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Do not fill this in! ==Society== === Usage === {{Main|Twitter usage}} {{summarize|from|Twitter usage|section=y|brevity=y|date=November 2023}} [[File:Twitter Town Hall-Dorsey Obama.png|thumb|alt=Man in his twenties smiling at left, man in his forties using computer at center, large crystal chandelier, several people in audience|Dorsey (left) said after a [[Barack Obama on social media|Twitter Town Hall with Barack Obama]] held in July 2011, that Twitter received over 110,000 #Ask[[Barack Obama|Obama]] tweets.<ref>{{Cite AV media|people=Jack Dorsey|title=Impressions on the White House Twitter Townhall|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/07/08/impressions-white-house-twitter-townhall|date=July 8, 2011|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|access-date=July 10, 2011}}</ref>]] ==== Protesters ==== X has been used for a variety of purposes in many industries and scenarios. For example, it has been used to organize protests, including the [[April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election protests|protests over the 2009 Moldovan election]], the [[2009 student protests in Austria]], the 2009 [[Gaza–Israel conflict]], the 2009 [[Iranian Green Movement|Iranian green revolution]], the 2010 [[2010 G20 Toronto summit protests|Toronto G20 protests]], the 2010 [[Bolivarian Revolution]], the 2010 [[Stuttgart 21|Stuttgart21 protests in Germany]], the 2011 [[Egyptian revolution of 2011|Egyptian Revolution]], [[2011 England riots]], the 2011 United States [[Occupy movement]], the 2011 [[anti-austerity movement in Spain]], the 2011 [[Anti-austerity movement in Greece|Aganaktismenoi movements in Greece]], the 2011 [[2011 Rome demonstration|demonstration in Rome]], the 2011 [[2011 Wisconsin protests|Wisconsin labor protests]], the 2012 [[Gaza–Israel conflict]], the [[2013 protests in Brazil]], and the 2013 [[Gezi Park protests|Gezi Park protests in Turkey]].<ref name="Buettner2016a">{{cite conference |title=A Systematic Literature Review of Twitter Research from a Socio-Political Revolution Perspective |author1=Buettner, Ricardo |author2=Buettner, Katharina |name-list-style=amp |year=2016 |conference=49th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences |conference-url=http://www.hicss.org |publisher=IEEE |location=Kauai, Hawaii |doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.4239.9442}}</ref> The service is also used as a form of [[civil disobedience]]: In 2010, users expressed outrage over the [[Twitter joke trial]] by copying a controversial joke about bombing an airport and attaching the hashtag #IAmSpartacus, a reference to the film ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'' (1960) and a sign of solidarity and support to a man controversially prosecuted after posting a tweet joking about bombing [[Doncaster Sheffield Airport|an airport]] if they canceled his flight. #IAmSpartacus became the number one trending topic on Twitter worldwide.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/nov/12/iamspartacus-campaign-twitter-airport|title=#IAmSpartacus campaign explodes on Twitter in support of airport joker|last=Siddique|first=Haroon|date=November 12, 2010|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=November 20, 2016}}</ref> Another case of civil disobedience happened in the [[2011 British privacy injunctions controversy|2011 British privacy injunction debate]], where several celebrities who had taken out anonymized injunctions were identified by thousands of users in protest to traditional journalism being censored.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/may/22/scottish-newspaper-identifies-injuction-footballer|title=Scottish newspaper identifies injunction footballer|last1=Gabbatt|first1=Adam|last2=Taylor|first2=Matthew|date=May 22, 2011|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=May 22, 2011}}</ref> During the [[Arab Spring]] in early 2011, the number of hashtags mentioning the uprisings in [[Tunisia]] and [[Egypt]] increased.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/september-11/twitters-influence-on-the-arab-spring/article2135272/|title=Twitter's influence on the Arab Spring|date=August 19, 2011|newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]]|access-date=November 20, 2016|archive-date=July 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707174447/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/september-11/twitters-influence-on-the-arab-spring/article2135272/|url-status=dead}}</ref> A study by the [[Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government|Dubai School of Government]] found that only 0.26% of the Egyptian population, 0.1% of the Tunisian population and 0.04% of the Syrian population are active on Twitter.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mashable.com/2012/06/08/arab-world-facebook-twitter/#JKkkUqJb5kqk|title=How the Arab World Uses Facebook and Twitter|last=Fox|first=Zoe|date=June 8, 2012|publisher=[[Mashable]]|access-date=November 20, 2016}}</ref> ==== Governments ==== According to documents leaked by [[Edward Snowden]] and published in July 2014, the United Kingdom's [[GCHQ]] has a tool named BIRDSONG for "automated posting of Twitter updates" and a tool named BIRDSTRIKE for "Twitter monitoring and profile collection".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28306819|title=GCHQ leak lists UK cyber-spies' hacking tools|work=BBC News|date=July 15, 2014|access-date= July 16, 2014}}</ref><ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1217406-jtrigall.html#document/p4 "JTRIG Tools and Techniques"]. Retrieved July 16, 2014.</ref> During the [[2019–20 Hong Kong protests]], [[Reactions to the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests#Other reactions|Twitter suspended a core group]] of 1,000 "fake" accounts and an associated network of 200,000 accounts for operating a [[disinformation]] campaign that was linked to the [[Chinese government]]. In their announcement, Twitter released two data sets detailing the core group's account activity.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Makena|last1=Kelly|access-date=August 28, 2019|title=Facebook and Twitter uncover Chinese trolls spreading doubts about Hong Kong protests|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/19/20812621/twitter-facebook-china-hong-kong-protests-information-operation-disinfo|date=August 19, 2019|website=[[The Verge]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=August 28, 2019|title=Hong Kong protests: Twitter and Facebook crack down on "deceptive" accounts linked to China|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hong-kong-protests-twitter-facebook-crack-down-on-deceptive-accounts-linked-to-china/|website=[[CBS News]]|first=Ramy|last=Inocencio|date=August 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Information operations directed at Hong Kong|url=https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong|website=Twitter Blog|date=August 19, 2019}}</ref> [[Geng Shuang]], the spokesperson of the Chinese [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]], did not comment on the suspensions but suggested that the activity could be attributed to [[overseas Chinese]] citizens.