em360tech image

Elon Musk has said that his dog has replaced him as Twitter CEO after appearing to back away from his promise to step down as Chief Twit. 

In an impromptu interview with the BBC, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO joked he was no longer running the social media platform after vowing to step down as chief executive after 10 million people voted for him to leave the position. 

"I did stand down. I keep telling you I'm not the CEO of Twitter, my dog is the CEO of Twitter," Musk said when reminded of the pledge during the interview. 

The eccentric comments were just part of a strange but compelling conversation with Musk about the current state of the social media network and its future as a company. 

The billionaire told the BBC that running Twitter has been “quite painful”, but revealed that the company is now ‘roughly breaking even’ after he took the wheel in October last year. 

The billionaire carried out several rounds of mass layoffs in the company, eventually slashing 80 per cent of its workforce from 8,000 TO 1,500in a bid to cut costs. At the time, he claimed Twitter was losing over 4 million a day. 

“It’s not been boring. It’s quite a rollercoaster,” the billionaire told U.K. broadcaster at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters.

“The pain level of Twitter has been extremely high. This hasn't been some sort of party," Musk added –  suggesting he only went through with the takeover because a judge would have forced him to. 

Despite the turbulent start to his tenure, Musk predicted that Twitter could become “cash flow positive” in the current quarter “if current trends continue.” 

The Death of the Legacy Tick 

Musk revealed during the BBC interview that the social media’s legacy ticks will be removed in exchange for a paid verification system on 20 April. This will mean only accounts that paid the company $8 or $11 per month would have the badge verifying their identity. 

The billionaire previously described Twitter’s blue-tick verification as a “lord & peasants system”, adding that his new, paid system would give “power to the people” – a move that has faced heavy criticism from users.  

The social media platform erupted into chaos earlier this month after the platform removed information that differentiated between legacy verified accounts and Twitter Blue subscribers.

This made it impossible to distinguish between accounts that had paid for blue checkmarks and those whose accounts had legacy badges.

Experts are concerned the removal of Twitter's traditional verification system, paired with the drop in moderation staff will lead to a spike in misinformation and hate speech on Twitter as users imitate public figures.

Regardless, Musk rejected claims that there had been a rise in hate speech and misinformation on Twitter following the reduction in staff, stating that there’s “less misinformation” on Twitter since the takeover “rather than more”. 

Despite the billionaire’s claims, there have been multiple reports of a spike in hate crimes on the social media platform. The Center for Countering Digital Hate found that anti-LGBTQ+ remarks have risen by at least 1,458 times a day since Musk’s takeover. 

The New York Times also reports that comments against black people have risen to 3,876 times a day – the highest in Twitter’s history. 

Twitter becomes “X” 

Musk’s surprise BBC interview came as it emerged Twitter Inc no longer exists as a company. As per a court document filed in California, it has merged into a shell firm dubbed X Corp. 

The filing earlier this month was only made public after lawyers were forced to disclose the paperwork in an ongoing legal case with US Congressional candidate Laura Loomer.

A separate filing was made in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida Miami Division, where documents were amended to state: 'Twitter, Inc. has been merged into X Corp. and no longer exists.'

“X Corp. is a privately held corporation, incorporated in Nevada and with its principal place of business in San Francisco, California, and is thus a citizen of Nevada and California,” the document stated. 

Prior to his takeover, the billionaire spoke of his ambitious plan to turn Twitter into “X, the everything app”. The billionaire appeared to allude to the news last week with a rather obscure tweer simply stating: “X”.

The idea has been compared to China’s WeChat, which combined features including messaging, a marketplace and Twitter-style public posts on a single platform. 

Musk’s proposed X Corp may also act as a future parent company for his other businesses: Neuralink, SpaceX, Tesla, and The Boring Company.