Elon Musk has taken ownership of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) with brutal efficiency, firing top executives immediately. “The bird is freed,” he tweeted after he completed his $44 billion acquisition on Thursday, referencing Twitter’s bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on content that can be posted.
The board of Twitter has agreed to a $44bn (£34.5bn) takeover offer from the billionaire Elon Musk. Mr Musk, who made the shock bid less than two weeks ago, said Twitter had “tremendous potential” that he would unlock. He also called for a series of changes from relaxing its content restrictions to eradicating fake accounts.
Twitter labelled two of Donald Trump’s tweets “unsubstantiated” and accused him of making false claims on Tuesday. Trump’s tweets contended without evidence that mail-in voting would lead to fraud and a “Rigged Election.” Under the tweets, Twitter posted a link that read “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” and which took users to a notice pointing out that the claims are “unsubstantiated”, citing reporting by CNN, the Washington Post and other media outlets.
The government is studying a proposal to impose ban on social media sites and communication networks like Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube in the government offices fearing a risk of leakage of important data. Under a proposed plan by the National Information Technology Board (NITB), the government officials would also be banned from bringing storage devices like –USBs – to the offices.
A ‘verbal agreement’ reached between authorities from Twitter and Pakistani government has confirmed that verified accounts of Pakistani users will not be unilaterally suspended or terminated. After New Delhi stripped Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) of its semi-autonomous status, over 300 handles were suspended for tweeting in support of Kashmiris. Accounts of journalists and news channels highlighting rights violations in IOK also received warnings.
A leaked video of Mehwish Hayat’s has sparked #RevokeMehwishHayatCivilAward trend on Twitter. Talking to Express News, Hayat was asked to make a comment about Kashmir, to which she responded by saying, “Nothing about Kashmir! I’ve been asked not to speak about Kashmir here.” Soon after the video went viral on Twitter, the hashtag started trending and many called Mehwish out for her ‘selective activism.’
Popular micro-blogging site Twitter has sent a notice to ARY News’ official Twitter account over a video highlighting Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir and expressing solidarity with its people. ARY’s short video highlighting why Pakistan is condemning the Indian move in Kashmir was reported from Law enforcement of India. “The following content violates the law(s) of India,” reads notice sent by Twitter.
A hashtag calling for arrest of journalists who mainly criticise ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Prime Minister of Pakistan and Pakistan Army, became top Twitter trend in Pakistan. The hashtag #ArrestAntiPakjournalists had been used or forwarded more than 28,000 times after dropping to second place in few hours. Some users even accompanied photographs of prominent journalists with the hashtag.
Hasan Zaidi, an editor for Dawn magazine, had complained to the bank to take strict action against an employee who had been repeatedly using abusive language on Twitter. However, social media users were particularly not happy with the bank’s decision to terminate an employee based upon his personal actions.