- Elon Musk officially bought and took over Twitter
- His first week as boss has been full of controversy
- Musk is clashing with celebrities and making big changes
It's never a dull moment with Elon Musk. And as you might expect, his first week in charge at Twitter was... an interesting one. Here are five moments you won't want to miss.
Controversy follows Elon Musk to Twitter
5) Elon Musk has a new vision for Twitter. And that apparently means getting rid of most of its former staff! Within days of Musk's takeover, reports came that he intends to fire around 50–75% of the workforce. Tough news for the crew at Twitter.
4) Musk is also shaking up a Twitter trademark: the blue checkmark, which indicates "verified" users. Twitter's new owner proposed a system that will allow all users – not just famous people – to acquire the verified mark.
The catch? Musk wants you to pay $20 a month to be verified. That got lots of backlash, including from one star in particular...
3) Horror author Stephen King slammed the monthly pay system. He wrote: "$20 a month to keep my blue check? F**k that, they should pay me."
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Musk, however, pivoted after the backlash. He replied to Stephen King's tweet with a counterproposal: $8 a month. "We need to pay the bills somehow!" Musk wrote. "Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8? (...) It is the only way to defeat the bots & trolls."
Elon Musk feuds with Stephen King and AOC
2) Stephen King isn't the only big name feuding with Elon, who used to be involved with Amber Heard, by the way. Politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out the new Twitter boss for his verification plan.
She tweeted: "Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that 'free speech' is actually a $8/mo subscription plan." Musk hit back at the US politician, pointing out that she sells merchandise – specifically a sweatshirt – for somewhat high prices.
AOC also accused Musk of disabling aspects of her Twitter account after she criticized him. "Doesn't seem very free speechy to me," she wrote.
1) On the topic of free speech. Musk says it's a principal reason why he purchased Twitter. But he quickly drew criticism for spreading conspiracy theories in the hours after his takeover.
Specifically, Musk promoted news from a misinformation website about the recent attack on Paul Pelosi. Musk was widely criticized for the tweet. But he later deleted it, and made light of the backlash by insulting The New York Times.
And that was just Week 1. If nothing else, Elon Musk's era at Twitter should make for lively debate.
