6 Ways Twitter Could Change With Elon Musk as CEO

For better or for worse, billionaire businessman Elon Musk made headlines after finalizing his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion on October 27, 2022. Musk, who is the wealthiest person in the world as of November 2022, has proven to be a hugely polarizing figure, having garnered both praise and criticism for his (at best) entertaining and (at worst) morally questionable behavior in the past. So how might the famous microblogging platform change now that Musk is in charge? Let’s take a look at the possibilities.

Charging for Verified Accounts – Twitter users with verification (the little blue checkmark) may soon be subject to fees in order to keep their verification status. “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is [expletive]. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” Musk tweeted at the beginning of November.

Mass Layoffs – Many Twitter employees have already fallen victim to mass layoffs, and even more are expected to lose their jobs in the near future as Musk proceeds with his plans to completely turn the company on its head. Department heads have been asked to make lists of how many people can immediately be cut from their teams, and existing employees have been anxiously awaiting vesting stock awards before voluntarily resigning. Additionally, Musk dissolved Twitter’s board of directors, rendering himself the sole director of the company.

Charging to View Videos – Twitter users may also have to pay to view video content in the near future. Essentially, anyone will be allowed to post a video to the platform, but those who wish to watch said video must pay, and Twitter will receive a percentage of that revenue.

A New Mode of Content Moderation – Elon Musk has famously been against the idea of “censorship” on social media, and has stated that he intends to introduce a new content moderation council in the coming weeks after purchasing Twitter. After that, he’ll start thinking about reinstating banned accounts, he stated.

Vine Could Make a Comeback – In the days before TikTok, there was Vine, an app that allowed users to upload six-second-long videos. Vine was shut down by Twitter in 2016, but a poll conducted by Musk showed that 70% of respondents want him to bring it back. The only problem is that with the popularity of competing apps like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube, Vine may not stand a chance.

Twitter Will Lose Users – According to MIT Technology Review, Twitter lost nearly 1 million users between October 27 and Nov 1, 2022, and many more are expected to follow suit, citing their dissatisfaction with Musk as the new CEO. Additionally, around half a million more accounts have been suspended in that time frame. “I think this is the first chapter of the mass exodus from the platform,” Savvas Zannettou, assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, told MIT Technology Review. “I believe that as the new Twitter starts rolling out changes, it’s likely that there will be additional waves of users leaving Twitter.”