Techmeme
October 31, 2022, 2:15 PM

Top News

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Sources: Twitter could make Twitter Blue a $20/month subscription that verifies users; staff have until November 7 to build the feature or face being fired  —  Now that he owns Twitter, Elon Musk has given employees their first ultimatum: Meet his deadline to introduce paid verification on Twitter or pack up and leave.
More: BBC, Garbage Day, Moneycontrol, VICE, Financial Times, PYMNTS.com, CNN, Insider, ZDNet, Ars Technica, The Hill, TechCrunch, Reuters, PCMag, Fortune, TIME, Tubefilter, Techdirt, MobileSyrup, SlashGear, Droid Life, Bloomberg, PLYR1NE Newsletter, CryptoPotato, AppleInsider, Variety, New York Post, KnowTechie, iPhone Hacks, CoinGape, Engadget, Neowin, TechSpot, Android Headlines, The Economic Times, Watcher Guru, BGR, iMore, Deadline, MSPoweruser, TechRadar, iPhone in Canada Blog, City A.M., Tech Advisor, MediaNama, TechCircle, ExchangeWire.com, TheGamer, Firstpost Tech, and iThinkDifferent
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Sources: Twitter is strongly considering taking away its verified users' badges if they don't subscribe to Twitter Blue  —  Under pressure to generate revenue quickly, Twitter's new CEO considers ending free verification  —  Twitter is strongly considering making its users pay to remain verified …
Washington Post:
Source: Elon Musk plans to lay off 25% of Twitter's workforce in the coming days, focusing on sales, product, engineering, legal, and trust and safety  —  The first round of layoffs, led by his lawyer Alex Spiro, will target 25 percent of the workforce  —  SAN FRANCISCO …
Lauren Hirsch / New York Times:
Twitter faces ~$1B per year in interest expenses after Elon Musk's deal added ~$13B in debt, up from ~$50M in 2021 when operations generated ~$633M in cash flow  —  Mr. Musk faces financial challenges in owning Twitter.  The site frequently loses money and took on $13 billion in debt for the blockbuster deal.
Financial Times:
Sources detail the twists and turns in Elon Musk's $44B Twitter takeover, starting in March, falling apart, and then closing late on October 27  —  Even as his $44bn buyout came down to the wire, Elon Musk kept Twitter guessing.  —  Normally, lawyers and advisers on each side …
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Alyssa Lukpat / Wall Street Journal:
The top 20 tech billionaires globally have lost $480B+ on paper in the past year; Mark Zuckerberg's wealth drops by $87B+, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos by $58B+  —  Moguls including Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have collectively lost more on paper than the market values of most S&P 500 companies
Selina Cheng / Wall Street Journal:
Inside Foxconn's Zhengzhou iPhone plant as the company grapples with a weekslong COVID-19 outbreak during a critical period, leading to harsh lockdown measures  —  As it adheres to Beijing's strict epidemic controls, Apple's biggest smartphone assembler scrambles to keep production lines moving
Amanda Hoover / Wired:
Some Twitter users, concerned about Elon Musk's ownership, are moving to alternative platforms, including Mastodon, which has seen sign-ups surge, and Discord  —  Discord, Mastodon and other services are bustling as Twitter fans make backup plans for their online social lives.
The Intercept:
An investigation details the US DHS' ongoing plans to police misinformation on COVID-19, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and more; Meta built a portal to flag content  —  The Department of Homeland Security is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found.
Benjamin Parkin / Financial Times:
India's ban on Chinese video games has boosted its domestic industry but foreign publishers, wary of the heavy-handed approach, are afraid to invest  —  Heavy-handed approach drives domestic success, but executives worry foreign publishers now afraid to invest in country  —  It is the year 2500.

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Dan Milmo / The Guardian: