While mocking the platform's alternative Mastodon, Twitter's new owner, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk lashed at users who were complaining about the microblogging site's new updates and asked them to join "masterbatedone" if they have a problem.
Musk's sarcastic tweet on Mastodon, which is now deleted, came at a time when the former's servers were down for hours for many users.
Following change in twitter's ownership and mass layoffs that began Friday, some Twitter users have already started migrating from the platform to alternatives such as Mastodon, Koo and Counter Social. They fear a breakdown of moderation and verification could create a disinformation free-for-all on what has been the internet's main conduit for reliable communications from public agencies and other institutions.
Musk's challenges don't end here as several companies have paused advertising on the platform out of concern it could become more unruly under Musk.They fear that misinformation might increase on the platform amid the US midterm polls, and their ads could be placed next to a problematic article or tweet.
What is Mastodon?
Mastodon is not exactly a new platform, and it gained a lot of popularity in India in 2019. Back then, many users fled to Mastadon after Twitter suspended senior Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde's account.
Mastodon is different from twitter in terms of its modus operandi. Mastodon is an open source micro-blogging site which functions in a decentralised manner and unlike Twitter, it isn’t operated from a single headquarters like Twitter. Instead, it is powered by independent servers from all across the globe.
Instead of 'tweeting', in Mastodon, users 'toot' their thoughts.
Musk threatens to boot Twitter account impersonators
Elon Musk tweeted Sunday that Twitter will permanently suspend any account on the social media platform that impersonates another.
The platform's new owner issued the warning after some celebrities changed their Twitter display names — not their account names — and tweeted as Elon Musk' in reaction to the billionaire's decision to offer verified accounts to all comers for $8 month.
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended,” Musk wrote. While Twitter previously issued warnings before suspensions, now that it is rolling out “widespread verification, there will be no warning.”
In fact, “any name change at all” would compel the temporary loss of a verified checkmark, the world's richest man said.
Comedian Kathy Griffin had her account suspended Sunday for switching her screen name to Musk.
Actress Valerie Bertinelli had done the same — posting a series of tweets in support of Democratic candidates on Saturday before switching back to her true name. “Okey-dokey. I've had fun and I think I made my point,” she tweeted afterwards.
Before the stunt, Bertinelli noted the original purpose of the blue verification checkmark. It was granted free of charge to people whose identity Twitter employees had confirmed; with journalists accounting for a big portion of recipients. “It simply meant your identity was verified. Scammers would have a harder time impersonating you,” Bertinelli noted.
“That no longer applies. Good luck out there!” she added.
How Twitter is doing commercially?
As per media reports, Twitter's daily user growth hit 'all-time highs' during Musk's first week as the owner.
According to an official report, "Twitter's monetisable daily user (mDAU) growth has accelerated to more than 20 per cent, while Twitter's largest market, the US, is growing even more quickly".