<ref>{{cite news|access-date=August 28, 2019|title=China cries foul over Facebook, Twitter block of fake accounts|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-twitter-idUSKCN1VA0RQ|newspaper=[[Reuters]]|date=August 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=August 28, 2019|title=China Resists Charge by Twitter, Facebook of Disinformation Effort|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-resists-charge-by-twitter-facebook-of-disinformation-effort-11566339132|website=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=August 20, 2019}}</ref> On June 12, 2020, Twitter suspended over 7,000 accounts from Turkey because those accounts were fake profiles, designed to support the Turkish president, [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]], and were managed by a central authority. Turkey's communication director said that the decision was illogical, biased, and politically motivated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ankara reacts to Twitter's move to suspend accounts|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ankara-reacts-to-twitters-move-to-suspend-accounts-155608|website=hurriyetdailynews|date=June 13, 2020}}</ref> Turkey blocked access to Twitter twice, once after voice recordings appeared on Twitter in which Erdoğan ordered his son to stash away millions of dollars and another time for 12 hours in the aftermath of the [[2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake|earthquake of February 2023]], when Erdoğan blamed the people for a disinformation campaign as they criticized the Government for their lack of help.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Burga |first=Solcyre |date=February 15, 2023 |title=How Turkey's Earthquake Response Failed Its People |url=https://time.com/6255634/earthquake-turkey-syria-erdogan-rescue/ |access-date=February 17, 2023 |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref> In May 2021, Twitter labeled one of the tweets by [[Sambit Patra]], a spokesman of the local ruling party [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]] in India, as "manipulated media," leading to Twitter's offices in [[Delhi]] and [[Gurgaon]] being raided by the local police.<ref name=DelhiRaid>{{cite news |title=Police in India visited Twitter offices over 'manipulated media' label |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/24/delhi-police-run-by-indias-central-government-raids-twitter-offices-over-manipulated-label/ |last=Singh |first=Manish |work=TechCrunch |date=May 24, 2021 |access-date=May 27, 2021}}</ref> Twitter issued a statement, calling the police visit "a form of intimidation.".<ref>{{cite news |title=Twitter says concerned with India intimidation, requests 3 more months to comply with new IT rules |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/27/twitter-says-concerned-with-india-intimidation-requests-3-more-months-to-comply-with-new-it-rules/ |last=Singh |first=Manish |work=TechCrunch |date=May 27, 2021 |access-date=May 27, 2021}}</ref> Later, the [[Government of India|Indian government]] released a statement in July 2021 claiming Twitter has lost its liability protection concerning user-generated content. This was brought on by Twitter's failure to comply with the [[Information Technology Rules, 2021|new IT rules]] introduced in 2021, with a filing stating that the company failed to appoint executives to govern user content on the platform.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 6, 2021 |title=Twitter loses immunity over user-generated content in India |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/india/twitter-loses-immunity-over-user-generated-content-india-2021-07-06/ |access-date=July 6, 2021}}</ref> Twitter stated to India's government in August 2021 that they have appointed permanent executives and staff to provide for compliance to these new IT rules.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-06/twitter-says-has-appointed-officials-to-comply-with-india-rules | title = Twitter Says Has Appointed Officials to Comply With India Rules | first = Upmanyu | last = Trivedi | date = August 6, 2021 | access-date= August 6, 2021 | work = [[Bloomberg News]] }}</ref> ==== Pornography ==== Twitter allows pornographic content as long as it is marked "sensitive" by uploaders, which puts it behind an interstice and hides it from minors.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twitter's sensitive media policy {{!}} Twitter Help |url=https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/media-policy |access-date=April 14, 2022 |website=help.twitter.com}}</ref> The "super-follow" feature is said to enable competition with the subscription site [[OnlyFans]], used mainly by sex workers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 4, 2021 |title=How Twitter is becoming more like OnlyFans - and what that means for users |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/twitter-only-fans-pornography-adult-content-subscription-b1812464.html |access-date=April 14, 2022 |website=The Independent}}</ref> Content filtering services for families and schools have noted that the company makes "it really easy to find" porn and advises blocking the entire domain.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 16, 2021 |title=Twitter Porn: Here's What Every Parent Needs to Know |url=https://www.bark.us/blog/twitter-porn/ |access-date=April 14, 2022 |newspaper=Bark|last1=Zapal |first1=Haley }}</ref> Many performers use Twitter's service to market and grow their porn businesses, attracting users to paywalled services like OnlyFans by distributing photos and short video clips as advertisements. In April 2022, Twitter convened a "Red Team" for the project of ACM, "Adult Content Monetization", as it is known internally. Eventually, the project was abandoned, because of the difficulty of implementing Real ID.<ref name="Newton-2022"/> ==== Child sexual exploitation ==== A February 2021 report from the company's Health team begins, "While the amount of CSE (child sexual exploitation) online has grown exponentially, Twitter's investment in technologies to detect and manage the growth has not." Until February 2022, the only way for users to flag illegal content was to flag it as "sensitive media," a broad category that left much of the worst material unprioritized for moderation. In a February report, employees wrote that Twitter, along with other Tech Companies have "accelerated the pace of CSE content creation and distribution to a breaking point where manual detection, review, and investigations no longer scale" by allowing pornography and failing to invest in systems that could effectively monitor it. The working group made several recommendations, but they were not taken up and the group was disbanded. As part of its efforts to monetize porn, Twitter held an internal investigation that reported in April 2022, "Twitter cannot accurately detect child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity at scale."