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Twitter CEO Elon Musk spent part of his Sunday comparing the old platform to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings fantasy character Wormtongue. The character Wormtongue is considered by fans to be an antagonist in the series of books written by the English writer, who goes on to kill the wizard Saruman. FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk's photo is seen through a Twitter logo in this illustration taken October 28, 2022.  (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo / Reuters Photos) "Twitter was Wormtongue to the World," Musk wrote on Sunday. "Saruman…your staff is broken."STUART VARNEY: ELON MUSK ROLLING OUT ‘REVOLUTION’ AT TWITTER…AND THE LEFT DOESN'T LIKE IT Following up on the fantasy trail, Musk posted a picture of Wormtongue speaking into King Théoden’s ear, though the faces are photoshopped out with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s face on Wormtongue’s body, and President Biden’s face on Théoden’s body."Just one more lockdown, my king…" the meme reads.Nearly an hour later, Musk tweeted that his pronouns were "Prosecute/Fauci."ELON MUSK TO REMOVE 1.5 BILLION TWITTER ACCOUNTS, ANNOUNCES NEW FEATURE FOR USERS' TWEETSThe Twitter CEO also called on all the bots and trolls to attack him with as many messages as they could to get to the top of

Those eager to purchase a blue checkmark are in luck: at long last Twitter is relaunching Twitter Blue.Twitter announced that it will relaunch Twitter Blue tomorrow (Dec. 12) in a tweet yesterday. Twitter Blue was previously delayed as the social media platform tried to figure out how to avoid Apple's 30 percent fee on in-app purchases. To compensate for the fee Twitter is now charging $8 a month on web and $11 through its iPhone app. Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) So what does the subscription fee now get you? Access to edit tweets, 1080p video uploads, reader mode, and of course, the coveted blue checkmark. Twitter will also be reviewing accounts before bestowing them with blue checkmarks and will remove blue checkmarks and re-review Twitter Blue accounts anytime they change their handle, display name, or profile photo. The announcement didn't specify what makes an account ineligible for a blue checkmark. It will deal with confusion over what is an official account by making everything more complicated. Twitter is phasing out the "Official account" profile tag and introducing gold and grey checkmarks. Gold checkmarks will be for businesses, while grey will be for government and

Skip to main content Following its disastrous initial launch, company reboots plan with “a review” as safeguard Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks up as he addresses guests at the Offshore Northern Seas 2022 (ONS) meeting in Stavanger, Norway on August 29, 2022. Carina Johansen/NTB/AFP via Getty Images Twitter is trying to make paid bluecheck verification happen again following its disastrous initial launch shortly after Elon Musk took over the reins at the company on Oct. 27. The program, which immediately verified anyone who paid $8 for the program, was paused within days following the proliferation of misinformation and parody accounts, which were suspended when found. The new iteration of the program is set to arrive on Monday. This time around, Twitter said in a statement that those who pay $8.00 a month ($11 a month for iOS) will get certain subscription perks “after your account has been reviewed,” an ostensible safeguard to avoiding some of the issues it experienced when paid verification first rolled out. As the company announced in its tentative plans for relaunch, Twitter will “begin replacing that ‘official’ label with a gold checkmark for businesses, and later in the week a grey checkmark for government and

Last month Musk told them to either sign up for “long hours at high intensity” or leave the company. Many decided to leave. Now, he’s demanding they not leak confidential information to the press and is threatening to sue them if they do. What’s more, he’s demanding they sign a pledge today to indicate they’ve understood.  That’s according to Platformer journalist Zoe Schiffer, who has been closely tracking the turmoil at Twitter since Musk’s $44 billion takeover in late October.  Ironically, it appears Schiffer learned of Musk’s latest demands via the very kind of leak he’s addressing, and posted her findings on the platform he now owns. NEW: Elon Musk is threatening to sue Twitter employees who leak confidential information to the press. He's asking staffers to sign a pledge indicating they've understood. Here's the email:— Zoë Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) December 10, 2022 Fortune reached out to Twitter on Saturday but did not receive an immediate reply outside of normal business hours. “This will be said only once: If you clearly and deliberately violate the NDA that you signed when you joined, you accept liability to the full extent of the law & Twitter will immediately seek damages,” Musk reportedly warned

If you’ve ever secretly wanted a 6-foot-high sculpture of an @ sign that doubles as a planter, now is your chance. The sculpture is one of the hundreds of items from Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters going on the auction block, including a blue Twitter bird statue, a handful of Eames chairs, giant, flat panel TVs, and a variety of kitchen equipment ranging from a vegetable dryer to more than a dozen espresso machines. The items were listed on the online site BidSpotter under the heading “Online Auction Sale Featuring Surplus Corporate Office Assets of Twitter,” with most items showing opening bid prices set at $25 and $50. The auction follows Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October. Musk has been racing to cut costs since he took over the social media company, a deal he tried unsuccessfully to back out of and for which he acknowledged he overpaid. Musk laid off half of the company’s 6,000 workers in November, and told those that remained to be prepared for a “hardcore” work life or to resign. Musk has also told employees that there is “a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn,” according to the AP, and tweeted

