Playbill, a newspaper for the theatre, announced it will stop using Twitter because the social media site “has substantially increased its tolerance for hatred, hostility, and disinformation.”
In the wake of Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media firm, this is one of the first publishing companies to announce specific plans to exit the platform. Twitter has created and then halted a scheme that allowed users to pay for a verification check mark rather than being approved by the business during Musk’s brief tenure thus far. Due to this, users with verified checkmarks began impersonating companies or famous people, which increased confusion and false information on the network.
As Musk follows on with his plan to focus Twitter around free speech, many individual users, famous people, and companies have also announced their intention to leave the network, and advertisers have reacted negatively. Media sources state that as part of his takeover, Musk has also reduced the company’s staff by 50% and some notable executives have quit.
The Hollywood Reporter has more.
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The 1884-founded Playbill, which went online in 1995, is verified on Twitter and has a little under 500,000 followers.
“As a family-owned business, we’ve always tried to support the whole theatrical scene by bringing in audiences and highlighting the amazing professionals who toil endlessly to keep Broadway glowing brilliantly across our country. Community, kindness, cooperation, inclusiveness, and honesty have always been at the heart of Playbill’s basic principles, according to Philip S. Birsh, the company’s chairman and CEO, and Alex Birsh, COO.
“Twitter, Inc. has significantly increased its tolerance for hate, hostility, and false information in recent weeks. We feel we can no longer continue to use a platform where the distinction between true news and pernicious hyperbole has grown so muddled that it is no longer discernible as a reputable news source for the Broadway community.
The newspaper said that as of Friday, it will no longer be active on Twitter. Playbill will keep posting on its website, which it claims has over two million unique visitors each month, as well as on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, all of which are “subject to continual monitoring.”
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