TECH The Twitter saga continues

Harry Craig, Music Editor, reviews the

THIS week marks three months since Elon Musk became Twitter CEO, and he has been the source of constant drama ever since. From day one, Musk sought to completely upend the app, from the infamous blue tick fiasco to allowing controversial figures like Donald Trump back onto the platform. Those checking their Twitter feed over the festive period, perhaps to avoid making small talk with relatives post-Christmas dinner, discovered an array of frustrating changes to the app.

FROM DAY ONE, MUSK SOUGHT TO COMPLETELY UPEND THE APP

The most significant of these had already been trialled, then reversed, in 2022, before Musk’s takeover, after it proved unpopular. Nonetheless, Musk reinstated the prioritisation of Twitter’s ‘For You’ feed, which provides a selection of tweets recommended for users by the app. Although this has been available before, it was on equal standing with the generally preferred ‘Following’ feed that only shows posts from accounts the user follows.

The ‘Following’ feed is still available, but the app now defaults to its ‘For You’ feed, much to users’ consternation. Concerningly, it seems to be amplifying conspiracy theorists and extreme political opinions, with athlete Michael Johnson asking, like many others, “why am I all of a sudden get ting anti-vax tweets from people I don’t follow?”

This epitomises the changes Musk has made — nig gling modifications that annoy users, and reveal more structural issues with Musk’s reign. In 2021, users had initially celebrated when Twitter an nounced it would no longer crop im age previews posted on the platform. Confus ingly, Musk reversed this, reverting to cropped images. It remains unclear why the new CEO reversed one of Twitter’s most popular recent decisions. Meanwhile, the blue tick saga has sol-

latest at Twitter under Musk

diered on, albeit with a resolution of sorts. Silver and gold ticks have been rolled out to denote government figures and brands, respectively. Those with blue ticks who do not fit into these categories still have the icon next to their name, accompanied with a message saying it is a ‘legacy’. The blue ticks are now intended primarily to symbolise a subscriber to Twitter Blue, rather than a notable figure or account.

Predictably, this has aroused further problems. Twitter users still perceive blue ticks as giving accounts legitimacy and authority, which the majority of Twitter Blue subscribers do not have. The BBC has found that the Taliban, for example, have started buying up Twitter Blue subscriptions to allow its figures to display the blue tick.

It was another area of Musk’s reforms, however, that led to Twitter dominating the headlines over Christmas. The reinstatement of high-profile banned accounts like Trump and Kanye West, despite their violations of Twitter rules, caught public attention with Andrew Tate’s arrest. After his return to the platform, Tate began harassing climate activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter, which pre-empted his arrest on charges of human trafficking and rape. In spite of this, his account remains active on Twitter.

Another controversial figure, Piers Morgan, also found himself at the centre of a Twitter news story over the holidays, when his account was hacked. Morgan’s account posted racial slurs and abuse directed at Queen Elizabeth II and Ed Sheeran, but is now back under his control. This came not long after Education Secretary Gillian Keegan was also hacked on Christmas Day, and raises more questions for Musk on how his changes have made Twitter less secure and more prone to hacking.

It remains to be seen how much longer Twitter’s turbulent tale under Musk will continue, after users voted in a poll posted by the CEO on 18th December for him to stand down. His promise to abide by the result has not yet been fulfilled, but many hope he will, to finally end this saga.