<ref name="Newton-2022">{{Cite web |last=Newton |first=Casey |date=August 30, 2022 |title=How Twitter's child porn problem ruined its plans for an OnlyFans competitor |url=https://www.theverge.com/23327809/twitter-onlyfans-child-sexual-content-problem-elon-musk |access-date=September 30, 2022 |website=The Verge}}</ref> ''John Doe et al. v. Twitter'', a civil lawsuit filed in the 9th Circuit Court, alleges that Twitter benefited from sex trafficking and refused to remove the illegal tweets when first informed of them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twitter Faces Claim It Benefited From Child Sex Trafficking |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/product-liability-and-toxics-law/twitter-faces-claim-it-benefited-from-child-sex-trafficking |access-date=September 30, 2022 |website=news.bloomberglaw.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Doe v. Twitter, Inc., 555 F. Supp. 3d 889 (N.D. Cal. 2021), Court Opinion |url=https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/Doe_v_Twitter_Inc_No_21cv00485JCS_2021_BL_313988_ND_Cal_Aug_19_20?1664500107 |access-date=September 30, 2022 |website=www.bloomberglaw.com}}</ref> In an amicus brief filed in the case, the [[National Center for Missing & Exploited Children|NCMEC]] said, "The children informed the company that they were minors, that they had been 'baited, harassed, and threatened' into making the videos, that they were victims of 'sex abuse' under investigation by law enforcement" but Twitter failed to remove the videos, "allowing them to be viewed by hundreds of thousands of the platform's users".<ref name="Newton-2022" /> Some major brands, including Dyson, Mazda, Forbes, and PBS Kids, suspended their marketing campaigns and pulled their ads from the platform, after an investigation into child porn on twitter showed that Twitter failed to suspend 70% of the accounts that shared or solicited the prohibited content. A brand president at Cole Haan said, "We're horrified ... either Twitter is going to fix this, or we'll fix it by any means we can, which includes not buying Twitter ads."<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Dang |first1=Sheila |last2=Paul |first2=Katie |date=September 29, 2022 |title=Exclusive: Brands blast Twitter for ads next to child pornography accounts |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-brands-blast-twitter-ads-next-child-pornography-accounts-2022-09-28/ |access-date=September 30, 2022}}</ref> ===Impact=== {{Summarize section|date=May 2022}} ====On communication==== In May 2008, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' wrote that [[social networking service]]s such as Twitter "elicit mixed feelings in the technology-savvy people who have been their [[Diffusion (business)|early adopters]]. Fans say they are a good way to keep in touch with busy friends. But some users are starting to feel ''too'' connected, as they grapple with check-in messages at odd hours, higher [[Mobile phone|cellphone]] bills and the need to tell acquaintances to stop announcing what they're having for dinner."<ref>{{cite news |access-date=February 22, 2011 |url=https://www.wsj.com/public/article/SB117373145818634482-ZwdoPQ0PqPrcFMDHDZLz_P6osnI_20080315.html |title=Friends Swap Twitters, and Frustration – New Real-Time Messaging Services Overwhelm Some Users with Mundane Updates from Friends |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=March 16, 2007 |last=Lavallee |first=Andrew |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314141935/http://www.wsj.com/public/article/SB117373145818634482-ZwdoPQ0PqPrcFMDHDZLz_P6osnI_20080315.html |archive-date=March 14, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The following year, [[John C. Dvorak]] described Twitter as "the new [[Citizens band radio|CB radio]]".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2351932,00.asp|title=Twitter Is the New CB Radio|first=John C.|last=Dvorak|date=August 25, 2009|magazine=PC Magazine}}</ref><!-- this whole paragraph should be removed & replaced with scholarly analyses; none of this is due --> In April 2023, the [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] (MTA) in New York City announced that it would no longer post real-time service updates on Twitter. The transportation system claimed that the platform cannot be trusted to provide consistent updates that riders need. According to an MTA spokesperson, this decision was made after it experienced two Application Programming Interface (API) interruptions over the previous two weeks. However, only the updates were discontinued and the MTA planned to continue to respond to riders' queries.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/new-york-citys-transportation-system-ending-updates-twitter-platform-no-longer-reliable |title=New York City's transportation system ending updates on Twitter, says platform is 'no longer reliable' |work=FOX News}}</ref> In 2023, Twitter introduced a paywall system that required businesses to pay for access to its platform. The payment scheme's upper limit amounts to an annual fee of up to $2.5 million for top-tier access. With the paywall implementation, public agencies issued numerous alerts about potential interruptions to transit and weather. Shanifah Rieara, MTA Acting Chief Customer Officer, revealed that Twitter attempted to demand over $500,000 annually from MTA for platform access, which the latter declined. On May 4, 2023, Twitter backtracked its paywall system, allowing the free posting of automated tweets by verified government profiles. In light of Twitter's decision, MTA announced its resumption of posting automated alerts on the platform.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/04/tech/mta-twitter-resumes/index.html |title=New York MTA resumes transit alerts on Twitter |work=CNN}}</ref> ====Emergency use==== A practical use for Twitter's real-time functionality is as an effective ''[[de facto]]'' emergency communication system for breaking news. It was neither intended nor designed for high-performance communication, but the idea that it could be used for emergency communication was not lost on the creators, who knew that the service could have wide-reaching effects early on when the company used it to communicate during earthquakes.