X

A week and a half after the mass layoff, Musk emailed the remaining employees about major changes to the company moving forward. One email informed staff of the end of the remote-work-for-all policy, which would force workers back to the office with few exceptions. Another email stated that going forward, all employees would be required to work "long hours at high intensity" to meet Musk's goal of a new and "extremely hardcore" Twitter. Employees were required to respond to the email, which was sent at midnight, with their decision by 5 P.M. eastern time that day. Those who did not respond or who chose not to stay were to receive three months severance. Around 1,200 employees refused the new terms and resigned.

Twitter, orrebranded to X, is a company and a microblogging social media platform. Twitter as a platform was founded in March 2006 by Biz Stone, Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, and Noah Glass in San Francisco, California. It is one of the top-visited websites in the world. Originally designed for Odeo employees, Twitter was publicly launched in July 2006. The platform spun off into its own company, Twitter Inc., in April 2007. Twitter, Inc. was renamed to X Corp. in April 2023. On July 23, 2023, it was announced that Twitter would be rebranding to X. The process is ongoing.

Twitter was purchased by entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in October 2022 for $44 billion. Upon his acquisition, Musk became Twitter's CEO. His takeover and significant changes to the website have since been met with controversy and polarized many users. The number of monthly active Twitter users in 2022 was reported to be anywhere between 368 and 450 million. In December 2022, Insider Intelligence predicted that the number of monthly active users, based on a figure of 368.4 million, would drop by 3.9 percent in 2023 and 5 percent in 2024 due to company turmoil. More than 6,000 employees, or 80 percent of Twitter's workforce, have been laid off since Musk's acquisition. On June 5, 2023, Linda Yaccarino officially took over as CEO of Twitter.

Posts made on Twitter, known as tweets, are designed to be short-form. It began as an SMS-based platform, and as such, the number of characters was limited to 140 until 2017, when it was doubled to 280. The majority of tweets average fifty characters. As of June 2023, paid subscribers of Twitter Blue can post tweets of up to 25,000 characters. Twitter generates the majority of its revenue––about 90 percent––from advertising, and the remaining 10 percent is from licensing user data.

Twitter was launched on March 21, 2006, with cofounder Jack Dorsey's first tweet: "just setting up my twttr." The site was made public––no longer just for use by Odeo employees––on July 15, 2006. In the fall of 2006, Odeo CEO and Twitter cofounder Evan Williams purchased the shares of Odeo's investors, saying he felt bad about the company's lack of growth. This resulted in his ownership of Odeo (and Twitter, as Odeo's venture). The exact amount he paid is unknown, but it is estimated to be around $5 million. After purchasing the company, Williams fired fellow Twitter creator Noah Glass. Glass's role in creating Twitter has since been heavily ignored, as has Florian Weber's. Weber is not often recognized as an official founder of Twitter, although he was involved in developing the site since Jack Dorsey's conception of the idea.

On November 7, 2013, Twitter launched its initial public offering (IPO) at $26 per share. A few hours into the day, the stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker TWTR at an opening share price of $45.10. It peaked for the day at $50.09 and closed at $44.90, leaving Twitter with a market value of nearly $24.5 billion. The IPO turned cofounders Dorsey and Williams into billionaires. Some analysts claimed the stock's valuation was too high for its opening day. In early 2014, TWTR's price reached over $70, its highest value so far and the second highestsecond-highest in the stock's history. It then saw a quick and significant drop from which it did not recover for years. By the end of 2014, the stock's value was under $40, about half of the year's peak. TWTR was eventually delisted from the NYSE in November 2022 after Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter was finalized.

On December 18, 2022, Musk posted a poll on Twitter asking if he should step down as CEO and claiming he would "abide by the results." The poll garnered over 17.5 million votes with 57.5 percent voting yes and 42.5 percent voting no. On December 20, 2022, Musk announced his plans to step down as CEO upon finding a replacement, who he said would be "someone foolish enough to take the job." He plans to instead lead Twitter's software and server teams. Another small round of company layoffs occurred on December 22, 2022. At this point, over 100one hundred former employees had either filed arbitration demands or class action lawsuits against Twitter regarding the layoffs.

