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After two weeks with Tyler, the Creator at No. 1, Agust D — a.k.a. Suga of BTS — leads Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart, powered by Twitter.
Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs charts track global music-related trends and conversations in real-time across Twitter, viewable over either the last 24 hours or past seven days. A weekly, 20-position version of the chart, covering activity from Friday through Thursday of each week, posts alongside Billboard’s other weekly charts on Billboard.com each Tuesday, with the latest tracking period running April 7-April 13.
The April 22-dated chart is led by Agust D, at No. 1 with “Haegeum” and at No. 3 with “AMYGDALA.” Both songs will be included on his full-length solo debut, D-Day, expected to arrive on April 21.
That makes him the fifth member of BTS to reign since the survey launched in October 2021, following Jimin (“With You,” with HA SUNG WOON, for seven weeks; “Vibe,” with TAEYANG, for one), j-hope (“More,” three weeks), Jung Kook (“Dreamers [Music from the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022],” one week), and RM (“No. 2,” with Park Ji Yoon, one week).
In addition, BTS ruled for 24 weeks as a group – 21 with 2021’s “Butter” and three with 2022’s “Yet To Come.” Altogether, that’s 37 weeks atop the tally for BTS and its solo members, or 49% of the chart’s lifetime since the inaugural Oct. 30, 2021-dated chart.
Further, as-yet-unreleased Agust D tracks “Snooze” and “D-Day” debut at Nos. 9 and 16, respectively. All of his chart activity follows his announcement of the album’s track listing last Monday (April 10).
The Agust D entries in the top three form a TAEYON sandwich, with her 2022 single “Toddler” at No. 2.
While most of the chart features new entries, Lauren Spencer-Smith sports the list’s sole re-entry, as “Best Friend Breakup” returns to No. 7 after hitting No. 18 in February.
Keep visiting Billboard.com for the constantly evolving Hot Trending Songs rankings, and check in each Tuesday for the latest weekly chart.
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Elon Musk
It’s beginning to sound like Elon Musk is regretting buying Twitter.
Elon Musk has successfully made Twitter a dumpster fire, and rightfully longtime users of the app have been taking Phony Stark to task for ruining the platform.
In a recent sit-down interview with BBC North America tech reporter James Clayton at Twitter HQ, Musk called the acquisition “quite painful,” From what it sounded like; he is expressing some buyer’s remorse after dropping $44 billion on Twitter.
“I’ve been under constant attack, Musk said. “It’s not like I have a stone-cold heart or anything. If you’re under constant criticism or attack and that gets fed to you, including through Twitter – it’s rough, you know. Now at the end of the day, I think if you do lose your feedback loop that’s not good so I think it is important to get negative feedback. I don’t turn replies off, and I removed my entire block list, so I don’t block anyone either. So I get a lot of negative feedback.”
“If the media is writing non-stop stories about why you’re a horrible person, I mean, you know, it’s hurtful, obviously,” Musk continued.
Awwww, poor Elon.
Musk Admits To Having An “Odd” Relationship With The News Media
Clayton then asked Musk if his relationship with the news media is “odd.” “It is somewhat of a love-hate relationship, although it might be [going] a little more towards the hate,” Musk told Clayton.
“This is part and parcel of having a free media situation. I do take heart in that the media is actually able to trash me on a regular basis in the U.S. and the U.K. and whatnot. Whereas in a lot of places, the media cannot say mean things to powerful people. But I think it’s better that we have a situation where the media can say mean things to powerful people.”
Elon Musk Admits To Enjoying Taking Away NYT’s Legacy Verification Badge
When the hot topic of taking away legacy verification badges from media companies like the New York Times and whether or not it would lead to a misinformation problem on the platform, Musk pretty much confirmed how much of a jerk he is.
I must confess to some delight in removing the verification badge from the New York Times,” Musk said. “Anyway, they’re still alive and well, so they’re doing well.”
Word on the e-streets is that Elon Musk is preparing to snatch away the blue checks and companies who will not pay the money to keep their verification badges.
He also claims if he can find someone willing to buy Twitter, we are hoping someone steps up to the plate to take Twitter off his hands because he sucks at this job.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
National Public Radio is quitting Twitter after the social media platform owned by Elon Musk stamped NPR’s main account with labels the news organization says are meant to undermine its credibility.
“NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent,” NPR said in a statement Wednesday.
Last week, Twitter labeled NPR’s main account as “state-affiliated media” on the social media site, a label also used to identify media outlets that are controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments. Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded media” and gave it to at least one other public news organization, the BBC.
“We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence,” NPR’s statement said.