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Alexander |last1=Mills |first2=Rui |last2=Chen |first3=JinKyu |last3=Lee |first4=H. Raghav |last4=Rao |title=Web 2.0 Emergency Applications: How Useful Can Twitter Be for Emergency Response? |journal=Twitter for Emergency Management and Mitigation |year=2009 |page=3 |url=http://denman-mills.net/web_documents/jips_mills.etal._2009.07.22_finalsubmission.pdf |access-date=November 20, 2016 |archive-date=February 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206120212/http://denman-mills.net/web_documents/jips_mills.etal._2009.07.22_finalsubmission.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Another practical use that is being studied is Twitter's ability to track epidemics and how they spread.<ref>{{cite news |first=Brooke |last=Jarvis |title=Twitter becomes a tool for tracking flu epidemics and other public health issues |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/twitter-becomes-a-tool-for-tracking-flu-epidemics-and-other-public-health-issues/2013/03/04/9d4315c2-6eef-11e2-aa58-243de81040ba_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=March 4, 2013 |access-date=November 21, 2016}}</ref> Additionally Twitter serves as a real-time sensor for natural disasters such as bush fires and earthquakes.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Robert |last1=Power |first2=Bella |last2=Robinson |first3=David |last3=Ratcliffe |title=Finding Fires with Twitter |url=http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/U/U13/U13-1011.pdf |journal=Proceedings of Australasian Language Technology Association Workshop |year=2013 |access-date=November 21, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Paul |last1=Earle |first2=Daniel |last2=Bowden |first3=Michelle |last3=Guy |title=Twitter earthquake detection: earthquake monitoring in a social world |url=http://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/5364 |journal=Annals of Geophysics |year=2011 |volume=54 |issue=6 |access-date=November 21, 2016}}</ref> ====Education==== Twitter has been adopted as a communication and learning tool in educational and research<ref>{{Cite journal | volume = 3| issue = 1| last = Grandjean| first = Martin| title = A social network analysis of Twitter: Mapping the digital humanities community| journal =Cogent Arts & Humanities| date = 2016| page = 1171458| doi=10.1080/23311983.2016.1171458| s2cid = 114999767| doi-access = free}}</ref> settings mostly in colleges and universities.<ref>Rankin, M. (2010). [http://www.utdallas.edu/~mrankin/usweb/twitterconclusions.htm "Some general comments on the 'Twitter Experiment'"]</ref><ref>Grosseck & Holotescu (2008). [http://www.cblt.soton.ac.uk/multimedia/PDFsMM09/Can%20we%20use%20twitter%20for%20educational%20activities.pdf "Can we use Twitter for educational activities?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518012255/http://www.cblt.soton.ac.uk/multimedia/PDFsMM09/Can%20we%20use%20twitter%20for%20educational%20activities.pdf |date=May 18, 2012 }} Proceedings of the 4th International Scientific Conference: eLearning and Software forEducation, Bucharest, Romania.</ref> It has been used as a [[backchannel]] to promote student interactions, especially in large-lecture courses.<ref>Elavsky, CM, Mislan, C & Elavsky, S (2011). When talking less is more: exploring outcomes of Twitter usage in the large-lecture hall. ''Learning, Media and Technology'' Volume 36, Issue 3.</ref> Research has found that using Twitter in college courses helps students communicate with each other and faculty, promotes informal learning, allows shy students a forum for increased participation, increases student engagement, and improves overall course grades.<ref>Junco, R., Heiberger, G., & Loken, E. (2011). [http://blog.reyjunco.com/pdf/JuncoHeibergerLokenTwitterEngagementGrades.pdf "The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades"]. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27(2), 119–132. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508093835/http://blog.reyjunco.com/pdf/JuncoHeibergerLokenTwitterEngagementGrades.pdf |date=May 8, 2012 }}</ref><ref>Junco, R., Elavsky, C. M., Heiberger, G. (2012). [http://reyjunco.com/wordpress/pdf/JuncoElavskyHeibergerTwitterCollaboration.pdf "Putting Twitter to the test: assessing outcomes for student collaboration, engagement, and success"]. British Journal of Educational Technology. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01284.x {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120114952/http://reyjunco.com/wordpress/pdf/JuncoElavskyHeibergerTwitterCollaboration.pdf |date=January 20, 2013 }}</ref><ref>Ebner, Lienhardt, Rohs, & Meyer (2010). [http://www.cblt.soton.ac.uk/multimedia/PDFs10/micriblogs%20in%20higher%20education%20process%20orientated%20learning.pdf "Microblogs in Higher Education – A chance to facilitate informal and process-oriented learning?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110626175108/http://www.cblt.soton.ac.uk/multimedia/PDFs10/micriblogs%20in%20higher%20education%20process%20orientated%20learning.pdf |date=June 26, 2011 }} ''Computers & Education'', 55, 92–100.</ref> Twitter has been an increasingly growing in the field of education as an effective tool that can be used to encourage learning and idea, or knowledge sharing, in and outside the classroom.<ref name="Carrie-2015">{{Cite journal|last1=Carrie|first1=Ross|last2=Maninger|first2=Robert|last3=LaPrairie|first3=Kimberly|last4=Sullivan|first4=Sam|date=Spring 2015|title=The Use of Twitter in the Creation of Educational Professional Learning Opportunities|url=https://dc.swosu.edu/aij/vol5/iss1/6|journal=Administrative Issues Journal: Connecting Education, Practice, and Research.|volume= 5|pages=55–76|issn=2153-7615|doi=10.5929/2015.5.1.7|id={{ERIC|EJ1062476}}|doi-access=free}}</ref> By using or creating hashtags, students and educators are able to communicate under specific categories of their choice to enhance and promote education. A broad example of a hashtag used in education is "edchat", to communicate with other teachers and people using that hashtag. Once teachers find someone they want to talk to, they can either direct message the person or narrow down the hashtag to make the topic of the conversation more specific,w using hashtags for scichat (science), engchat (English), sschat (social studies).<ref name="Carrie-2015" /> In a 2011 study, researchers found that young peoples use of Twitter helped to improve relationships with teachers, encourage interactive learning, and ultimately lead to high grades.