How does one “defeat the spam bots” on Twitter, as Elon Musk claims to want to do? Well, one way is by expanding authentication. But how far will Twitter run with that strategy while Musk is in charge?
That remains to be seen, but the Tesla CEO did drop a hint regarding his stance on authentication in a reply tweet posted on Sunday.
Authentication is important, but so is anonymity for many. A balance must be struck.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2022
On April 30, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tweeted his hope that Musk would require all Twitter users to “use their real names.” The next day, Musk responded to Huckabee’s tweet with a reply that acknowledged the importance of both authentication and anonymity and noted that “a balance must be struck” between the two.
It was a short response, but an important declaration from Musk, especially considering his recent purchase of the bird app and the fact that some form of authentication is one of the features Musk has mentioned multiple times as a priority of his regarding the changes he wishes to see in Twitter. His reply is also notable because it provides a clearer picture of what he calls “authenticating all humans” may look like. This tweet indicates that, in Musk’s vision of authentication on the bird app, there might still be room for those who need to use a pseudonym to express themselves fully and safely.
The question of authentication is just one of many Musk will have to answer now that he’s taking Twitter private. He’ll also have to consider issues such as content moderation, an edit button, and how to generate revenue from the platform. And we still want to know how he plans to strike that balance between authentication and anonymity.
Discord is trying to push more visibility on the internet for some of its biggest communities, and there's a good chance your messages could end up in a Google Search. The platform is preparing to make conversations from certain public servers searchable on the web, so there's a privacy setting you might want to check before the rollout begins.
According to Discord's official announcement, the changes will roll out in two stages. Starting November 16, qualifying servers will have public web pages featuring automated summaries of conversations. By mid-December, individual messages from eligible public channels could also appear word-for-word in Google and other search engines.
You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.
Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?