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Elon Musk Pulls Out of $44B Deal to Buy Twitter
Elon Musk Pulls Out of $44B Deal to Buy Twitter
What's happening
Elon Musk sent a letter to Twitter saying he's ending an agreement to buy the influential social media company for $44 billion.
Why it matters
Twitter says it still plans to close the deal, so Musk's move is setting up a legal battle between the company and the billionaire. The company's ownership also impacts the future of Twitter, which has struggled to attract more users and ad dollars.
What's next
Twitter says it plans to pursue legal action to enforce the agreement.
Billionaire Elon Musk said Friday that he's pulling out of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, adding another twist to an ongoing saga in which the mercurial entrepreneur presented himself as the savior of free speech on the influential social network.
Musk, who also runs Tesla and SpaceX, said in a letter sent by his lawyer that Twitter breached multiple parts of the merger agreement by failing to provide more information about how it estimates the number of spam accounts on its platform. Twitter has reported that in the first quarter, fewer than 5% of Twitter's 229 million daily users were fake or spam-focused, but Musk says that number might not be accurate.
"This information is fundamental to Twitter's business and financial performance," reads the letter to Twitter from Musk lawyer Mike Ringler. The letter also said that Twitter "appears to have made false and misleading representations."
Bret Taylor, chairman of Twitter's board of directors, tweeted Friday that the company still intends to close the deal. "The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement," Taylor tweeted. "We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery."
Ringler didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter also outlines other information Musk says Twitter hasn't handed over, including information about the company's financial conditions and more details about how Twitter calculates daily users who can see ads. The letter says that Twitter has provided Musk with some data, but it calls some of the information "minimally useful." Musk also alleges that an early analysis suggests some of Twitter's public disclosures of daily users are "either false or materially misleading." The letter further alleges Twitter breached another part of the agreement that said the company had to seek and obtain consent before straying from "its obligation to conduct its business in the ordinary course," after the social network fired key executives, laid off staff and froze hiring.
The decision to terminate the deal caps a tumultuous period for Twitter, which found itself in the crosshairs after Musk revealed a roughly 9% stake in the company in early April. Musk appeared on the verge of joining Twitter's board of directors but pulled out before proposing to buy the entire company and take it private. The board tepidly accepted Musk's offer after he cobbled together highly leveraged financing for the deal.
Musk, the world's richest person, said he wanted to acquire Twitter because he believes the company no longer adheres to the principles of free speech, a term he's used both loosely and often. On April 26, he tweeted, "By 'free speech', I simply mean that which matches the law."
Under the US Constitution's First Amendment, free speech refers to protection from government interference. It doesn't apply to companies such as Twitter.
Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, tweeted Friday that Musk's move is a "disaster scenario for Twitter and its Board as now the company will battle Musk in an elongated court battle to recoup the deal and/or the breakup fee of $1 billion at a minimum."
Carolina Milanesi, a principal analyst at market intelligence and strategy consulting firm Creative Strategies, said forcing Musk to buy Twitter could be a mistake for the social network.
"What company wants to be owned by someone who does not want it?" Milanesi said. "I personally never believed Musk had a concrete and viable plan to reinvigorate Twitter and its revenue."
Twitter has struggled to compete for ad dollars and users with larger social networks such as Facebook and TikTok. The company's calculation of daily users who can see ads hasn't always been accurate, either. In April, Twitter revealed it inflated its daily active user numbers since 2019 because of an error involving how it calculated linked accounts.
The deal's potential collapse could also prompt the Securities and Exchange Commission to further scrutinize Musk, who fell afoul of regulators for tweeting about a plan to take Tesla private. Musk's disclosure of his stake in Twitter was filed late and on the wrong form.
Musk has railed against the SEC, which alleged that Musk and Tesla had made "false and misleading" statements when he tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018, that he had "funding secured" to take the electric-car company private.
The SEC struck a deal with Musk and Tesla that required fines of $20 million each. It also required Musk's tweets to be vetted by a lawyer if they contained material information regarding the company. In April, a federal judge denied Musk's request to have the oversight lifted.
Investors never wholly believed Musk would buy Twitter. Though the company's shares jumped after Musk unveiled his stake, they didn't reach the $54.20 price he pledged to pay. (The price includes the number 420, slang for marijuana and a running Musk gag. His proposal to take Tesla private included a suggestion a deal could be done at $420 a share.)
Twitter shares immediately fell nearly 7% in after hours trading to $34.25 per share on news that Musk wanted to end the deal. Twitter's general counsel, meanwhile, asked employees not to tweet, Slack or otherwise discuss the deal now that the company's board of directors has threatened legal action against Musk.
"I know this is an uncertain time, and we appreciate your patience and ongoing commitment to the important work we have underway," he wrote in an internal memo Friday. A Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment further.
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Facebook, YouTube to Restrict Some Russian State-Controlled Media Across Europe
Facebook, YouTube to Restrict Some Russian State-Controlled Media Across Europe
Facebook, YouTube and other social networks are restricting access to Russian state-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik across Europe, amid calls to crack down on disinformation. The move will likely heighten tensions between some of the world's most popular social networks and the Russian government.
Facebook's parent company, Meta, said Monday that it will limit the accessibility of Sputnik and RT across the European Union.
"We have received requests from a number of governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media. Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time," Nick Clegg, who oversees global affairs at Meta and is a former UK deputy prime minister, said in a tweet.
Clegg didn't respond to questions on Twitter about what the restrictions entail, how many requests Meta has received and from which governments or how many Facebook users will be impacted by these restrictions. Clegg also didn't say when these restrictions would start. RT's Facebook page has 7.4 million followers and Sputnik's Facebook page has 1.4 million followers. The media outlets are also on Facebook-owned Instagram, a photo and video service. RT has 839,000 followers on Instagram and Sputnik has 116,000 followers.
