplace app Blind, which verifies employees through their work email addresses and allows them to share information anonymously, 42% of 180 people chose the answer for “Taking exit option, I’m free!” A quarter said they had chosen to stay “reluctantly,” and only 7% of the poll participants said they “clicked yes t…

By Sheila Dang, Paresh Dave and Hyunjoo Jin (Reuters) – Hundreds of Twitter employees are estimated to be leaving the beleaguered social media company following an ultimatum from new owner Elon Musk that staffers sign up for “long hours at high intensity,” or leave. In a poll on the workplace app Blind, which verifies employees through their work email addresses and allows them to share information anonymously, 42% of 180 people chose the answer for “Taking exit option, I’m free!” A quarter said they had chosen to stay “reluctantly,” and only 7% of the poll participants said they “clicked yes …

By Sheila Dang, Paresh Dave and Hyunjoo Jin (Reuters) – Hundreds of Twitter employees are estimated to be leaving the beleaguered social media company following an ultimatum from new owner Elon Musk that staffers sign up for “long hours at high intensity,” or leave. In a poll on the workplace app Blind, which verifies employees through their work email addresses and allows them to share information anonymously, 42% of 180 people chose the answer for “Taking exit option, I’m free!” A quarter said they had chosen to stay “reluctantly,” and only 7% of the poll participants said they “clicked yes …

(Reuters) – Former Chief Executive Officer of Twitter Jack Dorsey said on Wednesday that he will not accept the position of CEO of Twitter. When asked by a Twitter user if he would accept the position as Twitter CEO, he replied “nope”. (Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)

By Hyunjoo Jin and Tom Hals (Reuters) -Elon Musk said on Wednesday he expected to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company, adding that he hoped to complete an organizational restructuring this week. Musk made the remarks while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his $56 billion pay package at Tesla Inc was based on easy to achieve performance targets and was approved by a compliant board of directors. Tesla investors have been increasingly concerned about the time that Musk is devoting to turning around Twitter. Share…

By Hyunjoo Jin and Tom Hals (Reuters) -Elon Musk said on Wednesday he expected to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company, adding that he hoped to complete an organizational restructuring this week. Musk made the remarks while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his $56 billion pay package at Tesla Inc was based on easy to achieve performance targets and was approved by a compliant board of directors. Tesla investors have been increasingly concerned about the time that Musk is devoting to turning around Twitter. Share…

By Hyunjoo Jin and Tom Hals (Reuters) -Elon Musk said on Wednesday he expected to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company, adding that he hoped to complete an organizational restructuring this week. Musk made the remarks while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his $56 billion pay package at Tesla Inc was based on easy to achieve performance targets and was approved by a compliant board of directors. “There’s an initial burst of activity needed post-acquisition to reorganize the company,” Musk said in his testimony. …

By Tom Hals WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) – Elon Musk, known for his combative testimony, is set to take the stand in a Delaware court on Wednesday to defend against claims that his $56 billion Tesla Inc pay package was based on easy to achieve performance targets and influence with the board of directors. Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta sued Musk and the board in 2018 and hopes to prove that Musk used his dominance over the electric vehicle maker’s board to dictate terms of the package, which did not require him to work at Tesla full-time. Musk’s testimony before Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick…

(Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday that Twitter’s sought-after blue check subscription service will be relaunched on Nov. 29, a minor delay from his initial tentative timeline to bring back the service on the social media platform. “Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid,” Musk said in a tweet. With the new release, changing someone’s verified name will cause the loss of the blue check “until name is confirmed by Twitter to meet terms of service”, Musk said. The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of…

(Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday that Twitter’s sought-after blue check subscription service will be relaunched on Nov. 29, a minor delay from his initial timeline to bring back the service on the social media platform. “Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid,” Musk tweeted. (Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

By Diane Bartz and Paresh Dave WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s lawyer late last week sought to reassure Twitter Inc employees that they would not be held personally liable if the company disregarded a federal order to consider and protect users’ privacy when launching new features. Former FTC officials do not think it is so clear-cut. In a May 2022 settlement with the U.S. regulator, Twitter agreed to improve its privacy practices and placed responsibility on people who held certain positions. But compliance has come into question as Musk pursues rapid launches of features to steer the debt…

(Reuters) – Twitter’s billionaire owner Elon Musk on Sunday said that Twitter will soon enable organizations to identify twitter accounts associated with them as the new Twitter owner continues to find ways to limit fake accounts on the platform. “Rolling out soon,” Musk in a tweet on Sunday said. “Twitter will enable organizations to identify which other Twitter accounts are actually associated with them.” He did not elaborate. The social media platform paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service on Friday as fake accounts mushroomed, and new owner Elon Musk brought back …

(Reuters) – Twitter’s billionaire owner Elon Musk on Sunday said that Twitter will soon enable organizations to identify twitter accounts associated with them as the new Twitter owner continues to find ways to limit fake accounts on the platform. “Rolling out soon,” Musk in a tweet on Sunday said. “Twitter will enable organizations to identify which other Twitter accounts are actually associated with them.” He did not elaborate. The social media platform paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service on Friday as fake accounts mushroomed, and new owner Elon Musk brought back …

(Reuters) -Twitter Blue will probably “come back end of next week”, billionaire owner Elon Musk said in a tweet on Saturday. Twitter on Friday paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service on Friday as fake accounts mushroomed. The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures. But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out earlier this week to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers Several users reported on Friday that the new…

