Elon Musk admits X ‘may fail’ after glitch
deletes Twitter photos
Platform’s users voice concern as it removes pictures
and links on posts made before December 2014
Hibaq Farah
Mon 21 Aug
2023 10.03 EDT
Elon Musk,
the owner of the app formerly known as Twitter, has said the social media site
“may fail”, after a glitch caused pictures posted before December 2014 to be
deleted.
In a post
on the site, renamed X, Musk said: “The sad truth is that there are no great
‘social networks’ right now.”
He added:
“We may fail, as so many have predicted, but we will try our best to make there
be at least one.”
Over the
weekend, a glitch on the platform meant that the site removed pictures and
links on posts made before December 2014. The posts showed broken links instead
of the pictures and videos that were previously there.
Several
users noticed the glitch, with the technologist Tom Coates among those pointing
it out. Coates referred to the glitch as “epic vandalism by Musk” and suggested
it could be a cost-saving exercise.
Ellen
DeGeneres’ famous Oscars selfie from 2014 was also removed but later restored.
The photo became the platform’s most retweeted photo ever, with more than 2m
shares on the platform. Former US president Barack Obama’s viral tweet after
his 2012 election win remained unaffected.
Some users
speculated that the glitch was caused by an effort to save costs on storage
data, while others attributed it to changes made on the platform in 2016 when
it added “enhanced URL enrichment”, designed to show previews for linked
websites and attachments beyond the company’s 140 character limit, according to
The Verge.
The
malfunction came after reports last week that suggested access had been slowed
down from X to other social media sites including the Meta platforms Facebook,
Threads and Instagram. The five-second delay also appeared on links to some
news sites such as the New York Times and Reuters.
Earlier
this year, users noticed that they could no longer post or send messages to
each other, and saw a notification that said they were “over the daily limit
for sending tweets”. Direct messages were also not working. The company
apologised for “the trouble” in a post. Previous glitches have also left users
unable to log in or view their own posts.
Twitter has
cut thousands of jobs since Musk’s takeover, vastly reducing the workforce
since November.
Despite the
Tesla chief executive’s aggressive efforts to cut down costs of the platform
since his takeover, he has faced challenges with revenue. Last month, he
reported a 50% drop in advertising revenue, along with a heavy debt load. The
platform faces annual interest payments that stand at $1.5bn as a result of the
debt it took on as part of last October’s $44bn deal that turned the company
private.
According
to the Wall Street Journal, the social media company also faces suits claiming
more than $14m (£11m) in unpaid bills since Musk took over.
X was
contacted for comment.
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