On Tuesday, Google said in a post on Twitter that it would block YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe.
"Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we're blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately," reads a tweet from the official Google Europe account. "It'll take time for our systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action."
Google, the video giant's parent company, didn't immediately respond to questions on how many YouTube channels would be blocked. RT's main channel on YouTube has more than 4.6 million subscribers, while Sputnik has over 300,000 subscribers.
Facebook's move came a day after Meta announced it had restricted access to several accounts, including from Russian state-controlled media, in Ukraine after a request from the government there. Meta has been facing more pressure to take action against these media outlets for spreading propaganda and false claims after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet that the EU's executive branch is developing tools to ban "toxic and harmful disinformation" published by RT and Sputnik and their subsidiaries. The EU is an economic and political union of 27 countries, including France, Germany and Spain.
Following Facebook's move on Tuesday, RT took issue with unspecified comments from European government officials and actions by social media platforms, with its deputy editor-in-chief saying in a statement that no one had pointed to specific evidence of falsehoods appearing on its site during the Ukraine crisis. In its own statement, Sputnik's press arm characterized the restrictions as an "information war against the Russian media."
RT and Sputnik are on other social media sites, including Twitter and TikTok. A spokeswoman for TikTok said users in the EU won't see content from RT's and Sputnik's accounts. Twitter started labeling state-affiliated media, but a spokeswoman said the company had "nothing to share at this time" when asked if the company was also planning to restrict RT and Sputnik.
The rare move by Meta also raises questions about whether Russia will further restrict access to Facebook and Instagram. Ukrainians have put pressure on Facebook to remove access to the main social network and Instagram in Russia, but Clegg said Sunday those platforms are also being used by protesters and as a source of independent information. "The Russian Government is already throttling our platform to prevent these activities. We believe turning off our services would silence important expression at a crucial time," Clegg said in a tweet on Sunday.
Russia said last week that it's partly restricting access to Facebook after the social network refused to stop fact-checking and labeling content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. Russia's telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, alleges Facebook violated "fundamental human rights" by restricting the country's state-controlled media.
Facebook and YouTube have also been barring ads from Russia state media. Twitter also said last week that it's temporarily pausing ads in Ukraine and Russia.
On Sunday, Meta also announced that it removed a network of about 40 fake accounts, Pages and Groups on Facebook and Instagram from Russia and Ukraine. Meta said some of these accounts pretended to be news editors and ran fake news websites and published stories that included "claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state." Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, created a special operations center with experts who speak Ukrainian and Russian to help monitor its platform.
CNET's Carrie Mihalcik contributed to this report.
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Creators Can Save up to 40% on CyberLink's PowerDirector 365 Video Editor
Creators Can Save up to 40% on CyberLink's PowerDirector 365 Video Editor
Content creation can be a fun hobby or a serious business. Whatever the reason, if you enjoy video editing, you know there is a ton of editing software around to help you enhance your creations. Some of the software out there is basic, and other packages come packed with features.
Right now annual plans for CyberLink: PowerDirector 365 are already discounted by 30% for the company's Fourth of July sale. However, CNET readers can use our exclusive promo code POWER10 at checkout to save an extra 10% off the existing sitewide sale, meaning you'll get 40% off the $70 annual plan. This offer is available through July 4.
TikTok , Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are just a few of the popular social media platforms that content creators have flocked to in recent years. But if you're vying for the most views, having great software can get you a leg up over other posts.
Whether you're upgrading your current software or tying your hand at editing for the first time, consider PowerDirector 265. It's a fast video editing software subscription that uses artificial intelligence and stock footage to enhance your videos beyond basic filters. These tools can help you create better videos more quickly and easily.
You'll be able to do all the basic editing functions, like editing down the time, but you'll also be able to refine your video and add effects before you publish. But this program gives you access to intuitive editing tools, too, like distortion correction, color match, title designer and more. You'll also have the ability to use advanced features like AI-powered tools, selection mask and shape designer. It even supports 4K.
Your subscription comes with 50GB of Cloud storage, unlimited access to CyberLink premium plug-ins and effects, unlimited access to background music and sound clips, access to millions of Shutterstock video clips, background music files and stock images, access to millions of Getty stock video clips and photos and more. It imports a number of video formats, including HDR10, too. Plus, new content is added each month, so you'll have plenty of features to keep your content fresh and relevant.
TikTok Will Teach Small Businesses How to Build a Following
TikTok Will Teach Small Businesses How to Build a Following
TikTok has announced a new training program, called Follow Me, aimed at helping small businesses use the social media platform. The six-week program was created to "empower more small businesses to dive into TikTok," according to a press release Monday.
The platform has become a tool for building community and reaching new audiences for small to medium-size businesses especially. Research from Hello Alice, a resource for small businesses, found that 58% of small businesses owners surveyed felt TikTok has positively impacted their business, while 47% said it helped expand their marketing reach to new geographic markets.
Read more:Ready to Join TikTok in 2022? Here's What You Need to Know
The trainings will be led by small business owners Cassie Sorensen, owner and founder of Tassel Armor, and Jacob Zander, owner and founder of Feel Your Soul, both of whom used the platform to promote their businesses.
The announcement of the program comes amid increased government scrutiny of the platform. Last month, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr warned that TikTok, owned by a Chinese company, is "a serious national security threat" and he's pushing to get the app removed from Apple and Google app stores.
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop
Rachel Barkman's son started accurately identifying different species of mushroom at the age of 2. Together they'd go out into the mossy woods near her home in Vancouver and forage. When it came to occasionally sharing in her TikTok videos her son's enthusiasm and skill for picking mushrooms, she didn't think twice about it -- they captured a few cute moments, and many of her 350,000-plus followers seemed to like it.
That was until last winter, when a female stranger approached them in the forest, bent down and addressed her son, then 3, by name and asked if he could show her some mushrooms.
"I immediately went cold at the realization that I had equipped complete strangers with knowledge of my son that puts him at risk," Barkman said in an interview this past June.
This incident, combined with research into the dangers of sharing too much, made her reevaluate her son's presence online. Starting at the beginning of this year, she vowed not to feature his face in future content.
"My decision was fueled by a desire to protect my son, but also to protect and respect his identity and privacy, because he has a right to choose the way he is shown to the world," she said.
These kinds of dangers have cropped up alongside the rise in child influencers, such as 10-year-old Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World, who has almost 33 million subscribers, with various estimates putting his net worth in the multiple tens of millions of dollars. Increasingly, brands are looking to use smaller, more niche, micro- and nano-influencers, developing popular accounts on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to reach their audiences. And amid this influencer gold rush there's a strong incentive for parents, many of whom are sharing photos and videos of their kids online anyway, to get in on the action.
The increase in the number of parents who manage accounts for their kids -- child influencers' parents are often referred to as "sharents" -- opens the door to exploitation or other dangers. With almost no industry guardrails in place, these parents find themselves in an unregulated wild west. They're the only arbiters of how much exposure their children get, how much work their kids do, and what happens to money earned through any content they feature in.
Instagram didn't respond to multiple requests for comment about whether it takes any steps to safeguard child influencers. A representative for TikTok said the company has a zero-tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and pointed to policies to protect accounts of users under the age of 16. But these policies don't apply to parents posting with or on behalf of their children. YouTube didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
"When parents share about their children online, they act as both the gatekeeper -- the one tasked with protecting a child's personal information -- and as the gate opener," said Stacey Steinberg, a professor of law at the University of Florida and author of the book Growing Up Shared. As the gate opener, "they benefit, gaining both social and possibly financial capital by their online disclosures."
The reality is that some parents neglect the gatekeeping and leave the gate wide open for any internet stranger to walk through unchecked. And walk through they do.
Meet the sharents
Mollie is an aspiring dancer and model with an Instagram following of 122,000 people. Her age is ambiguous but she could be anywhere from 11-13, meaning it's unlikely she's old enough to meet the social media platform's minimum age requirement. Her account is managed by her father, Chris, whose own account is linked in her bio, bringing things in line with Instagram's policy. (Chris didn't respond to a request for comment.)
You don't have to travel far on Instagram to discover accounts such as Mollie's, where grown men openly leer at preteen girls. Public-facing, parent-run accounts dedicated to dancers and gymnasts -- who are under the age of 13 and too young to have accounts of their own -- number in the thousands. (To protect privacy, we've chosen not to identify Mollie, which isn't her real name, or any other minors who haven't already appeared in the media.)
Parents use these accounts, which can have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, to raise their daughters' profiles by posting photos of them posing and demonstrating their flexibility in bikinis and leotards. The comment sections are often flooded with sexualized remarks. A single, ugly word appeared under one group shot of several young girls in bikinis: "orgy."
Some parents try to contain the damage by limiting comments on posts that attract too much attention. The parent running one dancer account took a break from regular scheduling to post a pastel-hued graphic reminding other parents to review their followers regularly. "After seeing multiple stories and posts from dance photographers we admire about cleaning up followers, I decided to spend time cleaning," read the caption. "I was shocked at how many creeps got through as followers."
But "cleaning up" means engaging in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole to keep unwanted followers at bay, and it ignores the fact that you don't need to be following a public account to view the posts. Photos of children are regularly reposted on fan or aggregator accounts, over which parents have no control, and they can also be served up through hashtags or through Instagram's discovery algorithms.
The simple truth is that publicly posted content is anyone's for the taking. "Once public engagement happens, it is very hard, if not impossible, to really put meaningful boundaries around it," said Leah Plunkett, author of the book Sharenthood and a member of the faculty at Harvard Law School.
This concern is at the heart of the current drama concerning the TikTok account @wren.eleanor. Wren is an adorable blonde 3-year-old girl, and the account, which has 17.3 million followers, is managed by her mother, Jacquelyn, who posts videos almost exclusively of her child.
Concerned onlookers have pointed Jacquelyn toward comments that appear to be predatory, and have warned her that videos in which Wren is in a bathing suit, pretending to insert a tampon, or eating various foodstuffs have more watches, likes and saves than other content. They claim her reluctance to stop posting in spite of their warnings demonstrates she's prioritizing the income from her account over Wren's safety. Jacquelyn didn't respond to several requests for comment.
Last year, the FBI ran a campaign in which it estimated that there were 500,000 predators online every day -- and that's just in the US. Right now, across social platforms, we're seeing the growth of digital marketplaces that hinge on child exploitation, said Plunkett. She doesn't want to tell other parents what to do, she added, but she wants them to be aware that there's "a very real, very pressing threat that even innocent content that they put up about their children is very likely to be repurposed and find its way into those marketplaces."
Naivete vs. exploitation
When parent influencers started out in the world of blogging over a decade ago, the industry wasn't exploitative in the same way it is today, said Crystal Abidin, an academic from Curtin University who specializes in internet cultures. When you trace the child influencer industry back to its roots, what you find is parents, usually mothers, reaching out to one another to connect. "It first came from a place of care among these parent influencers," she said.
Over time, the industry shifted, centering on children more and more as advertising dollars flowed in and new marketplaces formed.
Education about the risks hasn't caught up, which is why people like Sarah Adams, a Vancouver mom who runs the TikTok account @mom.uncharted, have taken it upon themselves to raise the flag on those risks. "My ultimate goal is just have parents pause and reflect on the state of sharenting right now," she said.
But as Mom Uncharted, Adams is also part of a wider unofficial and informal watchdog group of internet moms and child safety experts shedding light on the often disturbing way in which some parents are, sometimes knowingly, exploiting their children online.
