By Ezra Emerson
Picture this: The new CEO of your company walks into the headquarters mini-fridge in tow. You would probably feel uncomfortable. Well, this is what Elon Musk did. He walked straight into Twitter HQ with nothing but a kitchen sink. Fittingly, he tweeted in tandem, “Let that sink in!” In my mind, this was a sign of crazy things to come and, as predicted, craziness ensued. Next thing you know, Twitter’s previous CEO and CFO are both fired. Then, out of nowhere, he axed about half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees. Twitter Blue, an $8-a-month package that makes any random schmo seem “popular”, comes and goes in the amount of time it takes for Thanos to snap half the world out of existence. Finally, Musk reinstated some key and controversial figures’ Twitter accounts such as Donald Trump, Andrew Tate, and Ye, among others.
These moves have had some unfortunate consequences. Take for example Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical brand known for its innovation in insulin. Twitter Blue enabled a fake account to pose as them and offer free insulin. The tweet went viral and, although it was ultimately taken down, Eli Lilly still felt the need to issue an apology.
So where do we go from here? How do we keep Twitter from going down the drain? Frankly, I am not sure we need to do anything. As of the writing of this article, even though more than half of its employees were fired, there is no sign that Twitter is slowing down. The tweeters still tweet, the remaining employees are still working, and all seems to be going well. That is, at least, until the sink starts clogging.