Ellise Shafer The changes at Elon Musk’s Twitter just keep coming. On Monday, Musk — who became the CEO of the social media giant when he purchased it in October — announced that starting in April, only verified accounts will show up in Twitter’s For You recommendations. This follows Musk’s revelation last week that all users with “legacy” verification will lose their badges next month, meaning only those who register for Twitter Blue for $8 per month will get to retain their blue checks. “Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations,” Musk wrote on Twitter. “This is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle. Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.”
Elon Musk Says Twitter Stabilizing But Would Have Been Toast Without Him; Thanks Disney, Apple For Advertising
08.03.2023 - 02:59 / deadline.com
Elon Musk prodded advertisers “to use Twitter yourselves, and believe what you see on Twitter, not what you read in the newspapers.”
“There’s something about journalists. They have been trained never to write a positive story,” the Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX CEO said at a Morgan Stanley media conference Tuesday. An uptick in hate speech after he took Twitter private last fall spooked some advertisers but others never left, he said, expressing gratitude to Disney and Apple for being long-term partners. “Thank you,” he said.
“Disney is a major advertiser on Twitter, one of our biggest advertisers. Apple is one of our biggest advertisers. Disney, of course, does not want to have its ads next to things that are not appropriate for a family audience,” Musk said. “But there are [other] products that are more R-rated. Advertisers can actually adjust [ads to] what content they are comfortable having. The same is true on TV. The advertising you’re seeing at 7 pm is not the same you’re seeing at midnight. It’s up to the advertiser where they want to put their content.”
Warner Bros. Discovery is also aboard as Musk noted a campaign for HBO’s The White Lotus. “I was talking to [WBD CEO] David Zaslav, he’s great, and he said, ‘Why can’t we put a White Lotus trailer every time someone mentions White Lotus on Twitter?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ One of the super obvious but profound things we are doing is keyword advertising…You don’t need advanced AI for this one.”
“The most important thing is that the advertising is effective, that it is relevant and that it moves the needle for a company.”
The broader media sector also happens to be is the midst of an ad slump triggered by recession fears.
Usage and engagement on Twitter have
Twitter celebs balk at paying Elon Musk for blue check mark
premium service championed by Twitter's billionaire owner and chief executive Elon Musk. After months of delay, Musk is gleefully promising that Friday is the deadline for celebrities, journalists and others who'd been verified for free to pony up or lose their legacy status. "It will be glorious," he tweeted Monday, in response to a Twitter user who noted that Friday is also April Fools Day.
Elon Musk Tells William Shatner Subscription-Only Twitter Blue Check-Marks Are ‘About Treating Everyone Equally’
Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Is Elon Musk’s move to grant verified blue check-marks only to paying Twitter users designed to prop up the company’s revenue — or is it supposedly to democratize the social network? After actor William Shatner groused about Twitter’s plan to revoke legacy blue check-marks as of April 1 and force users to pay for the privilege, the multibillionaire tech baron claimed the subscription-based verification program is about fairness, not lucre. “It’s more about treating everyone equally,” Musk tweeted Sunday evening in replying to Shatner. “There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities imo.”
Grimes says she’s changed her and Elon Musk’s daughter’s name from Exa Dark Sideræl
Grimes has revealed that she’s renamed her daughter, changing the name from Exa Dark Sideræl to a single letter.The Canadian artist – real name Claire Boucher – shares two children with Twitter CEO and Tesla boss Elon Musk – son X Æ A-Xii, born in May 2020, and daughter Exa Dark Sideræl Musk who arrived December 2021 via surrogate.News of the pair’s second child was accidentally revealed last year during a cover interview with Vanity Fair, when the interviewer noticed the sound of a baby crying while talking to Grimes about her upcoming “space opera”-themed album, ‘Book 1’.Last week, (March 23), the singer shared a rare photo of her daughter on Instagram, posted alongside a picture of herself wearing a red matching onesie.
Twitter Responds To All Email Inquiries From The Press With A Poop Emoji, 51-Year-Old Owner Elon Musk Reports
All inquiries from members of the press directed to Twitter’s official press email now receive the same automatic reply: a poop emoji.
Gary Lineker calls out Twitter's Elon Musk amid online abuse of son
Twitter's head Elon Musk has been called out by the son of Leicestershire-star Gary Lineker following his father's public fallout with the BBC as trolls have hurled abuse his way online. Gary hit out at the billionaire and chief executive officer on Twitter, including him in a post that shows his son George being told that he should be "burned at the stake" for his public support of his father. It comes after the former footballer was reinstated as host of Match Of The Day (MOTD) on Monday (March 13).
Gary Lineker questions Elon Musk after son receives abuse on Twitter
Gary Lineker has questioned Twitter owner Elon Musk after a threatening message was sent to his son in the wake of the sports presenter’s row with the BBC. The former footballer, who was reinstated as host of Match Of The Day (MOTD) on Monday, re-shared a private message which said his eldest son, George, should to be “burned at the stake” for his public support of his father. Lineker and other employees of the BBC have received abuse online following the ex-England striker’s brief suspension as host of MOTD at the weekend.