On January 19, 2023, Twitter officially banned third-party clients and apps from its platform, disallowing them from being paired with Twitter's application programming interface (API). The ban was quietly initiated days beforehand when the company suspended access to third-party apps without notice. Over 200 Twitter employees were laid off in February 2023, slashing its existing workforce by 10 percent. Musk acknowledged the job cuts in a tweet, stating, "Hope you have a good Sunday. First day of the rest of your life." In March 2023, Musk announced that in an effort to combat bots, only verified users would be able to vote in polls and have their tweets appear in recommendations to other users. The policy was enacted on April 15.

In April 2023, Twitter’s parent company, Twitter, Inc., was renamed to X Corp. The name change was a result of Musk's aspiration to create an "everything app" called X. Described as a worldwide version of WeChat, X would offer features like video chats, messaging, streaming, and payments. In May 2023, Twitter was estimated to be worth only one-third of the $44 billion Musk paid for it in his acquisition. On May 11, 2023, Musk announced that a new unnamed CEO would take over Twitter in six weeks. The following day, he stated the new CEO was Linda Yaccarino. Yaccarino officially took over as CEO on June 5, 2023.

On June 30, 2023, Twitter began blocking unregistered users from viewing tweets as a "temporary emergency measure." Musk stated that Twitter was being data pillaged to the point of degrading site services. The restrictions were partially reversed days later on July 5. Unregistered users can view individual tweets through direct links, but cannot view tweet replies or profile pages without an account. On July 1, 2023, Musk introduced daily limits on how many tweets users can view. Verified and existing unverified accounts were limited to viewing 6,000 and 600 posts a day, respectively. Newly created unverified accounts were restricted to 300. The limits were increased twice later that same day, finishing at a total of 10,000 posts for verified users, 1,000 for existing unverified users, and 500 for new unverified users.

On July 23, 2023, Musk began the rebrandrebranding of Twitter to X, starting with a logo change from the company's long-standing bird to the letter X. The bird logo was removed from the website the following day, and the homepage was changed to reflect the new logo. On July 25, Musk changed the design of the X logo to one with slightly thicker lines, but reversed the change that same day. However, he stated the logo would continue to evolve.

Regarding the company's rebranding, CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted, "X is the future state of unlimited interactivity––centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking––creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.” Musk also acknowledged the change in a tweet, stating, “In the months to come, we will add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world. The Twitter name does not make sense in that context, so we must bid adieu to the bird.” Under the rebrand, tweets would instead be called “x’s.” The name change has been met with controversy, and analysts have predicted significant future financial consequences for the company. Daniel Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, predicted a $2–5 billion loss in company value, while other analysts predicted $4–20 billion.

Twitter may face future legal problems in its effort to rebrand to X, as other major companies, including Meta and Microsoft, have existing intellectual property rights to the letter. In total, there are almost 900 active trademark registrations for X in the United States. While this factor opens Twitter up to the possibility of a lawsuit or litigation from other owners, the possibility has been deemed unlikely unless an owner believes Twitter is encroaching on their brand equity. As of July 24, 2023, the URL x.com redirects to twitter.com, although some users have reported that they can only view a blank page on the domain hosting site GoDaddy.com.

Removal of the Twitter sign on the company's San Francisco headquarters began on July 24, 2023. Local police interrupted the sign's removal midway through the process, leaving only the letters 'er"er,'" due to a miscommunication regarding a permit for closing the street. After an investigation, police determined no crime was committed. It is unclear when the work will resume. The bird logo also remains up.

On July 25, 2023, the company changed its Twitter handle from @twitter to @x, taking it from an existing user whose handle was changed to @x12345678998765. The handle was seized without prior warning or compensation to the existing user, Gene X. Hwang, a cofounder of Orange Photography. Twitter offered Hwang an opportunity to meet with company management and receive merch, though Hwang said he would likely decline.

