Twitter under Elon Musk

Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022; Musk acted as CEO of Twitter until June 2023 when he was succeeded by Linda Yaccarino.[1][2] Twitter was rebranded to X on July 23, 2023, and its domain name changed from twitter.com to x.com on May 17, 2024. Yaccarino resigned on July 9, 2025.[3]

Now operating as X, the platform closely resembles its predecessor but includes additional features such as long-form texts,[4] account monetization options,[5] audio-video calls,[6] integration with xAI's Grok chatbot,[7] job search,[8] and a repurposing of the platform's verification system as a subscription premium.[9] Several legacy Twitter features were removed from the site after Musk acquired Twitter, including Circles,[10] NFT profile pictures,[11]

Twitter/X has faced significant controversy under Musk's ownership. Issues such as the release of the Twitter Files, suspension of ten journalists' accounts, and labeling media outlets as "state-affiliated" and restricting their visibility have sparked criticism.[14][15] Despite Musk stepping down as CEO, the platform continues to struggle with challenges such as viral misinformation,[16] hate speech (especially antisemitism), and child pornography.[17][18][19] In response to allegations it deemed unfair, X Corp. has pursued legal action against nonprofit organizations

History

Acquisition of Twitter

I made an offer https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar... April 14, 2022 Elon Musk initiated the acquisition of Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022, and completed it on October 28, 2022.[22][23] His goal was to transform Twitter into X, an all-encompassing app inspired by WeChat.[24] By April, Musk had become Twitter's largest shareholder with a 9.2 percent stake and made an unsolicited $44 billion offer on April 14, which Twitter's board initially resisted before accepting on April 25.[25][26] In July, Musk attempted to terminate the deal, citing Twitter's failure to address spam bot accounts.

Appearance and features

Posts

Posts are publicly visible by default, but senders can restrict message delivery to only their followers. Users can mute users they do not wish to interact with, block accounts from viewing their posts, and remove accounts from their followers list.[106][107][108] Users can post via the X website, compatible external applications (such as for smartphones), or by Short Message Service (SMS) available in certain countries.[109] Users may subscribe to other users' posts—this is known as "following" and subscribers are known as "followers".[110] Individual posts can be forwarded by other users to their own feed, a process known as a "repost".

References

Chris Stokel-Walker. Twitter's rebrand to X is destined to fail, critics say Fast Company, July 24, 2023, retrieved August 31, 2024^
Lauren Feiner. Musk explains why he's rebranding Twitter to X: It's not just a name change CNBC, July 25, 2023, retrieved August 31, 2024^
Mike Isaac. X Chief Says She Is Leaving the Social Media Platform

Post-acquisition

On July 23, 2023, Musk announced the rebranding of Twitter to X, which started when the X.com domain (formerly associated with PayPal) began redirecting to Twitter;[40] the logo was changed from the bird to the X the next day,[41] and the platform's official main and associated accounts also began using the letter X within their handles.[42] The @x handle was originally owned by photographer Gene X Hwang, who registered it in 2007. Hwang had expressed willingness to sell the handle, but received an email stating that the company was taking it, and was not offered financial benefits.[43] The Android app's name and icon were changed to X on Google Play by July 27; the same change went live on the App Store on July 31 after Apple granted an exception to its minimum character length of 2.[44] Around that time, some more elements of the Twitter branding were removed from the web version, including tweets being renamed to "posts".[45]

The rebrand was described as unusual, given that Twitter's brand was already strong internationally, with words like "tweet" having entered common language.[46] The rebranding was criticized on the basis that the trademarkability of the name and logo is weak: there are almost 900 companies in the U.S. that own an X trademark,[47] including an existing social media-related logo owned by Meta Platforms.[48] The X logo uses a blackboard bold X, a character that has appeared in mathematical textbooks since the 1970s and that is included in Unicode as .[49][50] A few days after the rebrand took effect, an AP Stylebook update recommended that journalists refer to the platform as "X, formerly known as Twitter".[51] By September 2023, Ad Age, citing The Harris Poll, noted that the rebranding had not publicly caught on, with the majority of users still referring to X as "Twitter".