Matt Walsh On What A ‘Veep’ Reunion Might Look Like: “Everybody Would Do It” – SXSW
“I have no breaking story about a Veep comeback,” Matt Walsh told us at Deadline’s SXSW studio, “I wish I did because it would blow up the internet.”
Meta Mulling Text-Based Social Network to Rival Elon Musk’s Twitter
Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, said it is considering launching a new Twitter-like social network. “We’re exploring a standalone, decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. The rep said the company had no additional info on the prospective social network to share. News site Moneycontrol first reported on the potential Meta service, which is code-named “P92.” The new Meta app would be based on — and interoperable with — the framework that powers Mastodon, a Twitter-like service that launched in 2016 and has seen a surge in popularity since Musk’s takeover of Twitter last October.
Without Naming Spotify, Warner Music CEO Calls for Streaming Services to Raise Prices
Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Over the past couple of years, virtually every conversation about the challenges facing artists in the music-streaming economy has had one proposed quick fix: Raise subscription prices. As Milana Lewis, CEO of the distribution and payments platform Stem, told Variety last summer, “The price of everything else on earth is going up, and they all keep finding new ways to make subscriptions cheaper” via family and student plans, bundling and other initiatives. Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer have already done so, but others remain with the same $10 U.S. monthly price as when they started. New Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl brings a view from the other side to the top of the music industry: He was head of business for YouTube — where he led a sea change in the streaming giant’s relationship with the music industry by, guess what, introducing a paid music subscription service — and at Netflix, where he presided over the company’s shift from DVDs to streaming.
Bob Iger Says Disney Theme Parks Were Priced Too High In “Zeal To Grow Profit” – It’s “A Brand That Needs To Be Accessible”
Returned Disney CEO Bob Iger acknowledged that fans had a right to be irked as theme park ticket prices crept higher under the previous regime, and said it wasn’t the best way to manage the brand.
Bob Iger Says Succession “At The Top Of The List” Of Things He’s Focused On At Disney
Disney CEO Bob Iger called succession top priority as he moves to turn the company around and, with the board, name a new chief executive before the end of his two-year contract.
Lachlan Murdoch Says Fox News Reports “Without Fear Or Favor” And “Noise” Over Dominion Suit Reflects “Polarized Society” Not Law
Lachlan Murdoch, in his first public comments about a defamation lawsuit against Fox News that’s been grabbing headlines, said he believes the network is even handed and the “noise” is more reflective of the nation’s divided politics than anything else.
Spotify CFO Paul Vogel On The “Real Positive” Of The Company’s Recent Layoffs, Its Current Podcast View, Rivalry With Apple And Outlook For A “Choppy” Economy
Spotify CFO Paul Vogel said the company’s decision several weeks ago to cut 6% of its global workforce was a “a real positive” in terms of the company being willing to take a hard look at its operations and “evolve.”
Comcast “Happy” To Sell Hulu Stake To Disney As Deadline Looms; Other Options “Must Be Better, In Our Minds, Than That”
Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said the media giant would of course consider alternative proposals for its stake in Hulu but they’d have to top its longstanding agreement to sell its remaining stake in the streamer to Disney next year.
Elon Musk says upcoming documentary about him is a “hit piece”
Elon Musk has said an upcoming documentary about him is a “hit piece”.On Monday (March 6), Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney announced that he was working on the new project, which will be titled Musk. He described it as a “definitive and unvarnished examination” of the multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.Replying to a tweet about the news on Tuesday, Musk wrote simply: “It’s a hit piece.”Gibney said in a statement: “I have been working on this film, off and on, for some time and am hugely excited about it.
Elon Musk Thanks Disney, Apple for Remaining Two of Twitter’s Biggest Advertisers
Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in a $44 billion, debt-laden deal a little over four months ago, said advertising revenue has dropped as much as 50% since he took over. But the mega-billionaire tech mogul said a few large advertisers have continued to spend with Twitter, and he specifically called out — and thanked — Disney and Apple as remaining two of the biggest marketers on the social network, speaking Tuesday at the 2023 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco. According to Musk, Twitter is improving its ability to serve timely and relevant ads. He said he was speaking with David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, who asked Musk why Twitter couldn’t put an ad with the trailer for HBO hit show “The White Lotus” next to every tweet that mentions “White Lotus.” Musk responded affirmatively, describing it as basic keyword-based ad buys that Twitter is now selling: “It’s just Google AdWords but applied to tweets.”
Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group Invested in Elon Musk’s Twitter 2.0
first reported by Axios, comes after Elon Musk acquired the social media giant for $44 billion in October. Musk joined Endeavor’s board in 2021 following the company’s initial public offering, but resigned in March 2022.
Elon Musk Mocks The BBC For Claiming That Twitter Can No Longer Protect Users From Trolls
Elon Musk said he was “rolling on the floor laughing my ass off” at a BBC investigation, which showed that trolling, hate speech, and disinformation have grown on Twitter since his $43B takeover.
Peter Bart: Academy Reminds Voters That Oscars Still Matter Even In Moment Of Cutbacks, Strike Talk And Crushing Corporate Debt
With today’s “urgent reminder” directed to its membership, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences again is doing its damnedest to get out the vote. The Oscar event is still a battlefield of “gold, sweat and tears” as portrayed in Oscar Wars, Michael Schulman’s new book, despite the ominous industry challenges.