Main topic: Social media company X (formerly Twitter) now allows paid users to hide their verification checkmarks.
Key points:
1. Twitter introduced paid verification last year with the Twitter Blue relaunch.
2. The service was renamed to XBlue during the ongoing rebranding exercise.
3. The company has updated the help page for paid subscriptions, stating that even if the checkmark is hidden, it might still be visible in some places.
4. The option to hide the checkmark will be available in the "Profile customization" section of account settings.
5. This feature will allow users to benefit from subscription features without displaying that they are a verified account.
6. In March, Twitter was reported to be working on a feature to hide checkmarks with ID verification.
7. There was controversy surrounding paid verification, as it was difficult to differentiate between legacy verified accounts and those who paid for the checkmark.
8. Twitter initially removed legacy checkmarks but later reinstated them for top accounts, regardless of payment.
9. Since the relaunch, Twitter has introduced various features to incentivize users, such as a 10,000-character limit for posts, a 3-hour video upload limit, fewer ads on the timeline, and ad revenue sharing for subscribed users.
10. In May, the platform enabled encrypted DMs for verified users.
Main topic: X (formerly Twitter) changes post sorting method and makes X Pro (formerly TweetDeck) a subscriber-only product.
Key points:
1. X (formerly Twitter) now sorts posts by like counts when users are logged out, instead of the order in which they were posted.
2. Posts still appear in chronological order on profiles when logged in, but are sorted by performance when logged out.
3. X Pro (formerly TweetDeck) is now only accessible to verified users as a subscriber-only product.
Hint on Elon Musk: Elon Musk took over as the head of X (formerly Twitter) last year and has implemented several changes since then.
Main topic: Elon Musk addressing the lack of transparency around "shadowbanning" on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Key points:
1. Musk apologizes for the delay in addressing the issue and explains the challenges faced by X in providing data to users.
2. Shadowbanning has been a concern on Twitter, with users unaware of being penalized for their tweets.
3. Musk insists that users should have the right to know if they've been shadowbanned and mentions a ground-up rewrite of X's codebase to simplify the process.
Hint on Elon Musk: Musk took over Twitter and attempted to prove the existence of shadowbanning by releasing information, but it only provided a behind-the-scenes look at social media moderation. He acknowledges the difficulties in tackling the problem and mentions ongoing efforts to simplify the codebase.
A botnet powered by ChatGPT, called Fox8, was discovered on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), using auto-generated content to trick users into clicking links to cryptocurrency websites, indicating the potential for more sophisticated botnets utilizing advanced chatbots like ChatGPT for scams and disinformation.
A recent study conducted by the Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University revealed that X (formerly known as Twitter) has a bot problem, with approximately 1,140 AI-powered accounts that generate fake content and steal selfies to create fake personas, promoting suspicious websites, spreading harmful content, and even attempting to steal from existing crypto wallets. These accounts interact with human-run accounts and distort online conversations, making it increasingly difficult to detect their activity and emphasizing the need for countermeasures and regulation.
Elon Musk's company, X (formerly Twitter), has introduced a new feature for verified organizations to post job listings on the platform, allowing them to reach millions of candidates and connect them to the organization's website for applications.
X, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has obtained payments licenses from several U.S. states, indicating plans to support payment processing and cryptocurrency services.
Twitter's updated privacy policy allows it to collect biometric data from users, specifically from government IDs and selfies, in an effort to enhance security and fight impersonation attempts.
X's updated privacy policy reveals that it will collect biometric data, job and education history, and use publicly available information to train its machine learning and AI models, potentially for Elon Musk's other company, xAI, which aims to use public tweets for training its AI models.
Elon Musk became repulsed by the Twitter logo and its presence in the company's offices, ultimately leading him to acquire Twitter and rebrand it as X.com with plans to transform it into an all-encompassing app for financial and social matters.
Instagram Threads, the rival app to Twitter now known as X, is expanding its search feature to most English and Spanish-speaking countries, aiming to increase user engagement on the platform after a decline in activity since its launch.
X, formerly known as Twitter, has been running unlabeled ads in users' feeds, raising concerns about deceptive advertising practices and potentially attracting regulatory investigation.
Twitter, now called X, is suing California over a state law that requires social media companies to disclose their content policies, claiming it violates free speech and pressure them to remove objectionable content.
Formerly known as Twitter, X has started censoring posts from the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) for exposing inappropriate content promoted by the American Library Association (ALA) and local libraries to children, leading to calls for action and the creation of a counter-organization.
The US government is seeking Elon Musk's testimony in an investigation into X (formerly known as Twitter), citing concerns about the company's ability to comply with the law and protect user privacy.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, revealed plans for his social network, X (formerly Twitter), to introduce a monthly payment system to combat bots, but did not disclose the cost or additional features included, while also claiming to have 550 million monthly users generating millions of daily posts, without specifying the authenticity of these users. Musk's discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed concerns over hate speech and antisemitism on the platform, following Musk's previous amplification of such content. Musk's takeover of Twitter led to significant changes, including staff cuts, the restoration of previously suspended accounts, and the elimination of Twitter's verification system.
Elon Musk suggests that users of X (formerly Twitter) may have to pay for access to the platform in order to counter bots, with a small monthly payment being considered as a defense against fake accounts.
