Sources: Musk has pitched charging most or all users a subscription fee to use Twitter; internal estimates show the new Blue could actually lose Twitter money (Casey Newton/Platformer)

Platformer:
Sources: on December 11, Twitter briefly blocked traffic from ~30 mobile carriers, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, in an attempt to rid Twitter of spam  —  PLUS: Why it’s time to start leaving Twitter behind  —  On Sunday, Elon Musk tweeted a vague warning: “the bots are in for a surprise tomorrow.”

Casey Newton / Platformer:
A look at a doc from Twitter’s trust and safety team on Nov. 1 that detailed how the new Blue subscription could be abused, largely ignored in a rush to launch  —  Employees and advertisers keep warning him about the risks of changes he’s making to Twitter — but he’s not listening

Casey Newton / Platformer:
A Twitter HQ seating chart shows Elon Musk’s top five special projects: Blue verified, Blue for business, encrypted DMs, tips on tweets, and longform notes  —  After demanding the remaining Twitter employees pledge their loyalty, Musk’s product priorities are coming into focus  —  I. Extremely hardcore

Casey Newton / Platformer:
Sources: Twitter is strongly considering making verified users subscribe to Twitter Blue at $4.99 a month or lose their badges  —  Under pressure to generate revenue quickly, Twitter’s new CEO considers ending free verification  —  Twitter is strongly considering making its users pay …

Casey Newton / Platformer:
Sources: Twitter’s newsletter platform Revue, acquired in early 2021, is scheduled to close by the end of the year, and its Notes product has been paused  —  A new Vine camera is in.  Notes and Revue are out  —  With massive layoffs expected to hit Twitter tomorrow, on Thursday employees once again endured …

Casey Newton / Platformer:
Source: Meta Chief Product Officer Chris Cox directed the New Product Experimentation division to scale back and focus entirely on short-form video innovation  —  Facebook’s New Product Experimentation division is scaling back its mission dramatically, Platformer has learned.