City AM

By Abby Wallace News publisher Reach reported a slump in sales for the first quarter of 2023, with digital revenue hit by changes to how Facebook presents its news content, the company said on Wednesday. The publisher — those titles include the Mirror, Express and Daily Star — said revenue fell by 5.9 per cent in the four months to April 24. Print revenue fell by three per cent, while digital revenue fell by 14.5 per cent. The company said digital advertising revenue was impacted by macroeconomic conditions, but added that changes to how news content is presented on Facebook delivered a blow o…

By Sascha O’Sullivan Rishi Sunak flirtatious dalliance with business leaders on Monday isn’t enough to make up for months of neglecting policies to help British startups continue to grow and attract investment, writes Sascha O’Sullivan. If Twitter is the social media platform for journalists, Instagram is for influencers and TikTok is for Gen Z and China, then LinkedIn is the site for lawyers, executives, and workplace well-being heroes. And this is exactly where Rishi Sunak was on Monday, trying to convince London’s business community he was on their side, followed by a love-in with chief exe…

By Abby Wallace Plans to toughen up the UK’s regulation of technology companies will go before MPs for the first time today, with the competition watchdog’s dedicated digital unit set to be given sharper teeth to deal with big tech. New laws to regulate big tech firms, such as Google, Amazon and Meta, have been long awaited, with MPs last autumn urging the government to speed up progress on reforms. Now a draft of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Bill proposes giving statutory status to a key digital unit within the UK’s top competition watchdog. The digital markets unit (…

By Steve Dinneen Graham Linehan, the creator of Father Ted now best known for his opposition to trans rights, has been allowed back onto Twitter after serving yet another ban for breaking the platform’s rules over hate speech and making threats. He was furiously tweeting again just hours after he was banned for a tweet in which he joked about killing trans activists at a controversial women’s rights activist event in Belfast called Let Women Speak. The tweet Linenan was banned for read: “Durr imm gonna kill em. Fuck off Daniel you mens [sic] rights activist.” Linehan – who uses the username @g…

By Steve Dinneen Graham Linehan, the creator of Father Ted now best known for his opposition to trans rights, has been banned from Twitter… Again. Linehan’s latest ban was for joking about killing protestors at a controversial women’s rights activist event in Belfast called Let Women Speak, although he had already received warnings from the platform about his behaviour. The tweet Linenan was banned for read: “Durr imm gonna kill em. Fuck off Daniel you mens [sic] rights activist.” Linehan – who uses the username @glinner – was “permanently” banned from the platform in 2020 for “repeated violat…

By Jack Mendel Twitter has launched a new platform to support writers move from micro-blogging to longer-form pieces, with posts of 10,000 characters permitted. The Elon Musk-owned social media giant announced the launch of Twitter Write on Friday, offering “improvements to the writing and reading experience” for users. “Starting today, Twitter now supports Tweets up to 10,000 characters in length, with bold and italic text formatting”, the new Twitter Write account posted. Users however will have to pay for the privilege of writing longer form messages on the site. They will need to “sign up …

By Steve Dinneen Twitter’s logo mysteriously transformed from the familiar bird into the memetastic DogeCoin dog today, leaving users perplexed. The logo in the top right corner of the Twitter browser window was replaced by a picture of a Shiba Inu, a breed of Japanese hunting dog. The dog also appears for a second when you first load Twitter from a web browser. It’s not clear whether the dog is an in-joke by Twitter’s mercurial founder Elon Musk, an addition by a disgruntled employee or something entirely different. The dog became a meme in the early 2010s, when users would overlay an interio…

By Louis van Boxel-Woolf The markets quietened this week, with European banking stocks recovering the losses they had posted in the week after Credit Suisse’s shotgun marriage with UBS. But the internet never sleeps and the news rumbles on, so City A.M. have sorted through cyberspace to bring you the best of what you might have missed. 1. Elon Musk tries to roll out blue ticks This week,Elon Musk decreed a host of new measures only “verified” (paid) Twitter accounts will be able to use, including that verified accounts will appear in the “For You” Twitter landing page. This will mean free Twit…

