It’s been a year since Elon Musk purchased Twitter Inc. for a whopping $44 billion dollars, becoming the owner and CEO.
Musk wanted to try to recreate China’s super app “WeChat”. Although it’s a difficult task because China’s system is different (for example no app store, google pay, apps were already installed on the phones taking the place of other popular apps) Musk hasn’t given up just yet. And in fact says he’s going to take over half of the financial system.
This all started with Musk’s obsession with this idea of an american “everything app”. He claimed X will focus on audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine or so he says.
Other apps such as Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok have attempted to make their very own super app by adding things such as mini games, shops, video (reels, spotlight, etc), but all have failed.
Since Musk purchased Twitter, the app has been facing tough times and financial challenges with increased competition with rival company Meta.
The company is also losing staff and revenue. Many crucial staff members have quit with the number on staff going from 7,000 to 1,300 and revenue down 50 percent. Not only that, Musk killed the Twitter brand worth 5.7 billion dollars, ending the iconic Twitter bird.
Fake news is another problem on the platform. Old pictures and videos are spreading and are dangerous. Misinformation can travel across the world in seconds and can be used to craft narratives and to inflame passions.
Now that you can buy verification (X’s premium subscription service aka Twitter blue) fake news is spreading more than ever.
Social media platforms have the responsibility to actively remove fake news, but X has failed that task.
Europe has issued a warning to Musk about the fake news on X. The EU wants him to respond in less than 24 hours. They say failure to comply with EU regulations with result in a fine of about 6% of X’s annual revenue.
Many people are unhappy with the rebranding of Twitter and some say this is the worst rebranding of all time.