The troubling behavior uncovered by Adams and others suggests there's more than naivete at play -- specifically when parents sign up for and advertise services that let people buy "exclusive" or "VIP" access to content featuring their children.
Some parent-run social media accounts that Adams has found linked out to a site called SelectSets, which lets the parents sell photo sets of their children. One account offered sets with titles such as "2 little princesses." SelectSets has described the service as "a classy and professional" option for influencers to monetize content, allowing them to "avoid the stigma often associated with other platforms."
Over the last few weeks, SelectSets has gone offline and no owner could be traced for comment.
In addition to selling photos, many parent-run dancer accounts, Mollie's included, allow strangers to send the dancers swimwear and underwear from the dancers' Amazon wish lists, or money to "sponsor" them to "realize their dream" or support them on their "journeys."
While there's nothing technically illegal about anything these parents are doing, they're placing their children in a gray area that's not explicitly sexual but that many people would consider to be sexualized. The business model of using an Amazon wish list is one commonly embraced by online sugar babies who accept money and gifts from older men.
"Our Conditions of Use and Sale make clear that users of Amazon Services must be 18 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian," said an Amazon spokesperson in a statement. "In rare cases where we are made aware that an account has been opened by a minor without permission, we close the account."
Adams says it's unlikely to be other 11-year-olds sending their pocket money to these girls so they attend their next bikini modeling shoot. "Who the fuck do you think is tipping these kids?" she said. "It's predators who are liking the way you exploit your child and giving them all the content they need."
Turning points
Plunkett distinguishes between parents who are casually sharing content that features their kids and parents who are sharing for profit, an activity she describes as "commercial sharenting."
"You are taking your child, or in some cases, your broader family's private or intimate moments, and sharing them digitally, in the hope of having some kind of current or future financial benefit," she said.
No matter the parent's hopes or intentions, any time children appear in public-facing social media content, that content has the potential to go viral, and when it does, parents have a choice to either lean in and monetize it or try to rein it in.
During Abidin's research -- in which she follows the changing activities of the same influencers over time -- she's found that many influencer parents reach a turning point. It can be triggered by something as simple as other children at school being aware of their child's celebrity or their child not enjoying it anymore, or as serious as being involved in a car chase while trying to escape fans (an occurrence recounted to Abidin by one of her research subjects).
One influencer, Katy Rose Pritchard, who has almost 92,000 Instagram followers, decided to stop showing her children's faces on social media this year after she discovered they were being used to create role-playing accounts. People had taken photos of her children that she'd posted and used them to create fictional profiles of children for personal gratification, which she said in a post made her feel "violated."
All these examples highlight the different kinds of threats sharents are exposing their children to. Plunkett describes three "buckets" of risk tied to publicly sharing content online. The first and perhaps most obvious are risks involving criminal and/or dangerous behavior, posing a direct threat to the child.
The second are indirect risks, where content posted featuring children can be taken, reused, analyzed or repurposed by people with nefarious motives. Consequences include anything from bullying to harming future job prospects to millions of people having access to children's medical information -- a common trope on YouTube is a video with a melodramatic title and thumbnail involving a child's trip to the hospital, in which influencer parents with sick kids will document their health journeys in blow-by-blow detail.
The third set of risks are probably the least talked about, but they involve potential harm to a child's sense of self. If you're a child influencer, how you see yourself as a person and your ability to develop into an adult is "going to be shaped and in some instances impeded by the fact that your parents are creating this public performance persona for you," said Plunkett.
Often children won't be aware of what this public persona looks like to the audience and how it's being interpreted. They may not even be aware it exists. But at some point, as happened with Barkman, the private world in which content is created and the public world in which it's consumed will inevitably collide. At that point, the child will be thrust into the position of confronting the persona that's been created for them.
"As kids get older, they naturally want to define themselves on their own terms, and if parents have overshared about them in public spaces, that can be difficult, as many will already have notions about who that child is or what that child may like," said Steinberg. "These notions, of course, may be incorrect. And some children may value privacy and wish their life stories were theirs -- not their parents -- to tell."
Savannah and Cole LaBrant have documented nearly everything about their children's lives.
Jim Spellman/WireImage
This aspect of having their real-life stories made public is a key factor distinguishing children working in social media from children working in the professional entertainment industry, who usually play fictional roles. Many children who will become teens and adults in the next couple of decades will have to reckon with the fact that their parents put their most vulnerable moments on the internet for the world to see -- their meltdowns, their humiliation, their most personal moments.
One influencer family, the LaBrants, were forced to issue a public apology in 2019 after they played an April Fools' Day Joke on their 6-year-old daughter Everleigh. The family pretended they were giving her dog away, eliciting tears throughout the video. As a result, many viewers felt that her parents, Sav and Cole, had inflicted unnecessary distress on her.
In the past few months, parents who film their children during meltdowns to demonstrate how to calm them down have found themselves the subject of ire on parenting Subreddits. Their critics argue that it's unfair to post content of children when they're at their most vulnerable, as it shows a lack of respect for a child's right to privacy.
Privacy-centric parenting
Even the staunchest advocates of child privacy know and understand the parental instinct of wanting to share their children's cuteness and talent with the world. "Our kids are the things usually we're the most proud of, the most excited about," said Adams. "It is normal to want to show them off and be proud of them."
When Adams started her account two years ago, she said her views were seen as more polarizing. But increasingly people seem to relate and share her concerns. Most of these are "average parents," naive to the risks they're exposing their kids to, but some are "commercial sharents" too.
Even though they don't always see eye to eye, the private conversations she's had with parents of children (she doesn't publicly call out anyone) with massive social media presences have been civil and productive. "I hope it opens more parents' eyes to the reality of the situation, because frankly this is all just a large social experiment," she said. "And it's being done on our kids. And that just doesn't seem like a good idea."
