Musk announced in March that media inquiries would be automatically answered with a poo emoji.
(Photo: Reuters)
San Francisco Journalists who send inquiries to Twitter no longer get a poop emoji in response. Instead, a standard phrase comes from the Twitter press office email address: “We’ll be in touch with you shortly.” Musk announced the change on Friday. At first it was unclear whether Twitter actually has a functioning press office again – or whether it’s just a more polite form of rejection.
Musk’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, responded to Musk’s tweet with an applause emoji. The experienced manager, who was previously responsible for the advertising business at the media giant NBCUniversal, should, among other things, repair the relationship with advertisers.
Musk recently admitted that Twitter’s ad business has permanently halved. However, advertising in the form of paid tweets that appear in users’ news feeds has traditionally been Twitter’s main source of income. Musk is also trying to expand the subscription business.
Musk himself announced in March that media inquiries would be automatically answered with a pile of feces emoji. Writing the e-mail address was largely pointless beforehand: Musk had abolished the press department after his takeover of Twitter in the fall. It was mostly he personally who answered questions or announced news.
The electric car manufacturer Tesla, led by Musk, has not had an official press department for years. Musk’s relationship with the media has been characterized by distrust for years. He often accuses them of unfair or false reporting. More recently, Musk’s political shift to the right has led to further allegations: in February he claimed that “the media” behaved “racistly” towards whites and people of Asian origin.
More: Ad revenue on Twitter plummeted by 50 percent
