Elon Musk insists Twitter plans are ‘proceeding well’ as company falls into chaos

Musk Twitter (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Elon Musk has insisted his plans for Twitter are “proceeding well” amid chaos at the social network.

That was despite the company having to reverse at least two of Mr Musk’s recent decisions, amid rife “impersonation abuse” across the social network. That included turning off sign-ups for the controversial “Twitter Blue” service that allows users to pay $8 for the checkmark that had previously indicated an account had been verified.

Asked by another Twitter user how many people had signed up for that subscription, Mr Musk did not give any numbers but suggested that it was going as planned.

“Needs some tweaks, but overall proceeding well,” he wrote in a tweet.

The tweet prompted outcry from users who pointed out that it had been posted just hours after a range of chaotic changes at the social network.

Since he took over the company two weeks ago, one of Mr Musk’s biggest feature changes has been to promote that Twitter Blue service. He increased the price to $8, and added the option to include that blue verification checkmark.

Immediately, users abused that feature to pose as the verified accounts of a range of high-profile people and brands. Users posed as everything from George W Bush to Nintendo, posting a range of embarrassing tweets that looked as if they were being shared by official accounts.

In the wake of those problems, Twitter suspended signups to Twitter Blue, and the feature disappeared from the app. The company switched off the feature “to help address impersonation issues”, according to social media journalist Zoë Schiffer, who cited an internal Twitter note.

Twitter no longer has a communications or media department, as part of Mr Musk’s layoffs that led to the firing of half of the company’s workforce.