For Barkman, it's been "surprisingly easy, and hugely beneficial" to stop sharing content about her son. She's more present, and focuses only on capturing memories she wants to keep for herself.
"When motherhood is all consuming, it sometimes feels like that's all you have to offer, so I completely understand how we have slid into oversharing our children," she said. "It's a huge chunk of our identity and our hearts."
But Barkman recognizes the reality of the situation, which is that she doesn't know who's viewing her content and that she can't rely on tech platforms to protect her son. "We are raising a generation of children who have their entire lives broadcast online, and the newness of social media means we don't have much data on the impacts of that reality on children," she said. "I feel better acting with caution and letting my son have his privacy so that he can decide how he wants to be perceived by the world when he's ready and able."
What is 'twee' and why is TikTok debating its return?
What is 'twee' and why is TikTok debating its return?
In 2021, TikTok unseated Google as the most popular domain on the Internet, and now it's looking like it'll take over Instagram as the ultimate home for fashion influencers.
With one of the largest audiences on the planet, TikTok is responsible for the rise and fall of many a trend. When TikTok speaks, people listen. Lately, however, TikTok fashionistas have been divided over the potential resurgence of a very specific and iconic trend: twee.
@flashesofstyle How are we feeling about this resurgence? Idk yet 😅 #twee#tweestyle#tweefashion#fypシ#fyp♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
Even if you're unfamiliar with the word, you'll likely recognize the look. Think early 2013 ModCloth aesthetic -- swooping bangs, Peter Pan collars, cutesy cardigans, skater skirts with patterned tights, red lipstick, ukuleles and typewriters.
Essentially, look at almost any image of Zooey Deschanel circa 2011-2014 to be smacked in the face with twee, or hipster fashion. It was an incredibly popular aesthetic, especially among the Tumblr crowd.
@steffydegref It's back, and I've been waiting forever. #twee#indie#indiesleaze#tumblr♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
On the one hand, some users are adamant that the trend is returning, warning fashion followers to ready their ballet flats and berets. Others, however, are dismissing it as the latest in a line of TikTok algorithm bubbles destined to burn itself out on speculation and drama.
Regardless of whether it's back, though, it's already facing backlash. So why is an aesthetic causing so much division?
Here's the thing: It's not really about fashion at all. When you boil it down, the underlying issues of the debate aren't based on clothing choices. They're based on deceptive algorithms, negative online behavior and the fear of a cyclical internet.
The TikTok bubble effect
TikTok's algorithm is designed to know you better than you know yourself. It serves you endless customized videos that pay attention to your interactions, all to ensure you see the exact content you'll enjoy most.
But the funny thing about humans is that we actually have a very poor understanding of scale and relevance outside of our own bubbles. So, if you're getting inundated with a particular sound or trend on TikTok, your brain will likely think that it's a much bigger deal than it is.
Despite not having that many actual videos comparatively -- just under 7,000 for the main TikTok sound -- the twee revival debate is causing real-world trend forecasters to pay attention. Why? Because, as was the case when TikTok witches caused a real-world fuss by "hexing the moon," even microcosms and pockets of the internet have the capacity to create great social influence and change.
What's so scary about twee?
The initial wave of twee came at a time when Tumblr popularity was paramount -- the more reblogs you had on a cutesy photo with a poetic caption, the more indie and iconic you were. It was an attitude as much as a fashion movement, similar to what we'd now call hipsters.
Unfortunately, however, it also came with some deeply concerning attitudes toward body types and elitism.
@wannabehayleywilliams We still have time, audio still has less than 550 videos under it. #tumblr#2014tumblr#aesthetic#twee♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
Between 2011 and 2014, Tumblr had itself a serious eating disorder and self harm problem, with countless blogs devoted to promoting and striving for anorexia and "thinspiration." Coinciding with the peak of twee popularity, the aesthetic went hand-in-hand with harmful "thinspo" propaganda – anyone who wasn't thin enough wasn't considered "twee" so much as "frumpy." It was elitist and dangerous.
As a result, the lingering perception of twee and indie sleaze for people who were on Tumblr in those days is often one of perilously thin legs clad in tights or sepia-toned cardigans covering self-harm scars.
We've learned a lot since the Tumblr days. We grew out of the mustache trend, we learned that Tom was the real villain in classic twee film (500) Days of Summer, but the Internet hasn't fully caught up with body neutrality and progress.
To this day, social media sites struggle to keep a lid on pro-anorexia content, with Instagram coming under fire for its failure to protect teens from that sort of content as recently as last month.
With TikTok already having faced similar issues, people noticing the resurgence of twee are concerned that, while we may dust off the cardigans and tights, we haven't come far enough to leave the harmful attitudes behind.
@rebxtat Maybe sharing a hot take whilst cleaning out my fish tank x #twee♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
@vonmunster i looked like this and listened to chelsea grin #twee#indie#tumblr♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
Do we need to worry about this?
As is so often the case online, the discourse surrounding the twee debate is bigger than the debate itself. What started as a simple trend revival has grown legs in part due to the attention that naysayers have brought upon it.
But as for whether we should be worried, it really comes down to how much faith people have in their own capacity to regulate content and how much they trust social media to keep the dangerous ideas at bay.
The concern is that if the negative associations with twee come back alongside the trend, there could be microcosms and TikTok algorithm bubbles circulating the same dangerous ideas and mentalities that caused such uproar on Tumblr.
In an article from The Guardian, it's suggested that TikTok could actually end up being more dangerous because of the demographic of its users. It's not hard to circumnavigate word restrictions -- we've already seen users get around TikTok censorship with intentional spelling mistakes -- and with so many young users it's a concern.
Sure, there may not be that many videos about it now, but for the people who live within that bubble, it feels big, and the power of teenage girl influence shouldn't be underestimated.