<ref name="Carrie-2015" /> In the same study, it was found that out of a group of 158 educators, 92% agreed that the reason they use Twitter is because of how user-friendly it is,<ref name="Carrie-2015" /> another 86% agreed that they started and continue using Twitter because of how easy it is to learn, and finally,<ref name="Carrie-2015" /> 93% said they use Twitter because it is free. People found sifting through large amounts of data to be challenging; however, with the simple nature of Twitter, large amount of information became easily accessible.<ref name="Greenhow-2012">{{Cite journal|last1=Greenhow|first1=Christine|last2=Gleason|first2=Benjamin|date=October 3, 2012|title=Twitteracy: Tweeting as a New Literacy Practice|journal=The Educational Forum|volume= 76|issue=4|pages=464–478|doi=10.1080/00131725.2012.709032|s2cid=145800002}}</ref> Much of this simplicity comes from the use of the hashtag and the intuitive nature of how Twitter as a microblogging site operates.<ref name="Greenhow-2012" /> These features help to promote education outside the classroom in a global setting where students and educators are easily able to create, connect, and share knowledge. This ultimately promotes growth and learning among students and educators, not just in the classroom, but virtually and around the world. ====Public figures==== [[Jonathan Zittrain]], professor of Internet law at [[Harvard Law School]], said that "the qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful."<ref>{{registration required|date=February 2011}} {{Cite news| first=Noam | last=Cohen | title=Twitter on the Barricades: Six Lessons Learned | date=June 20, 2009 | work=[[The New York Times]] | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/weekinreview/21cohenweb.html?_r=1&hp | access-date = June 21, 2009 }}</ref> In that same vein, and with Sigmund Freud in mind, political communications expert Matthew Auer observed that well-crafted tweets by public figures often deliberately mix trivial and serious information so as to appeal to all three parts of the reader's personality: the id, ego, and superego.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Matthew |last1=Auer |title=The Policy Sciences of Social Media |journal=Policy Studies Journal |year=2011 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=709–736 |doi=10.1111/j.1541-0072.2011.00428.x |s2cid=153590593 }}</ref> The poets [[Mira Gonzalez]] and [[Tao Lin]] published a book titled ''Selected Tweets'' featuring selections of their tweets over some eight years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thefader.com/2015/06/08/mira-gonzalez-tao-lin-twitter-interview-with-juliet-escoria|title=Mira Gonzalez And Tao Lin's Selected Tweets Is Deeper Than It Seems|publisher=The Fader|date=June 8, 2015|last=Escoria|first=Julia|access-date=January 6, 2021}}</ref> The novelist [[Rick Moody]] wrote a short story for Electric Literature called "Some Contemporary Characters", composed entirely of tweets.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Rick Moody's Twitter Short Story Draws Long List of Complaints|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/12/01/rick-moodys-twitter-short-story-draws-long-list-of-complaints/|date=December 1, 2009|work=[[Wall Street Journal]]|access-date=May 19, 2012|first=Steven|last=Kurutz}}</ref> Many commentators have suggested that Twitter radically changed the format of reporting due to instant, short, and frequent communication.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Impact of Twitter on Journalism {{!}} Off Book|url=https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/2c19b182-83df-4168-b61b-158d993e8de2/the-impact-of-twitter-on-journalism/|access-date=January 31, 2021|website=PBS LearningMedia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Chamberlain|first=Craig|title=How has Twitter changed news coverage?|url=https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/267046|access-date=January 31, 2021|website=news.illinois.edu}}</ref> According to ''[[The Atlantic]]'' writers Benjamin M. Reilly and Robinson Meyer, Twitter has an outsized impact on the public discourse and media. "Something happens on Twitter; celebrities, politicians and journalists talk about it, and it's circulated to a wider audience by Twitter's algorithms; journalists write about the dustup." This can lead to an argument on a Twitter feed looking like a "debate roiling the country... regular people are left with a confused, agitated view of our current political discourse".<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 12, 2020|title=Twitter Is Not as Important as Journalists Make It Seem|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/letters/archive/2020/02/twitter-is-bad-for-the-news/605782/|access-date=January 31, 2021|website=The Atlantic}}</ref> In a 2018 article in the ''[[Columbia Journalism Review]]'', Matthew Ingram argued much the same about Twitter's "oversized role" and that it promotes immediacy over newsworthiness.<ref name="Ingram-2021">{{Cite web|title=Do journalists pay too much attention to Twitter?|url=https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/journalists-on-twitter-study.php|access-date=January 31, 2021|website=Columbia Journalism Review}}</ref> In some cases, inauthentic and provocative tweets were taken up as common opinion in mainstream articles. Writers in several outlets unintentionally cited the opinions of Russian [[Internet Research Agency]]-affiliated accounts.<ref name="Ingram-2021" /><ref name="Luk">{{Cite web|title=Most major outlets have used Russian tweets as sources for partisan opinion: study|url=https://www.cjr.org/analysis/tweets-russia-news.php|access-date=January 31, 2021|website=Columbia Journalism Review}}</ref> ====World leaders==== [[File:Donald Trump Facebook Twitter post 19679418 10159419638630725 2833632475130915488.jpg|thumb|280px|Donald Trump's Twitter post]] World leaders and their diplomats have taken note of Twitter's rapid expansion and have been increasingly utilizing [[Twitter diplomacy]], the use of Twitter to engage with foreign publics and their own citizens. US Ambassador to Russia, [[Michael A. McFaul]] has been attributed as a pioneer of international Twitter diplomacy. He used Twitter after becoming ambassador in 2011, posting in English and Russian.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ländler |first=Mark |title=In the Scripted World of Diplomacy, a Burst of Tweets |work=International New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2014 |date=February 4, 2014 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/world/middleeast/in-the-scripted-world-of-diplomacy-a-burst-of-tweets.html }}</ref> On October 24, 2014, [[Queen Elizabeth II]] sent her first tweet to mark the opening of the [[London Science Museum]]'s Information Age exhibition.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29754628|title=Queen's first tweet.|newspaper=BBC News|date=October 24, 2014|last1=Cellan-Jones|first1=Rory}}</ref> A 2013 study by website Twiplomacy found that 153 of the 193 countries represented at the [[United Nations]] had established government Twitter accounts.