Twitter

Elon Musk says $63.7 billion Twitter takeover could move ahead with bot info

Key points:

Elon Musk warns Twitter deal stuck without fake account proof

Mr Musk tweeted that the deal "cannot move forward" unless Twitter backs up its claims that less than 5% of daily users are fake or spam accounts.

Twitter has defended its figures, adding that Mr Musk waived rights to "due diligence" to clinch the deal.

The spat has raised doubts about the takeover.

Analysts have speculated that Mr Musk may be looking for ways to renegotiate the price of the deal or walk away.

Controversy grows after Musk engages with tweets criticizing Twitter staff

Controversy grew on Wednesday over tweets from Elon Musk engaging with criticism of Twitter employees, despite a promise from the entrepreneur not to “disparage” the company or its representatives while he completes the deal to acquire the social media platform.

Twitter board takes action to fight Musk bid

It has adopted what is known as a "limited-duration shareholder rights plan", also known as a "poison pill".

The move will prevent anyone from having more than a 15% stake in the company.

It does this by allowing others to buy additional shares at a discount.

The Twitter board detailed its defence plan to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and put out a statement saying it was needed because of Mr Musk's "unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire Twitter".

Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for more than $40bn

The Tesla chief executive and world’s richest person revealed in a regulatory filing on Thursday that he had launched a hostile takeover of Twitter. He further confirmed the move in a public appearance at the TED conference in Vancouver later that day.

Russia blocks access to Facebook and Twitter

Russia has completely blocked access to Facebook in retaliation for the platform placing restrictions on state-owned media.

The Russian state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, later said it had also restricted access to Twitter.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey steps down as chief executive

He will be replaced by the current chief technical officer, Parag Agrawal, Twitter said.

Mr Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter in 2006, has been serving as chief executive of both Twitter and payment firm Square.

"It's finally time for me to leave" he wrote in a statement, saying the company was "ready to move on."

Mr Dorsey said he had "deep" trust in his replacement. "I'm deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It's his time to lead," he said.

Mr Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011, and has been the firm's head of technology since 2017.

     

Twitter tests bigger pictures in timeline

The new feature will expand visual media embedded in tweets to fill the whole width of a mobile phone's screen.

Currently, images are indented next to a user's profile photo and take up much less screen space.

Twitter said the new layout - being tested on iOS but not Android - would give media "more room to shine".

The experimental changes to fuel content creation and consumption come amid a rollout of Twitter's subscription service for dedicated users, Twitter Blue.

     

Facebook and Twitter grilled over US election actions

Democrats questioned whether steps taken to flag that President Trump's claims of election fraud were "disputed" had gone far enough.

Republican members of the Judiciary Committee asked whether the tech firms should be taking such action at all.

This was the second time the CEOs had been cross-examined in three weeks.

They were previously questioned by the Senate Commerce Committee last month in what was a more rowdy event.

Once again, the issue of a law known as Section 230 loomed large.

Facebook, Twitter and Google face questions from US senators

At present, the companies cannot be sued over what their users post online, or the decisions they make over what to leave up and take down.

Some politicians have raised concerns this "sweeping immunity" encourages bad behaviour.

But the chief executives say they need the law to be able to moderate content.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter's Jack Dorsey and Google's Sundar Pichai were summoned before the Senate after both Democrats and Republicans agreed to call them in for questioning.

'A loophole'