Elon Musk’s reign over San Francisco social media giant Twitter has lasted only a month so far, but it has felt like a lifetime.
He shows no signs of slowing down the chaos. While tweeting about “psy ops,” Ron DeSantis and his Diet Coke-littered bedside setup, Musk has waged war not only with advertisers but also with Apple — the Silicon Valley tech company that, in addition to changing how ads work online in 2022, was apparently a key advertiser on Twitter. He has now threatened to make an iPhone killer and is reportedly threatening CEOs at different companies.
Here is what you need to know today about the “Chief Twit.”
Are you a current or former Twitter staffer who would like to speak anonymously about Elon Musk’s takeover? Contact tech editor Joshua Bote securely on Signal at (707) 742-3756.
Elon Musk’s Twitter is reportedly failing to pay some employees
Nov. 28, 4 p.m.
Some Twitter employees in the United Kingdom and Ireland are reportedly not getting paid as promised, according to a report by Ars Technica Monday.
The tech news site, having spoken with four employees, alleges that the workers have yet to receive payments — resulting in overdrafts and pushed-back mortgage payments for some.
This reportedly also includes employees who were laid off shortly after Musk’s takeover. One laid-off employee claims that they have yet to receive backpay for work they did before they were removed from the company, while another alleges that a payment was made — and then promptly reversed.
It’s unclear why the payments have not gone through; some affected workers apparently got an email claiming that “receiving banks were undergoing anti-fraud checks,” per Ars Technica.
Elon Musk starts one-sided beef with Apple
Nov. 28, 1 p.m.
On Monday, Elon Musk used his iPhone to go on a tirade about Apple.
“Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?” he tweeted Monday morning, adding: “What’s going on here @tim_cook?”
Since his $44 billion buyout, the narrative Musk has pushed is that he would transform the social media platform into a haven for free speech. That explains his notion that — despite Apple exercising a form of free speech by choosing not to advertise on Twitter — the company must hate the First Amendment.
After that post, Musk blasted out a few more tweets (all from his iPhone) accusing the California tech giant of censorship and placing a “secret” 30% fee on all apps purchased through the company store. (The fee was the subject of a lawsuit Epic Games, the makers of the uber-popular game Fortnite, filed against Apple back in 2020.)
The tweets prompted Musk’s army of online sycophants to urge him to follow through on an idea he floated over the weekend: creating a smartphone that serves as an alternative to Apple or Android products. Musk originally said he would consider building his own smartphone only if Apple and Google — the company that developed Android — remove Twitter from their respective app stores, which seems like a real possibility now that Musk has said he will reinstate several accounts that had been banned before he took over.
An Apple representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment from SFGATE.
Elon Musk is reportedly berating executives over Twitter ads
Nov. 28, 1 p.m.
Elon Musk is really, really furious that advertisers are ditching Twitter.
A new report from Financial Times alleges that Musk himself has called chief executives at brands to berate them — a strategy that has not ended well for the Chief Twit. According to the report, the personal calls have led to advertisers cutting back their ad spend to the bare minimum so as to avoid dealing with Musk entirely.
It’s little surprise that advertisers have fled Twitter. Between bringing back accounts suspended for disinformation, a disastrous Twitter Blue reboot that resulted in mass copycat brand accounts (including Eli Lilly), the gutting of the company’s advertising sector and outright targeting companies who have left as being opposed to “free speech,” Musk has not cultivated an advertiser-friendly environment on the platform — despite seemingly knowing how important they are to the survival of his site. It is worth noting that, even before Musk’s takeover, Twitter was rarely a key place for advertisers, often remaining overshadowed by Google or Meta.
“It is quite unique,” one advertising bigwig told the Financial Times. “The turmoil, the damage, nothing of this magnitude has happened before.”
