Elon Musk has openly acknowledged the possibility of his $44 billion takeover of X “failing,” a candid admission that came amidst public backlash regarding the removal of X’s “block” feature on the social media site. Despite these uncertainties, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is launching Threads, a competing text-based social media platform that is preparing to release a web version in an effort to attract users. Musk stated, “The unfortunate reality is that there are currently no exceptional ‘social networks’ available. We may fail, as many have predicted, but we will strive to create at least one great social network.”
As the owner of X, valued at an estimated $225.5 billion, Musk drew anger from users when he announced last Friday that they would no longer be able to block accounts, with the exception of direct messages. Musk argued that the block feature was illogical and suggested that users simply mute accounts to prevent them from appearing on their timeline. This decision was met with immediate backlash, including pleas from anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky, who urged Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino to reconsider removing the block feature.
Despite his doubts about X’s success, Musk sarcastically responded to users who criticized his decision to eliminate the block function by saying, “It’s amusing to block people who complain about the removal of blocking. How does the medicine taste?” Additionally, X faced other challenges over the weekend. A glitch on the platform caused pictures and videos uploaded to Twitter prior to 2015 to disappear, including Ellen DeGeneres’ famous selfie from the 2014 Oscars. While this image was eventually restored, the glitch persisted for other media.
User Tom Coates commented, “More vandalism from @elonmusk,” as he was one of the first to notice the issue. “Twitter has now removed all media posted before 2014. That’s almost a decade of pictures and videos from the early 2000s removed from the service.” In another report, it was revealed that approximately 42% of Musk’s 153 million followers have no followers of their own, suggesting inactive or potentially automated accounts. Musk had previously vowed to eliminate all bots from Twitter as part of his efforts to revitalize the platform.
Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to introduce a web version of Threads adds further pressure on X. Although Threads has experienced a significant decline in its user base since its launch, it remains the most substantial challenge to Musk’s platform thus far. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri confirmed that the web version of Threads was in development and cautioned against early use due to its current bugs.
If X were to fail, it would be considered one of the most financially disastrous business ventures in history. Musk had to sell a significant portion of his Tesla stock to fund the $44 billion acquisition. Yaccarino recently stated that X is nearing profitability following Musk’s cost-cutting measures and layoffs.
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