The Public Broadcasting Service said Wednesday it has also stopped tweeting from its main account because of its new label and has no plans to resume. PBS said: “We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely.”
NPR’s main account had not tweeted since April 4. On Wednesday, it sent a series of tweets listing other places to find its journalism.
The company said NPR journalists, employees and member stations can decide on their own if they want to keep using the platform.
NPR’s chief communications officer, Isabel Lara, said in an email that “NPR journalists and employees will decide on their own if they wish to remain on the platform, same for NPR member stations as they’re independently owned and operated.”
NPR does receive U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The company said it accounts for less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget.
Twitter’s new labels have often appeared arbitrarily assigned. It tagged NPR with the “state-affiliated” label after Musk participated in a public conversation about NPR on Twitter, and then deleted mention of NPR, but left up BBC, on a web page where it described why they should not get that label.
Since then, it has given NPR, BBC and some other groups a “government-funded” label but hasn’t done the same for many other public media outlets, such as their counterparts in Canada and Australia.
In an interview Tuesday with a BBC technology reporter at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, Musk acknowledged that the British news organization “is not thrilled” about the state-affiliated labels and asked the reporter for feedback.
“Our goal was simply to be as truthful and accurate as possible,” Musk said. “So I think we’re adjusting the label to be ‘publicly funded,’ which I think is perhaps not too objectionable. We’re trying to be accurate.”
Doja Cat lost her verification badge on Twitter as part of the social media platform’s ongoing process of removing checkmarks from legacy accounts who won’t pay $8 for Twitter Blue.
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The “Need to Know” singer took to Twitter on Tuesday (April 11) to reply to a fan who noticed her missing checkmark, telling the star that “it’s over” for her. In response, Doja wrote, “Only fans have blue ticks.”
She followed up with another, more direct thought. “Having a blue tick now means theres a higher chance that you’re a complete loser and that you’re desperate for validation from famous people,” she tweeted.
Having a blue tick now means theres a higher chance that you’re a complete loser and that you’re desperate for validation from famous people. https://t.co/OGiW2xtgRV— TAKE IT BACK (@DojaCat) April 11, 2023
Twitter’s blue check mark was originally given to companies, celebrities, government entities and journalists verified by the platform to avoid fraudulent accounts impersonating public figures. The platform, now owned by Elon Musk, now offers blue checks to those willing to pay $8 a month in addition to features that “offer subscribers a way to enhance and customize their Twitter experience,” according to the company.
Besides the blue checkmark, Twitter Blue features include less ads, a 30-minute window to make changes to published tweets, tweets up to 10,000 characters, bookmark folders, custom app icons, NFT profile pictures, app themes, SMS two-factor authentication and more.
Rihanna hit yet another new career high point this week when she sneaked past Katy Perry to become the most-followed woman on Twitter. And while this was a momentous moment, the record may ping-pong between the twos superstars in the near future because at press time the distance between them is just over three of Katy’s Las Vegas “Play” dates.
According to SocialBlade, at press time Rihanna had 108,278,326 followers to Perry’s equally impressive 108,261,949, with just over 16,000 followers separating them. Both women are hot on the heels of the third-most followed man on the service, one Justin Bieber, who at press time had 113,156,831.
They all pale in comparison to the second-most followed man on Twitter, former President Barack Obama, who sits are just under 133 million, with, no surprise, chief Twit Elon Musk sitting atop Twitter Mountain with more than 134 million followers.
Further down the list, Taylor Swift is sitting in the seventh spot with more than 92 million followers, with Lady Gaga rounding out the top 10 at No. 10 with just under 85 million.
It’s a different story on Instagram, where internationally beloved football players Cristiano Ronaldo far-and-away the most-followed with more than 574 million followers, well ahead of fellow soccer player Lionel Messi (454 million). Selena Gomez is the most-followed woman and musician on the service at 410 million, with Ariana Grande coming in at No. 7 (362 million), followed by Kim Kardashian (350 million), Beyoncé (302 million) and Justin Bieber at No. 11 (283 million).
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Elon Musk
Another day, Elon Musk continues to make Twitter a very sh*tty experience for everyone.
If you open Twitter and see many people on your timeline, you don’t follow or care to follow. There is a good reason for that. There is this god-forsaken tab, “For You,” that shows you tweets from users that Twitter’s algorithm believes you will take an interest in.
It also hilariously is full of Elon Musk’s tweets after it was discovered that the Tesla chief had developers create a special system to flood our timelines with them after his Super Bowl tweet didn’t do the numbers President Biden’s tweet did.
