By Emmanuel Cliff Muganhwa
Long-famed as a mark of excellence and respect on the twitter streets, the legendary blue verification tick on premium user accounts is now for purchase following the 44 US billion dollar acquisition of the company by the richest man on the globe, South African Elon Musk.
The SpaceX and Boring Company owner has stated in no uncertain terms that Twitter was losing over 4 million dollars per day and was not making any money and he had to make some vital interceptions, top of which is to charge for the verification mark and to lay off some staff.
In the last few days over 15% of twitter’s 75,000 staff have been laid off and paid a 3 months severance package, much to the chagrin of activists, although Musk states that compensation is 50% above what the ex twitter staff were entitled to.
This has also come amidst a backlash from twitter advertisers that has seen many slash spending on twitter adverts creating a loss in revenue in billions of dollars that the new CEO is trying to plug.
The fallout definitely seems to point to business competition and the nature of Musk as a person and his opinions. Car manufacturers like General Motors were the first to fall off, obviously because Musk owns Tesla Motors and advertising with his platform means giving money to the opponent freely.
In Uganda, content creators are already scared because of the sh360,000 annual fees.
Influencers we have spoken to are simply in disbelief and many are saying they will cross that bridge when we get there, which Elon Musk says is soon and non negotiable.
Regardless of his assurances that he intends to make twitter more democratic and a trusted content source after it was widely labeled as a fake news forum by many people like ex US President Trump whose account was blocked prior to the US 2020 elections, there seems to be a rough road ahead for the man and his new toy.