Let's just remember for a moment that nobody is arguing the merits of the actual clothes, though I'm sure nobody wants twee revival to venture into mustache-core again. Nobody is scared of a plaid skirt and tights combo.
But given the damage that the wider twee-thinspo Tumblr pairing did in the early 2010s, it's little wonder people are apprehensive.
When I first heard of a new social media app called BeReal, I knew I had to try it.
The app bills itself as the "anti-Instagram." It takes the basic concept of the 'gram -- an endless-scroll feed of your friends' slice-of-life photos -- and revamps it into something more gamified and (a little) less phony. Lately it's become wildly popular.
Here's how it works: Every day, at a random and unpredictable time, the BeReal app sends you and everyone else on the app a push notification: It's "Time to BeReal." You then have two minutes to take a photo simultaneously using both your front and back camera and post to the feed. If you don't post, you can't look at your friends' posts either. If you post late (or retake the shot several times to get the right angle), the app will rat on you to your friends. When the next day's notification comes in, everyone's previous photos disappear.
The gamification comes from BeReal's once-a-day posting restraint; the authenticity comes from the fact that you don't get to pick where or when you post, and you can't use a filter to smooth your skin or correct the color of your avocado toast or whatever.
It actually sounded a lot like Wordle to me: A two-minute break from your day to complete a fun little task on your phone before returning to the grind or the doomscroll or, most likely, one of your other social media apps. And crucially, like Wordle, BeReal can only be "done" once a day.
What it's like to use BeReal
A sampling of my BeReal posts.
Karisa Langlo/CNET
I started recruitment by putting feelers out in a couple of my existing group chats. I had a hunch the app would be more of a fun group activity than a true social feed, for the same reason I sometimes still exchange Wordle (or Worldle, Heardle, or Antiwordle) results over text but can't understand why anyone is still tweeting them.
Not being a member of Gen Z myself, I knew it would be difficult to convince enough friends to join me. My invites had about a 50% success rate. One friend couldn't get past the usual AI-training paranoia around novelty photo-sharing apps. Another friend: "This feels like a trap." My own spouse left me on read.
The friends who did take the bait began posting gamely, often photos of their laptops or cats or protein powder. More often than not, my own BeReal front camera photos were unflattering ones of my weary, grumpy face while my back camera captured my son smearing ketchup around his highchair tray. Once, I posted the same view from my balcony that a dinner guest Instagrammed (and filtered the heck out of). Hers definitely looked better.
You can't technically win BeReal like you can Wordle, but I soon came to understand the particular satisfaction of achieving the trifecta: capturing an interesting tableau, taking a flattering selfie and posting it all on time. There's an element of luck, too, if you happen to be somewhere cool when it's time to be real and not on your couch or, as one of my friends feared, on the toilet.
"Hoping that I get the notification during my exciting moments and not when I'm pooping," he texted me one day. The daily anticipation around when it would arrive, he added, is "like a Jack in the box."
BeReal notifies you every day at a random time, with only two minutes to post a photo.
Sarah Tew/CNET
I "lost" BeReal several times: when the notification arrived after I'd gone to bed, was presenting during a camera-on Zoom meeting or was driving on the highway. But I totally won on the day the two-minute window coincided with the "greatest two minutes in sports," and I got a snap of my Kentucky Derby fascinator and Rich Strike crossing the finish line on TV.
Read more: After Today's Wordle, Try These 21 Other Puzzle Games
How real is BeReal, really?
Of my BeReal friends, 100% have plans to delete the app after this article publishes. They all took issue not with the app's spurious claims to authenticity but with its demands on their time.
"Getting the alert, especially during the workday or at night when I wouldn't normally be taking photos or posting anything, was a little stressful," one friend said.
"This app kind of highlights that ideally I want control over social media and not the other way around," another friend told me.
"I felt a little guilty if I didn't post every day," a third admitted.
If Wordle tried to dictate what time we all solved the puzzle every day, would the masses have turned on it by now? (Look what happened to HQ Trivia.)
But I'm personally more interested in the "Real" than the "Be."
The vibe on BeReal is actually more nostalgic than authentic. More early-Instagram than anti-Instagram. My favorite part of BeReal was the permission – nay, obligation – to post goofy selfies and capitulate to the adolescent egocentrism that still lurks beneath my now over-orchestrated grid. People don't give a crap what I ate for lunch, but I want them to know, dammit! One of my first Insta posts was just a photo of some Finger Hands finger puppets I found at a joke shop and thought were funny, and I miss posting stuff like that.
There doesn't seem to be an appetite on Instagram anymore for the detritus of daily life. Instead of Instagramming the places we visit, we now just visit Instagrammable places. Whereas Instagram has been taken over by influencers and "creators" posting Reels and memes, BeReal takes a different tack, as stated in its app store listing: "If you want to become an influencer you can stay on TikTok and Instagram."
Then again, "casual posting" and photo dumps are enjoying some popularity as the pendulum swings in favor of a rawer aesthetic. And many of the memes clogging my Insta feed are of the behind-the-scenes, "Instagram vs. Reality" persuasion. Plus, maybe the ephemerality and informality of Stories already kind of satiates that desire for the "real."
When you think of it that way, BeReal is more of a gimmick than a harbinger of social media change. And that's a shame, because even if no one on this side of 30 agrees with me, I kinda love it! Like Snapchat or TikTok, maybe it'll eventually be subsumed or reproduced within Instagram itself as an optional feature.
Or like Wordle, maybe it's nothing more than a digital curiosity that we'll one day describe as "fun while it lasted."
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What is 'twee' and why is TikTok debating its return?
What is 'twee' and why is TikTok debating its return?
In 2021, TikTok unseated Google as the most popular domain on the Internet, and now it's looking like it'll take over Instagram as the ultimate home for fashion influencers.
With one of the largest audiences on the planet, TikTok is responsible for the rise and fall of many a trend. When TikTok speaks, people listen. Lately, however, TikTok fashionistas have been divided over the potential resurgence of a very specific and iconic trend: twee.
