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Timeline: Twitter mayhem since Musk takeover

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="A view of Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California, USA, 21 November 2022. Last week Twitter closed its offices and many employees resigned after Elon Musk gave staff a deadline to say if they were staying. Musk has ordered employees back to work to end the company" s="" remote="" work="" and="" more="" layoffs="" are="" expected="" this="" week.="" Photo="" by="" John="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/business/12/20/20221220-twitter-headquarters-epa.jpg"/><figcaption>A view of Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California, USA, 21 November 2022. Last week Twitter closed its offices and many employees resigned after Elon Musk gave staff a deadline to say if they were staying. Musk has ordered employees back to work to end the company&#x27;s remote work policy, and more layoffs are expected this week. <em>Photo by John Mabanglo, EPA</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Since buying Twitter, Elon Musk has made radical changes that have sparked fears for the future of the platform, from firing half the staff to restoring ex-president Donald Trump&#x27;s account and temporarily suspending those of several journalists.</p><p>After Twitter users voted on Monday to oust Musk, AFP looks back at a rollercoaster two months at the Silicon Valley giant.</p><div><strong>- Enter Elon -</strong></div><p>Musk, the world&#x27;s second-richest richest man and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, buys Twitter in late October for $44 billion after months of on-off negotiations.</p><p>&quot;Let the good times roll,&quot; he tweets after the deal is sealed on October 28. He becomes the sole director of the company after dissolving its corporate board.</p><div><strong>- &#x27;Content moderation council&#x27; -</strong></div><p>In one of his first moves, the self-declared free speech absolutist announces he will form a &quot;content moderation council&quot;, in a nod to concerns that Twitter could become a free-for-all platform for disinformation and hate speech.</p><div><strong>- Monthly charge -</strong></div><p>On November 1, Musk announces the site will charge $8 per month to verify the accounts of celebrities and companies -- a service that used to be free. But the November 6 launch of the Twitter Blue subscription plan goes awry. Musk is forced to suspend the move after an embarrassing rash of fake accounts alarm advertisers.</p><div><strong>- Brands step back -</strong></div><p>Top global companies, including General Mills and Volkswagen, suspend their advertising on Twitter on November 3 as they monitor the new direction the company will take.</p><div><strong>- Massive layoffs -</strong></div><p>On November 4, half of Twitter&#x27;s 7,500-strong staff are made redundant, sending shockwaves through Silicon Valley.</p><p>Musk tweets that &quot;unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day&quot;.</p><div><strong>- Regulator&#x27;s &#x27;concern&#x27;-</strong></div><p>The chaos draws a rare warning on November 10 from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US authority that oversees consumer safety.</p><p>&quot;We are tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern,&quot; says an FTC spokesperson.</p><div><strong>- Ultimatum to staff -</strong></div><p>Musk delivers an ultimatum to Twitter staff on November 16, asking them to choose between being &quot;extremely hardcore&quot; and working long hours, or losing their jobs. He gives them a day to decide.</p><p>Large numbers of staff quit.</p><div><strong>- Trump reinstated -</strong></div><p>Musk reinstates the account of banned former president Donald Trump after conducting a poll of users, a narrow majority of whom support the move. </p><p>A few days later he announces an &quot;amnesty&quot; for all banned Twitter accounts.</p><div><strong>- Covid controversy -</strong></div><p>In late November, Twitter says it is no longer enforcing a policy of combatting Covid-19 disinformation. Musk had fiercely opposed Covid restrictions.</p><div><strong>- Kanye suspended -</strong></div><p>Musk revises his promises of unfettered free speech after rapper Kanye West tweets a picture that appears to show a swastika interlaced with a Star of David. His account is suspended for &quot;incitement to violence&quot;.</p><div><strong>- Twitter Blue take two -</strong></div><p>In mid-December Musk relaunches Twitter Blue. This time, Twitter conducts a review of the account before giving it the coveted blue check mark.</p><div><strong>- Journalists suspended, then reinstated -</strong></div><p>On December 15, Twitter suspends the accounts of more than a half-dozen journalists, including reporters from CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.</p><p>Musk accuses them of endangering his family through their reporting on Twitter&#x27;s shutdown of an account that tracked flights of his private jet. </p><p>The EU threatens to sanction the company.</p><p>On December 17 some of the accounts are reactivated. </p><div><strong>- Vote to oust Musk -</strong></div><p>On December 19, Twitter users vote by 57.5 percent to oust Musk as CEO in a poll he organized and promised to honour.</p><p>Musk has not yet responded.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

After Twitter users voted on Monday to oust Musk, AFP looks back at a rollercoaster two months at the Silicon Valley giant.