Elon Musk’s latest prank, which involves painting over the letter “W” on Twitter’s sign at its San Francisco HQ to mockingly rename his company ‘Titter,’ has drawn mixed reactions as the organization is embroiled in multiple lawsuits, a crashing valuation, and broken features.
Gizmodo reports that Twitter CEO Elon Musk has admitted to painting over the “W” in Twitter’s name after first covering it with a white tarp at the company’s San Francisco headquarters, changing the word to “Titter,” in a move that has garnered the attention of social media users across the globe. While Musk’s supporters applauded the action as a lighthearted prank, the landlord of the Twitter headquarters was not amused, claiming that the business was obligated by law to display the name “Twitter” on its sign.
Elon Musk’s Halloween costume (Taylor Hill /Getty)
“They tried to muffle our titter ,” tweeted Musk, the head of the social media platform, in response to the landlord’s complaint. To resolve the issue, Musk painted the “w” in a background color, proudly declaring, “Problem solved!” on Sunday night.
Our landlord at SF HQ says we’re legally required to keep sign as Twitter & cannot remove “w”, so we painted it background color. Problem solved! pic.twitter.com/1iFjccTbUq
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 10, 2023
Since Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October, the company has been sued several times for unpaid rent, including one for $6.7 million from a San Francisco landlord, SRI Nine Market Square LLC, and another for unpaid rent on its London offices from the Crown Estate in the UK.
Despite the criticism, Musk’s devoted following has persisted in endorsing his unconventional strategy, claiming that it keeps the business in the public eye and promotes a distinctive corporate culture. “Musk’s humor might not be to everyone’s taste, but it certainly makes Twitter stand out in an increasingly crowded market,” said one fan on social media.
A leaked internal memo demonstrates that Elon Musk values Twitter at just $20 billion shortly after purchasing the platform for $44 billion.
The memo, which was sent to Twitter employees, reveals that the social media juggernaut is now only worth around $20 billion. The sharp devaluation comes after a turbulent time following Musk’s takeover, during which a number of significant advertisers left the platform. Fidelity, the investment company that provided a significant portion of the funding for Musk’s acquisition, has also written down the value of its stake in the business by 56 percent.
According to Platformer and the Information, which published the memo first, the valuation of Twitter was established using Musk’s offer of stock grants. Employees who receive stock grants generally get the chance to purchase shares that they can’t sell until after a certain period of time. This contrasts with stock options, which may provide more flexibility depending on the terms. The intention is to motivate staff to work toward a predetermined valuation by a specific date so they can sell their shares for cash.
Meanwhile, Musk’s antics extend beyond practical jokes. His management of Twitter is steadily eroding his self-proclaimed status as a “free speech absolutist.” Breitbart News reported last week that Musk has censored links to newsletter platform Substack, in part because of plans to build a competing product.
Elon Musk’s Twitter is now disabling comments, likes, and retweets for tweets containing links to Substack, a popular writing and newsletter platform. Self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” Musk may be censoring Substack to launch a competing product from Twitter.
Now, whenever users try to comment, like, or retweet any tweet with a Substack link, they are unable to do so.
When users try to like or retweet a tweet with a Substack link, they receive a message from Twitter, which reads, “Some actions on this tweet have been disabled by Twitter.” When they try to comment on the tweet, the receive a message that reads, “Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.”
Read more at Gizmodo here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan