Musk has now begun reinstating high-profile customers – together with Donald Trump and Kanye West – who had been eliminated for repeated violations of group requirements.
This comes off the again of a mass exodus of Twitter employees, together with 1000's that Musk unceremoniously fired by way of e mail.
The most recent wave of resignations got here after an ultimatum from Musk: staff must face "extraordinarily hardcore" working circumstances (to repair the mess Musk created).
All of this factors to a really completely different expertise for customers, who at the moment are decamping the platform and heading to alternate options like Mastodon.
So what threats are we prone to see now? And the way does one go about leaving Twitter safely?
#TwitterShutDown
With so many skilled employees leaving, customers face the very actual chance that Twitter will expertise vital and widespread outages within the coming weeks.
Enterprise software program specialists and Twitter insiders have already been elevating alarms that with the World Cup underway, the next improve in site visitors – and any rise in opportunistic malicious behaviour – could also be sufficient for Twitter to grind to a halt.
Except for the location going darkish, there are additionally dangers person knowledge may very well be breached in a cyberattack whereas the same old defences are down. Twitter was uncovered in a large cyberattack in August this yr.
A hacker was capable of extract the non-public particulars, together with cellphone numbers and e mail addresses, of 5.4 million customers.
One could be forgiven for considering that such eventualities are unimaginable.
Nevertheless, widespread lore within the expertise group is that the web is held collectively by chewing gum and duct tape.
The apps, platforms and programs we work together with day-after-day, notably these with audiences within the thousands and thousands or billions, might give the impression of being extremely subtle.
However the reality is we're typically driving on the sting of chaos.
Constructing and sustaining large-scale social software program is like constructing a ship, on the open water, whereas being attacked by sharks.
Retaining such software program programs afloat requires designing groups that may work collectively to bail sufficient water out, whereas others reinforce the hull, and a few look out for incoming threats.
To stretch the boat metaphor, Musk has simply fired the software program builders who knew the place the nails and hammers are saved, the crew tasked with deploying the shark bait, and the lookouts on the masts.
Can his already stretched and imperilled workforce plug the holes quick sufficient to maintain the ship from sinking?
We're prone to discover out within the coming weeks.
If Twitter does handle to remain afloat, the credit score greater than probably goes to most of the now ex-staff for constructing a strong system that a skeleton crew can keep.
Hate speech and misinformation are again
Regardless of Twitter's claims that hate speech is being "mitigated", our evaluation suggests it is on the rise.
And we're not the one researchers observing an uptick in hate speech.
The graph under reveals the variety of tweets per hour containing hate speech phrases over a two-week interval.
Utilizing a peer-reviewed hate speech lexicon, we tracked the amount of 15 hateful phrases and noticed a transparent improve after Musk's acquisition.
Misinformation can be on the rise.
Following Musk's swift modifications to blue tick verification, the location tumbled into chaos with a surge of parody accounts and deceptive tweets.
In response, he issued yet one more stream-of-consciousness coverage edict to treatment the earlier ones.
With reviews that your complete Asia-Pacific area has just one working content material moderator left, false and deceptive content material will probably proliferate on Twitter – particularly in non-English-speaking international locations, that are particularly liable to the dangerous results of unchecked mis- and disinformation.
If this all feels like a recipe for catastrophe, and also you need out, what must you do?
Pack your baggage
First, you might wish to obtain an archive of your Twitter exercise.
This may be executed by clicking by means of to Settings > Settings and Help > Settings and Privateness > Your Account > Obtain an archive of your knowledge.
It could actually take a number of days for Twitter to compile and ship you this archive.
And it may be as much as a number of gigabytes, relying in your degree of exercise.
Lock the door
Whereas ready in your archive, you may start to guard your account.
In case your account was public, now may be a great time to modify it to protected.
In protected mode, your tweets will now not be searchable off the platform.
Solely your current followers will see them on the platform.
Should you're planning to switch Twitter with one other platform, you might want to sign this in your bio by together with a discover and your new username.
However earlier than you do that, take into account whether or not you might need problematic followers who will attempt to observe you throughout.
Meet the highest 10 richest households on the planet
Take a look at
Upon getting downloaded your Twitter archive, you may select to selectively delete any tweets from the platform as you would like.
It is also vital to contemplate any direct messages (DMs) you've gotten on the platform.
These are extra cumbersome and problematic to take away, but in addition prone to be extra delicate.
You'll have to take away every DM dialog individually, by clicking to the precise of the dialog thread and deciding on Delete dialog.
Word that this solely deletes it out of your aspect.
Each different member of a DM thread can nonetheless see your historic exercise.
Park your account
For a lot of customers it is advisable to "park" their account, slightly than fully deactivate it.
Parking means you clear out most of your knowledge, keep your username, and must log in each few months to maintain it alive on the platform.
This can stop different (maybe malicious) customers from taking your deactivated username and impersonating you.
Parking means Twitter will retain some particulars, together with doubtlessly delicate knowledge comparable to your cellphone quantity and different bio info you've got saved.
It additionally means a return to the platform is not out of the query, ought to circumstances enhance.
Should you do resolve to deactivate, know that this doesn't suggest all of your particulars are essentially wiped from Twitter's servers.
In its phrases of service, Twitter notes it could retain some person info after account deactivation.
Additionally, as soon as your account is gone, your outdated username is up for grabs.
Reinforce the locks
If you have not already, now's the time to have interaction two-factor authentication in your Twitter account.
You are able to do this by clicking Settings > Safety and account entry > Safety > Two-factor authentication.
This can assist shield your account from being hacked.
Extra password safety (present in the identical menu above) can be a good suggestion, as is altering your password to one thing that's completely different to some other password you utilize on-line.
As soon as that is executed, all that is left is to take a seat again and pour one out for the fowl website.
This text is republished fromThe Dialogunderneath a Inventive Commons licence.Learn the unique article.