(Reuters) -Twitter Blue will probably “come back end of next week”, billionaire owner Elon Musk said in a tweet on Saturday. Twitter on Friday paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service on Friday as fake accounts mushroomed. The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures. But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out earlier this week to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers Several users reported on Friday that the new…

(Reuters) – Twitter Blue will probably “come back end of next week”, billionaire owner Elon Musk said in a tweet on Saturday. Twitter on Friday paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service on Friday as fake accounts mushroomed. (Reporting by Rhea Binoy in Bengaluru)

By Nivedita Balu (Reuters) -Twitter Inc paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service on Friday as fake accounts mushroomed, and new owner Elon Musk brought back the “official” badge to some users of the social media platform. The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures. But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out earlier this week to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers. The flip-flop is part of a chaotic two weeks …

By Nivedita Balu (Reuters) -Twitter Inc paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service on Friday as fake accounts mushroomed, and new owner Elon Musk brought back the “official” badge to some users of the social media platform. The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures. But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out earlier this week to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers. The flip-flop is part of a chaotic two weeks …

By Katie Paul and Paresh Dave (Reuters) -Twitter’s top privacy and compliance officers are leaving the company, according to an internal message seen by Reuters and a tweet, potentially putting the social media company at risk of violating regulatory orders. “Our CISO, Chief Privacy Officer and Chief Compliance Officer ALL resigned last night. This news will be buried in the return-to-office drama. I believe that is intentional,” an attorney on the company’s privacy team wrote in a note posted to Twitter’s Slack on Thursday that Reuters received from sources. The company’s security chief Lea K…

(Reuters) -Elon Musk in his first email to Twitter employees said remote work would no longer be allowed and that they would be expected in office for at least 40 hours per week, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Musk, who completed his $44 billion deal for the popular social media platform just two weeks ago, has laid off half its workforce and several top executives and announced a series of actions including charging $8 for the Twitter Blue subscription. Musk also told employees that he wants to see subscriptions account for half of Twitter’s revenue, the report said, citing the email. T…

DUBAI (Reuters) -Top Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti has posted a picture of herself on Instagram without a headscarf to express support for nationwide anti-government demonstrations, another sign that the protest movement is gaining support from all layers of society. Best-known for her role in “The Salesman”, which won an Academy Award in 2017, the pro-reform artist held up a sign in the Instagram post which read “Woman, Life, Freedom” in Kurdish, a popular slogan in the demonstrations. Protests sparked by the Sept. 16 death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the morality pol…

DUBAI (Reuters) -Top Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti has posted a picture of herself on Instagram without a headscarf to express support for nationwide anti-government demonstrations, another sign that the protest movement is gaining support from all layers of society. Best-known for her role in “The Salesman”, which won an Academy Award in 2017, the pro-reform artist held up a sign in the Instagram post which read “Woman, Life, Freedom” in Kurdish, a popular slogan in the demonstrations. Protests sparked by the Sept. 16 death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the morality pol…

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) -Elon Musk told advertisers on Wednesday that he aimed to turn Twitter into a force for truth and stop fake accounts, an effort to assuage brands and advertising agencies that are increasingly backing away from the social media platform. The new Twitter owner said that paid Blue subscription accounts would become more important and prominent, and that would have the effect of discouraging spammers, who would not want to pay for that service. Major advertisers like General Motors and General Mills have pulled their ads off Twitter following concern that Musk could loose…

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) -Elon Musk told advertisers on Wednesday that he aimed to turn Twitter into a force for truth and stop fake accounts, an effort to assuage brands and advertising agencies that are increasingly backing away from the social media platform. Major advertisers like General Motors and General Mills have pulled their ads off Twitter following concern about how the billionaire and Twitter’s new owner could loosen content moderation rules on the service. A coalition of civil rights groups has also ramped up pressure on Twitter’s advertisers, demanding they suspend ads globally …

(Reuters) – U.S. social media giant Meta has not filed an appeal against Russia’s block of Facebook and Instagram in the country, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Wednesday. (Reporting by Reuters)

By Sheila Dang and Fanny Potkin (Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform Twitter will introduce an “Official” label for select verified accounts including major media outlets and governments when it launches its new $8 premium subscription product, its early stage products executive Esther Crawford said on Tuesday. Crawford also confirmed that the revamped Twitter Blue subscription product, which will allow paid users to carry blue check marks on their accounts, will not actually verify users’ identities. The lack of ID verification is likely to raise concerns about the possibi…

By Sheila Dang and Fanny Potkin (Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform Twitter will introduce an “Official” label for select verified accounts including major media outlets and governments when it launches its new $8 premium subscription product, its early stage products executive Esther Crawford said on Tuesday. Crawford also confirmed that the revamped Twitter Blue subscription product, which will allow paid users to carry blue check marks on their accounts, will not actually verify users’ identities. The lack of ID verification is likely to raise concerns about the possibi…

(Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk’s social media firm Twitter will introduce an ‘Official’ label for select verified accounts including major media outlets and governments, when it launches its new $8 service with the blue verification mark, its early stage products executive Esther Crawford said on Tuesday. “Not all previously verified accounts will get the “Official” label and the label is not available for purchase. Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures,” Crawford tweeted. “…