New York () — Under Elon Musk, Twitter has antagonized several major news organizations by labeling them as state-funded outlets, appears to have eased restrictions on Russian government accounts, and made crude jokes on the facade of its headquarters. and in Musk’s own name to display on Twitter.
And that’s just this weekend.
Musk’s antics, which appear to have intensified this month, threaten to further erode the value of the Twitter brand. For months, the company has struggled to retain advertisers and supplement its dwindling advertising business – which previously accounted for 90% of its annual revenue – by convincing users to pay for its Twitter Blue subscription service.
Musk, who has to make large payments to lenders after buying the company for $44 billion, including significant debt, must convince wavering advertisers to return to the platform or boost his subscription business, or both. But his recent erratic moves can only complicate those turnaround efforts.
Late last week, Twitter faced backlash for labeling NPR a “state-affiliated media” organization, similar to foreign propaganda outlets such as RT and Russia’s Sputnik, in an apparent violation of its own policies. NPR CEO John Lansing called Twitter’s move “unacceptable” and said the organization has the “support of millions of listeners.”
Following the rejection, Twitter changed NPR’s label to “government-funded media,” and applied the same designation to Britain’s BBC over the weekend. Twitter has not given a definition of what it considers to be “government-funded media”, but the BBC rejected the label, saying it is independent and “funded by the British public through canon”.
This move risks alienating some of the world’s best-known media organizations and undermining what has long been a key selling point for the platform: its role as a news hub. NPR, in particular, hasn’t tweeted from its main account in almost a week.
While Twitter labeled some news accounts as state-funded, it also appears to have lifted some restrictions on Russian government accounts that had been put in place after the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, again sparking outrage from some users. .
Musk commented on the decision in a tweet on Sunday, saying: “I’ve been told that Putin called me a war criminal for helping Ukraine so not exactly my best friend. All news is propaganda to some extent. Let’s let the people decide for themselves”.
Twitter, which laid off much of its media relations team last year, did not respond to a request for comment.
These controversial moves come at a time when Twitter continues to face significant business challenges. the analytics company Similarweb reported last week that traffic to Twitter’s ad portal was down nearly 19% year-on-year in March. Many big advertisers have stopped investing in Twitter since Musk’s takeover, concerned about rising hate speech on the platform and massive downsizing at the company.
Musk said that Twitter is working to improve ad targeting on the platform in order to increase value for advertisers. “But all the time there have been distractions,” said Scott Kessler, technology sector leader at research firm Third Bridge, adding that there are “significant questions about the direction the company is taking.” At the same time, online ad spending contracted across the board on concerns about the economy.
Against this backdrop, Musk-owned Twitter has made several surprising announcements this month, some of which could exacerbate his problems.
Musk previously frustrated some of Twitter’s famous users, who have long been a key selling point for the platform, by promising to remove blue ticks from accounts that had been verified with Twitter’s previous system. But it didn’t go exactly as planned: Instead of unflagging all previously verified users, Twitter appeared to focus on a single account belonging to The New York Times.
Days later, the Twitter start button was temporarily replaced by doge, the meme representing the dogecoin cryptocurrency, which Musk has been in charge of promoting. The company also briefly restricted Twitter users from sharing links to a rival platform, upsetting users, including one who had previously reported the alleged Twitter files using documents provided by Musk.
As if to underscore his unique and questionable impact on the brand, the “Chief Twit” has also apparently been busy with changes at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. Photos of a piece of plastic covering the “w” on the sign on the front of the company’s office began to circulate last week.
Near midnight this Sunday, Musk tweeted that the company’s landlord “says we’re legally required to keep the sign like Twitter and we can’t remove the ‘w’ so we’ve painted it the background color,” along with a photo of the “w” painted white on a white background, leaving a more absurd word in its place. “Problem solved!” Musk tweeted.
I wish the same could be said for the platform’s business woes.