By Sascha O’Sullivan Every time Elon Musk tries to fix one problem at Twitter, it spawns a dozen more, but as advertisers continue to flee the social media site, we will lose a good deal of humour and a genuinely useful platform, writes Josh Williams. In aviation, they call it a “death spiral”. A pilot loses their ability to judge direction and altitude, and with each wrong move they draw their plane into a tighter downward spiral. Once entered, there is no escape. The most common cause, to use another term that has entered popular parlance, is that the pilot is “flying by the seat of their pa…

By Jack Mendel An explosive BBC Panorama documentary this evening will claim Twitter is failing to protect users from trolling, state-co-ordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation. The deep-dive programme at 8pm on Monday features a raft of insiders at the social media company, building on academic researched shared with the broadcaster. This comes after billionaire Tesla owner Elon Musk bought the company for £35bn and initiated a wave of job cuts and restructuring. In addition to creating a new paid-for authentication model, his firing of staff managing complaints procedures and …

By Jack Mendel Facebook and Instagram owner Meta will soon role out a paid-for verification model, copying a similar move by rival social media platform Twitter. In a bid to claw back credibility, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed he was launching a new subscription service, which promised more personal security for users, for between £10-12.50 a month. For 11.99 dollars per month (£10) on the web or 14.99 dollars (£12.50) per month on Apple and Android operating systems, Meta will use a government identification to verify a user’s account and give it a blue badge. The move comes a…

By Steve Dinneen It has taken me almost a year to come across the best comedy account left on Twitter. While the glory days of conceptual Twitter comedy appear to have passed, sometimes an account appears on your radar that still has the ability to floor you. We’re Just Normal Men is one of those accounts. Classics accounts from throughout the ages of Twitter include the peerless @CatBinLady, a parody of the Coventry woman Mary Bale, who was filmed pushing a neighbour’s cat into a wheelie bin. The account imagined her as a woman unable to control her socially inappropriate urges in a series of…

By Jess Jones Spending on adverts on Twitter dropped by 70 per cent in December, new data has revealed. The fresh statistics, from advertising research company Standard Media Index, shows that firms are losing confidence in the social media platform and raises further questions about whether Musk will be able to turn things around. According to reports, Twitter is is attempting to reel lucrative advertisers back in with a variety of promises. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported Twitter was giving advertisers £400,000 if they matched it in ad spending on the site. Twitter has n…

By Azania Patel Twitter is being sued by the Crown Estates over unpaid rent relating to its Piccadilly Circus-based headquarters building. The Crown Estates manages property for King Charles III and the monarchy, which includes the 10m sq Twitter headquarters in central London. The estate filed the claim against Twitter Inc, which is also facing legal action over unpaid dues on its San Francisco office, and its UK subsidiary in the High Court earlier this month Twitter A Crown Estate spokesman confirmed court proceedings had been issued in a dispute over the company’s UK headquarters in the We…

By Azania Patel Over 500 advertisers have reportedly either pulled or paused their presence on Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover of the website last autumn, according to a report by The Information. Major spenders including General Mills, Pfizer, Audi, Volkswagen and Mondelez are among some of the big names to have stopped advertising on Twitter since Musk’s took the helm last October, the report said. On 17 January 2023 the social media company’s daily revenue was 40 per cent lower than on the same day a year ago, the report added. Advertisers cited Musk’s reinstatement of suspended acco…

By Frank Dalleres British tech start-up Hoof is aiming to “elevate the level of football discussion” with a new app that, unlike Twitter, Facebook and the other social media behemoths, stops abusive posts at source, its founders tell City A.M. If football and social media had a relationship status it would be “it’s complicated”. On the one hand they are mutually beneficial, with big matches and news stories driving engagement on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, which in turn allow athletes and brands to grow and speak directly to their fanbase. But on the other, widespread abuse – much…

By Steve Dinneen For the last year Twitter has been racking its collective brain to try to unravel what has become known as The Riddle of the Nursing Assistant. Last December a Tik Tok user called @thisis_bex cross-posted a rather thirsty picture of what we assume to be herself alongside the cryptic caption: “Imagine how good your life would be if you had a 26yo nursing assistant by your side, now replace S with N.” She then vanished from the platform, leaving confusion in her wake. What on earth could she mean? Taking the words literally you end up with something like: “Imagise how good your …