Prior to Musk's acquisition, users were verified by providing Twitter with a form of legal identification. He ended this practice shortly after taking over and replaced it with a payment system tied to Twitter Blue's subscription service. The new system allowed any user to become verified for $8 per month through Twitter Blue without actual identity verification. Within hours of this change, Twitter was flooded with newly verified fake accounts for celebrities and fictional characters. After multiple users took advantage of the new system, Musk announced that any impersonation accounts must clearly be labeled as parody, and verified users who change their Twitter name will temporarily have their verification removed. Twitter Blue was suspended on November 11, 2022, to make these changes. It was relaunched one month later on December 12, with new verification rules in place. In May 2023 it was reported that less than 1 percent of monthly active users were subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Prior to Musk's acquisition, users were verified by providing Twitter with a form of legal identification. He ended this practice shortly after taking over and replaced it with a payment system tied to Twitter Blue's subscription service. The new system allowed any user to become verified for $8 per month through Twitter Blue without actual identity verification. Within hours of this change, Twitter was flooded with newly verified fake accounts for celebrities and fictional characters. After multiple users took advantage of the new system, Musk announced that any impersonation accounts must clearly be labeled as parody, and verified users who change their Twitter name will temporarily have their verification removed. Twitter Blue was suspended on November 11, 2022, to make these changes. It was relaunched one month later, on December 12, with new verification rules in place. In May 2023, it was reported that less than 1 percent of monthly active users were subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Twitter, or X, is a company and a microblogging social media platform. Twitter as a platform was founded in March 2006 by Biz Stone, Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, and Noah Glass in San Francisco, California. It is one of the top-visited websites in the world. Originally designed for Odeo employees, Twitter was publicly launched in July 2006. The platform spun off into its own company, Twitter Inc., in April 2007. Twitter, Inc. was renamed to X Corp. in April 2023. On July 23, 2023, it was announced that Twitter would be rebranding to X. The process is ongoing.

Posts made on Twitter, known as tweets, are limited to 280 characters. Twitter began as an SMS-based platform, and as such the number of characters was initially limited to 140 until 2017. The majority of tweets average fifty characters. The number of monthly active Twitter users as of 2022 is reported to be between 368 and 450 million. It is one of the top-visited websites in the world. Twitter generates the majority of its revenue––about 90 percent––from advertising, and the remaining 10 percent is from licensing user data.

Twitter was purchased by entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in October 2022 for $44 billion. Upon his acquisition, Musk became Twitter's CEO. His takeover and significant changes to the website have since been met with controversy and polarized many users. The number of monthly active Twitter users in 2022 was reported to be anywhere between 368 and 450 million. In December 2022, Insider Intelligence predicted that the number of monthly active users, based on a figure of 368.4 million, would drop by 3.9 percent in 2023 and 5 percent in 2024 due to company turmoil. More than 6,000 employees, or 80 percent of Twitter's workforce, have been laid off since Musk's acquisition. On June 5, 2023, Linda Yaccarino officially took over as CEO of Twitter.

In October 2022, Twitter was purchased by entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a $44 billion acquisition. Upon acquisition, Musk became Twitter's CEO. Musk's takeover and business decisions have been met with controversy. Since the acquisition, he has laid off approximately half of all Twitter employees, over 3,700 people. An additional 1,200 employees have resigned. On June 5, 2023, Linda Yaccarino officially took over as CEO of Twitter.

Posts made on Twitter, known as tweets, are designed to be short-form. It began as an SMS-based platform, and as such the number of characters was limited to 140 until 2017, when it was doubled to 280. The majority of tweets average fifty characters. As of June 2023, paid subscribers of Twitter Blue can post tweets of up to 25,000 characters. Twitter generates the majority of its revenue––about 90 percent––from advertising, and the remaining 10 percent is from licensing user data.

In November 2017, tweet character limits were expanded from 140 to 280 for all languages except Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The decision was criticized by some who felt that the limit increase would negatively affect Twitter's content and appearance. A data review conducted one year later found that only 12 percent of tweets were longer than 140 characters, with 1 percent of those tweets being 280 characters. The average length of a tweet is thirty-three characters. On October 30, 2019, Twitter announced it would ban political ads on the platform due to concerns of organizations and candidates "paying for reach." The ban was enforced beginning on November 22, 2019, and lifted in January 2023 after Elon Musk's takeover.

On July 23, 2023 Musk began the rebrand of Twitter to X, starting with a logo change from the company's long-standing bird to the letter X. The bird logo was removed from the website the following day, and the homepage was changed to reflect the new logo. On July 25, Musk changed the design of the X logo to one with slightly thicker lines, but reversed the change later that same day. However, he stated that the logo would continue to evolve over time.

On July 25, 2023 the company changed its Twitter handle from @twitter to @x, taking it from an existing user whose handle was changed to @x12345678998765. The handle was seized without prior warning or compensation to the existing user, Gene X. Hwang, a cofounder of Orange Photography. Twitter offered Hwang an opportunity to meet with company management and receive merch, though Hwang said he would likely not do sodecline.

