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Elon Musk’s X Aims From Social Media to Stock Trading Platform

Elon Musk’s ambitious vision for X, previously known as Twitter, involves transforming it into a multifaceted platform, including the potential for stock trading. Reports suggest that the company has reached out to fintech firms to explore the development of this feature, although no financial commitment has been made at this time, according to Semafor.

Ever since Musk expressed interest in taking over Twitter last year, he has been contemplating adding various features to create an all-encompassing “everything app” for users to accomplish a multitude of tasks.

Musk drew inspiration from WeChat, a Chinese app that successfully integrates various functionalities, and he also revisited a similar concept he once pursued with his venture X.com, founded over two decades ago. Though Musk was ousted as CEO, and the company later evolved into PayPal, now with the acquisition of Twitter, he sees an opportunity to revisit the idea.

Since assuming control of Twitter, Musk has introduced features like “cashtag,” which allows users to view live stock charts by using the “$” symbol before ticker names, powered by Trading View, a data startup. Additionally, plans were announced to enable users to buy and sell stocks within the platform using eToro, a competitor of the popular trading and investing app Robinhood. However, this feature is yet to be implemented, and under its new branding, the company is now approaching financial data giants to create a trading hub within X.

According to the Semafor report, X is positioning itself as a platform capable of reaching “hundreds of millions of highly qualified users,” but it is not committing funds to build this hub. Instead, the company is inquiring about the level of commitment that fintech companies are willing to make for the project. Whether any firms have responded to this inquiry remains uncertain.

Integrating financial services with social media platforms is not a new idea in Silicon Valley, with attempts by companies like Snap and Meta in the past. However, such efforts have not always been successful, except for limited cases like payments in WhatsApp. Musk believes that by offering integrated services within X, the platform’s user base could potentially quadruple to a billion people. This could also open up a new revenue stream through brokerage from stock transactions, especially since advertisers have been somewhat elusive.

Musk may find encouragement in Apple’s recent offering of a savings account, which attracted deposits of a billion dollars in just four days. Even a small percentage of Musk’s 151 million followers using X as a trading platform could result in significant brokerage revenue every month.

However, unlike Apple, which has earned trust over many years, Musk’s frequent changes and Twitter’s instability have driven some users away. To succeed, X must rebuild trust and effectively highlight its advantages over existing tools that users have grown accustomed to in recent months.

AFP Files Lawsuit Against Elon Musk

AFP Files Lawsuit Against Elon Musk-Owned X (Formerly Twitter) Over Copyright Dispute

Elon Musk’s company, formerly known as Twitter and now called “X,” is facing legal action in France under copyright law. The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency is suing the social media platform for refusing to engage in discussions about compensating AFP for the sharing of its news content on X.

AFP stated that it seeks an urgent injunction from a Paris court to force X to provide the necessary information on how its content is reused so that AFP can calculate the appropriate remuneration under France’s neighboring rights legislation.

The neighboring rights legislation was established by the European Union in 2019 and incorporated into French law in July of the same year. It extends copyright protection to cover excerpts of news content shared on digital platforms, including text, photographs, videos, and infographics, for up to two years after publication.

In response to AFP’s lawsuit, Elon Musk wrote on X, questioning the idea of paying them for traffic to their site when they make advertising revenue, and X does not.

Google has also faced issues with France’s neighboring rights legislation in the past. The national antitrust authority fined Google over half a billion dollars after complaints from publishers, including AFP, about unfair negotiations regarding payments for content reuse. Google settled the dispute by making behavioral commitments and signing deals to pay publishers for reuse of their content.

While Google’s case triggered intervention from the competition authority due to its dominant position in search services, X’s situation may be different. X does not hold a dominant position in general search or social media services, where rival platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have more users.

Countries like Australia and Canada have also passed laws requiring tech platforms to negotiate with publishers for fair revenue sharing over news content. Meta (formerly Facebook) and Google have lobbied against these measures in Canada and Australia, even suggesting they might withdraw news availability rather than comply with the laws.

In summary, AFP is taking legal action against Elon Musk’s company X for not discussing compensation for the use of its news content on the platform, citing the neighboring rights legislation in France. Similar issues have arisen with other tech giants like Google and Meta in different regions with news bargaining laws.