<ref name="twiplomacy">{{cite web|publisher=Twiplomacy.com|title=Twiplomacy Study 2013 – International Organisations|url=http://twiplomacy.com|access-date=April 27, 2014}}</ref> The same study also found that those accounts amounted to 505 Twitter handles used by world leaders and their foreign ministers, with their tweets able to reach a combined audience of over 106 million followers.<ref name=twiplomacy /> According to an analysis of accounts, the heads of state of 125 countries and 139 other leading politicians have Twitter accounts that have between them sent more than 350,000 tweets and have almost 52 million followers. However, only 30 of these do their own tweeting, more than 80 do not subscribe to other politicians and many do not follow any accounts.<ref>John Heilprin ''Leaders all a twitter but few do own tweets'' [[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]] July 28, 2012, Pg 64</ref> ====Religion==== {{As of|2015|October}}, more than twenty [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Roman Catholic cardinals]] managed active Twitter accounts,<ref>{{cite web|url = https://sixfortyone.co.uk/list-cardinals-twitter-october-2015/|title = A List of Cardinals on Twitter (October 2015)|publisher = sixfortyone.co.uk|access-date = October 12, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160119175258/https://sixfortyone.co.uk/list-cardinals-twitter-october-2015/|archive-date = January 19, 2016|df = mdy-all}}</ref> nine of whom were [[Cardinal electors for the papal conclave, 2013|cardinal electors]] for the [[2013 Papal conclave]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Tweeting Cardinals Share Pre-Conclave Thoughts|url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/03/tweeting-cardinals-share-pre-conclave-thoughts/|access-date=September 24, 2013|newspaper=ABC News|date=March 6, 2013|first=Alyssa|last=Newcomb}}</ref> [[Pope Benedict XVI]]'s Twitter account was set up in 2012. {{As of|2022|April}}, his successor, [[Pope Francis]], has 18.7 million followers of his Twitter account (@Pontifex).<ref>{{cite news|title=The reason why the Pope has a Twitter and not a Facebook account|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/the-reason-why-the-pope-has-a-twitter-and-not-a-facebook-account-9426746.html|access-date=April 11, 2016|newspaper=The Independent|date=May 23, 2014|first=Linda|last=Sharkey}}</ref>{{update inline|date=February 2022}} ===Censorship and moderation=== {{Main|Censorship of Twitter|Deplatforming|Twitter suspensions|December 2022 Twitter suspensions}} Twitter is banned completely in Russia,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-blocks-facebook-twitter/ |title=Russia blocks Facebook and Twitter access |work=CBS News |last=Sganga |first=Nicole |date=March 4, 2022 |access-date=March 14, 2022}}</ref> [[Iran]], China and North Korea<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2015/05/religion-twitter-and-freedom |title=Religion, Twitter and freedom: A peaceful explosion |newspaper=The Economist |date=May 27, 2015 |access-date=June 2, 2015}}</ref> and has been intermittently blocked in numerous countries, including Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Turkey, Venezuela and [[Turkmenistan]] on different bases.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/jun/02/twitter-china|title=China blocks Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Hotmail ahead of Tiananmen anniversary|last=Branigan |first=Tania|work=The Guardian|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/iraq-crisis-twitter-google-youtube-facebook-blocked-by-government-stop-isis-plotting-1452567|title=Iraq Crisis: Twitter, Google, YouTube and Facebook Blocked by Government to Stop Isis Plotting|work=International Business Times UK|date=June 13, 2014}}</ref><ref name="guardian-4jun2021">{{cite news |title=Nigeria suspends Twitter after president's tweet was deleted |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/04/nigeria-suspends-twitter-after-presidents-tweet-was-deleted |access-date=June 4, 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |agency=[[Reuters]] |date=June 4, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.twitter.com/2014/challenging-the-access-ban-in-turkey|title=Challenging the access ban in Turkey|work=twitter.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-14/twitter-says-venezuela-blocks-its-images-amid-protest-crackdown|title=Venezuelans Blocked on Twitter as Opposition Protests Mount|first=Patricia|last=Laya|work=Bloomberg.com|date=February 15, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16094646|title=Turkmenistan country profile|author=BBC Monitoring|website=BBC News|date=February 26, 2018}}</ref> In 2016, Twitter cooperated with the Israeli government to remove certain content originating outside Israel from tweets seen in Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://972mag.com/how-israel-is-trying-to-enforce-gag-orders-beyond-its-borders/121266/|title=How Israel is trying to enforce gag orders beyond its borders|author= Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man|publisher=972 Mag|date=August 9, 2016|access-date=September 23, 2016}}</ref> In the 11th biannual transparency report published on September 19, 2017, Twitter said that Turkey was the first among countries where about 90 percent of removal requests came from, followed by Russia, France and Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-top-country-seeking-removal-of-content-on-twitter-report.aspx?pageID=238&nID=118172&NewsCatID=339|title=Turkey top country seeking removal of content on Twitter: Report|publisher=hurriyet|date=September 20, 2017|access-date=September 20, 2017}}</ref> Twitter stated that between July 1 and December 31, 2018, "We received legal demands relating to 27,283 accounts from 47 different countries, including Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, and Slovenia for the first time."<ref>{{cite news |title=Turkey had highest request for content removal on Twitter |url=https://ipa.news/2019/05/11/turkey-had-highest-request-for-content-removal-on-twitter/ |work=IPA News |date=May 11, 2019 |access-date=September 14, 2019 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308190729/https://ipa.news/2019/05/11/turkey-had-highest-request-for-content-removal-on-twitter/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> As part of evidence to a U.S. Senate Enquiry, the company admitted that their systems "detected and hid" several hundred thousand tweets relating to the [[2016 Democratic National Committee email leak]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4164788/Twitter-testimony-to-Senate-Judiciary-Committee.pdf|title=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism: Testimony of Sean J. Edgett, Acting General Counsel, Twitter Inc.