Rough times for Twitter

Rough times for Twitter

[Akira Urushibata]

Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, is going through a major upheaval.
According to Musk the company is losing 4 million dollars a day.
Half of the workforce will depart in a massive layoff, raising
concerns that there may not be enough staff left to monitor harmful
content.

Twitter is also exploring new venues of raising money.  One is
making authorized accounts, previously available to celebrities and
public officials for free, open to all for a charge.  Some are 
worried that imposters make take advantage of this feature.
Twitter, with its urgent need to raise money, may prod a small team
to implement it as quickly as possible.

I request fellow list members to be on the alert.  Someone may
set up an account pretending to be Richard M Stallman or some other
influential programmer, and be granted verification.  The account may
not last long but significant damage can be done with no more than a
few tweets.

Elon Musk paid 44 billion dollars to acquire Twitter.  Many observers
now feel certain that the unreasonably high price has led to savage
cost-cutting measures.  What people don't notice is that Musk got much
free software as well.  More accurately he got access thereto in the
form of experienced engineers who know what free tools are available
and how best to apply them.  Many of them are now leaving Twitter
and that means the firm is losing access to free software.

Because free software is free (as in "free beer") the loss does not
immediately show up in the accounts.  Neither does the effect of any
inappropriate tweet made by the maverick owner.  Being invisible loss
of this nature evades the attention of most observers, especially
financial experts.  It is possible that even Elon Musk fails to
understand the extent of the problem, for as we all know, he is one
character especially fond of the money that he can count.

---

Twitter layoffs: Elon Musk's Twitter cuts jobs across the company
CNN Business
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/03/tech/twitter-layoffs/index.html

Former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey issues apology amid mass layoffs
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/05/twitter-elon-musk-jack-dorsey-apology

Confusion and Frustration Reign as Elon Musk Cuts Half of Twitter's Staff
New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/technology/elon-musk-twitter-layoffs.html

   ...

   The cuts were so haphazard that at one late-night meeting about the
   Twitter Blue subscription product, at least one worker was locked
   out of the company's systems during the call, according to three
   people with knowledge of the meeting and internal messages viewed
   by The New York Times.

   ...

   By early Friday, the scale of the layoffs by Elon Musk, Twitter's
   new owner, was becoming clear: Roughly half of the company's work
   force, or about 3,700 jobs, had been eliminated, four people with
   knowledge of the matter said. The cuts hit across many divisions,
   including the engineering and machine learning teams, the trust and
   safety teams that manage content moderation, and the sales and
   advertising departments. Rarely have layoffs this deep been made by
   a single individual at a tech company.

   ...

   At the same time, some advertisers, which provide 90 percent of
   Twitter's revenue, have paused their spending on the platform,
   citing fears over how the site's content might change under
   Mr. Musk. That pullback accelerated on Friday as advertisers like
   Volkswagen Group joined the growing boycott. Civil rights groups
   have repeatedly warned that loosening Twitter's content rules might
   lead to a rise in toxic speech.


Twitter confirms fee for blue-tick verification after Musk takeover
BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63530872

Twitter users jump to Mastodon - but what is it?
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63534240

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Re: Rough times for Twitter

[Paul Sutton via libreplanet-discuss]

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On 06/11/2022 22:44, Akira Urushibata wrote:
> Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, is going through a major upheaval.
> According to Musk the company is losing 4 million dollars a day.
> Half of the workforce will depart in a massive layoff, raising
> concerns that there may not be enough staff left to monitor harmful
> content.
> 
> Twitter is also exploring new venues of raising money.  One is
> making authorized accounts, previously available to celebrities and
> public officials for free, open to all for a charge.  Some are
> worried that imposters make take advantage of this feature.
> Twitter, with its urgent need to raise money, may prod a small team
> to implement it as quickly as possible.
> 
> I request fellow list members to be on the alert.  Someone may
> set up an account pretending to be Richard M Stallman or some other
> influential programmer, and be granted verification.  The account may
> not last long but significant damage can be done with no more than a
> few tweets.
> 
> Elon Musk paid 44 billion dollars to acquire Twitter.  Many observers
> now feel certain that the unreasonably high price has led to savage
> cost-cutting measures.  What people don't notice is that Musk got much
> free software as well.  More accurately he got access thereto in the
> form of experienced engineers who know what free tools are available
> and how best to apply them.  Many of them are now leaving Twitter
> and that means the firm is losing access to free software.
> 
> Because free software is free (as in "free beer") the loss does not
> immediately show up in the accounts.  Neither does the effect of any
> inappropriate tweet made by the maverick owner.  Being invisible loss
> of this nature evades the attention of most observers, especially
> financial experts.  It is possible that even Elon Musk fails to
> understand the extent of the problem, for as we all know, he is one
> character especially fond of the money that he can count.
> 

There has been a huge exodus to mastodon over the past few days, 
something like 60,000 users,  so this really does open up opportunities 
for the free software communities to help and support.