By Samantha Downes Facebook and Instagram are to tighten restrictions around the data available to firms to target ads at teenage users, the platforms’ parent company Meta has said. From February, advertisers on Facebook will no longer be able see a user’s gender or the type of posts they have engaged with as a way of targeting adverts to them. Under the enhanced restrictions, only a user’s age and location will be used to show them advertising, Meta said. The social media giant also confirmed that new controls will be introduced in March enabling teenagers to go into the settings in both apps…

By Azania Patel A major security breach at online micro-blogging site Twitter has been blamed on owner Elon Musk’s mass firing of staff. Over 200 million Twitter users woke up to find their email and log-in details had been posted online. According to several reports, the data was stolen over a year ago but has only just been put up for sale on ‘Breached’, a dark web market place. The data, contains emails and partial log-in details for over 200m users is available for sale for the crypto currency equivalent of $2 (£1.69) each. Alon Gal, of Israeli cyber security firm Hudson Rock first reporte…

By Azania Patel Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company is discussing whether Donald Trump should be allowed back on the platforms. In January 2021, Meta (then known as Facebook Inc) had suspended Donald Trump’s social media accounts for two years. Five people, including a police officer died, in the riot. Mr Trump posted a video on Facebook and Instagram urging his supporters to go home. However, he also told rioters: “We love you, you’re very special” leading to his ban. CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated, ““We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during t…

By Charlie Conchie Elon Musk looked to dismiss reports of Twitter malfunctioning today after thousands of users across the UK, US and Japan were hit by outages. Up to 15,000 users were hit by issues on the Twitter app, with some 2,500 UK-based users facing problems, Reuters reported. London-based internet monitor NetBlocks said Twitter was experiencing “international outages affecting the mobile app and features including notifications”. “The incident is not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering,” the firm said. However, Twitter chiefElon Musk looked to play down the repor…

By Andy Silvester Elon Musk started the year as just a prominent Twitter user, but he ends it as its beleaguered owner set to step down as chief executive after a chaotic two months in charge. The Tesla and SpaceX owner launched his dramatic takeover bid in April after buying up enough shares to become the site’s biggest shareholder but then rejected a seat on the company’s board. What followed was six months of public sparring as the billionaire criticised Twitter’s executives, policies, and statistics around spam accounts – at one point walking away from the deal – before a looming court cas…

By Elena Siniscalco This week started with Elon Musk creating a Twitter poll on whether he should step down as Twitter chief, following all the controversy of the past months. The poll closed with 57.5 per cent of users saying “yes”, and 42.5 per cent saying “no”. As one could have expected, Musk subsequently brought the poll into question, agreeing with suggestions that it could have been manipulated. He seemed to appreciate one user’s suggestion that all future votes should be limited to Twitter Blue Premium subscribers. Those who genuinely hoped this could be a turning point in the Musk-Twi…

By Azania Patel Meta, Facebook’s parent company has been accused of flouting competition rules by anEU commission. If the charges are proven, they may face a penalty of up to £10m. Meta is likely in breach of the European Union’s anti-trust regulations. The EU’s preliminary review has found that Meta has tied access to the social media platform to Facebook Marketplace. Facebook Marketplace is the social media platform’s classifieds ad page. As Facebook is a dominant player in the market, this may skewer competition. Facebook holds 77.2 per cent of the social media market share in Europe and 64…

By Azania Patel On Sunday, Elon Musk asked Twitter users if he should step down as CEO. The polls closed with 57.5% users voting yes. Billionaire Elon Musk became the owner of Twitter following a $44b (£36b) deal and a court case forcing him to go forward with the purchase. Since October end, the company has been in lurch with aggressive policy changes and advertisers dropping out. Stakeholders have been losing faith in the social media platform as it has been on the downward turn, losing the support of both users and advertisers. While Twitter polls are not binding, Musk has a history of foll…