Twitter is a public microblogging social media platform. Posts by users are called tweets. Tweets can contain text, photos, videos, links, GIFs, and polls. They are publicly visible on a user's profile by default, but visibility can be restricted to approved followers. As a microblogging service, tweets are limited to 280 characters; the original limit was 140. InPaid Januarysubscribers 2023,of ElonTwitter MuskBlue announcedhave he woulda expandmuch thehigher character limit to 4,000 beginningof in February25,000. Photos and videos previously counted against a tweet's character length until 2016. Links count as twenty-three characters no matter the URL's actual length. Tweets can be equipped with hashtags by using the # character followed by a keyword related to the tweet's content. Hashtags are intended to connect tweets to general topics. Tweets equipped with hashtags are publicly searchable under that tag, which promotes them to a larger audience beyond one's followers. Through Twitter's search bar, users can search for other users or search by hashtag or keyword to find tweets under a certain topic. Tweets can be sent through the website or app. Prior to September 2019, tweets could also be sent via SMS.

In October 2022, Twitter was purchased by entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a $44 billion acquisition. Upon acquisition, Musk became Twitter's new CEO. Musk's takeover and business decisions have been met with controversy. Since the acquisition, he has laid off approximately half of all Twitter employees, over 3,700 people. An additional 1,200 employees have resigned. On June 5, 2023, Linda Yaccarino officially took over as CEO of Twitter.

Following Musk's acquisition, several major companies pulled their advertisements from the platform, including General Mills, United Airlines Holdings, General Motors, Pfizer, and Audi. Twitter's revenue has since dropped massively. HisIn November 2022, Musk stated that Twitter was losing $4 million a day. Musk's takeover has also resulted in a considerable loss of Twitter users, including some notable celebrities. An estimated 877,000 accounts were deactivated in the week following the acquisition, more than twice the normal number in the same amount of time. Instances of hate speech on Twitter have increased since Musk's day of purchase. This has been attributed to his absolutist free speech attitude and the precedent set by his reinstatement of previously banned accounts, including the account of former US President Donald Trump, who was banned following the attempted insurrection of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. Other unbanned accounts under his leadership included Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andrew Tate, Babylon Bee, Kathy Griffin, Jordan Peterson, and Kanye West. Approximately 60,000 accounts were reinstated. In addition, Musk temporarily suspended the accounts of multiple high-profile journalists for sharing links that showed the location of his private jet. Journalists whose accounts were suspended included Ryan Mac, Donie O’Sullivan, Micah Lee, and Tony Webster.

On December 20, 2022, Musk announced his plans to step down as CEO upon finding a replacement. He plans to instead lead Twitter's software and server teams.

On December 18, 2022, Musk posted a poll on Twitter asking if he should step down as CEO and claiming he would "abide by the results." The poll garnered over 17.5 million votes with 57.5 percent voting yes and 42.5 percent voting no. On December 20, 2022, Musk announced his plans to step down as CEO upon finding a replacement, who he said would be "someone foolish enough to take the job." He plans to instead lead Twitter's software and server teams. Another small round of company layoffs occurred on December 22, 2022. At this point, over 100 former employees had either filed arbitration demands or class action lawsuits against Twitter regarding the layoffs.

On January 19, 2023, Twitter officially banned third-party clients and apps from its platform, disallowing them from being paired with Twitter's application programming interface (API). The ban was quietly initiated days beforehand when the company suspended access to third-party apps without notice. Over 200 Twitter employees were laid off in February 2023, slashing its existing workforce by 10 percent. Musk acknowledged the job cuts in a tweet stating, "Hope you have a good Sunday. First day of the rest of your life." In March 2023 Musk announced that in an effort to combat bots, only verified users would be able to vote in polls and have their tweets appear in recommendations to other users. The policy was enacted on April 15.

In April 2023 Twitter’s parent company, Twitter, Inc., was renamed to X Corp. The name change was a result of Musk's aspiration to create an "everything app" called X. Described as a worldwide version of WeChat, X would offer features like video chats, messaging, streaming, and payments. In May 2023, Twitter was estimated to be worth only one-third of the $44 billion Musk paid for it in his acquisition. On May 11, 2023, Musk announced that a new unnamed CEO would take over Twitter in six weeks. The following day he stated the new CEO was Linda Yaccarino. Yaccarino officially took over as CEO on June 5, 2023.

