Blogs about social netoworks
In the end, Elon Musk managed to buy Twitter! After what had become a clash with the social network’s executives that led Musk to blow the deal last July, the deal was completed. The first act as owner was to fire several executives, starting with CEO Parag Agrawal. Last Wednesday, Musk walked into the San Francisco office with a sink joking about the pun between the English word sink and his statement “Let that sink in!”.
Elon Musk announced that he terminated the deal to buy Twitter he signed at the end of April 2022 for a value of approximately $44 billion. The billionaire claims that the social network executives didn’t provide the data required by the agreement, in particular those relating to the fake profiles used by spammers. His position was explained in a letter sent on his behalf by a lawyer to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the authority that oversees the American stock exchange. Twitter executives have announced plans to sue Elon Musk, so the story is far from over.
Twitter’s board of directors accepted Elon Musk’s offer to buy the social network for $54.2 a share in a $44 billion deal. One consequence will be that Twitter will be a private company again leaving the Wall Street Stock Exchange. In early April, Musk bought 9.2% of the social network but decided not to join its board. Now, his stated goal is to change Twitter to ensure free speech, which he sees as a bedrock of democracy.
The USA government has announced that the social networks TikTok and WeChat will be banned in the USA starting from September 20. It’s another step of President Donald Trump’s administration in the clash with Chinese social media, accused of spying on American citizens. In particular, TikTok’s situation is complicated because in recent days the news of a partnership with Oracle arrived, however, it didn’t satisfy the White House, which demands the social network’s sale to an American company. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce accused the USA of bullying. Behind this clash there’s the problem of controlling user activity, the reason why some American social networks are banned in China.
Twitter has changed its terms of use and now requires an access at least every 6 months. In the event of prolonged inactivity, the accounts will be removed but this will happen gradually in an operation that could take place over several months. The expiration date to be sure not to end up under Twitter’s axe is December 11 and from that day people who make little use of this service but want to keep their account will have to remember at least to access it. The first protests came in particular regarding profiles of dead people and a new tweet from the support service reported that the elimination will not begin before they have found a solution.