Twitter X Logo

Twitter CEO Introduces Radical X Logo

Twitter’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, has revealed the platform’s new logo as it undergoes a major transformation into an ‘everything’ app under the leadership of Elon Musk. The logo change, symbolizing the rebranding to X, was shared by Yaccarino on Twitter.

The shift towards becoming ‘X’ has been in progress, with former CEO Musk working to dissolve Twitter’s legal identity and integrate it into his X Corp. Musk has expressed his desire to turn the platform into an all-in-one app similar to China’s WeChat. However, his approach of downsizing the company and dismissing staff to achieve this vision has raised concerns.

Surprisingly, the decision to change the logo appears to be impulsive, akin to some of Musk’s previous actions at Twitter. He asked his 149 million followers to design a logo for ‘X’ and swiftly picked one from the suggestions, sharing it on his profile. Despite Musk’s call to move away from the iconic blue bird, the bird logo still prominently features on the platform.

While corporate rebranding usually involves professional design companies, Twitter’s transition seems more ad hoc. Nevertheless, CEO Yaccarino looks ahead, revealing that ‘X’ will be focused on audio, video, messaging, payments, and banking, all powered by AI from Musk’s latest venture, X.AI.

The move to transform Twitter into an ‘everything’ app is ambitious, but questions arise about how the company will boost its revenues and accommodate new offerings that are yet to be clearly defined.

The uncertainty surrounding the platform’s future has sparked speculation about its essence and whether users will adapt to such a significant transformation. Despite this, the promise of an all-encompassing app keeps users hopeful for what lies ahead after the transition is complete.

Twitter sue Meta

Twitter Threatens to Sue Meta Over Its New Threads App

In a swift response to Meta’s launch of its Threads app, Twitter has issued a threat to sue the company. The move comes amidst allegations that Meta has recruited former Twitter employees to develop the new platform.

Threads, a text-based platform similar to Twitter, has garnered over 30 million sign-ups within 24 hours of its release. Shortly after the launch, Twitter’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, accusing the social media giant of unlawfully misappropriating Twitter’s trade secrets and intellectual property.

The letter, shared online by Semafor, stated, “Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information. Twitter reserves all rights, including legal remedies and injunctive relief, to prevent any further use or disclosure of its intellectual property by Meta.”

Spiro further alleged that Meta hired several former Twitter employees who had access to Twitter’s trade secrets and confidential information. These employees were supposedly tasked with developing a copycat app, utilizing Twitter’s intellectual property, in violation of state and federal laws and their ongoing obligations to Twitter.

In response, Meta’s communications director, Andy Stone, addressed Twitter’s claims in a Threads post, stating, “To be clear: No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee—that’s just not a thing.”

Threads joins the ranks of Twitter competitors that gained momentum under Elon Musk’s leadership at Twitter. However, Twitter’s swift action against Threads signifies it as the most prominent rival.

While Musk has remained silent on Threads’ launch thus far, he tweeted support for Spiro’s claims, asserting that “Competition is fine, cheating is not.”

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino also took a jab at the new platform, tweeting, “Twitter is often imitated—but the Twitter community can never be duplicated.”

Coinciding with Threads’ launch, Zuckerberg made his first tweet in a decade, sharing a Spider-Man meme that humorously highlighted the platform’s resemblance to Twitter.

Amidst Twitter’s controversial decisions, the demand for alternative platforms has surged. Mastodon and Bluesky have gained attention, but none have matched the rapid adoption rate of Threads.

Threads is currently available on iOS and Android in 100 countries, excluding the EU due to concerns about complying with local data privacy regulations. To access Threads, users must authenticate using their existing Instagram login credentials, after which the app populates with their account details, including name, username, photo, and followers.

Elon Musk’s Letter to Microsoft CEO You Misused Twitter Data

Elon Musk’s Letter to Microsoft CEO: You Misused Twitter Data

Twitter has accused Microsoft of violating multiple provisions of the social media platform’s developers agreement for an extended period of time.

First reported by the New York Times, Elon Musk’s personal lawyer yesterday sent a letter to Satya Nadella, the CEO and Chairman of Microsoft, accusing the tech giant of excessive and abusive usage of Twitter’s Application Programming Interface (API), a software tool that enables developers to access data from a website and deliver services based on this content. 

Twitter has enforced rate limits on the use of its API which, the company explained in its letter, prohibits developers (such as Microsoft) from ‘exceeding’ or ‘circumventing’.