On June 30, 2023, Twitter began blocking unregistered users from viewing tweets as a "temporary emergency measure." Musk stated that Twitter was being data pillaged to the point of degrading site services. The restrictions were partially reversed days later on July 5. Unregistered users can view individual tweets through direct links, but cannot view tweet replies or profile pages without an account. On July 1, 2023, Musk introduced daily limits on how many tweets users can view. Verified and existing unverified accounts were limited to viewing 6,000 and 600 posts a day respectively. Newly created unverified accounts were restricted to 300. The limits were increased twice later that same day, finishing at a total of 10,000 posts for verified users, 1,000 for existing unverified users, and 500 for new unverified users.

Twitter's homepage on July 24, 2023.

On July 23, 2023 Musk began the rebrand of Twitter to X, starting with a logo change from the company's long-standing bird to the letter X. The bird logo was removed from the website the following day, and the homepage was changed to reflect the new logo. On July 25, Musk changed the design of the X logo to one with slightly thicker lines, but reversed the change later that same day. However, he stated that the logo would continue to evolve over time.

Regarding the company's rebranding, CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted, "X is the future state of unlimited interactivity––centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking––creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.” Musk also acknowledged the change in a tweet, stating, “In the months to come, we will add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world. The Twitter name does not make sense in that context, so we must bid adieu to the bird.” Under the rebrand, tweets would instead be called “x’s.” The name change has been met with controversy and analysts have predicted significant future financial consequences for the company. Daniel Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, predicted a $2–5 billion loss in company value, while other analysts predicted $4–20 billion.

Twitter may face future legal problems in its effort to rebrand to X, as other major companies including Meta and Microsoft have existing intellectual property rights to the letter. In total there are almost 900 active trademark registrations for X in the United States. While this factor opens Twitter up to the possibility of a lawsuit or litigation from other owners, the possibility has been deemed unlikely unless an owner believes Twitter is encroaching on their brand equity. As of July 24, 2023, the URL x.com redirects to twitter.com, although some users have reported that they can only view a blank page on the domain hosting site GoDaddy.com.

The outside of Twitter headquarters in San Francisco on July 24, 2023.

Removal of the Twitter sign on the company's San Francisco headquarters began on July 24, 2023. Local police interrupted the sign's removal midway through the process, leaving only the letters 'er,' due to a miscommunication regarding a permit for closing the street. After an investigation, police determined no crime was committed. It is unclear when the work will resume. The bird logo also remains up.

On July 25, 2023 the company changed its Twitter handle from @twitter to @x, taking it from an existing user whose handle was changed to @x12345678998765. The handle was seized without prior warning or compensation to the existing user, Gene X. Hwang, a cofounder of Orange Photography. Twitter offered Hwang an opportunity to meet with company management and receive merch, though Hwang said he would likely not do so.

In addition to posting, users can interact with tweets by other users. Tweets can be shared (called retweeting) and liked; users can also add comments to tweets by replying. A direct messaging feature is available, allowing for private communication between users. Users can be tagged in tweets using the @ character. Twitter is free to join. However, users who wish to become verified must subscribe to Twitter Blue, a paid monthly subscription that provides access to special features on the site. Prior to Musk's acquisition, users were verified by providing Twitter with a form of legal identification. He ended this practice shortly after taking over and replaced it with a payment system tied to Twitter Blue's subscription service. The new system allowed any user to become verified for $8 per month through Twitter Blue without actual identity verification. Within hours of this change, Twitter was flooded with newly verified fake accounts for celebrities and fictional characters. After multiple users took advantage of the new system, Musk announced that any impersonation accounts must clearly be labeled as parody, and verified users who change their Twitter name will temporarily have their verification removed. Twitter Blue was suspended on November 11, 2022, to make these changes. It was relaunched one month later on December 12, with new verification rules in place.

Prior to Musk's acquisition, users were verified by providing Twitter with a form of legal identification. He ended this practice shortly after taking over and replaced it with a payment system tied to Twitter Blue's subscription service. The new system allowed any user to become verified for $8 per month through Twitter Blue without actual identity verification. Within hours of this change, Twitter was flooded with newly verified fake accounts for celebrities and fictional characters. After multiple users took advantage of the new system, Musk announced that any impersonation accounts must clearly be labeled as parody, and verified users who change their Twitter name will temporarily have their verification removed. Twitter Blue was suspended on November 11, 2022, to make these changes. It was relaunched one month later on December 12, with new verification rules in place. In May 2023 it was reported that less than 1 percent of monthly active users were subscribed to Twitter Blue.