By Jack Mendel Elon Musk may quit as the head of Twitter after running a poll which he said he “will abide by”, with 57 per cent saying, go. The Tesla boss’ straw poll has already had more than 15m votes online, with almost 60 per cent pf people saying he should quit. He took to Twitter on Sunday asking his 122m followers: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.” This comes after the social media guru has caused a social media earthquake since taking over with a £35bn deal. He has implemented paid-for verification and reinstated accounts for controvers…

By Jack Mendel Twitter is facing an exodus of advertisers after Elon Musk tweeted a call to prosecute the US medical chief over pandemic restrictions – in his latest controversial move since buying the social media giant. The social media site is staring down an estimated loss of UK advertising revenue around £10m, and it could deepen if more UK advertisers jump ship. This comes after Musk caked to prosecute Anthony Fauci on the social media site, leading to a slew of criticism,. UNBXD, a London marketing consultancy advised its clients to “focus on other social media platforms, while Cadbury …

By Leah Montebello Twitter’s paid blue tick made a comeback today after its rollout was paused due to a flurry of impersonators. The social media firm said the verification badge would cost an extra $3 per month for Apple users, meaning that Android users will pay $8 (£6.99) per month for the premium badge, while iPhone owners will pay $11. Twitter Blue was first announced when Elon Musk completed his $44bn takeover of the company in October, with the billionaire hoping to boost Twitter’s profitability and create more fairness on the platform. But Twitter was forced to delay the premium servic…

By Emily Hawkins Twitter is to relaunch a refreshed version of its subscription service tomorrow, with a higher price tag for iPhone users. Users can subscribe to the service in order to be able to edit tweets, upload higher quality videos and get a blue checkmark. It comes at a price of $8 per month through the web but $11 per month through Apple iOS. Twitter, which was taken over by Tesla owner Elon Musk earlier this year, has not provided an explanation as to why Apple users are being charged more. However, there have been some media reports that the social media giant is looking to offset …

By Leah Montebello Facebook’s parent company Meta has threatened to pull news content from the US if Congress push forward with plans to make the company pay for content. Meta’s head of policy communications, Andy Stone, tweeted the thread, saying that “if Congress passes an ill-considered journalism bill as part of national security legislation, we will be forced to consider removing news from our platform altogether.” The legislation, known as the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) was introduced in Congress by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and has bipartisan support. It gi…

By Leah Montebello Elon Musk has abandoned Twitter’s Covid disinformation policy in a grand push for free speech. “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the Covid-19 misleading information policy,” a notice on its website reads. The new owner of the social media firm axed the former “Covid-19 misleading information policy” page, outlining rules surrounding Covid related content. “Content that is demonstrably false or misleading and may lead to significant risk of harm (such as increased exposure to the virus, or adverse effects on public health systems) may not be shared …

By Leah Montebello Twitter has reportedly disbanded its entire Brussels office, as Elon Musk continues his rampage of headcount. According to initial reports from the Financial Times, Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa, who were in charge of Twitter’s digital policy in Europe, left the company last week. The pair were reportedly instrumental to the social media company’s approach to the EU’s disinformation code and the landmark Digital Services Act. Other members of the Brussels team have left the company as a result of mass layoffs, as well as Musk’s new requests for staff to embrace a “hardcore w…

By Leah Montebello Facebook owner Meta has been sued in the high court after claims that it disregarded the right to object against the collection of personal data to sell to advertisers. Human rights advocate Tanya O’Carroll alleges that the Silicon Valley giant has breached UK data laws by failing to respect her right to demand that it stop collecting and processing her data. The claim document includes an extensive list of “ad interests” that Meta had assigned to O’Carroll between 2021 and 2022, including sexuality and politics. “This case is really about us all being able to connect with s…

By Elena Siniscalco When Elon Musk bought Twitter, many worried for the consequences on vulnerable users or those more likely to suffer abuse online, as Musk portrayed himself as a freedom of speech absolutist. But now that he’s taken ownership, the problem might be simpler: it’s not clear whether he has the acumen to keep the ship afloat. Musk simply doesn’t know how a complex social media platform like Twitter works. He first decided that people would have to pay for the “blue thick” – the symbol of verification – under a new “Twitter blue” subscription. This predictably caused countless fak…

