In the midst of rebranding Twitter to X, billionaire Elon Musk is scrambling to make the social media platform profitable. One of his latest tactics is to require advertisers to pay $1,000 a month to keep their verified organization status, according to a July 25 tweet from X News Daily. As of August 7, brands will lose their gold check mark if they haven’t spent a minimum of $1,000 on advertising in the last 30 days or $6,000 in the last 180 days. The news was conveyed to brands via email, said the tweet.

The tweet was in response to an exclusive story by the Wall Street Journal that X is cutting ad prices to attract advertisers. According to Engadget, Twitter is providing all new advertisers a 50% discount through July 31.

Elon Musk chimed in on his own X account.

As noted in his tweet, the goal of the pricing is to set a “moderately high bar” to inhibit scammers’ ability and desire to create millions of bogus accounts.

X removed from San Francisco headquarters

In other X news, the company has already removed its lit logo that was installed on the company headquarters building, days after it was installed, reports the Associated Press. Two dozen complaints were submitted to the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, and the sign’s installation was put on hold due to safety and lighting concerns. The project also lacked the proper permits. Yesterday, ABC7 News reported that X will be fined for installing the X logo on the building’s roof without a permit.

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X sues Bright Data over data scraping

X Corp. is suing Bright Data, an Israeli company, for using automation to scrape data from X, formerly known as Twitter, reports Media Post. The company said in a complaint filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California that the company scrapes data and sells that data to others, which is a violation of X’s terms of service.

“Bright Data also induces and facilitates other X users to violate their own agreements with X Corp. by selling automated data-scraping tools and services that specifically target a wide range of X Corp. data,” X said in the complaint.

Or Lenchner, Bright Data’s CEO, denies the allegations. He said the company collects publicly available data online for more than 20,000 customers, and they are fully compliant with the law.

“We are committed to making public data broadly available to everyone to benefit society and will vigorously defend our position in court to ensure the Internet remains accessible to all,” Lenchner said.

Former Twitter Blue head speaks out

While the rebranding and lawsuits were happening, another storm was brewing. Former Twitter Blue head Esther Crawford opened up on Twitter about her experience at the company. Her company was acquired by Twitter in 2020, and she stayed on to develop and manage Twitter Blue, Twitter’s subscription product. There were plenty of problems at Twitter, long before it became X, so she was “cautiously optimistic” about Elon Musk.

Crawford said she found Musk to be “oddly charming” and “genuinely funny,” but he was also hard to read and his mood could turn quickly. He also didn’t always ask for input. Instead, he trusted his gut, polled Twitter followers, or a trusted advisor.

“I don’t think things had to be as difficult or dramatic as they turned out to be but I can’t say I’d bet against Elon or count him out. He’s smart and has enough money to make a lot of mistakes and then course correct when things go awry. As the largest shareholder he can tank the value in the short-term, but eventually he’ll need things to turn around,” Crawford said.

Overall, her observations and experiences were positive. You can read the full post here:

Insider Take

The Twitter-turned-X story continues to be chaotic and interesting with the latest installments being paying $1,000 for verified organization status and getting fined for installing a lit sign without permits. It is hard to predict what will be next, or even what Musk will say or post next. We have come to expect the unexpected, including challenging other social media moguls to cage fights. While that seems unlikely to come to fruition, Musk is always just one tweet away from another crazy decision. Is he a genius or maybe a mad scientist? Will he tank X or will he rise above the criticism and turn the business model around? It’s anyone’s guess, but as Esther Crawford said, it sure makes for an interesting ride.

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