“Despite these limitations, the Microsoft Apps accessed Twitter’s APIs over 780 million times and retrieved over 26 billion tweets in 2022 alone. Indeed, for one of the Microsoft Apps, Microsoft’s account information outright states that it intends to allow its customers to “go around throttling limits,” said the letter.

Microsoft doesn’t currently pay Twitter for data

Twitter, in the letter, also accused Microsoft of using Twitter’s APIs free of charge which has, in turn, generated billions of dollars in revenue for Microsoft annually.

The Bill Gates-founded tech firm also stands accused of not paying a discounted rate offered by Twitter for continued access to its APIs and content.

Twitter’s API-driven apps like Hootsuite, Spriklr and Sprout Social were to free to use for some researchers, partners and developers who agreed to their terms, reported CNBC.

The letter further says: “Microsoft operated eight separate Twitter API apps, listed below, which appear to provide data and functionality for at least five separate Microsoft products and services, including Xbox One, Bing Pages, Azure, Power Platform, and Ads:

  • Xbox One Social
  • Bing Pages
  • Bing Pages 2
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Microsoft Power Platform
  • Microsoft Ads
  • Microsoft Global Ads
  • Azure Logic Apps for Fairfax”

Interesting Engineering had earlier reported that ever since Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 for an exorbitant price of $44 billion, he has been on a spree to gain revenue from a loss-making platform. He has fired thousands of employees, charged people on Twitter for a verification status and introduced a rate card for developers to have access to its API.

This comes a month after Musk, in a tweet reply, accused Microsoft of using Twitter data to train their AI and even threatened to file a lawsuit.

The social media platform is now asking Microsoft to identify Twitter’s content currently in its control, the manner in which it used such content and to submit a written report describing its deployment of such content no later than June 7, 2023.

You can read the full letter as uploaded by CNBC.

Elon Musk Unveils Exciting Updates Encrypted Messaging, Voice and Video Calls Coming to Twitter

Elon Musk Unveils Exciting Updates: Encrypted Messaging, Voice and Video Calls Coming to Twitter

Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter Inc., recently unveiled exciting plans for upcoming features on the platform, including the introduction of encrypted messaging and the integration of voice and video calls. Musk had previously hinted at the development of “Twitter 2.0 The Everything App,” which aims to bring enhanced functionalities like encrypted direct messages, longform tweets, and payment options.

In a tweet, Musk confirmed that Twitter would soon incorporate voice and video chat capabilities, enabling users to engage in global communication without the need to share their phone numbers. This move aligns Twitter with other prominent social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, which already offer similar features. While Musk mentioned the launch of encrypted direct messages on Twitter starting Wednesday, it remains uncertain whether the calling feature will also benefit from encryption.

Furthermore, Twitter recently announced its intention to undertake a cleansing process by removing and archiving inactive accounts that have remained dormant for several years. This initiative aims to maintain a more dynamic and relevant user base on the platform.

Overall, these developments highlight Twitter’s commitment to expanding its feature set, enhancing user experiences, and adapting to the evolving landscape of social media.

Elon Musk Warns of Account Purge on Twitter, Cautioning Users about Follower Count Drops

Elon Musk Warns of Account Purge on Twitter, Cautioning Users about Follower Count Drops

Elon Musk took to Twitter on Monday to alert users that the platform is undergoing a purge of inactive accounts that have been dormant for several years.

In his tweet, Musk stated, “We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop.”

In response to concerns raised by video game developer John Carmack, who worried that content from inactive accounts might be entirely deleted during the purge, Musk assured that the accounts would be archived.

However, Musk did not provide specific details regarding the extent of the purge, including the exact duration an account must remain inactive before being archived. Additionally, he did not clarify whether or how users could reactivate their dormant accounts.

Musk emphasized the importance of freeing up abandoned handles in a subsequent tweet, without elaborating further.

Twitter’s current policy regarding inactive accounts stipulates that users must log in at least once every 30 days to avoid the risk of being “permanently removed.” Inactivity is defined based on login activity.

According to the long-standing policy, inactive accounts generally retain their usernames, and their handles are not released to active users.

Twitter Acknowledges Accidental Exposure of Private Circle Tweets in 'Security Incident'

Twitter Acknowledges Accidental Exposure of Private Circle Tweets in ‘Security Incident’

After weeks of silence, Twitter has finally acknowledged a bug that caused tweets shared within users private Twitter Circles to become public. Affected users received an email from the platform on Friday, notifying them of a “security incident” that resulted in their semi-private tweets being visible to a wider audience beyond their intended Circle of close friends.

