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contract workers

Elon Musk fires thousands of contract workers without notice

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According to reports, Twitter has terminated thousands of contract workers as Elon Musk appears to be taking strong steps to revive the once-dominant social media platform. Platformer estimates that employment cuts have affected over 4400 out of 5500 contract workers.

contract workers
Image Source: pynr.in

The widespread firings, which affect both US-based and international staff working in real estate, marketing, content moderation, engineering, and other departments, were first reported on by Platformer on Saturday night.

According to Platformer’s Casey Newton, Twitter fired a sizable number of contract workers on Saturday, impacting anywhere between 4,400 and 5,500 individuals. Most contract workers didn’t get any notice that they were fired and only learned of their dismissal after being denied access to the company email and inner communications systems.

According to CNBC, the fired employees didn’t discover they had been fired until they lost access to Slack as well as other work networks over the weekend. Twitter states that the job losses are a result of a “reprioritization and savings exercise” in an internal message sent to contract employees that Business Insider was able to obtain.

Read More: Twitter To Let Users Post Long-Form Tweets and help creators monetize

Platformer’s Casey Newton noted, “Contractors aren’t being notified at all, they’re just losing access to Slack and email. Managers figured it out when their workers just disappeared from the system.”

A bunch of Twitter officials have either resigned or been dismissed since Musk took over, and more employees will probably be let go due to the company’s new in-person work requirement. Elon Musk sacked Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and head of legal policy, trust, and safety Vijaya Gadde as soon as he took control of the platform.

Since that time, a number of high-profile employees have left Twitter. Only “exceptional people” are permitted to work remotely, according to a Q&A session between Elon and Twitter employees.  Musk remarked, “Basically if you can show up in an office and you do not show up at the office, resignation accepted.” The company’s communications division is no longer in operation.

Since taking over the Twitter business in the final week of October, Musk has been seeking to overhaul the entire system by firing top executives, cutting manpower by 50%, charging users for the “verified” tick, and other measures. The Tesla CEO has received harsh criticism for his handling of the crisis and for firing some employees without notifying them in advance. Twitter even barred access to its headquarters and instructed staff to wait in their homes for company communications.

Silicon Valley is reeling from a slump across the entire sector. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, just announced widespread layoffs, eliminating 11,000 positions, or around 13% of the workforce. The company overhired during the pandemic, but eventually realized the hyper boom isn’t sustainable, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who called the layoffs “some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history.”

In addition to Twitter and Meta, major tech giants like Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet have announced they will halt hiring or make job cuts due to inflation and recessionary fears. The companies are allegedly operating in a more risky environment, which is causing them to spend less on business expansion.

hate speech

After Elon Musk’s takeover, hate speech spiked on Twitter

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According to a new study, there has been an increase in hate speech on Twitter ever since Elon Musk officially acquired the social media platform last week.

hate speech
Image Source: ktvq.com

A study done by Montclair State University found that after Elon Musk acquired Twitter on October 27, hate speech tweets swamped the social media platform.

According to CBS News, the study indicated that “vulgar and hostile” speech immediately increased after Musk took control of Twitter. Prior to Musk’s ownership, the social media platform never reported more than 84 tweets containing hateful terms in a single hour, according to the study.

The Montclair State University study monitored the frequency of homophobic, antisemitic, and racial hate-related phrases used shortly following Musk’s takeover. Research revealed that, compared to the 84 tweets per hour in the week preceding Musk’s takeover, 398 hate tweets were sent out every hour in the first 12 hours following the acquisition’s conclusion. During that time, the average number of hateful tweets increased from 1,000 to 4,778.

The research also claimed that over 67% of the tweets after Musk’s acquisition had a negative tone to them, indicating a rise in negative sentiment. It noted, “In sum, the content and tone of Twitter posts became measurably more oriented towards hate speech on the day Elon Musk became CEO of the company with significant reach attained for this hate content.”

According to Forbes, research by the Network Contagion Research Institute reported that during the first 12 hours of Musk’s ownership, use of the N-word soared by 500%. The number of tweets using derogatory language toward LGBTQ people as well as anti-Semitic and racial derogatory terms also soared.

Although the research makes it clear that the Musk takeover resulted in an instant rise in hostile tone on the network, the precise cause of this is still unknown. Researchers said that it’s “speculative” to determine whether Musk’s possible changes in policy would have triggered the surge.

However, it’s possible that users turned to hostile language because they believed they would no more be suspended or barred from the network based on Musk’s previous statements on free speech. The Washington Post claims that his ownership appears to have led some accounts to believe that the previous rules against bigotry are no longer in effect.

As per Fortune, despite calling for greater speech freedom on Twitter, Musk told users in a Twitter post that he couldn’t allow the network to become a “free-for-all,” Another possibility, according to experts, is that having an “unmoderated platform was possibly a source of excitement.”

