Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has just announced the cancellation of her scheduled speech at the upcoming Wall Street Journal Tech Live event next week. Her reasoning appears to be linked to the ongoing global turmoil, as she stated, “With the development of the global crisis, my team and I must continue to focus wholeheartedly on ensuring the safety of the Twitter platform.”
Reasons Remain Vague
The term “global crisis” mentioned here almost certainly refers to the conflict in Israel, which has led to the widespread uploading of disturbing videos on the Twitter platform. However, aside from this issue, there are other intriguing concerns surrounding Twitter’s owner, billionaire Elon Musk.
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Musk posted a message yesterday, calling for attention to the progress of the war, mentioning @WarMonitors and @sentdefender. However, post sparked controversy as these two accounts have previously posted blatantly anti-Semitic tweets. In fact, The Washington Post reported that these accounts “Both were among the most important early spreaders of a false claim in May that there had been an explosion near the White House.”
CNN reports that Twitter made significant staff cuts in the content moderation field, known as “Trust and Safety,” last year. Recently, the platform’s artists also adopted a new change, removing headlines from links and displaying only the main image of articles. This change is believed to be Musk’s idea and has sparked discussions.
Chaotic Code Conference and Potential Subscription Changes
Before Yaccarino’s cancellation at the Wall Street Journal event, she faced a chaotic and tense situation at her own Code Conference. She evaded many questions, particularly those related to remarks made by former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth during the conference.
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According to Reuters, Yaccarino told leading institutions last week, revenue growth for the third quarter has reached high single-digit percentages compared to the second quarter. She also revealed to the banks that Twitter is considering introducing subscription tiers to alter the number of ads displayed on the user interface. This suggests that there may be some new changes in the pipeline.
Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, reported that Yaccarino mentioned at the Code Conference that 90% of advertisers have returned to the platform, but their ad spending appears to be lower than before. This is a trend worth keeping an eye on.
Twitter is currently undergoing significant challenges and transformations, with Linda Yaccarino’s temporary withdrawal and Elon Musk’s social media activities raising concerns about the company’s future. The future remains uncertain, and we await how this social media giant will respond to and adapt to these challenges.