By Steve Dinneen Though a few of the old guard may prefer wine to remain solely in the cellar (preferably theirs) or the members club tasting room, savvy wine brands have been working with social media to expand their reach, diversify their client base and make the industry, essentially, more enjoyable. “The wine trade was late to the game on incorporating social media into their marketing mix,” says Hannah Milnes, founder of Bouchon Media, “but with the pandemic, businesses, particularly those selling to the on trade, had to shift quickly to online retail and increase their digital marketing …

By Michiel Willems After Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk gave workers a choice to pledge to “hardcore” work or resign with severance pay, the social platform is bleeding engineers. Some took to Twitter to announce they were signing off after Musk’s deadline to make the pledge. A number of employees took to a private forum outside of the company’s messaging board to discuss their planned departure, asking questions about how it might jeopardise their US visas or if they would get the promised severance pay, according to an employee fired earlier this week who spoke on condition of anonymity for f…

By Leah Montebello SpaceX has snapped up an ad package to test the effectiveness of Twitter advertising as Elon Musk pushes to grow his newly acquired social media firm. In a tweet this morning, founder Elon Musk said his SpaceX arm Starlink had “bought a tiny – not large – ad package” to test advertising in Australia and Spain. He added that the satellite firm had done something similar across Facebook, Instagram and Google. One current and one former Twitter employee told CNBC that packages typically cost companies upwards of $250,000, where brand messaging will feature on the first three ti…

By Ilaria Grasso Macola Twitter’s $8 (£6.99) blue tick feature will “probably” come back at the end of next week, according to chief executive Elon Musk. The serial entrepreneur announced the decision earlier today after being asked about it by Paul Jamil, chief executive of SEO platform Whatsmyserp. Twitter – which announced the paid feature’s introduction days after Musk’s $44bn takeover in late October – was forced to pause it for the second time on Friday following a boom in fake accounts. Used to verify the likes of politicians, newspapers and celebrities, the blue tick’s paid roll-out wa…

By Leah Montebello Elon Musk has ordered all Twitter staff back into the office, ending an era of remote working for the social media firm. The new chief exec told employees in an email late on Wednesday that they would need to prepare for “difficult times ahead”, according to reports from Bloomberg. The news comes as the billionaire pushes forward with a number of major changes at the company, including mass layoffs and paid verification. Musk had already made his views clear on remote working with his approach at Tesla. In a letter leaked in June by Whole Mars blog, the Tesla boss told staff…

By Michiel Willems Twitter’s new social media platform’s subscription service has gone live across Britain. The service allows users to buy a blue verification badge for the first time. Twitter users on Apple’s iOS can now sign up and pay for the Twitter Blue service, which will give them the blue-tick badge next to their profile name on the platform. The company said the service would expand to Android and the web version of the app for users in due course, but Twitter owner Elon Musk continues to face criticism over the controversial change. Until now, the verification badge was only given t…

By Leah Montebello Twitter confirmed that it would be delaying the rollout of its paid-for verification until after the US midterm elections, temporarily abating fears about fake account misinformation campaigns. As the new social media chief, Elon Musk has laid out plans to allow users to purchase blue-tick verification for their profiles – a privilege that is usually reserved for influential individuals. The main concern was that bad actors could use this new function to pose as public figures and spread fake news during the midterms, which are key scene-setting for the 2024 presidential cam…

By Leah Montebello Elon Musk’s Twitter shake-up continued at pace this weekend, with thousands of employees sacked and paid verification firmly on the table. While Twitter has remained relatively quiet since the Tesla founder completed his $44bn (£39bn) takeover, the social media confirmed on Saturday that it would now allow users to buy blue-tick verified status. The controversial move will mean that users who sign up the the Twitter Blue service for $7.99 (£7) will be able to have a verified tick on their account, which was previously reserved for high-profile or influential individuals and …

