Musk about to snap up Twitter for $43 billion [Updated]
We reported two weeks ago that Tesla and SpaceX tycoon Elon Musk had put in a bid to buy Twitter, though it seemed at the time that the company’s board wasn’t too keen on the idea.
Fast forward to today and it seems that Musk's $43 billion offer is likely to be accepted. Financial site Bloomberg reports that a deal is close with negotiations in their final stages.
Elon Musk goes shopping for Twitter
Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter at a price of $54.20 per share, valuing the company at around $43 billion.
This comes a week after the SpaceX and Tesla billionaire became the company's largest shareholder and declined the chance to join its board -- which would have prevented a takeover by putting a cap on his shareholding.
While it works on an 'edit tweet' option, Twitter adds the ability to step away from mentions
Elon Musk's recent colossal investment in Twitter made him the largest shareholder in the company. His tweets after this became public made it seem as though he was going to be something of a trouble-making disruptor, stirring things up with talk of an edit button, but it soon transpired that Twitter really is working on the option to edit tweets.
It's hard to say quite when the feature will be made available, and it is likely to be limited to Twitter Blue subscribers -- at least to start with. In the meantime, users who are not willing to pay for extra features can enjoy another new option: Unmention
Elon Musk asks, as Twitter's largest shareholder, if users want an Edit button
Elon Musk, the CEO of both Telsa and SpaceX, recently went shopping. He splashed $2.89 billion on Twitter stock, making him the largest shareholder in the company, with a hefty 9.2 percent holding.
While it is not yet clear what Musk intends to do with the influence he now undoubtedly wields, he is certainly not going to be sitting quietly. In a tweet posted overnight, the entrepreneur tweeted a poll asking if Twitter users would like an edit button.
Ukraine conflict: Twitter starts labeling tweets that link to Russian state media
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought immediate condemnation from other countries, and while they won’t be sending in troops to help the Ukrainian fight-back, the barrage of sanctions coming from all angles is certainly going to hit Russia hard.
We’ve been seeing companies and organizations doing their bit to put the pressure on Putin's Russia too -- hacktivist collective Anonymous has certainly been hard at work here -- and today, Twitter has announced it will increase its fight against misinformation coming from Russian media organizations.
Twitter now lets all users add sensitive content warnings to photos and videos
Twitter is giving everyone the ability to obscure individual photos or videos. The new feature is something that was tested last year and is now rolling out to all users.
In addition to blurring out select multimedia content, the new feature gives Twitter users the opportunity to add warnings to tweets. This can be used to indicate that a particular post includes nudity, violence, sensitive content or is in some way NSFW. There are, however, limitations.
Twitter's latest direct message test is criticized for harassment potential
Twitter has announced that it is testing a new way to start direct message conversations with users on the platform, leading to criticism from those concerned about the potential for abuse.
The new system means that it will be possible to start a DM conversation by simply clicking a newly added direct message button in individual tweets. While Twitter says that the move is about making it easier to start conversations, critics point out that it is likely to be used for harassment.
The dislike button on Twitter is going global
There are many things that Twitter users would like to see implemented on the platform, not least of which is the option to edit tweets. As this is extraordinarily unlikely to happen, they'll have to make do with the next best thing -- a dislike button.
Except Twitter doesn't want you to call it that. And it does not function in the way you'd probably hope. So... prepare to be underwhelmed and disappointed by the downvote option which is now available worldwide.
Twitter acquires Slack rival Quill -- only to close it down
The big news at Twitter recently may have been the departure of Jack Dorsey, but incoming CEO Parag Agrawa has wasted little time in stamping his mark on the company.
After revamping its privacy policy, Twitter has now acquired Slack rival Quill. As a result of the acquisition, the messaging service has a very short future ahead of it. Users have just a few days to export their messages before Quill servers close down and all user data is deleted.
Square's rebranding as Block could signal a move into crypto
Having stepped down as CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey is not done with change. His other company Square has just announced that it is changing its name to Block -- something it says "differentiates the Square brand, which was built for the Seller business, from the corporate entity".
With the rebranding there will be no organizational changes; Square, Cash App, TIDAL, and TBD54566975 will continue to maintain their respective brands. While a press release expresses some of the thinking behind the change in name, many believe it is also a reference to blockchain, and could signal a move into cryptocurrencies.
Twitter updates privacy policy to ban unauthorized images and videos of people
Twitter has announced an important change to its privacy policy so that the sharing of images and videos of people without consent is now forbidden.
In many ways this is simply a tightening up of existing privacy protections and anti-doxxing policies, giving individuals a route to having media depicting them removed from the platform. The new policy does not apply to everyone, however.
Spotify no longer shuffles albums by default because Adele has spoken
Following the release of her latest album, 30, Adele has had a greater impact on Spotify than the artist -- or anyone else -- expected. The new LP has already been streamed millions of times, and this is hardly surprising for Adele's first album in six years. But the singer has also managed to convince Spotify to make a big change to the platform.
The streaming music service has stopped shuffling albums by default, in recognition of the fact that bands and artists craft albums with a great deal of attention to detail, carefully curating track order to create a narrative or mood.
Instagram previews make a comeback on Twitter
Almost a decade after killing off support for previews of Instagram posts within tweets, Twitter and Instagram have finally made friends, relented and decided to bring the feature back.
The reappearance of Twitter Card previews is something that will be welcomed by people who cross-post between Instagram and Twitter. It comes as great news for anyone who was irritated by Instagram's decision to stop displaying previews of tweeted content back in 2012.
Twitter's algorithms actually promote right-wing ideologies, not liberal ones
Twitter and other social platforms have long been accused of having a liberal bias, censoring conservative voices, and being biased in favor of left-wing ideologies. But a new study shows that -- at least in the case of Twitter -- the reverse is true.
Having conducted an in-depth analysis into the effects of machine learning and recommendation algorithms, Twitter found that it is right-leaning news outlets that benefit from the greatest amplification. The question is "why?".
Donald Trump launches his new social networking platform called TRUTH Social
Having been kicked off Twitter, Donald Trump is making good on his promise to launch his own social media platform. The new venture is TRUTH Social and it is the former US president's attempt to "fight back against Big Tech".
TRUTH Social comes from the newly created Trump Media and Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Group, and Trump says that it will operate as "a rival to the liberal media consortium", adding, "I am excited to send out my first TRUTH on TRUTH Social very soon". From what we can see of it at the moment, it looks very much like a Twitter-clone.
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