Twitter engages in mass layoffs and multiple things break on the site. There are also reports that they can’t pay rent in certain locations across the globe. Twitter is hemorrhaging advertisors, as they record a 59% reduction in advertisement sales.[5](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/technology/twitter-ad-sales-musk.html)
Elon Musk posts tweets seemingly apologizing for some of the changes and says he will follow the will of the people by posting polls for users to vote on policy changes. Musk asks if he should step down, to which the majority vote in favour of his removal. He then goes on a tirade about bots after losing in the poll. He goes on to say that only paid subscribers will be permited to vote in future polls. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/dec/20/elon-musk-breaks-silence-after-10-million-twitter-users-vote-for-him-to-step-down)
The crème de la crème is Elon Musk implementing a new restriction where you have to be logged in to see tweets and restricting the number of tweets you can view. Inadvertently DDOSing his own site.
Elon doesn’t pay rent, one member of the transition team told Hawkins.
Another member of the transition team put it more bluntly to Killian: Elon told me he would
only pay rent over his dead body.
Both Killian and Hawkins were told that for Musk, the fact that Twitter was
legally or contractually obligated to pay a particular sum would be irrelevant to the decision of
whether to actually pay it when that amount came due that Musk operated on a zero cost basis"
And
Between the demands that he effectively participate in theft and fraud and
instructions to take actions inviolation of California law and that could put his colleagues lives
at risk in the event of a fire a possibility only increased by the unlicensed use of space heaters
Killian had no choice but to walk away from the job he had dedicated over a decade of his life to .
The sequence of events from Elon Musk acquiring Twitter to now is an incredible journey.
Elon Musk bought a social media company for tens of billions, attempted to back out of the deal but couldn’t because of his ineptitude by signing away the ability to reneg on the deal.[1](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/technology/twitter-musk-lawsuit-reasons.html)
Then there was the freedom of speech advocacy from Musk where he ultimately unbanned racists and then began sharing bigoted Tweets. But it’s only freedom of speech for his bigoted supporters, when authoritarian governments ask Musk to censor people/tweets he abides by their requests.[2](https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/04/27/twitter-has-complied-with-almost-every-government-request-for-censorship-since-musk-took-over-report-finds/)
The site becomes inundated with the alt right, it’s become rife with bigotry.[3](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/elon-musk-ron-desantis-2024-twitter/674149/)
There was the whole verified blue check mark debacle where verification became something you could pay for, with people making fake “official” accounts. For example a fake account impersonating a pharmaceutical company caused their stock to drop abruptly following a satirical tweet.[4](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2022/11/12/fake-eli-lilly-twitter-account-claims-insulin-is-free-stock-falls-43/)
Twitter engages in mass layoffs and multiple things break on the site. There are also reports that they can’t pay rent in certain locations across the globe. Twitter is hemorrhaging advertisors, as they record a 59% reduction in advertisement sales.[5](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/technology/twitter-ad-sales-musk.html)
Elon Musk posts tweets seemingly apologizing for some of the changes and says he will follow the will of the people by posting polls for users to vote on policy changes. Musk asks if he should step down, to which the majority vote in favour of his removal. He then goes on a tirade about bots after losing in the poll. He goes on to say that only paid subscribers will be permited to vote in future polls. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/dec/20/elon-musk-breaks-silence-after-10-million-twitter-users-vote-for-him-to-step-down)
The crème de la crème is Elon Musk implementing a new restriction where you have to be logged in to see tweets and restricting the number of tweets you can view. Inadvertently DDOSing his own site.
New York Times - Why Elon Musk Can’t Back Out of Buying Twitter, According to Twitter
Forbes - Twitter Has Complied With Almost Every Government Request For Censorship Since Musk Took Over, Report Finds
The Atlantic -Twitter Is a Far-Right Social Network
Forbes - Fake Eli Lilly Twitter Account Claims Insulin Is Free, Stock Falls 4.37%
New York Times - Twitter’s U.S. Ad Sales Plunge 59% as Woes Continue
The Guardian - Elon Musk breaks silence after 10 million Twitter users vote for him to step down
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Holy shit, welcome you mad legend. Glad you made it to the other side.
You know Lemmy’s legit when it’s gotten PoppinKREAM’s seal of approval.
That whole not paying rent thing becomes even murkier when you dive into one of his many other lawsuits.
And