What on earth is going on over at Twitter?

Billionaire Elon Musk has been at the helm of Twitter for a matter of weeks, and already, chaos has ensued. 

It all started earlier this year in April, when Musk offered to buy the social media platform after the company had been experiencing some financial difficulties. 

Promising to "unlock its extraordinary potential", Musk offered to buy the platform for a casual $43 billion. 

Over the next few months, Musk tried to back out of the deal, but Twitter didn't let him, suing the Tesla CEO in July to force the completion of the acquisition. 

Eventually, Musk offered to buy Twitter at the original price of $54.20 a share, meaning it would have sold for around $44 billion.

He is now the owner and CEO of Twitter. 

Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022

So how are things going? The only way to describe it is pure chaos.

And perhaps tellingly, Musk's bio on Twitter last week read "Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator" and his location as "Hell". Because when you're starting absolute bin fires in every corner of a company, you may as well acknowledge it.

Here's everything that has happened since the world's richest man bought Twitter.

Elon Musk abruptly fired half of Twitter's staff.

It all started with a company-wide email from Musk, informing the 7500-strong Twitter workforce that their jobs were on the line. 

"Team, in an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday," the email stated, per reports from AAP.

"We recognise that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company's success moving forward."

Then on a typical weekday morning, multiple employees logged into work to find they had been locked out of their company's internal messaging system and email accounts. They were then barred from going into the office.

Employees said they were left to piece together information through media reports, private messaging groups and anonymous forums.

By Friday, the job cuts were underway, many of which took place over email with a brutal subject line that read: "Your Role at Twitter..."

Out of the 7500 employees at Twitter, approximately half were told their job is no longer viable. One of the teams completely let go were those tasked with defending against election misinformation ahead of the US midterm elections coming up this month.

I'm also consciously uncoupled from Twitter. It’s a weird day, people on either side of the 50% aren’t sure whether to be grateful or gutted. What I know is how honored I am to have spent time with wonderful people who show an unprecedented level of care for each other.

— Tony Haile (@arctictony) November 4, 2022

One now-former employee described the whole situation as "a s**t show".

In the wake of the mass firings, several Twitter employees have filed a class action lawsuit in the US alleging that Twitter is in violation of the federal and California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act). 

The WARN Act requires that an employer with more than 100 employees must provide 60 days' advanced written notice prior to a mass layoff. So now Musk has that to deal with too. 

Musk sacked a bunch of high-ranking Twitter execs too.

As if laying off half of your staff overnight wasn't enough, Musk then decided it would be best to create a clean slate - and fire majority of the executive team.

He axed Twitter's Chief Executive, Parag Agrawal, and Chief Financial Officer, Ned Segal, as well as the Head of Legal Policy, Trust and Safety, Vijaya Gadde.

Gadde was the person behind the decision to permanently ban former US President Donald Trump from the platform in the wake of the January 6 Capitol insurrection. 

Since then, a series of other senior managers have also been stood down or resigned, and Musk dissolved Twitter's former board of directors.

Watch CCN's Van Jones make a powerful point about the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Story continues below.

As for Trump coming back to Twitter, Musk said he would welcome the former US President, and anyone previously banned from Twitter, back onto the platform in the coming weeks.

They tried paid verification, and it failed.

Earlier this month, Musk announced that the social media site's verification system would become a subscription service, calling it 'Twitter Blue'.

The offering would include the blue checkmark, fewer ads and the ability to post longer videos.

Twitter rolled out Twitter Blue on Wednesday US time, letting users who provided an Apple ID and a phone number pay $7.99 a month to attain verification. 

Almost immediately, users started taking advantage of the new tool. Accounts were created impersonating politicians including President Biden and former President George W. Bush, celebrities and other notable people.

Several also created accounts pretending to be brands, announcing fake news. 

One account that pretended to be US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly shared an alarming post that was live for hours.

"We are excited to announce insulin is free now," the tweet read.

Following the explosion of misinformation, Twitter paused Twitter Blue, Musk’s first major product launch. They also paused sign ups for the platform to "help address impersonation issues."

And Musk's response?

"Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in the coming months," he wrote on the social media site.

"We will keep what works and change what doesn't."

Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months.

We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022

He also tweeted: "I love when people complain about Twitter on Twitter," and, "Usage for Twitter continues to rise. One thing is for sure: it isn't boring!"

Usage of Twitter continues to rise. One thing is for sure: it isn’t boring!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 10, 2022

Advertisers aren't really keen on the chaos.

In early November, Musk tweeted that Twitter was experiencing a "massive drop in revenue" as advertisers pulled spending.

He blamed the losses on a coalition of civil rights groups pressing Twitter's top advertisers to take action if he did not protect content moderation. 

Musk has promised to restore free speech while preventing Twitter from descending into a "hellscape" (how's that going?).

However, his reassurances have failed to calm major advertisers' apprehension about his takeover. Volkswagen AG on Friday recommended its brands pause paid advertising on Twitter until further notice. Its comments echoed similar remarks from other companies, including General Motors Co and General Mills Inc. 

Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, said he knew of two more major advertisers preparing to announce they would pause ads on the platform.

Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.

Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022

It comes after many activists have said they will continue to escalate the pressure on Twitter and demand brands pull their Twitter ads globally. And it appears to be working, with Elon saying the social platform is bleeding more than four million a day.

There are still valid concerns that hate speech will be rife on Twitter now.

Since Musk made his interest in buying Twitter public, there has been one major plan of his that has worried a fair few people. And it's his views on free speech.

The business magnate has long been critical of Twitter's content moderation policies and signaled his intent to reduce Twitter's control over what users are allowed on the platform and what they post. He has said that some content moderation will continue to occur, but it won't be to the level it is at currently.

Ultimately, misinformation watchdogs worry this move will lead to an increase in fake content and hate speech. And Musk himself is an example of that. 

Three days after he bought Twitter, he posted misinformation about US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's husband.

In late October, Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, was assaulted at the couple's home, when a stranger broke into their house and attacked him with a hammer. 

Musk suggested on Twitter the whole ordeal was Paul's fault, and alleged the stranger had been a male sex worker that he had hired. None of Musk's statements were true.

"There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye," Musk wrote on Twitter, before sharing a link to an article in a faux newspaper, which is known for purporting wild conspiracy theories. 

He has since deleted the tweet, but the irony hasn't escaped many.

Three days after Elon Musk purchased Twitter, he posted baseless allegations about the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi. The tweet on Sunday raised questions about how, or if, Musk will combat misinformation and hate speech on the platform. https://t.co/ygT0jXDou4

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 30, 2022

A study by Montclair State University also reported a spike in hate speech on Twitter soon after Musk's takeover. 

The study said the acquisition had "created the perception by extremist users that content restrictions would be alleviated".

Experts suggest Elon Musk "doesn't know what he's doing".

A former Twitter executive has said Musk's actions are "making everyone alarmed" in the tech space.

Bruce Daisley, Twitter's vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa from 2015 to 2020, said he was devastated by the "undemocratic changes" at Twitter.

"I think Elon thought he was going to come in and solve everything and very quickly he’s going to work out that it's far more complicated," he told podcast The News Agents. "He doesn't know what he's doing."

As for what Twitter's future looks like, we can only wait and see - but we assume more chaos will follow.

With AAP.

Feature Image: Getty/Mamamia.

This article was originally published on November 6, 2022, and updated on November 12, 2022.

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