Email accounts that journalists used to use to correspond with Twitter’s media team are now automatically replying to messages with poop emojis.
Jeff Chiu/AP
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Jeff Chiu/AP
Email accounts that journalists used to use to correspond with Twitter’s media team are now automatically replying to messages with poop emojis.
Jeff Chiu/AP
Twitter’s communications team has been effectively silent since November, when it was announced impaired reporting in the layoffs that CEO Elon Musk made after buying the company.
That means it has not responded to journalists’ questions about any developments that have occurred since – from mass layoffs and resignations myself in the face of major changes to User Experience to a series Musk-related controversies And his announcement that he will eventually resign.
Now the press email address is back up, at least to some extent.
In the future, it will automatically answer journalists’ questions with a single poop emoji, Musk announced – via tweetsOf course — on Sunday.
[email protected] now automatically replies with
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2023
When asked for comment Monday morning, Twitter quickly responded to NPR’s email with a scat icon.
Twitter responded to NPR’s email with a single poop emoji on Monday.
Screenshot of NPR
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Screenshot of NPR
A lot of Twitter users have confirmed that they have successfully tested the feature on their own, and many have been quick criticize him and new policy.
Charles Rickett, a video editor for the UK tabloid, writes: “Huh, like the general user experience.” Metroin a comment received more than 1,600 likes.
Musk supports freedom of speech
Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, describes himself as a “free-speech autocrat” and shaped the takeover in terms of protective expression.
But many of his moves in that direction – from undermining it practice content moderation ARRIVE account recovery was suspended for breaking the rules – which raised safety concerns and misinformation.
Musk’s stated commitment to free speech is also questioned by his treatment of journalists.
In December, he took the very unusual step of ban account of several prominent journalists covering the platform after a sudden change in the policy on location sharing accounts by private jet (including his) using using publicly available information.
musk restored those accounts days later following widespread backlash, including from the United Nations and the European Union, and the result of a Unofficial Twitter poll.
There is some history involved
This isn’t the first time Musk has de-prioritized external communications at a company he owns — or used poop emojis in serious matters.
Tesla, the much talked about electric car company that Musk is co-founder and CEO of, stopped answering press questions in 2020 and is said to be Dissolution of PR . department same year.
In 2021, Musk replied to the tweets from journalists asking him to reconsider.
“Other companies spend money on advertising & manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on products,” he wrote. “I trust the people.”
Tesla had to face it controversial rate in the years since. Notably, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sue Musk for securities fraud over a series of 2018 tweets teasing a Tesla acquisition that never happened. a jury delete him of misconduct in February.
And Musk regularly uses Twitter to troll those who disagree with him, as NPR reported.
In May 2022, Musk halted his plans to acquire Twitter following reports that 5% of Twitter’s daily active users were spam accounts. Then-CEO Parag Agrawal wrote a long topic used “data, facts, and context” to detail the company’s efforts to fight spam – and Musk responded with a poop emoji.
When Twitter sued Musk to force him to make an acquisition, it quoted that tweet (among others) as evidence that he had breached his duty not to discredit the company.
When news of that quote became public, Musk put on Twitter To clarify what he meant:
