Twitter: Trump unblocks, ex-employee sues and the hive grows

It has been almost a month since Elon Musk took the reins at Twitter. The new owner's decisions are still making big waves. Here are the most important events of the past two weeks.

Donald Trump unblocked - and more to follow

Suspicions became fact: On 20 November, Elon Musk unblocked US ex-president Donald Trump. This, after Musk had previously let his followers vote on it via Twitter.

Trump was suspended on Twitter in early 2021 after certain followers and supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington. After his Twitter suspension, Trump unceremoniously set up his own social network "Truth Social" in early 2022. According to earlier statements in April, the real estate magnate intends to remain loyal to this platform for the time being. Whether and how long he will stay away from Musk's promotional messages and the 87 million followers on his account remains to be seen.

In addition to Trump, Musk also unblocked rapper Kanye West, psychologist and author Jordan Peterson and right-wing conservative magazine The Babylon Bee. Moreover, on 23 November, Musk inquired in a Twitter poll whether Twitter should "offer amnesty to suspended accounts". Provided they had not broken the law or engaged in spam. Over three million answered the poll on Twitter and voted in favour by over 70 per cent. That's why the general amnesty is set to begin next week, Musk said in a tweet.

More patience for Twitter Blue

The fuss over the Twitter Blue paid subscription has died down somewhat. Shortly after Musk's takeover, users were able to purchase the blue ticks - which previously indicated the authenticity of an account - via Twitter Blue for two days. This led to several controversies with accounts falsely claiming to be certain companies or people. That's why Musk wants to slow down the relaunch and first make sure that impersonations are no longer possible.

Currently, users can subscribe to Twitter Blue. This gives them access to premium features such as undo tweets - but they don't get a blue tick. Certain official accounts of authorities and institutions are currently marked Twitter with grey ticks. Before the weekend, Musk also announced that businesses will be tagged with gold tick marks in the future. The pay subscription relaunch with the new tick colours should be coming next week.

Musk wants encrypted direct messages

In addition to Twitter Blue, encrypting direct messages on Twitter is also a top priority. Musk told his employees this in a meeting on 22 November. Users should not have to worry about their privacy or potential data breaches.

To push for encryption of text, voice and video messages on Twitter, Musk has turned to the founder of the encrypted chat app "Signal", Moxie Marlinspike. The entrepreneur and cryptographer was previously employed as Twitter's IT security chief. Marlinspike was "potentially willing to help". More concrete details about the planned encryption service on Twitter are not known.

Wanted: New minds for Twitter 2.0

After the wave of layoffs in the first two weeks after the takeover, Musk issued an ultimatum to the remaining 4000 employees. The options: To stay with "Twitter 2.0" and its hardcore work culture, or to leave immediately with severance pay of three months' wages.

Musk's self-named "hardcore work culture" includes the wholesale elimination of home offices, fewer days off, longer hours and strict performance reviews. By 17 November, half of the remaining employees decided against this hardcore option and jumped ship.
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After that ultimatum, the wave of layoffs is now at an end, Musk said in an internal meeting
on 21 November. There are currently no positions advertised, but the recruitment agency is currently trying to inspire suitable candidates for "Twitter 2.0"
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One who jumped on the new Twitter bandwagon on his own is George Hotz. He is a developer, entrepreneur and gained notoriety as the first person to hack an iPhone. He identifies so much with Musk's hardcore culture that he offered himself via tweet for a twelve-week internship with the new owner. Musk agreed and commissioned Hotz to improve the search function and remove the pop-up that prevents users from using Twitter without logging in.

Former employees want to sue

Even though the wave of dismissals is now at an end, it is still likely to have an aftermath. Already in early November, terminated employees filed a class action against Twitter. They claimed the company violated federal and state laws that require a 60-day notice period for mass layoffs. However, according to employment lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan, who has already filed a lawsuit against Tesla, terminated Twitter employees continue to make mass requests. They are in the process of pursuing a series of other legal claims, she said.

Twitter employees who have been dismissed are also fighting back in Germany. With the help of the united services union "Verdi", they want to complain against their abrupt dismissal and form a works council. One affected employee from Germany recently explained to NDR how the unexpected dismissal took place.

Dismissed employees at Twitter's African headquarters in Ghana even accused Twitter of "deliberately and recklessly flouting the laws of Ghana" and "silencing and intimidating" them after their dismissal. The terminated Accra-based team has therefore engaged a lawyer and also approached the head of the Ghana Employment Service.

Advertising revenue missing

It is not only employees who are running away from Twitter, but also advertising companies. More than a third of the 100 largest advertisers on Twitter have not placed any ads on the platform in the past two weeks. That's according to an analysis by the "Washington Post".

For Twitter, that's a problem. Last year, nearly 90 percent of its revenue came from advertising sold. That's why Musk may have spoken of the possibility of bankruptcy a fortnight ago. The Wall Street Journal analyses where Twitter's financial health stands in this video
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The hesitation of the advertising companies could be related to the weaker control of sensitive content. Musk fired many employees who were responsible for keeping Twitter free of it. Now, advertisers may fear that their messages could be associated with negative content.

In addition, after the takeover, Musk promised that he would create a heterogeneous panel to moderate content. So far, he has not followed through on this promise. On 23 November, he stated in a tweet that he had only promised to form the panel on the condition that activists stop pressuring advertisers to boycott his platform. This "coalition of political/social activist groups" broke the agreement,
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Some activists who attended the meeting contradict the new owner. They would not have made such a deal, nor would they ever go for it.

Twitter alternatives on the rise

Meanwhile, more and more alternatives to the platform with the blue bird are appearing on the horizon. They come from different corners of the world. In the past two weeks, the network "Hive" - the beehive - has enjoyed the attention of many users. The Twitter alternative was launched by Raluca Pop, a student living in California. Since the Twitter takeover, the service has seen a steady increase in users. On 21 November, the platform reached its first million.

Not new, but increasingly well-known is the microblogging service "Mastodon". The decentralised short message service already has over seven million users. How Mastodon works exactly is explained in an article by Jan Johannsen .
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Indian rival "Koo" is also becoming a talking point in the West. Entrepreneurs Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka founded the short messaging service in 2020 and it has since been downloaded by over 50 million people. After its next round of funding, the Indian company will double its value to between $250 million and $300 million, writes the Economic Times from India. Koo is currently also growing in Brazil - over one million Brazilians have downloaded the app in the past few days. This is said to be due in no small part to the fact that the app's name is pronounced like a word that means rear end in Portuguese.