On Sunday evening, the Twitter bird became an X, the mathematical symbol of the unknown, but the metamorphosis is not new: Elon Musk, who has owned the platform for almost 9 months, has gradually — and often brutally — transformed the social network, writes AFP.

Here’s an overview of the main changes.

Payment for a blue point

This is probably the most iconic solution. Elon Musk made the famous blue tick, which used to be free but reserved for authenticated accounts that were considered infamous, available to all users and paid.

The boss of Tesla wanted to “give more power to the people” and abolish the “lord-peasant system”.

In practice, the chaotic launch of “Twitter Blue” has made Twitter even more confusing, with algorithms promoting paid accounts that are owned by anonymous individuals and/or created to spread false information.

Subscribers pay between $8 and $11 a month to see fewer ads and enjoy certain privileges (they can post longer tweets and videos, delete or edit a tweet, see new tools, etc.). First of all, their tweets are prioritized.

• Read also: PHOTO Elon Musk presented the new official Twitter logo and was already accused of stealing it

Unmoderated content

Content moderation, which is essential for platforms that want to cultivate a respectful atmosphere and is valued by both users and advertisers, has been kept to a minimum.

Elon Musk has stopped the fight against Covid misinformation and decided to amnesty numerous accounts that were previously banned for repeated violations of the rules regarding misinformation or aggressive actions.

Tens of thousands of users have returned, including far-right and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists.

Elon Musk and Twitter (Photo: STR/NurPhoto / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia)

US rapper Kanye West started tweeting again before he was banned for “inciting violence”.

According to several non-governmental organizations, the number of homophobic and racist images has increased rapidly.

The billionaire has also been linked to a number of controversial figures.

Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News host with radical and sometimes conspiracy-minded views, launched a show on Twitter, and conservative news site The Daily Wire streams its podcasts on the platform, including those of Matt Walsh, a commentator known for his anti-LGBTQ comments.

On the other hand, the seething leader has drawn the ire of several public media outlets by labeling them as “state media,” usually for Russian or Chinese propaganda.

limitation

On the other hand, the social network does not hesitate to ban accounts that are used to promote competing platforms.

In recent months, many other changes have caused irritation or anger among users, such as limiting the number of viewable tweets per account per day (10,000 for verified accounts, 1,000 for regular accounts).

Elon Musk’s intention is to prevent companies specializing in artificial intelligence from collecting mountains of data on the site.

However, this new policy has made it difficult for third-party apps, especially Tweetdeck, which is owned by the same company. Twitter has also ended the ability to view tweets without signing in or identifying yourself.

Posts also have statistics added to show how many times a tweet has been viewed or saved.

Distortion

Immediately after the acquisition, on October 27, 2022, Elon Musk took the company public, fired managers and began the first wave of layoffs.

Fewer than 2,000 of an estimated 7,500 employees remained. Those who survived had to commit to “working long hours at high intensity” — and not telecommuting — if they wanted to stay.

The effervescent boss seeks to save in all directions, up to the point of not paying for the rent of several offices.

In mid-May, he appointed Linda Jaccarino, an American media and advertising executive, as the new CEO, while he remained chairman of the board.

But a few days later, in an interview with CNBC, he stated his abrasive approach: “I say what I want to say, and if I lose money as a result, so be it.”

In mid-July, he admitted that ad revenue had fallen by about 50 percent.

The conversion to X is believed to be another step towards transforming the platform into a universal app similar to China’s WeChat, AFP reported.

Competition is intensifying behind

Social network TikTok on Monday launched a new tool that allows users to post text-only messages, a first for the previously image-based platform, allowing it to compete directly with Twitter, AFP reported.

The new feature allows users to “share their stories, poems, lyrics (songs) and other types of written content, giving creators another way to express themselves,” the subsidiary of Chinese group ByteDance said in a statement.

In addition to newcomers Mastodon, Bluesky, T2 and Substack Notes, the Meta giant launched Threads in early July, which currently has 117 million users, according to data from specialist consultancy Quiver Quantitative.