The email, obtained by Fortune, stated, “In April 2023, a security incident may have allowed users outside of your Twitter Circle to see tweets that should have otherwise been limited to the Circle to which you were posting.” It further explained that the issue was promptly identified and resolved by the Twitter security team, ensuring that the affected tweets were no longer visible outside of the intended Circle.

Twitter Circle allows users to share tweets exclusively with a private group of followers, thereby limiting their visibility to a select audience rather than broadcasting them to all followers or the public. However, in April, users started encountering glitches with this feature. In a test tweet, one user discovered that a person outside their Twitter Circle could see a tweet they had specifically sent to their personal list of followers.

One month after this incident, impacted users received the email from Twitter, acknowledging the issue and reassuring them that the security team had addressed the problem. The exact number of users affected by this bug remains unknown.

“Twitter is committed to protecting the privacy of the people who use our service, and we understand the risks that an incident like this can introduce, and we deeply regret this happened,” expressed the company in the email to affected users, according to Fortune.

What is Bluesky

What is Bluesky?

Recently, Twitter celebs Dril and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have joined a new invite-only Twitter alternative, causing a surge in interest and users. Bluesky, a Twitter clone backed by Jack Dorsey, has a very similar format to its established rival and has been available on Apple’s app store since February, but only recently added an Android and beta web version.

According to Data.ai research cited by Bloomberg, the app has been downloaded over 240,000 times, with half of these installs in April alone. Bluesky CEO Jay Graber announced that 1.2 million people were on the platform’s waitlist following Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. Musk’s ex-girlfriend, Grimes, also seems to have joined the platform, although the profile couldn’t be independently verified by Insider.

To create a profile, Bluesky users choose a picture, bio, display name, and domain name. They can then post, repost, like, and reply to other users. The platform has a search tab to find other users, and it suggests people to follow who are “in your network.” Bluesky’s timeline is split into two feeds – posts from users an account is following, and a “What’s Hot” section that displays popular posts. However, unlike most alternatives, the app doesn’t have any direct messaging features or hashtags.

One of the missing functions is the ability to block other users or set profiles to private, which can lead to harassment. On Thursday, Graber acknowledged the problem and said that the team was working on a block function, delayed because of “protocol-level complexity.”

Currently, the app is still in beta and only available to users with an invite or on the waiting list. The invite codes are usually given out once every two weeks, although the Bluesky team has said they would occasionally “arbitrarily” hand out extra invite codes to activate more users.

Bluesky is a decentralized platform, meaning user data is not stored on servers owned by one company. It has been compared to Mastodon, an earlier Twitter alternative. However, unlike Mastodon, Bluesky users don’t have to choose a server when they sign up, which was a hurdle for many Mastodon users who found the process too complicated.

Bluesky started in 2019 when Dorsey was still CEO of Twitter and initially received funding from the company it now rivals. In April last year, Bluesky clarified its relationship with Twitter, stating that “the bluesky project originated with Twitter in 2019, but the Bluesky PBLLC established this year is an independent company focused on decentralized social network R&D.”

Elon Musk Reveals Users Can Now Make Money on Twitter

Elon Musk Reveals Users Can Now Make Money on Twitter

Twitter-owner Elon Musk said on Thursday users of the social media platform will be able to offer their followers subscriptions to content, including long-form text and hours-long video.

Users offering the subscription, a feature they can access through the “Monetization” tab in settings, will get all the money subscribers pay apart from the charges platforms such as Android and iOS levy. Twitter will not take a cut for the first 12 months.

“That’s 70% for subscriptions on iOS & Android (they charge 30%) and ~92% on web (could be better, depending on payment processor),” Musk said in a tweet, adding Twitter will also help promote the creators’ work and maximize earnings.

Musk has been bringing in changes to boost revenue at Twitter after the social media platform saw advertising income drop last year in the run up to his on-again-off-again acquisition that closed in October.

Since taking over, Musk has swiftly moved through a number of product and organizational changes. The company rolled out Twitter-verified blue tick as a paid service and shrunk the employee-base by about 80%.

The social media firm was now “roughly breaking even”, Musk said in a Twitter Spaces interview.