Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter: The complete timeline of the latest news so far

After suspending the $8 subscription program due to the onslaught of fake accounts, Elon Musk has announced it'll return soon with some upgrades.

The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures. (Image Source: Reuters)

Elon Musk’s been a busy man since his takeover of Twitter, announcing a slew of changes for the platform while at the same time rolling back some of them. Among the first changes the new Twitter chief decided was the “democratisation” of the blue tick. That didn’t go well, so he had to pause the subscription. Now this week, Musk announced it will be returning soon with some upgrades. Alongside this, he also declared general amnesty to suspended accounts. But that’s not all — here’s everything that Elon Musk announced this week.

Colour-coded check marks

Since allowing everyone to use the same checkmark led to widespread cases of impersonation, Elon Musk is now taking a different approach. Twitter will now use different colours for organisations and individuals. “Gold check for companies, grey check for governments, blue for individuals (celebrities or not). Painful, but necessary,” Musk said in a tweet.

Sorry for the delay, we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week.

Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates.

Painful, but necessary.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022

Accounts will also be manually authenticated before they are granted the blue tick, Musk added.

But since the blue check remains the same for individuals and prominent personalities, it remains to be seen if this is a real solution.

Donald Trump’s Twitter ban a “grave mistake”

Last week, Elon Musk held a Twitter poll asking his followers if Donald Trump should be re-instated. The ex-US president was banned from the platform after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. After a slim majority voted in favour of reinstating, Trump’s account was unbanned.

Justifying his move, Elon Musk on Friday stated in a tweet that Twitter’s ban on Trump was a “grave mistake” that had to be corrected. “Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America,” he added.

I’m fine with Trump not tweeting. The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service.

Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022

General amnesty to suspended accounts

Elon Musk on Thursday ran another poll on whether to provide a “general amnesty” to suspended accounts that didn’t break the law or engaged in particularly egregious spam. After 72.4% of the more than 3.16 million voters voted in favour, he announced that amnesty begins “next week.”

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1595473875847942146

Twitter has already reinstated Donald Trump, as mentioned above, along with the satirical website Babylon Bee and comedian Kathy Griffin.

Twitter reorganisation nearly over

According to a Reuters report, Elon Musk told a court in Delaware that his Twitter reorganisation is nearly over and that he’ll spend less time on the company by the end of next week. The team that Musk assembled as his advisors, which included venture capitalists David Sacks, Jason Calacanis, and Sriram Krishnan, are reportedly already spending less time at the company over the last week or so. And it appears Musk will be joining them in doing that.

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