Elon Musk bought Twitter, and now he’s rebranding it as X. Signs have gone up (and back down), icons are changing, and an old plan is new.
How’d we get here?
On April 4th, 2022, we learned that Musk had purchased enough shares of Twitter to become its largest individual shareholder. Eventually, he followed up with an unsolicited offer to buy 100 percent of Twitter’s shares for $54.20 each, or about $44 billion. Twitteraccepted Musk’s offer, but then things got weird because he tried to cancel the deal.
There was a lot of back-and-forth about bots and text messages, but in the end, Musk settled on buying the company rather than facing a deposition or Chancery Court trial and eventually strode into Twitter HQ carrying a sink.
Since then, there have been layoffs, more layoffs, and even more layoffs — plus drama over Substack, unpaid bills, and blue checkmarks. With ad revenue still down from previous years, Elon finally abdicated the role of CEO in May 2023, installing longtime NBCUniversal ad executive Linda Yaccarino.
Read on for the latest updates about what’s going on inside Twitter right now.
Aug 22
Richard Lawler
a16z, Jack Dorsey, Sean Combs, and Binance are among the investors in Elon Musk's X.
In response to a request by Jacob Silverman, a court filing reveals who else owns a piece of the property formerly known as Twitter.
Of course, being on the list doesn't necessarily mean those investments are going well, just ask the banks involved, but some of the names have bigger problems.
Aug 17
Wes Davis
X says it has closed its Brazilian operation.
The site accuses Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes of a “secret order” to arrest its legal representative if X doesn’t “comply with his censorship orders.” Despite the change, “X service remains available to the people of Brazil.”
Justice de Moraes opened an investigation of the platform in April over its reactivation of accounts it was ordered to block. (The site soon reversed course.)
Aug 13
Gaby Del ValleandKylie Robison
The Elon Musk / Donald Trump interview on X started with an immediate tech disaster
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Photo: Getty Images
Elon Musk’s “conversation” with former President Donald Trump got off to a rocky start. The interview, which was hosted on X Spaces and scheduled to begin at 8PM ET on Monday night, crashed immediately and didn’t begin until 42 minutes later.
Those who did manage to get into the Space, including several Verge staffers, said it kicked off with lo-fi techno playing from Trump’s account for roughly 30 minutes.
Read Article >
Aug 12
Wes Davis
Two X lawsuits are being judged by a conservative Tesla investor.
Fort Worth, Texas Judge Reed O’Connor, who is presiding over Elon Musk-owned X’s antitrust lawsuit against advertisers and one against Media Matters, has invested as much as $50,000 in Tesla stock, NPR reports.
O’Connor is known for conservative-friendly rulings, such as one calling Obamacare unconstitutional (later overturned because he didn’t have jurisdiction).
Aug 12
Wes Davis
The EU warns Elon Musk about tonight’s Donald Trump livestream on X.
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton says the EU will watch for “spillovers” that violate the Digital Services Act, such as “content that may incite violence, hate and racism in conjunction with major political - or societal - events around the world, including debates and interviews in the context of elections.”
Image: EU Commissioner Thierry Breton
Aug 10
Wes Davis
Donald Trump’s account is currently unsearchable on X.
At the moment, if you type “from:realdonaldtrump” followed by a specific term in X’s search bar, you’ll get the same set of results, seemingly no matter what you type, according to a Mediaite story spotted by Engadget.
I experienced the same thing when I tried it, but could still search other accounts this way. X responded with an auto-reply when reached for comment.
Aug 8
Elizabeth Lopatto
Ad group sued by Elon Musk reportedly disbands
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
A group of advertisers, called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), have “discontinued” activities, Business Insider reports, citing an email sent to members. The group said it had limited money, and was focused on fighting the antitrust lawsuit filed against it by X.
GARM was an initiative formed in 2019 by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA); the idea was to stop advertising on social media platforms that don’t meet certain safety standards. In its lawsuit, X said that GARM “organized an advertiser boycott of Twitter.”
Read Article >
Aug 6
Emma Roth
X files antitrust lawsuit against advertisers over ‘illegal boycott’
Image: The Verge
X is suing a group of major advertisers over accusations that they held an “illegal boycott” against the platform formerly known as Twitter. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, X claims Unilever, Mars, CVS, Ørsted, and dozens of other brands conspired to“collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue” through a World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) industry initiative.
