Elon Musk, who owns Twitter, surprised the public with another audacious announcement shortly after instituting policies that stirred a significant backlash from the platform’s user base.
The SpaceX visionary made it clear that he has plans to phase out Twitter’s emblem and “eventually” its symbolic bird icons. Earlier, Musk showcased a gleaming ‘X’ image on his Twitter account, challenging his followers with a proposition: “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make it live globally tomorrow.”
The billionaire didn’t stop there. He tweeted, “Soon, we’ll say goodbye to the Twitter brand and, eventually, all the birds.”
Musk’s Reign and User Dissatisfaction
Musk took the reins of Twitter back in 2017, following an agreement to pay the former owners a hefty $44 billion, integrating Twitter with X Corp. His tenure, however, has not been without controversy.
Musk’s changes have been met with increasing user dissatisfaction from the get-go. Among his first actions was a round of layoffs that saw several Twitter employees lose their jobs.
Adding to the discontent, Musk introduced a policy where access to Twitter’s coveted verification checkmarks would come at a subscription fee. This marked a significant departure from Twitter’s previous practice, where these badges were free to “verified” users.
Most recently, Musk introduced another contentious policy, capping the number of messages users can view daily. Like his other decisions, this met with significant backlash, further illustrating the tumultuous phase Twitter is experiencing under Musk’s leadership.