With Twitter plummeting further into chaos everyday, it’s becoming ever more difficult to envision the app returning to normal. Since Elon Musk bought Twitter at the start of the month, a series of unfortunate events have ensued, ultimately culminating in the now lawless land that stands in the place of what Twitter used to be. The question on people’s minds now is: should we just lay the app to rest or does someone need to step in to revive it?
Back in 2006, when the site was first created by founders Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams, few people realised how big Twitter was actually going to be. Since then it’s grown into an essential media platform utilised around the world as a tool to access our freedom of speech. Viral hashtags on Twitter have sparked protests, brought attention to global issues, and changed the mindsets of millions. In 2010, the first tweet was sent from the moon. Then Elon Musk bought it, and it hasn’t been the same since.
A site that was previously used by genuine journalists as a verifiable source of news is now riddled with copycat accounts and hoaxes, after new owner Elon Musk brought in a policy which let users pay for a blue verification check. It became immediately clear that this was a mistake after fake accounts began using the newly purchased blue ticks to impersonate global companies, cause fluctuations in the stock market, and even ridicule Elon himself.
Despite the chaos unfolding over on Twitter for the last few weeks, the app’s actually experienced an increase in users, with Elon Musk tweeting that the site had “hit all-time high of active users” at the start of November. One user, @RMac18, responded to Musk by simply tweeting: “*people gather in my yard to watch my house burn* me: wow, i’ve never had this many visitors before”.
Only a few days ago Elon Musk attempted to remedy his reputation by hosting a poll on whether to unban ex-President Donald Trump and rapper Ye, who’d been removed from the app for inciting violence and making antisemetic remarks. Unsurprisingly, all this did was raise more eyebrows.
Twitter’s current state has been described as a plane with no pilot, hurtling towards the ground. But what we used to know as Twitter, was an incredible source of free information and a platform to communicate openly with others across the globe. From the app announced Whitney Houston’s death 45 minutes before officials confirmed it; that Barack Obama used to declare his victory at the 2012 US Presidential election; that propelled the #blacklivesmatter movement into global renown, surely this can’t be the end.
Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account.
— President Obama (@POTUS44) May 18, 2015
At this point we can only hope that Elon Musk manages to regain control of the steering wheel and turns this plane around. But what are the chances of that?
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