To join the WFA’s initiative, called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), companies must agree to withhold advertising from social platforms that aren’t compliant with the organization’s safety standards. X alleges GARM “organized an advertiser boycott of Twitter” to coerce the company into following the initiative’s safety standards. The lawsuit is being filed despite X announcing that it was “excited” to rejoin GARM last month.
Read Article >
Aug 5
Alex Heath
X is closing its HQ in San Francisco.
X is moving out from the building Elon Musk famously walked into while carrying a kitchen sink, per an internal memo I’ve seen.
In the email to employees, X CEO Linda Yaccarino says the company will “transition to our new primary locations in the Bay Area,” including an office in San Jose and a “shared space” with Musk’s xAI in Palo Alto.
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Aug 1
Gaby Del Valle
Don Lemon sues Elon Musk and X for canceling his talk show
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by STR / NurPhoto, Getty Images
Don Lemon is suing Elon Musk and X over the abrupt cancellation of his deal with the social media platform, alleging fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of his name and likeness, and breach of express contract, reports Variety. Lemon’s show was canned in March of this year after a contentious interview with Musk — who, according to the complaint, had promised Lemon he’d have free rein over the content on the show.
The complaint — filed on August 1st in the Superior Court of California for San Francisco County — claims that after advertisers fled Twitter in the wake of Musk’s takeover, Musk and other X executives began courting Lemon with the goal of publicizing “a partnership between X and Lemon” that would associate “the X brand with Lemon’s good name, likeness, identity, and reputation” in order to “rehabilitate” the social platform in the eyes of advertisers.
Read Article >
Jul 26
Jay Peters
Here’s how to stop X from using your posts to train its AI
Image: The Verge
X uses your data to train its Grok AI assistant, but if you’d like to opt out of that, you can do that right from your settings menu. It is accessible on the web right here, or you can find it yourself if you click the three dots menu, then “Settings and privacy,” then “Privacy and safety,” and then “Grok.”
X’s @Safety account wrote in a post on Friday that the setting is available to all users on the web now and “will soon be rolled out on mobile.”
Read Article >
Jul 24
Wes Davis
X replaced the water pistol emoji with a regular gun, for some reason
Image: The Verge
Years after Twitter replaced the pistol emoji with a green and orange water gun, X has decided to change it back to a regular handgun. An X employee announced the change in a post last week.
The company hasn’t explained the change, but it feels on brand for Elon Musk’s social network. Twitter originally switched its emoji to display a water gun in 2018, following others like Google and Facebook. (Apple made the switch in 2016; Microsoft was a brief holdout.)
Read Article >
Jul 20
Wes Davis
X may make it possible to disable links in replies to your posts.
Based on the screenshot below from app researcher Nima Owji, the new checkmark would be in the same menu as other per-post options that let you limit replies.X employee Christopher Stanley confirmed the feature, Engadgetspotted.
Jul 19
Richard Lawler
Oops, Trump and X did a copyright infringement
Image: The Verge
A “Trump2024” banner labeled “Promoted by Team Trump” sat atop the What’s Happening summary on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, during the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention on Thursday.
While the #Trump2024 hashtag temporarily showed the American flag, and clicking it caused an animated “hashfetti” effect with flags raining down, it was the icon attached to the number one trending #MAGA topic that caught our eyes.
Read Article >
Jul 16
Emma Roth
Elon Musk is moving X and SpaceX to Texas
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by STR / NurPhoto, Getty Images
Elon Musk says he plans to move X and SpaceX’s headquarters from California to Texas. “Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas,” Musk wrote in a tweet, referencing California’s SAFETY Act (AB1955).
Signed on Monday by California Governor Gavin Newsom, it prevents schools from imposing rules requiring teachers to disclose changes to a student’s gender identity without their permission and prohibits retaliation against teachers who refuse to out a student, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Read Article >
Jul 9
Emma Roth
You can search for bookmarks on X now.
That’s a whole lot easier than scrolling through several years worth of bookmarks just to find a particular post. The feature is only available on the web and iOS for now.