In 2024, Musk moved the headquarters of X to Bastrop, a suburb of Austin, Texas.[56][57]

Social media sites including X came under questioning for their handing of disinformation related to the 2024 United Kingdom riots.[58][59] Musk criticised UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer amid the riots, saying "Shouldn't you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?".[60] Responding to a post with footage of the disorder that said the riots were due to the "effects of mass migration and open borders", Musk tweeted "Civil war is inevitable", and his comments were condemned by Starmer's official spokesman. Having previously restored Tommy Robinson's account, Musk interacted with him on the platform,[61][62][63][64]

In December 2024, the X website was redesigned, giving it a more modern and simplified look alongside removing the last elements of the Twitter branding (such as blue colors).[67] Musk argued in February 2025 that X's Community Notes "is increasingly being gamed by governments & legacy media", and that he was taking steps to "fix" it.[68][69][70] The statement came after Community Notes contradicted Musk's claims on astronauts and legacy media, and also contradicted claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was unpopular among Ukrainians.[68][69]

In 2025 the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had used the platform to solicit an influencer he had never met in person to have his child. Following their rejection of his offer he unfollowed their account and their impressions and revenue declined sharply.[71][72]

Layoffs and mass resignations

Regarding Twitter's reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required. November 4, 2022

On November 4, 2022, Twitter under Musk began laying off a substantial portion of the company's workforce and temporarily closed its offices, with The New York Times estimating that roughly half of employees had been let go. The night before the layoffs, five Twitter employees based in San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts, filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that mass layoffs would violate federal and California WARN Acts. Musk explained that the layoffs were a cost-cutting measure and stated that the company had been losing over $4 million a day, and criticized activist groups who had called on advertisers to cease doing business with the company. The Times described the layoffs as "haphazard", Twitter's internal directory, Birdhouse, was taken offline and Twitter offices worldwide were closed for the weekend.

On November 6, Twitter asked some employees who had been laid off to return to the company. Days after the layoffs, Twitter terminated a large number of its contractors, and Musk fired a series of employees who criticized him publicly or within the company. On November 16, Musk delivered an ultimatum to employees via email: commit to "extremely hardcore" work in order to realize Musk's vision of "Twitter 2.0", or leave. In response, hundreds of Twitter employees resigned the next day, hours before the deadline to respond to Musk's email. Business Insider reported that fewer than 2,000 employees remained at the company. Musk and his advisers met with several employees to dissuade them from leaving the company, while Twitter offices were once again closed until November 21. Despite the closures, Musk summoned all Twitter software engineers to Twitter's headquarters on November 18, seeking greater insight into the platform's solution stack. Additional layoffs occurred later that month, and the company resumed hiring. Musk continued laying off employees in February 2023, promising substantial "performance-based stock awards" to employees who remained at the company.

press@twitter.com now auto responds with 💩 March 19, 2023

In November 2022, Axios reported that Twitter had fired almost all of its communications team, leaving only one member. From November 2022 to March 2023, Twitter's communications team was "effectively silent" and not responding to press inquiries, reported NPR. In March 2023, Musk personally announced a new Twitter policy, which brought Twitter in-line with Musk's other businesses which do not have press or communications departments.[76] During the April 2023 controversy, NPR confirmed that a press inquiry it sent to Twitter was responded to by Twitter with an emoji of feces. In April 2023, Musk told the BBC that he had reduced staff from around 8,000 to under 1,500.[77] In June 2023, trust and safety chief Ella Irwin resigned,[78][79] hours after Musk undid a company moderation decision by unrestricting and reposting The Daily Wire 's anti-trans documentary What Is a Woman?.[80]

Twitter under Elon Musk

History

Acquisition of Twitter

Appearance and features

Posts

Further reading

References

Post-acquisition

Layoffs and mass resignations

Resignation poll

Corporate value

Fines