Elon Musk’s new Twitter Blue feature has been used for film piracy

19 May, 2023

Elon Musk

Elon Musk‘s new feature for Twitter Blue subscribers — the ability to upload two-hour videos — has been used for film piracy.

On Thursday (May 8), the owner of the social media platform announced that Twitter Blue subscribers would now be able to post 120-minute-long (8GB) videos.

Shortly after the announcement, one verified user took advantage of the new feature and uploaded Shrek The Third in its entirety.

The post currently sits at the top of the replies to Musk’s initial tweet. However, the video upload has since been disabled “in response to a report by the copyright owner.”

Other users have since been taking advantage of the feature to share more copyright-infringed videos, such as movies, full sports matches and concert events.

Musk’s time as Twitter’s CEO has been mired in various controversies since his acquisition of the platform. He has fired several top executives at Twitter and half of its staff since he bought the website last October for $44billon (£36.5bn).

The platform has struggled to tackle copyright infringement following the significant reductions to the site’s workforce (dropping from 8,000 to 2,300 employees). Twitter Blue has also complicated matters, with verified users now being able to impersonate celebrities and other notable figures.

Hate speech also reportedly spiked on the site after his takeover, while users were advised to archive their Twitter history after speculation the platform could collapse back in November.

Last week, Musk announced that Linda Yaccarino would take over as Twitter’s new CEO. Despite only taking up the role in October, Musk promised late last year that he would step down once he had found “someone foolish enough to take the job”.

The decision came after he polled Twitter users over whether he should quit as CEO, to which 57.5 per cent of respondents voted yes.

Musk said that Yaccarino will “focus primarily on business operations”, while he turns his attention to product design and new technology.

The billionaire also confirmed that a rebrand of Twitter to X was imminent. “Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app,” he added.

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