Now, he’s desperately trying to ween the company off the ad-based revenue it heavenly relied on after his purchase of Twitter made everyone say I’m good beloved by introducing a subscription service nobody wants.
For either $8 a month or $84 annually, you will not only get a verification badge, which he is even making celebrities and notable people have to pay for, access to different features, and now have your tweets show up in the “For You” tab.
Musk made the announcement on his personal Twitter account, writing, “Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations. The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle. Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.”
In the same breath, he also wrote, “That said, it’s ok to have verified bot accounts if they follow terms of service & don’t impersonate a human.”
Twitter Hates The For You Tab & Paying For Blue Checks
According to Musk, Twitter is worth half its value now at $20 billion. Musk acquired the social media company for $44 billion.
Twitter has been clowning the “For You” tab, and the idea of legacy verified accounts having to pay for the blue checks. In a back-and-forth with William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk, Musk told the iconic Star Trek actor, “It’s more about treating everyone equally. There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities.”
Riiiiiggght.
In the gallery below, you can see what Twitter thinks of Musk’s new stupid idea.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Twitter
Elon Musk’s mission to make Twitter hot garbage continues.
Twitter, well, Elon Musk’s version of the app is now “winding down” its “legacy verified program and is giving people until April 1 to subscribe to Twitter Blue or risk losing their blue checkmark.
The announcement of this is not new because Musk has been threatening to do this since he took ownership of the social media platform, saying since November that in the “coming months,” he would be snatching away “legacy” verification badges given to users under company’s old ownership. After all, he feels they were given out in a “corrupt and nonsensical” way.
Keep in mind Phony Stark benefited from the old verification process because it told people on the platform and those who followed him on purpose that his account was legit.
This could be an elaborate troll job using Twitter’s Verified account because the new rule takes effect on April 1, also April Fool’s Day. Musk loves “own the libs” on Twitter, and many changes he said were coming have yet to happen.
But, another tweet sourcing a report from a website called boing boing claims Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to hide their blue checkmark to avoid ridicule because they dare to subscribe to the service.
We Are Watching These Social Media Platforms Suffer A Slow, Painful Death
Twitter Blue subscribers get other handy features outside the blue checkmark, like posting longer videos and editing tweets. It’s sad to see how one of the best social media experiences has quickly become a dumpster fire that you might have to pay $8 bucks to use to its full extent.
Musk is not the only social media platform CEO pushing a pay-for-verification plan. Mark Zuckerberg just recently began something similar on Facebook and Instagram, and, of course, no one cares for it.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
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Elon Musk is once more in the crosshairs of the public after Twitter users woke up Saturday morning to find that an essential security measure for their accounts was removed. Two-factor authentication via SMS, one of the more normalized security measures for online security, will now exist behind the Twitter Blue paywall and people are letting Musk have it.
While the mandate didn’t come from Elon Musk directly, fears were confirmed by a new post on Twitter’s blog explaining the new move and how two-factor authentication via SMS will change going forward.
From the Twitter blog:
While historically a popular form of 2FA, unfortunately we have seen phone-number based 2FA be used – and abused – by bad actors. So starting today, we will no longer allow accounts to enroll in the text message/SMS method of 2FA unless they are Twitter Blue subscribers. The availability of text message 2FA for Twitter Blue may vary by country and carrier.
Non-Twitter Blue subscribers that are already enrolled will have 30 days to disable this method and enroll in another. After 20 March 2023, we will no longer permit non-Twitter Blue subscribers to use text messages as a 2FA method. At that time, accounts with text message 2FA still enabled will have it disabled. Disabling text message 2FA does not automatically disassociate your phone number from your Twitter account. If you would like to do so, instructions to update your account phone number are available on our Help Center.
Twitter’s explanation did not seem to calm the fears or criticism from the platform’s massive pool of users and many are lashing out saying that this is another tactic from Musk to tear down the once-mighty space.
Keep scrolling to see the reactions to Twitter’s new two-factor authentication via SMS rules and Elon Musk below.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk publicly ventured that he may tab someone else to run Twitter before year’s end.
According to reports, Musk told an assembled group at the World Government Summit on Wednesday (Feb. 15th) that he is aiming to pick someone to replace him as CEO of Twitter. Musk officially acquired the social media company for $44 billion last October.
“I’m guessing probably towards the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company,” he said via video, as he was joining the conference from Dubai. Remarking that “it has been a rollercoaster” in terms of his management of Twitter since last fall, Musk expressed a general idea of how he’d go about the change.
“I need to stabilise the organisation and make sure it’s in a healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out… I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year,” he stated.
