Twitter did not respond to requests for comment
After Musk halved the company’s payroll late last week — laying off thousands at Twitter — Washington has been watching anxiously for signs that the platform is losing control of misinformation and content, especially with the election so close. Musk himself added fuel to that fire when he tweeted a fake story about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband last weekend, a move that drew criticism and helped drive advertisers off the platform.
The tech billionaire has described himself as a “free speech absolutist”, although he has tried to put nervous advertisers at ease and users that the platform will not be flooded with hate speech and malicious content if it adopts a looser approach to moderation.
Musk has also been clear that he needs to find new ways for Twitter — a company that has rarely turned a profit — to make money. The massive layoffs and the move to create a subscription service are meant to help the debt-laden company get on a more stable financial footing.
Although Twitter’s verification program began far outside of politics — it was a response to a fake account claiming to be former baseball manager Tony La Russa — the system has been seen as a deterrent to viral misinformation and an important filter in the information ecosystem. american. . It has also come in for criticism, often from right-wing populists, who deride the “blue checkists” as a cabal of elites trying to protect their status.