@flashesofstyle How are we feeling about this resurgence? Idk yet 😅 #twee#tweestyle#tweefashion#fypシ#fyp♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
Even if you're unfamiliar with the word, you'll likely recognize the look. Think early 2013 ModCloth aesthetic -- swooping bangs, Peter Pan collars, cutesy cardigans, skater skirts with patterned tights, red lipstick, ukuleles and typewriters.
Essentially, look at almost any image of Zooey Deschanel circa 2011-2014 to be smacked in the face with twee, or hipster fashion. It was an incredibly popular aesthetic, especially among the Tumblr crowd.
@steffydegref It's back, and I've been waiting forever. #twee#indie#indiesleaze#tumblr♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
On the one hand, some users are adamant that the trend is returning, warning fashion followers to ready their ballet flats and berets. Others, however, are dismissing it as the latest in a line of TikTok algorithm bubbles destined to burn itself out on speculation and drama.
Regardless of whether it's back, though, it's already facing backlash. So why is an aesthetic causing so much division?
Here's the thing: It's not really about fashion at all. When you boil it down, the underlying issues of the debate aren't based on clothing choices. They're based on deceptive algorithms, negative online behavior and the fear of a cyclical internet.
The TikTok bubble effect
TikTok's algorithm is designed to know you better than you know yourself. It serves you endless customized videos that pay attention to your interactions, all to ensure you see the exact content you'll enjoy most.
But the funny thing about humans is that we actually have a very poor understanding of scale and relevance outside of our own bubbles. So, if you're getting inundated with a particular sound or trend on TikTok, your brain will likely think that it's a much bigger deal than it is.
Despite not having that many actual videos comparatively -- just under 7,000 for the main TikTok sound -- the twee revival debate is causing real-world trend forecasters to pay attention. Why? Because, as was the case when TikTok witches caused a real-world fuss by "hexing the moon," even microcosms and pockets of the internet have the capacity to create great social influence and change.
What's so scary about twee?
The initial wave of twee came at a time when Tumblr popularity was paramount -- the more reblogs you had on a cutesy photo with a poetic caption, the more indie and iconic you were. It was an attitude as much as a fashion movement, similar to what we'd now call hipsters.
Unfortunately, however, it also came with some deeply concerning attitudes toward body types and elitism.
@wannabehayleywilliams We still have time, audio still has less than 550 videos under it. #tumblr#2014tumblr#aesthetic#twee♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
Between 2011 and 2014, Tumblr had itself a serious eating disorder and self harm problem, with countless blogs devoted to promoting and striving for anorexia and "thinspiration." Coinciding with the peak of twee popularity, the aesthetic went hand-in-hand with harmful "thinspo" propaganda – anyone who wasn't thin enough wasn't considered "twee" so much as "frumpy." It was elitist and dangerous.
As a result, the lingering perception of twee and indie sleaze for people who were on Tumblr in those days is often one of perilously thin legs clad in tights or sepia-toned cardigans covering self-harm scars.
We've learned a lot since the Tumblr days. We grew out of the mustache trend, we learned that Tom was the real villain in classic twee film (500) Days of Summer, but the Internet hasn't fully caught up with body neutrality and progress.
To this day, social media sites struggle to keep a lid on pro-anorexia content, with Instagram coming under fire for its failure to protect teens from that sort of content as recently as last month.
With TikTok already having faced similar issues, people noticing the resurgence of twee are concerned that, while we may dust off the cardigans and tights, we haven't come far enough to leave the harmful attitudes behind.
@rebxtat Maybe sharing a hot take whilst cleaning out my fish tank x #twee♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
@vonmunster i looked like this and listened to chelsea grin #twee#indie#tumblr♬ Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him
Do we need to worry about this?
As is so often the case online, the discourse surrounding the twee debate is bigger than the debate itself. What started as a simple trend revival has grown legs in part due to the attention that naysayers have brought upon it.
But as for whether we should be worried, it really comes down to how much faith people have in their own capacity to regulate content and how much they trust social media to keep the dangerous ideas at bay.
The concern is that if the negative associations with twee come back alongside the trend, there could be microcosms and TikTok algorithm bubbles circulating the same dangerous ideas and mentalities that caused such uproar on Tumblr.
In an article from The Guardian, it's suggested that TikTok could actually end up being more dangerous because of the demographic of its users. It's not hard to circumnavigate word restrictions -- we've already seen users get around TikTok censorship with intentional spelling mistakes -- and with so many young users it's a concern.
Sure, there may not be that many videos about it now, but for the people who live within that bubble, it feels big, and the power of teenage girl influence shouldn't be underestimated.
Let's just remember for a moment that nobody is arguing the merits of the actual clothes, though I'm sure nobody wants twee revival to venture into mustache-core again. Nobody is scared of a plaid skirt and tights combo.
But given the damage that the wider twee-thinspo Tumblr pairing did in the early 2010s, it's little wonder people are apprehensive.
Jack dorsey to step down is jack dorsey stepping down jack dorsey to step down as ceo of twitter jack dorsey step down jack dorsey steps down as twitter ceo when did jack dorsey step down from twitter why did jack dorsey step down from twitter jack dorsey twitter shares twitter sign up
Twitter's Jack Dorsey steps down as CEO
Twitter's Jack Dorsey steps down as CEO
Jack Dorsey has stepped down as chief executive of Twitter, the social network he co-founded nearly 16 years ago, turning over the top spot to Parag Agrawal, the company's chief technology officer.
"I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders," Dorsey, who is also CEO of payments company Square, said in a statement Monday. "My trust in Parag as Twitter's CEO is deep."
Dorsey will remain on Twitter's board through the end of his term in 2022 to help with the transition. CNBC reported the move earlier Monday.