On October 27, billionaire tycoon Elon Musk, who also serves as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, assumed control of the social media network and pledged to relax its content regulations. In a statement last week, Musk stated that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”

The creation of a “content moderation council” to update and improve company standards under Musk was also announced by Twitter last week. Musk intends to create a moderation council with a range of viewpoints to oversee rules over content and accounts.

Kathy Griffin

Musk suspends comic Kathy Griffin’s account for impersonation

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The comedian Kathy Griffin is the most recent Twitter casualty after CEO Elon Musk announced that accounts that participate in “impersonation” without explicitly stating “parody” will be permanently suspended.

Kathy Griffin
Image Source: people.com

The actor and comedian Kathy Griffin’s account has been permanently suspended by Twitter for “engaging in impersonation” after she altered her Twitter display name to Elon Musk and urged people to vote for Democrats in the US midterm elections.

According to reports from Fox News, Kathy had changed her Twitter profile name to Musk after which she appeared to have been immediately removed from the social networking platform. However, her handle displays her own username, @kathygriffin, the name by the blue tick.

According to Elon Musk, this violates the company’s anti-impersonation policy. Kathy Griffin account being suspended caused controversy, and many people accused Musk of repressing free speech. Elon Musk responded to a post by stating, “Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian.”

Elon Musk stated via several tweets on Sunday that any Twitter account discovered engaging in “impersonation” without explicitly stating “parody” will be permanently suspended. He said, “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended.”

He said that the verified checkmarks would temporarily disappear if any names were changed. He also noted, “Previously, we issued a warning before the suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue.”

Musk recently disclosed that the platform would charge 8$ per month for a subscription service on Twitter that would grant users priority in mentions searches, and replies. Musk noted in a tweet, “Twitter’s current lords and peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for USD 8$/month.”

Musk believes that the $8 verified Twitter accounts are his strategy for making the service more accessible. Users who “sign up now” for the new “Twitter Blue with verification” can obtain the blue checkmark next to their names exactly like the celebrities, companies, and politicians.

It was stated that the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. would be the first countries to offer the service.

Musk’s choice to impose the blue tick fee, however, did not sit well with everyone. Even some advertisers retracted their advertisements from the website.

The Twitter Blue membership became publicly available over a year ago as a means of accessing articles from some authors without ads and making other changes to the app, such as changing the color of the app’s icon on the home screen. Along with the “blue tick fee,” Musk has been facing a lot of backlash on Twitter for firing staff members.

Musk defended his decision to remove employees by claiming that Twitter was losing over 4$ million every day and the firings were necessary. He said employees were granted three months’ pay as severance when they lost their jobs, but he did not go into specifics about Twitter’s daily losses.

Long-Form Tweets

Twitter To Let Users Post Long-Form Tweets and help creators monetize

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Elon Musk intends to allow Twitter users to earn more money from all types of content, potentially providing a more favorable deal than YouTube’s monetization model, as well as allowing people to make Long-Form Tweets, lengthier posts and videos.

Long-Form Tweets
Image Source: theinformation.com

This weekend, Twitter’s new buyer, Musk, hinted about the latest features in tweets. Musk responded to influencer Quinn Nelson’s tweet that YouTube “gives creators 55% of ad revenue,” saying, “We can beat that.”

Previously, a content creator stated that if given the right incentives, he would consider posting his full-length and long videos to Twitter.

“If twitter could handle the full length feature videos that I produce and can offer a similar monetization system like YouTube does, I would consider uploading my full videos here too for sure,” wrote user @Erdayastronaut, whose Twitter profile reads: “Professional rocket orientation specialist, explainer of flamey stuff and rocket chaser.”

Musk replied, “We can do 42 min chunks at 1080 resolution now for new Blue, so you could break up a longer video. The 42 min limit should be fixed next month.”

Source: fortune.com

Further details on monetization will be revealed in the coming weeks, according to Musk.

He also stated that Twitter will soon allow users to post long-form tweets which will put an end to the idiocy of notepad screenshots which will be followed by composer monetization for every type of content including videos and paragraphs, he further added.

On Saturday, he promised to offer an improved search function on Twitter saying that the search function reminds him of Infoseek in 1998.

When another user complained, “I have hundreds of videos…. But I’d need to reencode them since twitter is extraordinarily picky about formats,” Musk replied, “Noted to fix.” Then He set his Twitter bio as “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator.”

Source: fortune.com

Twitter declared plans for a monthly $7.99 subscription service on Saturday, allowing anyone on Twitter to get a checkmark similar to the celebrities, industries, and political elites you already follow. According to the New York Times, Twitter is postponing this offer due to concerns that it will be abused.