|date=October 31, 2017|access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> During the curfew in [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]] after [[Indian revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status|revocation of its autonomous status]] on August 5, 2019, the Indian government approached Twitter to block accounts accused of spreading anti-India content;<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/govt-tells-twitter-to-block-accounts-inciting-anti-india-content-using-kashmir/story-V10neIY9VmgfI8rLB67Y4N.html |title= Govt tells Twitter to block accounts inciting anti-India content using Kashmir |publisher= Hindustan Times |date= August 12, 2019}}</ref> by October 25, nearly one million tweets had been removed as a result.<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 25, 2019|title=Twitter removes almost 1 million tweets in Kashmir, accused of bowing to Indian censorship|url=https://www.newsweek.com/twitter-removes-almost-1m-tweets-kashmir-accused-bowing-indian-censorship-1467721|access-date=November 5, 2020|website=Newsweek}}</ref> In March 2022, shortly after [[Censorship of Twitter#Russia 2|Russia's censorship of Twitter]], a Tor [[.onion|onion]] service link was created by the platform to allow people to access the website, even in countries with heavy Internet censorship.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twitter Launches Tor Onion Service Making Site Easier to Access in Russia |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7dqxd/twitter-tor-onion-service-dark-web-version |access-date=May 26, 2022 |website=www.vice.com|date=March 8, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Robertson |first=Adi |date=March 8, 2022 |title=Twitter is launching a Tor service for more secure and private tweeting |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/8/22967843/twitter-tor-onion-service-version-launch |access-date=May 26, 2022 |website=The Verge}}</ref> ====Moderation of tweets==== Twitter removed more than 88,000 propaganda accounts linked to [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Twitter just suspended over 88,000 accounts tied to a Saudi disinformation campaign |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-removed-accounts-saudi-arabia-disinformation-campaign-2019-12 |work=Business Insider |date=December 20, 2019}}</ref> Twitter removed tweets from accounts associated with the Russian [[Internet Research Agency]] that had tried to influence public opinion during and after the 2016 US election.<ref name="Ingram-2021" /><ref name="Luk" /> In June 2020, Twitter also removed 175,000 propaganda accounts that were spreading biased political narratives for the [[Chinese Communist Party]], the [[United Russia|United Russia Party]], or Turkey's President [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan|Erdogan]], identified based on centralized behavior.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Winder|first=Davey|title=Twitter's Powerful Move Silences 175,000 Chinese And Russian Fake News Accounts|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/06/12/twitters-powerful-move-silences-175000-chinese-and-russian-fake-news-accounts-hong-kong-politics-social-media-disinformation/|access-date=January 31, 2021|website=Forbes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Disclosing networks of state-linked information operations we've removed|url=https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/information-operations-june-2020.html|access-date=January 31, 2021|website=blog.twitter.com}}</ref> Twitter also removed accounts linked to the governments of [[Armenia]], [[Egypt]], [[Cuba]], [[Serbia]], [[Honduras]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Iran]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Twitter suspends government-run accounts in Cuba |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49683029 |work=BBC News |date=September 12, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Twitter removes accounts linked to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, other countries |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-accounts-idUSKBN21K1SK |work=Reuters |date=April 2, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Twitter removes hundreds of accounts it says are linked to Iran, Russia, Armenia |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-content-idUSKBN2AN1WW |work=Reuters |date=February 23, 2021}}</ref> Twitter suspended Pakistani accounts tied to government officials for posting tweets about the [[Kashmir conflict]] between India and Pakistan.<ref>{{cite news |title=200 accounts suspended over Kashmir reported to Twitter |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1500457 |work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]] |date=August 20, 2019}}</ref> In February 2021, Twitter removed accounts in India that criticized Prime Minister [[Narendra Modi]]'s government for its conduct during [[2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest|Indian farmers' protests in 2020–2021]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Twitter Blocks Accounts in India as Modi Pressures Social Media|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/technology/india-twitter.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/technology/india-twitter.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited |work=The New York Times |date=February 10, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> At the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, numerous tweets reported false medical information related to the pandemic. Twitter announced a new policy in which they would label tweets containing misinformation going forward.<ref name="Roth-2020" /> In April 2020, Twitter removed accounts which defended President [[Rodrigo Duterte]]'s response to the spread of COVID-19 in the [[Philippines]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Twitter suspends accounts defending Duterte's COVID-19 response – report |url=https://technology.inquirer.net/98139/twitter-suspends-accounts-defending-dutertes-covid-19-response-report |work=Inquirer.net |date=April 10, 2020}}</ref> In November 2020, then Chief Technology Officer and future CEO of Twitter [[Parag Agrawal]], when asked by [[MIT Technology Review]] about balancing the protection of [[Freedom of speech|free speech]] as a core value and the endeavour to combat misinformation, said: "Our role is not to be bound by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]], but our role is to serve a healthy public conversation ... focus less on thinking about free speech, but thinking about how the times have changed."