Image: X
Jun 21
Jay Peters
Jun 13
Kylie Robison
X all-hands leaves staff with few answers on delayed promotions
Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media
During an internal all-hands meeting led by X CEO Linda Yaccarino on Wednesday, concerned employees tuned in to hear if she would address the pressing issue on their minds: performance reviews.
Sources inside the company confirm that a promotions process was recently delayed without explanation and that X’s sales team doesn’t expect to meet its revenue targets for the quarter. Given how the company formerly called Twitter has continued to struggle under Elon Musk’s ownership, employees have been bracing for more layoffs.
Read Article >
Jun 11
Kylie Robison
X is about to start hiding all likes
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
X is rolling out private likes as soon as today, according to a source at the company. That means what users like on the platform will be hidden by default, which is already an option for X’s Premium subscribers. Following the publication of this story, X owner Elon Musk reshared a screenshot of it, saying it’s “important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so!”
A few weeks ago, X’sdirector of engineering, Haofei Wang, said the upcoming change is meant to protect users’ public image— because “many people feel discouraged” to like “edgy” content. The Likes tab on user profiles will be gone. Users will still be able to see who liked their posts and the like count for all posts, but they will not see the people who liked someone else’s post, according to X senior software engineer Enrique Barragan. (He also hinted at the launch today in a post.)
Read Article >
Jun 3
Emma Roth
X has new rules that officially allow porn now
Illustration: The Verge
As spotted by TechCrunch, X updated its guidelines to let users “share consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behavior” as long as it’s labeled and not in a prominent location, such as a profile picture or banner.
After this article was published, the @Safety account tweeted saying, “We have launched Adult Content and Violent Content policies to bring more clarity of our Rules and transparency into enforcement of these areas. These policies replace our former Sensitive Media and Violent Speech policies - but what we enforce against hasn’t changed.”
Read Article >
May 30
Emma Roth
Elon Musk finally agrees to testify in the SEC’s Twitter investigation
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
Elon Musk has agreed to testify in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation into his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. A legal document filed on Thursday shows that Musk waived his right to appeal a court order that requires him to testify.
This means Musk will have to appear at one of the SEC’s offices for an up to five-hour interview. The document says Musk and the SEC have already agreed to a date, but it’s not disclosed “for confidentiality purposes.”
Read Article >
May 26
Wes Davis
How a 2019 Twitter thread full of anime trolls and lawyers created a legal super team.
It’s been five years since “threadnought,” a giant Twitter thread in which lawyers battled trolls who were trying to silence critics of an anime voice actor accused of sexual misconduct.
Now, with a law firm drafted from the thread’s funniest people, lawyer Akiva Cohen represents many former Twitter employees who are suing Elon Musk over how he fired them after buying the company.
May 23
Umar Shakir
X is hiding likes to encourage ‘edgy’ engagement
Illustration: The Verge
In yet another major shift, X, the social platform previously known as Twitter, is taking away the ability to see what posts other users have liked. It’s a change the company’s director of engineering, Haofei Wang, says is meant to protect users’ public image — because “many people feel discouraged” to like “edgy” content. MacRumors first reported that the change is coming after a flag was discovered in the iOS app that removes the Likes tab on all user profiles.
“Soon you’ll be able to like without worrying who might see it,” Wangsays. It wasn’t initially clear if this would affect seeing who liked your own posts, but X senior software engineer Enrique Barragan chimed in to clarify:
Read Article >
May 17
Jay PetersandThomas Ricker
Twitter is officially X.com now
The Verge
The social network formerly known as Twitter has officially adopted X.com for all its core systems. That means typing twitter.com in your browser will now redirect to Elon Musk’s favored domain, or should. At the time of publication, we’re seeing a mix of results depending upon browser choice and whether you’re logged in or not.
A message also now appears at the bottom of the X login page that reads, “We are letting you know that we are changing our URL, but your privacy and data protection settings remain the same.”
Read Article >
May 10
Umar Shakir
This scraper can keep on scraping.
A judge tossed a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s X against web scraper Bright Data that alleged it illegally circumvented X’s anti-scraping technology. It comes after Musk lost a similar suit against an anti-hate group in March.