1. More instances to even the overall user load
2. Opportunities to help people develop the skills needed to run their 
own instance
3. Opportunities to open up discussions around free software, given that 
much of mastodon is based on GPL or similar licensing structures
4. Lets just share news, content etc on Mastodon, peertube etc and help 
each other share this content to these new users

We have the opportunity to make sure the conversation around any free 
software is positive,  so promoting LibreOffice or BBB or Jitsi as 
alternatives to teams / zoom etc.

Paul



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Re: Rough times for Twitter

[Jacob Hrbek]

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It only took one middle age crisis of a bilionaire to make people realize how much of a garbage twitter is... glory to the fediverse!

-- Jacob "Kreyren" Hrbek

-------- Original Message --------
On Nov 7, 2022, 17:25, Paul Sutton via libreplanet-discuss wrote:

> On 06/11/2022 22:44, Akira Urushibata wrote: > Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, is going through a major upheaval. > According to Musk the company is losing 4 million dollars a day. > Half of the workforce will depart in a massive layoff, raising > concerns that there may not be enough staff left to monitor harmful > content. > > Twitter is also exploring new venues of raising money. One is > making authorized accounts, previously available to celebrities and > public officials for free, open to all for a charge. Some are > worried that imposters make take advantage of this feature. > Twitter, with its urgent need to raise money, may prod a small team > to implement it as quickly as possible. > > I request fellow list members to be on the alert. Someone may > set up an account pretending to be Richard M Stallman or some other > influential programmer, and be granted verification. The account may > not last long but significant damage can be done with no more than a > few tweets. > > Elon Musk paid 44 billion dollars to acquire Twitter. Many observers > now feel certain that the unreasonably high price has led to savage > cost-cutting measures. What people don't notice is that Musk got much > free software as well. More accurately he got access thereto in the > form of experienced engineers who know what free tools are available > and how best to apply them. Many of them are now leaving Twitter > and that means the firm is losing access to free software. > > Because free software is free (as in "free beer") the loss does not > immediately show up in the accounts. Neither does the effect of any > inappropriate tweet made by the maverick owner. Being invisible loss > of this nature evades the attention of most observers, especially > financial experts. It is possible that even Elon Musk fails to > understand the extent of the problem, for as we all know, he is one > character especially fond of the money that he can count. > There has been a huge exodus to mastodon over the past few days, something like 60,000 users, so this really does open up opportunities for the free software communities to help and support. 1. More instances to even the overall user load 2. Opportunities to help people develop the skills needed to run their own instance 3. Opportunities to open up discussions around free software, given that much of mastodon is based on GPL or similar licensing structures 4. Lets just share news, content etc on Mastodon, peertube etc and help each other share this content to these new users We have the opportunity to make sure the conversation around any free software is positive, so promoting LibreOffice or BBB or Jitsi as alternatives to teams / zoom etc. Paul _______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss

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   It only took one middle age crisis of a bilionaire to make people
   realize how much of a garbage twitter is... glory to the fediverse!

   -- Jacob "Kreyren" Hrbek

   -------- Original Message --------
   On Nov 7, 2022, 17:25, Paul Sutton via libreplanet-discuss <
   libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org> wrote:

     On 06/11/2022 22:44, Akira Urushibata wrote: > Twitter, now owned by
     Elon Musk, is going through a major upheaval. > According to Musk
     the company is losing 4 million dollars a day. > Half of the
     workforce will depart in a massive layoff, raising > concerns that
     there may not be enough staff left to monitor harmful > content. > >
     Twitter is also exploring new venues of raising money. One is >
     making authorized accounts, previously available to celebrities and
     > public officials for free, open to all for a charge. Some are >
     worried that imposters make take advantage of this feature. >
     Twitter, with its urgent need to raise money, may prod a small team
     > to implement it as quickly as possible. > > I request fellow list
     members to be on the alert. Someone may > set up an account
     pretending to be Richard M Stallman or some other > influential
     programmer, and be granted verification. The account may > not last
     long but significant damage can be done with no more than a > few
     tweets. > > Elon Musk paid 44 billion dollars to acquire Twitter.
     Many observers > now feel certain that the unreasonably high price
     has led to savage > cost-cutting measures. What people don't notice
     is that Musk got much > free software as well. More accurately he
     got access thereto in the > form of experienced engineers who know
     what free tools are available > and how best to apply them. Many of
     them are now leaving Twitter > and that means the firm is losing
     access to free software. > > Because free software is free (as in
     "free beer") the loss does not > immediately show up in the
     accounts. Neither does the effect of any > inappropriate tweet made
     by the maverick owner. Being invisible loss > of this nature evades
     the attention of most observers, especially > financial experts. It
     is possible that even Elon Musk fails to > understand the extent of
     the problem, for as we all know, he is one > character especially
     fond of the money that he can count. > There has been a huge exodus
     to mastodon over the past few days, something like 60,000 users, so
     this really does open up opportunities for the free software
     communities to help and support. 1. More instances to even the
     overall user load 2. Opportunities to help people develop the skills
     needed to run their own instance 3. Opportunities to open up
     discussions around free software, given that much of mastodon is
     based on GPL or similar licensing structures 4. Lets just share
     news, content etc on Mastodon, peertube etc and help each other
     share this content to these new users We have the opportunity to
     make sure the conversation around any free software is positive, so
     promoting LibreOffice or BBB or Jitsi as alternatives to teams /
     zoom etc. Paul _______________________________________________
     libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
     https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss

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Re: Rough times for Twitter

[Devin Ulibarri]

*Note: This message was accidentally marked as spam. We apologize for 
the mistake (we get a lot of spam). Here it is as it was received on 
Friday.*

Date: 	Sat, 19 Nov 2022 17:00:37 +0900 (JST)
From: 	"Akira Urushibata" <afu@wta.att.ne.jp>
To: 	libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
Subject: 	Re: Rough times for Twitter

Day by day Twitter is sinking deeper into quagmire. It appears two
thirds of the workforce has left the company. (We don't know the
exact figure for the layoffs were so thorough that the section which
should be reporting such details exists no more.) How much the
remaining staff can handle is an open question.

I believe fellow list members are observing friends and relatives who
are still on Twitter growing pessimistic about its chances of survival
and asking for assistance on how best to evacuate.

Instructions to Twitter users on how to archive user account data are
appearing in mainstream media. They come with warnings that requests
can take more than 24 hours to be processed. This was so even before
Musk's takeover - and as things stand now, unlikely to get better.

I don't particularly like Twitter. But I know people who do and are
hoping that it would survive. Much information on what Ukrainians
have experienced under Russian aggression reached us via Twitter.
Politicians and business leaders used the platform to make
announcements. Some are still doing so.

People like the public officials taking protective measures face a
dillenma. If they don't hurry to save their past tweets, they may see
them wiped out when the company folds. Lost tweets and direct
messages have the potential of inviting legal jeapordy. But the
actions of those who do hurry place a burden on the system servers.
Ironically the stress can hasten the downfall. Many people are each
contributing a straw which might be the one (="last straw") that breaks
the mule's back.

In the meantine a crisis is brewing in the cryptocurrency market.
CEOs and analysts continue to use Twitter to send messages to
anxious stakeholders. This is a source of concern, for history
teaches us that communication failures tend to aggrevate financial
turmoil.

"The bird has been freed."

So Elon Musk tweeted upon completing the purchase. It is obvious to
many that the bird is growing weaker and weaker under his custody -
to the point that once down it may never be free to take off again.
Reminding people about this should encourage them to think about
freedom. Ordinary Twitter users are starting to realize what
freedom they would lose should the platform disappear. I expect at
least some of them to be willing to listen to accounts by people who
have been working to protect freedom.

If Elon Musk really cares about freedom, he should discuss the matter
with an expert of freedom. Richard Stallman is one such expert. Musk
should have reached out much earlier: doing so would have given him
better understanding of what he had ahead and saved him money. Even
now it is not too late.

"Many a man can stand adversity. To test a man's true character,
give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

---

Hundreds said to have opted to leave Twitter over Elon Musk ultimatum
- The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/17/twitter-musk-easing-rto-order/

Hundreds of Twitter employees refused Thursday to sign a pledge to
work longer hours, threatening the site's ability to keep operating
...

"I know of six critical systems (like `serving tweets' levels of
critical) which no longer have any engineers," a former employee
said. "There is no longer even a skeleton crew manning the
system. It will continue to coast until it runs into something, and
then it will stop."

...

Among those who were said to have declined to sign the pledge were
half the trust and safety policy team, including a majority of
those who work on spotting misinformation, spam, fake accounts and
impersonation, according to one employee familiar with the team.

...

"Every mistake in code and operations is now deadly" said a former
engineer who departed the company this week. Those left "are going
to be overwhelmed, overworked and, because of that, more likely to
make mistakes."

---

Users urged to archive tweets amid rumors of Twitter implosion
- The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/17/twitter-archive-tweets-company-shuts

---

Elon Musk Is Bad at This - The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/11/elon-musk-twitter-poor-management-layoffs-advertisers/672029/

The Musk era of Twitter has so far been defined by unhinged tweets,
fleeing advertisers, and botched layoffs.

Elon Musk has spent the past 12 years tweeting whatever comes into
his mind, often without major negative consequences. That was
before he owned the place. Now, less than two weeks after his $44
billion purchase, the world's richest man is finding that his
actions ... may actually have consequences. Advertisers are
fleeing, the employees remaining after a round of mass layoffs are
alienated, and onlookers are completely vexed by a freewheeling
approach that has coincided with a rise in hate speech on the
platform, among other problems.

Musk's fans see the billionaire as a visionary ... But what the
past two weeks demonstrate is that Musk is, at best, a mediocre
executive-and undoubtedly a terrible, distracted manager.

...

---

Twitter's potential collapse could wipe out vast swathes of recent
human history - MIT Technology Review
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/11/1063162/twitters-imminent-collapse-could-wipe-out-vast-records-of-recent-human-history/

---

Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s
book by Frederick Lewis Allen
1931

The chapter about the October 1929 stock market crash provides a
vivid account on how a communication outage can affect a market
crisis.

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