Twitter | |
|---|---|
 The former logo of Twitter. | |
 Screenshot of Twitter in early 2023. | |
| Type | Social media, microblogging, alt-tech |
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Founded |
Twitter July 15, 2006 twitter.com |
| Users | 140 million active (claimed, as of 2012)[1] |
| URL | x.com |
Twitter is a popular corporate social media platform. It is premised around short instances of user-created content known as tweets,[note 1] and is distinguished from other social networking sites for its emphasis on content delivered in a microblogging format. Since 2022, Twitter, later renamed to X, was taken over by billionaire Elon Musk. The site began to decline as a whole and see a massive increase in right-wing extremist activity and content.[2]
History
Takeover by Elon Musk
In 2022, Elon Musk acquired the popular social media platform Twitter, a move which has proven disastrous for the site and its users. Almost immediately after the acquisition of the site, Musk fired most of its dedicated workforce (including moderators) in a matter of days,[3] restricted access to the site's API, harming third-party and open-source clients,[4] made account creation mandatory to view posts,[5] along with other harmful policies. Musk received support from right-wing supporters of freedom of speech when he announced his intention to reduce censorship on the platform. However, it has been shown that the self-induced lack of moderation, in tandem with Musk's insistence that Twitter become a "free-speech platform," resulted in a massive increase in hate speech[6] while resulting in an inconsistent, often right-leaning interpretation of "free speech".[7][8][9] This includes at least one instance where Musk directly ordered the suspension of one left-wing activist's account, apparently on political grounds.[8]
Rebranding to "X"
In late July 2023, Musk abruptly initiated the process of rebranding Twitter to "𝕏,"[note 2] following an ad-hoc, day-long poll to decide upon a new name and logo.[10] The rebranding has caused widespread confusion amongst users[10] and has otherwise proceeded sluggishly. In May 2024, the website's domain was finally changed to "x.com." The change was so sudden that it caused massive technical issues for users, including the inability to even access the site.[11]
Content
Content on Twitter, like other corporate social media, generates an environment which creates addiction among users. Twitter also creates a stressful setting which splits users into "in-groups" and "out-groups" based on their network of followers.[12]
Censorship
Twitter has openly admitted to installing an in-built bias in its algorithm which amplifies the reach of tweets from right-wing politicians and news organization over progressive and left-wing activists. In many cases, rightist-orientated accounts got over twice the amount of engagement over their center-right counterparts, to say nothing of socialist accounts.[13]
Privacy
Restrictions on privacy extensions
In mid-2024, Twitter began to restrict access to the site for users of "privacy related extensions," especially Firefox's enhanced tracking protection feature, displaying a prompt which erroneously stated that these features are "known to cause issues on x.com," in spite of the fact that no known issues exist with the site while these extensions are in use.[14] These issues appeared immediately after the platform switched to the "x.com" domain, which happened in tandem with massive increases in the amount of personal information collected, including biometric data and even encrypted messages.[15]
See also
External links
- 'We Make Mistakes': Twitter's Embrace of the Extreme Far Right on the Southern Poverty Law Center website
- "I quit Facebook and Twitter cold turkey – and I barely know myself" on The Guardian
- Ex-Twitter page on Richard Stallman's website
References
- ↑ Twitter blog (March 21, 2012). "Twitter turns six".
- ↑ Kate Lyons (April 27, 2024). "The demise of Twitter: how a ‘utopian vision’ for social media became a ‘toxic mess’". The Guardian. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
- ↑ Twitter lays off staff, Musk blames activists for ad revenue drop by Sheila Dang, Katie Paul and Paresh Dave (4 November 2022) Reuters
- ↑ Twitter’s third-party client issue is seemingly a deliberate suspension by Ivan Mehta (16 January 2023) TechCrunch
- ↑ Twitter now requires an account to view tweets by Amanda Silberling (30 June 2023) TechCrunch
- ↑ Hate speech is soaring on Twitter under Elon Musk, report finds by Mia Sato (December 2, 2022) The Verge
- ↑
- ↑ 8.0 8.1
- ↑
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Why is Twitter called X now? Elon Musk's rebrand explained and where it's going next by Mark Wilson (5 August 2023) techradar
- ↑ Jon Brodkin (May 17, 2024). "Twitter URLs redirect to x.com as Musk gets closer to killing the Twitter name". Ars Technica. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
- ↑ Judson Brewer (December 13, 2016). "Tweet or Troll? Why Twitter Is Amazingly Addictive". Psychology Today. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
- ↑ Dan Milmo (October 21, 2021). "Twitter admits bias in algorithm for rightwing politicians and news outlets". The Guardian. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
- ↑ @MaximilianKohler (May 17, 2024). "Twitter/x.com is now forcing you to disable Firefox's Enhance Tracking Protection". Lemmy. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
- ↑ Ernestas Naprys (May 17, 2024). "X no longer works on Firefox with privacy feature enabled". Cybernews. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
Notes
- ↑ Officially called "posts" since the site's rebranding.
- ↑ Sometimes called pejoratively "ex-Twitter" by critics such as Richard Stallman. This has the effect of recognizing that Twitter is now longer "Twitter," but nonetheless refusing to comply with Musk's new naming of the platform.