Twitter also announced an impending premium feature that will allow users to have their tweets prioritized over those from accounts that do not have the blue check.

hyperloop tunnel

Elon Musk’s first Hyperloop tunnel in California is no longer there

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX has dismantled the Hyperloop tunnel prototype in California and constructed a parking lot in its place.

hyperloop tunnel
Image Source: theverge.com

Musk’s first Hyperloop tunnel prototype is no longer in existence. According to Bloomberg, the approximately one-mile-long white steel tunnel, close to the SpaceX headquarters in California, has been taken down and will be replaced with a parking spot for employees.

In 2016, Erik Wright was overjoyed when his company was chosen to assist with a challenging technological project: the prototype tunnel for Elon Musk‘s Hyperloop. The project was intended to serve as a test run for a modern transport network that would use levitating pods traveling through tubes at high speeds.

The test tunnel’s dismantling represents a wider retreat. Although Musk still claims he intends to construct a Hyperloop, the project’s work has been put on hold indefinitely.

Erik Wright noted in the memory of the project, “The Hyperloop is quite a badge of honor for us. It even helped the company land several non-transportation contracts, such as an 8,000 square foot climbing gym.” The tunnel’s steel tube and base were developed and constructed by the construction engineering company Aecom.

Everything within the tube, along with the concrete sub-track and joints, aluminum track, and interior illumination, was completed by Precision( Erik’s company).

Musk’s Hyperloop system was intended to carry passengers via low-pressure tubes in pods at top speeds of 760 mph. The ambitious idea would reduce the travel time between Los Angeles and San Francisco to 35 minutes.

The Boring Company, Musk’s civil engineering firm, was in charge of the project, although not much progress was made over the years. The LA Times noted that the tunnel caused complaints from both drivers and pedestrians until the city intervened to have it taken down.

Musk acknowledged the attempt to create a functional Hyperloop to ease traffic congestion “in the coming years” in a tweet in April. A similar tunnel called the Vegas Loop is currently being built by The Boring Company in Las Vegas. Despite the occasional enticing tweet from Musk, there hasn’t been any indication that the ambitious idea of speedy pods will ever materialize again.

Wright, who believes that the Hyperloop system will eventually develop, hasn’t given up hope and praises the Boring Co. for moving things in the correct manner.

A hyperloop is a proposed high-speed system for both passenger and goods transportation. Tubes, pods, and terminals are the three fundamental components of hyperloop systems. The idea for the hyperloop originated with George Medhurst in 1799, and it later went by the titles pneumatic railway, atmospheric railway, and vactrain.

After bringing up the hyperloop in a 2012 speech, Elon Musk expressed a renewed interest in the technology. Musk further popularised the idea by releasing a white paper in 2013 that imagined a hyperloop route from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

In his original design, compressed capsules rode inside reduced-pressure tubes on air bearings powered by axial compressors and linear induction motors. Transportation experts disputed the white paper’s cost projections, with some estimating that a realized hyperloop would cost several billion dollars more than expected.

vine app

Is Elon Musk planning to bring back the Vine app?

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Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and the current owner of Twitter, does not appear to be resting. Not even a week after accomplishing the $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal, the billionaire is now going to consider resurrecting Vine, an app that allowed users to capture and enjoy sharing an unlimited number of short, looping 6-second videos. Twitter ended up buying it in October 2012 and decided to sell it four years later.

vine app
Image Source: news.yahoo.com

Jack Dorsey, Twitter founder as well as former Chief executive officer, stated that closing Vine had been his “biggest regret.”

Now, the Twitter platform’s current owner or Chief Twit has directed Twitter engineers to get to work on a Vine relaunch, which could be ready by the end of the year. According to Axios, the developers have been instructed to take a look at the old code base of Vine, which has not been altered or updated since the shutdown.

A source told Axios that there’s a lot of work to be done. Extensive negotiations are currently happening inside the networking community about a potential Vine revival, according to a Twitter employee.

Elon Musk has been attempting to give hints about the reintroduction of the Vine app on Twitter, and he even started a Twitter poll asking if indeed the app should be reintroduced on Sunday. “Bring Vine back?” he demanded outrightly. A total of 4,920,155 votes had been cast in the poll, with 69.5 per cent in favour and one-third opposed.

The reason to reintroduce Vine

The reason Elon Musk may introduce Vine again is simple which is the revenue potential. TikTok is now not only the most popular app in the world but also one of the highest-grossing apps. According to Finbold data, the short-form video platform TikTok is one of the top social media platforms generating the most revenue.

The app obtained $2.5 million per day on Android and iPhone devices all over the world in September, excluding the iPad. This probably amounts to an hourly wage of around $104,000.

TikTok managed to earn $75.8 million in overall revenue during the month. TikTok competitors can also be found on Facebook and Google.

Why was Vine shut down?

Vine was brought down in October 2016 by Twitter. “Today, we are sharing the news that in the coming months we’ll be discontinuing the mobile app,” the company said in a statement.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Though Twitter never said exactly what went wrong, the app struggled to grow its user base and find ways to make money. Vine once had a commanding lead over other social video apps, but it couldn’t keep up as competitors added features.