Elon’s mass firing of security staff and increased reliance on automation is going to make it easier for tyrants to shout down and silence their critics, former staffers warn The acts of defiance were rare and rather novel, for a surveillance state. The way the world found out was well-worn. When Chinese protesters took to the streets to shout “Down with Xi Jinping” and denounce China’s harsh Covid lockdown measures, activists and their supporters took to Twitter to share news and clips of the disobedience. To many, it seemed like a swan song, given Twitter’s uncertain fate under its new management.  “To everyone saying #Twitter is over… Maybe your last act on this godforsaken platform could be to amplify the voices of protesters in China calling for freedom?” Vickie Wang, a Taiwanese writer and comedian, wrote as she retweeted clips of protesters and shared Zoom meeting information where Chinese protesters could organize.   Not long afterwards, Twitter suspended Wang’s account, as well as those of others participating in, and supporting, the protests. That included Ai-Men Lau — a research analyst at the Taiwan-based nonprofit DoubleThink Labs — who amplified clips and quotes from protesters and the hashtag they were using to

Image caption, Julio Alvarado says Twitter staff are now "afraid"By James Clayton & Ben DericoBBC News, San FranciscoCleaners at Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco have told the BBC they were sacked without severance pay. One of them told the BBC a member of Elon Musk's team had said their jobs would be replaced by robots. A California state senator said Mr Musk was treating the former staff "like garbage". San Francisco's city attorney, David Chiu, said he's investigating if Mr Musk broke the law. Twitter has not responded to a BBC request for comment."Elon Musk has had a long history of flouting labour laws," Mr Chiu told the BBC. "While I'm not surprised this happened, I feel for these workers. We will be looking into this further."Image caption, Juana Laura Chavero Ramirez says she might not be able to afford her diabetic medicationThe BBC spoke to four cleaners who say they were fired from Twitter on Monday - their interviews were conducted in Spanish. Adrianna Villarreal, who worked for Twitter for four years, said she's now worried she won't have enough money to feed her family over Christmas."It's a sad and frustrating thing for our families and children," she said.

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection has opened an investigation after reports that makeshift motel rooms had been set up inside Twitter headquarters. Photos taken by people working inside the building show unremarkable accommodations. A bright orange carpet matches the accent wall, which is dominated by massive monitors. Each room reportedly has its own name and reservation status. The cleaning crew that was assigned to the floor where these rooms reportedly popped up recently said they were surprised to see them. “This is commercial zoning. So, it's not supposed to be changed to a bedroom,” said Kevin, former cleaning crew member at Twitter.  Kevin worked for Twitter’s cleaning crew for 10 years and Martin Cerda for 8 years. Local He claims that as soon as these rooms were converted from conference rooms to sleeping rooms, the cleaning crews would be monitored by security agents while they cleaned them.           “They were always behind you and you had to take out the trash, take everything off the bed and it was a lot of pressure having them there,” said Cerca.  Sandra Santo said agents always made it clear to them when Elon Musk was in the building. She said security would

Image caption, A conference room converted into a bedroom at Twitter's San Francisco HQBy James Clayton & Ben DericoBBC NewsThe BBC has been given photos of Twitter office space that has been converted into bedrooms, which San Francisco authorities are probing as a possible building code violation.One image shows a room with a double bed, including a wardrobe and slippers. An ex-worker said new Twitter boss Elon Musk has been staying at the headquarters since he bought the firm. He last month emailed all Twitter staff saying they "will need to be extremely hardcore" to succeed.San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection has confirmed it is investigating potential violations following a complaint.Mr Musk said the city was attacking companies for providing beds to "tired employees".In a now-deleted tweet, Mr Musk posted that he would work and sleep in the office "until the org is fixed".The BBC has also been given pictures of sofas at Twitter being used as beds. Another conference room has an alarm clock, and a picture placed over a made-up bed. Image caption, Former staff say wardrobes have been moved into Twitter's HQ"It looks like a hotel room," said one former worker. They went on to say that

Elon Musk has recently taken to criticizing the city of San Francisco and Mayor London Breed via Twitter. CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images It seems no one is safe from the wrath of Elon Musk during one of his many PR fiascos since taking ownership of Twitter — and that includes San Francisco Mayor London Breed.  Following reports that Musk recently converted rooms at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters into staff bedrooms, KQED's supervising senior editor Ted Goldberg posted a tweet stating that San Francisco building inspectors are looking into the matter. In response, Musk shared a link to a San Francisco Chronicle story from last week about an infant who allegedly suffered an overdose after ingesting fentanyl at a playground in the city. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.) "So city of SF attacks companies providing beds for tired employees instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl. Where are your priorities @LondonBreed!?" Musk tweeted in response.  So city of SF attacks companies providing beds for tired employees instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl. Where are your priorities @LondonBreed!?https://t.co/M7QJWP7u0N— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 6, 2022 Officials confirmed