By Elena Siniscalco A chill is in the air in ad land. One of the bastions of the digital marketing mix has gone rogue. Twitter, one of the oldest and still most active of social networks, has taken a sudden turn and the advertising industry is not taking it well. Through a mist of Elon Musk tweets, a picture of a new-style social network has been painted. It looks like a pay-per-argument, town square debate hellscape – and that’s not a place where advertisers want to be. Brands, ever careful to frame their marketing messages in good light, are taking a fresh look at Twitter and the direction i…

By Charlie Conchie Elon Musk has dissolved the board of Twitter and appointed himself sole director of the firm as he pushes ahead with a major restructuring plan that could see a quarter of staff laid off. The world’s richest man closed his $44bn takeover of the social media platform at the end of last week after months of wrangling in which he threatened to walk away from the deal several times. Musk promptly sacked three of Twitter’s top chiefs including CEO Parag Agrawal and finance boss Ned Segal and is now eyeing a clear-out of staff. A regulatory filing to the US Securities and Exchange…

By Leah Montebello Elon Musk is reportedly gearing up to introduce paid verification on Twitter in a bid to drive up revenue. According to initial reports from The Verge, Twitter is currently planning to charge $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription, adding to the current optional premium offering it has. According to insiders and internal correspondence seen by The Verge, verified users woulld have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue tick. The Twitter Blue subscription launched last year as a way to view ad-free articles from some publishers. “Chief Twit” Musk has made his intention…

By Jack Mendel Owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Meta, reported a fall in its revenue for the third quarter driven by plummeting ad revenue. The social media giant’s intake was four per cent down on last year’s third quarter, from £29bn to £27bn, while its costs and expenses were up almost 20 per cent. Income was down 46 per cent. Sales of $27.7bn were down 4 per cent from last year, while profits of $4.4bn were halved, driven by falling advertising revenue amid a global slowdown and widening inflation. Meta’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned about “near-term challenges on reven…

By Leah Montebello Elon Musk has told prospective investors that he plans to axe nearly 75 per cent of Twitter’s staff, as the billionaire continues to push forward with a takeover deal. According to reports from the Washington Post, jobs were already on the social media firm’s radar — even if the Tesla chief isn’t successful with his $44bn offer. It reported that whilst human resources staff have reassured employees that mass layoffs were not coming any time soon, documents showed that plans to axe certain infrastructure costs and staff costs were already in motion before Musk first made an o…

By Leah Montebello As the Elon Musk takeover remains up in the air, Twitter is reportedly weighing up policy changes that could mean permanent bans on disruptive users are scrapped. The social media firm has been assessing content moderation tools for a while now, and sources told the Financial Times that this may entail axing its harshest penalty, which was famously applied to former US President Donald Trump. The sources said the bans were unlikely to spell a return of Trump, with breaches involving the incitement of violence not under consideration. According to Twitter’s website, permanent…

By Elena Siniscalco Yes, no, yes. Elon Musk has been uniquely indecisive about his buyout of Twitter. He seems to have finally capitulated and confirmed the deal just weeks before he was expected in court over his u-turns. The legal drama started when Musk announced he was going to buy the social media platform in a $44bn deal. Musk, an avid user himself, promised he was going to keep the platform a beacon of free speech – prompting some to wonder what a Musk-owned Twitter would look like in terms of abuse and damaging content. Then, he changed his mind, claiming the number of fake accounts an…

By Leah Montebello When the news broke that Elon Musk would be moving ahead with his original $44bn takeover of Twitter, it felt more like the beginning of a saga than the end of it. While the Tesla chief told his 107m followers that the purchase would be an “accelerant” towards his vision of an “everything app”, Musk’s lawyers remain acutely aware of the challenges that lay ahead of them. In a letter from Musk’s team, he said: “Musk Parties intend to proceed to closing of the transaction… and adjourn the trial and all other proceedings.” Twitter notably stopped short of saying whether it woul…

By Leah Montebello Twitter shareholders are on the verge of approving Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover of the social media firm, putting all eyes on the ongoing court battle. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that early shareholder votes suggest investors are keen to green light the deal, and votes are scheduled to take place at 1pm Eastern time today. Musk is the company’s largest shareholder, with a roughly 10 per cent stake, and could, in theory, vote on the matter. However, insiders told the publication that this was unlikely considering the legal battle taking place in court. The billionaire…

