The Twitter Takeover Takes Off
Student viewing Elon Musk’s Twitter profile.
December 20, 2022
SPACEX CEO Elon Musk bought Twitter on April. 14, 2022. Since then, he has been making numerous tweets about his new eight dollar verification policy which will show that you are not a bot or a scammer by giving you the blue verification check. Celebrities like Stephen King have made tweets replying to the new policy. Gigi Hadid even went as far as leaving the social media platform.
But that hasn’t stopped Musk from strictly enforcing his new way to make sure there are less trolls and scammers. While the idea was for the right reasons, many believe that making users pay eight dollars to get a little blue check to signify verification is ridiculous.
On Nov. 8, 2022, Stepen King tweeted, “I think I liked Twitter better in the pre-Musk days. Less controversy, more fun.” To which Musk replied with a simple ghost emoji.
Musk has said the acquisition of Twitter was part of his “grander vision” of creating a super app in Western markets. “It’s a pretty grand vision and, of course, that could be started from scratch, but I think Twitter would accelerate that by three to five years,” he said in August.
A tweet trashing Musk’s new policy (Julissa Flores)
SEGA senior David Hoover says, “I’m not really against Elon Musk’s new policy, like any other big change people are going to be on both sides of the fence. In my opinion, people are focusing way too much on this issue instead of his new ‘free speech’ initiative he’s been posting about and doing things like unbanning people who were previously banned.” This will leave people wondering if history is going to repeat itself or not.
“As for paying eight dollars for verification, I probably won’t. I can see it being useful for celebrities and corporations, but not for me,” says Hoover.
On Dec. 15, 2022 ElonJet, an account run by a 20 year old University of Florida student that published public records of Musk’s private jet path, was permanently suspended, as well as several journalists who linked to the account. Musk is now silencing the media, as well as taking away their first amendment rights. He has also disabled spaces after he had been questioned by several of the banned journalists.
People all over the internet are wondering what Musk is going to do next; is he merely a successful entrepreneur that’s capitalizing on one of the biggest businesses in the world? Or is he an economical tyrant in the making?
John Pok • Feb 1, 2023 at 1:42 pm
On December 20, Emma Lloyd wrote an article titled “The Twitter Takeover Takes Off.” This article provided insight into SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s multi-billion dollar purchase of Twitter, a social media platform. As an occasional user of the site, I experienced the switch in leadership first-hand. While I was aware of Musk’s new verification policy, I didn’t know about his ideas for a “super app.” I thought this was an interesting detail to mention, as I haven’t heard of it from other sources. This possibly foreshadows even deeper changes in the app, and users who read this may be more inclined to either leave the app or stay (depending on their stance). Especially interesting, though, is the mentioning of the ElonJet, which was stated to have been shut down after Musk purchased Twitter. I also had not heard about this (or any of the other suspended accounts), and I think it’s a great display of where the social media platform may be headed. While I’m unsure to what extent this violates the United State’s First Amendment, it certainly highlights the suppression of opinion by the billionaire. This factor alone, I think, has and could contribute to many users leaving the platform. Any readers of this article who still use Twitter, including myself, will certainly be inclined to reconsider their participation on the app. Overall, I felt that this article was not only an interesting read but also an informative one.
Hawking Crouther • Feb 1, 2023 at 10:58 am
February 1, 2023
Dear Corydon Editor,
On December 20, Emma Lloyd wrote an article titled The Twitter Takeover Takes Off.” Lloyd address the current controversy of Elon Musk purchasing twitter and the side against him and the side supporting him. What this article does well is acknowledge all sides with no bias whatsoever. The idea that Musk is trying to take control and earn money is talked about, but then Elon Musk’s “free speech” initiative. Aso after that a contradiction of Musk’s free speech idea is explained. Also, Lloyd quotes other celebrities and people that share their opinions on the situation. Stephen King says he’s against Musk, but SEGA Senior says he’s for it. The article explains that Gigi Hadid even went as far as too leave the platform entirely. There was no specific selection of quotes used that would benefit a single side of the topic.This article approaches all sides equally overall making it very informative and trustworthy. One thing I would’ve suggested this article included was information about Elon Musks firing a ton of people working for. Knowing this information can help the reader understand why some people may be against or in favor of Musk owning Twitter. Besides that, this a a great article to introduce someone to the topic and inviting them to do their own research.
Sincerely,
Hawking Crouther, Grade 11
Carter Kopelakis • Jan 31, 2023 at 1:12 pm
On December 20, Emma Lloyd wrote an article titled “The Twitter Takeover takes off”. The article talks about how you can now pay 8 dollars to be verified on Twitter. This has caused lots of famous people to be mad about this because now anyone willing to pay 8 dollars can be verified even if they aren’t famous or a celebrity. This can cause scammers and hacking if people fake to be someone they aren’t or fake to be a famous celebrity. I was aware of this prior to reading the article and I am not really against it, but I can see some downsides to it. I use Twitter as a personal recruiting platform for baseball and sometimes I reach out to coaches on there, so if proper research isn’t done I could possibly be reaching out to a bot or scam account that is impersonating a coach since all they have to do is pay 8 dollars for verification. Most likely that mistake will never happen, but it is possible. Many people are concerned with what Musk will do with Twitter and what he could do to the economy, but so far right now it doesn’t look to be that drastic. Thank you for providing insight on this issue.
Sincerely,
Carter Kopelakis, Grade 11
Jayla Walker • Jan 31, 2023 at 11:41 am
Dear Corydon Editor,
On December 20, Emma Lloyd wrote an article titled “The Twitter Takeover Takes Off”. I found the article to be very interesting and informative. The article discusses the different public opinions that have surfaced after Elon Musk’s takeover of the Twitter app. I love how Lloyd remains informative and factual on both the negatives and positives of Musk’s new version of the app. Lloyd goes on to talk about the changes Musk has made to the Twitter app, the most important ones being his “Eight Dollar Verification Policy”, and his “Free Speech Initiative”. I found it very odd that he’s making people pay eight dollars to receive the blue verification check as a way of reducing the number of scammers. I found it even more unusual and a bit suspicious that he permanently banned a few college journalists from the site for publicly publishing records of Musk’s private jet path, especially because Musk had recently unbanned people who were banned in order to enforce the “first amendment rights” rule. It kind of contradicts what Musk wants the app to stand for, and as Lloyd pointed out, Musk is now silencing the media and disabling spaces. Overall, I think that Lloyds article was very well-written and informative. Thank you so much for sharing this with me!
Nicholas Keith • Jan 31, 2023 at 11:01 am
This article was about how Elon Musk bought twitter and all the changes he is causing. The biggest of changes was the $8 for a verification badge which was mentioned and discussed very well in this article. There was also talk about his new free speech initiative, giving the reader the option to make their own conclusions about Elon Musk’s plans. All throughout this there was very good use of differing opinions and use of people from celebrities to fellow students. This was very well written, it is non bias and covers all points of view, I can’t find anything that should be changed. Great job.