The South African-born billionaire first mentioned his desire to hand off the position on December 21st, saying that he would focus on software and server engineering the moment “someone foolish enough” took over the role.
Musk has remained under constant criticism for his handling of Twitter since his acquisition. Right-wing trolls, neo-Nazis and other controversial figures who have had their accounts suspended for their actions reinstated by the Tesla founder.
Others have complained about layoffs of personnel that have been important in terms of platform safety and malfunctions in usage. Last week, a rollout of a feature where users who signed up to Twitter Blue (for $8 a month) could post tweets with 4,000 characters caused major glitches.
Another issue for Musk is related to his Tesla company. Since buying Twitter, critics have expressed that he has been neglecting the affairs of that company as well as others. The result has seen Tesla shares drop significantly since last October.
Elon Musk said Wednesday that he anticipates finding a CEO for Twitter “probably toward the end of this year.”
Speaking via a video call to the World Government Summit in Dubai, Musk said making sure the platform can function remained the most important thing for him.
“I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it’s in a financial healthy place,” Musk said when asked about when he’d name a CEO. “I’m guessing probably toward the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company.”
It remains unclear how seriously Musk will take that timeline. His comment came only hours after he posted images of his shiba inu dog, Floki, on Twitter as the company’s “CEO.”
“So much better than that other guy!” wrote Musk, who often posts memes. After making the posts, a cryptocurrency known as Dogecoin, based around the image of a shiba inu meme, rose in value by around 5%. Musk previously has suggested Twitter accept Dogecoin in transactions.
Musk, 51, made his wealth initially on the finance website PayPal, then created the spacecraft company SpaceX and invested in the electric car company Tesla. In recent months, however, more attention has been focused on the chaos surrounding his $44 billion purchase of the microblogging site Twitter.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military’s use of Musk’s satellite internet service Starlink as it defends itself against Russia’s ongoing invasion has put Musk off and on at the center of the war.
Musk offered a wide-ranging 35-minute discussion that touched on the billionaire’s fears about artificial intelligence, the collapse of civilization and the possibility of space aliens. But questions about Twitter kept coming back up as Musk described both Tesla and SpaceX as able to function without his direct, day-to-day involvement.
“Twitter is still somewhat a startup in reverse,” he said. “There’s work required here to get Twitter to sort of a stable position and to really build the engine of software engineering.”
Musk also sought to portray his takeover of San Francisco-based Twitter as a cultural correction. Since taking over the company, he’s restored Donald Trump’s access to the platform after the then-president lost access to the website after a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Musk also reinstated the accounts of several people who spread misinformation about the coronavirus, including that of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
“I think that the general idea is just to reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of essentially San Francisco and Berkeley, which are so somewhat of a niche ideology as compared to the rest of the world,” Musk said. “And, you know, Twitter was, I think, doing a little too much to impose a niche.”
Musk’s takeover at Twitter has seen mass firings and other cost-cutting measures. Musk, who is on the hook for about $1 billion in yearly interest payments for his purchase, has been trying to find way to maximize profits at the company.
However, some of Musk’s decisions have conflicted with the reasons that journalists, governments and others rely on Twitter as an information-sharing platform.
Musk on Wednesday described the need for users to rely on Twitter for trusted information from verified accounts. However, a confused rollout to a paid verified account system saw some impersonate famous companies, leading to a further withdrawal of needed advertising cash to the site.
“Twitter is certainly quite the rollercoaster,” Musk acknowledged.
Forbes estimates Musk’s wealth at just under $200 billion. The Forbes analysis ranks Musk as the second-wealthiest person on Earth, just behind French luxury brand magnate Bernard Arnault.
But Musk also has become a thought leader for some as well, albeit an oracle that is trying to get six hours of sleep a night despite the challenges at Twitter.
Musk described his children as being “programmed by Reddit and YouTube.” However, he criticized the Chinese-made social media app TikTok.
‘“TikTok has a lot of very high usage (but) I often hear people say, ‘Well, I spent two hours on TikTok, but I regret those two hours,’” Musk said. “We don’t want that to be the case with Twitter.”
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk warned that artificial intelligence should be regulated “very carefully,” describing it as akin to the promise of nuclear power but the danger of atomic bombs. He also cautioned against having a single civilization or “too much cooperation” on Earth, saying it could “collapse” a society that’s like a “tiny candle in a vast darkness.”
And when asked about the existence of aliens, Musk had a firm response.
“The crazy thing is, I’ve seen no evidence of alien technology or alien life whatsoever. And I think I’d know because of SpaceX,” he said. “I don’t think anybody knows more about space, you know, than me.”