Parag Agrawal, Twitter's new CEO
Twitter
The leadership shift comes amid mounting scrutiny of Dorsey and Twitter from investors seeking better returns and from lawmakers concerned about the company's moderation policies for political speech. Last year, Elliott Management, an activist investment fund, began putting pressure on Dorsey to step aside after the CEO said he wanted to spend up to half a year in Africa. The fund ultimately struck a deal with the company that allowed Dorsey to remain CEO. The deal included an influx of $1 billion in new capital from Silver Lake, a large technology investor.
Twitter has also pushed back against accusations it censors conservative politicians and commentators but also took the rare step earlier this year of permanently banning Donald Trump, who was president at the time, because of concerns his remarks could incite violence after the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot.
Under Dorsey's leadership, Twitter has more aggressively experimented with new features including newsletters, live audio and tipping to rope in more users. He also oversaw the company's first profit, which it recorded in 2018, and set a goal of doubling its annual revenue to at least $7.5 billion in 2023. Twitter, which has 211 million daily users who see ads, wants to reach at least 315 million daily active users in 2023.
Elliott Management managing partner Jesse Cohn and senior portfolio manager Marc Steinberg expressed support for the leadership changes.
"Twitter is now executing against an ambitious multi-year plan to dramatically increase the company's reach and value, and we look forward to the next chapter of Twitter's story," the pair said in a statement.
In a farewell email to Twitter employees, Dorsey sidestepped the issue of external pressure, saying he was leaving the company because it was ready to move past a "founder-led" structure.
"I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it," Dorsey wrote in the email, which he also tweeted. "I'm really sad…yet really happy."
Dorsey expressed confidence in Agrawal's ability to run Twitter, saying "he leads with heart and soul, and is someone I learn from daily."
Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 and has served as the company's CTO since 2017. As CTO, he led the social network's technical strategy and advanced the use of machine learning at Twitter, according to the company.
Agrawal followed up with his own note to employees, also shared on Twitter. In the note, he said he's focused on the company's opportunities ahead.
"We recently updated our strategy to hit ambitious goals, and I believe that strategy to be bold and right," he wrote. "But our critical challenge is how we work to execute against it and deliver results -- that's how we'll make Twitter the best it can be for our customers, shareholders and for each of you."
Agrawal, who has more than 109,600 followers on Twitter, doesn't share his thoughts often on the social network. He's tweeted or retweeted only 24 times this year, according to his timeline. Dorsey has 5.9 million followers on Twitter.
The company's stock spiked following news reports on Monday morning and settled about 3% higher. Trading was then halted.
Dorsey had been CEO of the social network since 2015, when he took over following the resignation of Dick Costolo. Dorsey also briefly served as Twitter's first CEO starting in 2007 but was fired 16 months later.
Twitter went through a rough patch when Dorsey first returned. In 2016, the company cut 9% of its workforce, and reports surfaced that multiple companies, including Disney and Salesforce, were interested in buying Twitter. No deal materialized. The company also killed off short-form video app Vine before TikTok rose in popularity.
Dorsey also shepherded the company through a period of intense scrutiny of social media platforms. Along with Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook's parent company, Dorsey became a frequent visitor to Congress, testifying at multiple hearing on social media. (Watch a highlight reel of Dorsey's and Zuckerberg's November 2021 appearance before the Senate here.)
Throughout his tenure at Twitter, Dorsey has cultivated the image of New Age tech guru. He eats one meal a day and takes ice baths. according to The New York Times, which called him "Gwyneth Paltrow for Silicon Valley." Dorsey also goes on meditation retreats, which have occasionally gotten him into trouble. In 2018, the executive faced vocal criticism for traveling to Myanmar on a meditation retreat amid international accusations the country's military had committed widespread human rights abuses against the country's Rohingya people, a Muslim minority.
Dorsey's ownership stake in Twitter has made him a billionaire. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks Dorsey as the world's 174th richest person, with more than $12 billion in assets.
According to a document filed with the SEC, Agrawal will receive a salary of $1 million. By comparison, Dorsey famously took a 2018 salary of $1.40, one cent for each of the number of characters tweets were initially limited to. (Agrawal is also eligible for a bonus and stock grants.)
Dorsey remains CEO of Square, a digital payments company he co-founded in 2009. In July, Square said it would launch a new business focused on bitcoin to help developers design decentralized financial products. Dorsey is an enthusiastic supporter of bitcoin and helped form an endowment to make it the "internet's currency."
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Beyoncé and Her Music Arrive on TikTok
Beyoncé and Her Music Arrive on TikTok
Before Thursday, there was a Queen Bey-shaped hole on TikTok. Beyoncé has filled that hole with the arrival of her music -- and her social media presence -- on the popular app.
Beyoncé announced her arrival on TikTok with a compilation of videos of fans dancing, singing and reacting to her song Break My Soul, which she released in June. Now people can feature songs from her entire catalog in their TikToks, Variety reported.
Following the announcement, Beyoncé's first TikTok video, below, already has over 500,000 views, and Beyoncé has already accrued over 3.3 million followers.
@beyonce Seeing y'all release the wiggle made me so happy! Thank you so much for all the love for BREAK MY SOUL! - Love B —#RENAISSANCE #BREAKMYSOUL♬ BREAK MY SOUL - Beyoncé
The artist's arrival on the platform expands her already abundant social media following, with over 268 million Instagram followers, 15.5 million Twitter followers and 56 million Facebook followers.
In recent years, TikTok has played a significant role in the success of musicians. The platform has become a key asset for generating buzz around forthcoming albums and singles, and allowing artists to connect with their fanbase somewhat organically -- not that the queen of music herself needs any help with that.
Break My Soul is the first single from Beyoncé's forthcoming album Renaissance, which will be released on July 29.
Read more:Ready to Join TikTok? Here's What You Need to Know
