Elon Musk, CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, said in a tweet that X could be on the brink of a tumble. This announcement comes after a glitch erased pictures uploaded prior to December 2014 on the platform.
In response to this glitch, Musk shared his thoughts and made a post on the platform that there are no great ‘social networks’ at the present time. He added, “We may fail, as so many have predicted, but we will try our best to make there be at least one.”
The glitch that erased old photos
A glitch on the platform on the 20th of August led to the automatic removal of pictures and links on posts made before December 2014. The posts showed broken links instead of the pictures and videos that were previously there.
A technical expert, Tom Coates, was one of many users who pointed up the bug. Coates described the error as “epic vandalism by Musk” and mentioned that it might have been a cost-cutting measure.
Among the many tweets that were affected was Ellen DeGeneres’s Oscars selfie from 2014 which was likewise taken down but eventually added back up. With more than 2 million platform shares, the image became the most-retweeted image ever.
Speaking on this, some users supported the idea that the glitch has been caused by an effort to save costs on storage data. In contrast, others said the glitch happened due to some effective changes made on the platform years ago. Changes like when Twitter added “enhanced URL enrichment”, designed to show previews for linked websites and attachments beyond the company’s 140-character limit, according to Verge.
Experts said this glitch did not occur out of the blue but after the slow down access to other social platforms like Meta’s Facebook, Threads, the New York Times website, and Instagram.
Read More: Elon Musk to auction off Twitter bird logo and other memorabilia
Updates with X in recent times
X owner, Elon Musk has instituted a plethora of radical changes since taking sole control of the company. Earlier this year, users of the app noticed they could not post or reply to one another on the platform. This immediately was followed by a statement that they had “exceeded the daily limit for sending tweets.”
Following this, Musk announced that specific restrictions would be implemented. Verified accounts were temporarily limited to reading 6,000 posts per day, while unverified accounts were limited to 600 posts per day. Furthermore, new unverified accounts were restricted to 300 posts per day. Elon described these measures as a “temporary emergency measure” to combat the issues at hand.
The entire focus and the company’s logo were changed when Elon Musk relaunched the Twitter company as X. As a result of that, the company announced it will be auctioning off previous Twitter memorabilia. “Twitter Rebranding: Online Auction Featuring Memorabilia, Art, Office Assets & More!” is the tagline for the auction.
The platform also rolled out a feature that allows paid users to hide their verification checkmarks. Just last year, the Elon Musk-owned company introduced paid verification with the Twitter Blue relaunch.
Under the Twitter Blue umbrella, subscribers gained access to a host of premium features aimed at enhancing their overall engagement on the platform. Before now, the concept of verified accounts has been a hallmark of social media platforms, symbolizing authenticity and credibility. But now it is simply up for sale.
In April, X made the decision to stop offering the pre-existing legacy verification badges. Verification badges were eventually reinstated for high-profile users, regardless of whether they had paid for the privilege.
Since then, the company has promoted its Blue option and added a number of features. Among these were a rise in the word restriction for postings, a 3-hour limit on the length of a video that may be uploaded, a decrease in the number of ads that appear frequently on user timelines, and, most recently, the addition of ad revenue sharing for platform subscribers.
Read More: X (Twitter) slashes minimum creator ad revenue from $50 to $10 amid other reviews
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