Elon Musk to remove free Twitter blue ticks soon

After previously promising an earlier elimination, Twitter CEO Elon Musk has now confirmed that the free blue ticks offered to official or famous accounts prior to his $44 billion takeover of the social media company will be deleted by next week.

Mr. Musk spoke about his takeover of Twitter during a BBC interview on Wednesday that was also broadcast via Twitter Spaces. He also denied the rise in hate speech on the site and discussed labelling news organizations like the BBC as government-funded.

The removal of legacy blue ticks, which Mr. Musk had earlier promised would take effect on April 1, was later undone by changing the blue tick's description to hide which users were paying subscribers to Twitter Blue and which users had been verified for free (before his takeover).

The CEO of Twitter also acknowledged that the company now only employs 1,500 people, compared to just under 8,000 when he assumed control of the company. He acknowledged that he had to purchase the business since he was unable to personally terminate many employees. According to him, the platform had a $3 billion negative cash flow and only had around four months to live when he purchased it.

Regarding news outlets, Mr. Musk stated his admiration for the BBC and promised to update the label "government-financed media" to reflect this fact. He retaliated, though, against outlets like The New York Times for declaring that they would not pay for verification marks.

Moreover, Mr. Musk denied allegations that hate speech has been spreading on Twitter since his takeover.

Twitter responded to The Hindu's inquiry about how it deals with hate speech automatically and with an emoji.

Additionally, Mr. Musk asserted that Twitter usage was rising and expanding. Although not naming any specific businesses, he claimed that advertisers were returning to the website.

Source