By Louis Goss A barrister has been fined £500 for using an anonymous Twitter account to put out a series of “inappropriate and offensive tweets.” The Bar Standards Board (BSB) fined Anthony Daniel Bennett £500 over his use of the Twitter handle “@arrytuttle” to send a series of offensive tweets about fellow barrister Adam Wagner. Bennett, used the @arrytuttle Twitter account to direct a series of tweets towards his former colleague, accusing him of being a “lying propagandist” amid clashes over allegations of antisemitism in the Labour party. Bennet and Wagner had previously worked together in…

By Leah Montebello Disney’s former chief has said the company did not purchase Twitter back in 2016 because a “substantial portion” of its users “were not real”. Speaking atVox Media’s Code Conference, Bob Iger explained that the media giant had debated snapping up the social media firm, but decided against it. “We did look very carefully at all of the Twitter users — I guess they’re called users? — and we at that point estimated with some of Twitter’s help that a substantial portion — not a majority — were not real,” Iger said. “I don’t remember the number but we discounted the value heavily….

By Darren Parkin The average time spent online is doubling every decade. On average, younger generations spend far more time online than older generations. Digital tokens are the currency of the metaverse. Digital goods have property rights. Web3 makes them ownable, tradeable, composable, and transportable across platforms, spurring smoothly functioning economies of scale. So while centralised aggregators of Web2 own your data, Web3 bridges developers with users, bypassing the centralised eBays, Facebooks, and Twitters of the world. The decentralised social networks of Web3 guarantee that user…

By Leah Montebello Twitter has been ordered to hand over files to Elon Musk from its former consumer product head as the legal battle over his $44bn (£36bn) takeover looms. Twitter last month sued the Tesla founder to make him complete the mega deal, which he backed out of over questions regarding spam and bot account numbers. Musk has accused Twitter of hiding the names of workers who would handle the bot count and called on the judge to make the firm hand details over. The Silicon Valley giant will need to hand over information regarding Kayvon Beykpour, the former head of product, who was r…

By Elena Siniscalco Instagram is scrambling to keep up with its competitor TikTok – and events last month showed how trying to copycat the latter can fall flat. Instagram had to reverse some of its new features after users complained the app was becoming too much like TikTok. Users were also aggrieved their home feeds got inundated by suggested content they weren’t particularly interested in. The company has now shared inside information about how it selects the recommended posts that end up in your home feed. It looks like CEO Adam Mosseri is attempting to regain users’ trust. What the algori…

By Charlie Conchie Elon Musk has revived hopes that his Twitter takeover may go ahead after writing the deal should proceed “on its original terms” if the social media site provides its method for confirming accounts are genuine. Musk, the world’s richest person, abandoned a $44bn bid to buy the firm citing concerns over the quantity of fake accounts on the site. But writing on twitter today, Musk said if Twitter could provide its method of sampling 100 accounts and how it confirmed that the accounts are real, his deal to buy the company should proceed as agreed. “However, if it turns out that…

By Leah Montebello The head of Instagram is set to move temporarily to London as the social media giant tries to keep up with the TikTok influencer wave. Adam Mosseri is set to relocate to Facebook and Instagram parent firm Meta’s King’s Cross offices, with a distinct focus on how he can drive a bigger creator community on Instagram and help users build a business on their platform. London is currently Meta’s largest engineering hub outside the US, with over 4,000 employees across offices. TikTok stars have been a major tenet of the Chinese firm’s success, providing influencers a way to earn a…

By Jack Mendel Facebook and Instagram owner Meta had its first ever drop in sales revenue in the first time in its history. The social media giant’s revenue stood at $28.2bn in the first three months up to June this year, down from $29bn in the same period last year, marking a one per cent fall. The Mark Zuckerberg-owned company did however have an increase in the number of monthly users on Facebook, with an average of 2.93 month, up one per cent year-on-year, in what appears a successful bid to stave off other platforms like TikTok. “It was good to see positive trajectory on our engagement tr…