<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/11/18/1012066/emtech-stage-twitters-cto-on-misinformation/ |title= EmTech Stage: Twitter's CTO on misinformation |website=technologyreview.com |date=November 18, 2020 |access-date=November 30, 2021}}</ref> Musk had been critical of Twitter's moderation of misinformation prior to his acquisition of the company.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://time.com/6171272/elon-musk-twitter-disinformation/ | title = 'We're Back.' Far-Right Groups Celebrate Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover | first = Vera | last = Bergengruen | date = April 27, 2022 | access-date = May 27, 2023 | work = [[Time (magzine)|Time]] }}</ref> After the transition, Musk eliminated the misinformation moderation team,<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/twitter-fires-employees-fight-misinformation-midterm-elections-rcna55750 | title = Days before the midterms, Twitter lays off employees who fight misinformation | first1 = Ben | last1 = Collins | first2 = Brandy | last2 = Zadrozny | first3 = David | last3 = Ingram | date = November 4, 2023 | access-date = May 27, 2023 | work = [[NBC News]] }}</ref> and stopped enforcing its policy on labeling tweets with misleading information about coronavirus.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63796832 | title=Twitter ends Covid misinformation policy under Musk | date=November 30, 2022 | publisher =BBC News |access-date=November 30, 2022}}</ref> While Twitter had joined a voluntary program under the European Union's to fight disinformation in June 2022, Musk pulled the company out of the program in May 2023.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65733969 | title = Twitter pulls out of voluntary EU disinformation code | first = Francesca | last = Gillett | date = May 27, 2023 | access-date = May 27, 2023 | work = [[BBC News]] }}</ref> === Community Notes === [[File:Community_Notes_logo.png|thumb|Community Notes logo]] {{excerpt|Community Notes|templates=0|files=0|references=no|paragraphs=1,2}} === Court cases and lawsuits === ''[[Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh|Twitter Inc. v. Taamneh]]'', alongside ''[[Gonzalez v. Google LLC|Gonzalez v. Google]]'', were heard by the [[United States Supreme Court]] during its 2022–2023 term. Both cases dealt with Internet content providers and whether they are liable for terrorism-related information posted by their users. In the case of ''Twitter v. Taamneh'', the case asked if Twitter and other social media services are liable for [[User-generated content|user-generated]] terrorism content under the [[Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996]] and are beyond their [[Section 230]] protections. The court ruled in May 2023 that the charges brought against Twitter and other companies were not permissible under the Antiterrorism Act, and did not address the Section 230 question. This decision also supported the Court's [[Per curiam|''per curiam'' decision]] in ''Gonzalez'' returning that case to the lower court for review in light of the ''Twitter'' decision.<ref name="nbcnews decision">{{cite news |last=Hurley |first=Lawrence |date=May 18, 2023 |title=Supreme Court sidesteps ruling on scope of internet companies' immunity from lawsuits over user content |work=[[NBC News]] |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-sidesteps-ruling-scope-internet-company-immunity-lawsuit-rcna79598 |access-date=May 18, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Masnick |first=Mike |date=May 18, 2023 |title=Supreme Court Leaves 230 Alone For Now, But Justice Thomas Gives A Pretty Good Explanation For Why It Exists In The First Place |url=https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/18/supreme-court-leaves-230-alone-for-now-but-justice-thomas-gives-a-pretty-good-explanation-for-why-it-exists-in-the-first-place/ |access-date=August 4, 2023 |website=[[Techdirt]]}}</ref> In 2016, Twitter shareholder Doris Shenwick filed a lawsuit against Twitter, Inc., claiming executives misled investors over the company's growth prospects.<ref name="time.com">{{Cite magazine |title=Twitter Agrees to Pay $809.5 Million Settlement in Shareholder Growth Lawsuit |url=https://time.com/6099976/twitter-class-action-lawsuit/ |magazine=Time |access-date=November 6, 2022}}</ref> In 2021, Twitter agreed to pay $809.5 million to settle.<ref name="time.com" /> In May 2022, Twitter agreed to pay $150 million to settle a lawsuit started by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. The lawsuit concerned Twitter's use of email addresses and phone numbers of Twitter users to [[Targeted advertising|target advertisements]] at them. The company also agreed to third-party audits of its [[Information privacy|data privacy]] program.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Robertson |first1=Adi |date=May 25, 2022 |title=Twitter will pay $150 million for using people's security phone numbers to target ads |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/25/23141968/ftc-doj-twitter-settlement-phone-number-security-ad-targeting |access-date=May 26, 2022 |website=The Verge}}</ref> On November 3, 2022, on the eve of expected lay-offs, a group of Twitter employees based in San Francisco and Cambridge filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Naming five current or former workers as plaintiffs, the suit accused the company of violating federal and state laws that govern notice of employment termination.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 4, 2022 |title=Twitter sued over short-notice layoffs as Elon Musk's takeover rocks company |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/twitter-sued-layoffs-days-elon-musk-purchase-rcna55619 |access-date=November 6, 2022 |website=NBC News}}</ref> The federal law in question is the [[Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988|Work Adjustment and Re training Notification (WARN) Act]], and the state law in question is California's state WARN Act.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 4, 2022 |title=Twitter sued by workers over impending layoffs they say are illegal |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/twitter-layoffs-illegal-lawsuit-122037157.html |access-date=November 6, 2022 |website=finance.yahoo.com}}</ref> On November 20, 2023, Twitter filed a lawsuit against [[Media Matters for America|Media Matters]], a media watchdog group. The lawsuit alleges defamation by Media Matters following its publication of a report claiming that advertisements for major brands were displayed alongside posts promoting [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Nazi Party|Nazi party]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 21, 2023 |title=Elon Musk's X sues Media Matters over antisemitism analysis |language=en-GB |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67482231 |access-date=November 21, 2023}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page