As ever, Elon Musk is implementing new policies on Twitter that makes the platform a lot less appealing. This new one is once again going to heavily affect those in creative sectors such as journalists and artists.
According to TitterDaily on Twitter, the policy would prevent anyone who isn’t verified (read: doesn’t pay Elon Musk $8/month) from sending direct messages to accounts that don’t follow them. Reporters are already speaking out against it, saying it would make it hard to connect with potential sources for stories—something that is often detrimental to delivering good and insightful journalism. While some have asked those reporters why they don’t just pay for Twitter verification, that ignores that the sources reaching out to contact those journalists through DMs would no longer be able to do so.
Musk responded to their tweet saying, “Hopefully releasing the update this week. As l’ve said many times, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between Al bots. Soon, it will be impossible.
“The only ‘social networks’ that survive will be those that require verification.”
Rebekah Valentine, a reporter at IGN, wrote, “This is a massively important feature of this platform for me and others about to vanish … genuinely losing one of the primary functions of this app for me is making me reconsider sticking around it.”
While literary agent Eric Smith pointed out it’s a good way for those starting out to reach out to others in creative industries to get advice and connect. “I know a lot of publishing industry professionals who keep their DMs open (I’m one of them) to help new authors who have questions about navigating the business. It’s a small way to make this confusing industry accessible. That’s a loss.”
Though I agree that spam bots are an issue—I get many in my DMs—I can’t help thinking that moves like this could be due to Elon’s dislike of journalists, which he has shown in a variety of ways. One such incident took place in 2018 when he very much didn’t have his grubby hands on Twitter.
After multiple outlets criticized his precious Tesla company, which at the time was suffering accidents right, left, and center with their autopilot vehicles as well as their labor practices, he (ironically) threw a tantrum on Twitter. He announced his vision for a new platform that would have a “credibility score.”
“Going to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication. Thinking of calling it Pravda …
“Even if some of the public doesn’t care about the credibility score, the journalists, editors & publications will. It is how they define themselves.”
Though he hasn’t changed Twitter’s name, it sure does seem like the platform carries his disdain for journalists—and anyone who won’t pay him to keep making changes to Twitter that no one likes.
(featured image: Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
