Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey spar on Twitter over accuracy, Birdwatch feature

Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey sparred Sunday night about Twitter’s mission to become the “most accurate source of information” and the rebranding of its feature Birdwatch – a name the new owner said gave him “the creeps.”

The heated back-and-forth began when Musk declared in a tweet, “Twitter needs to become by far the most accurate source of information about the world. That’s our mission.”

“Accurate to who?” replied Dorsey, a co-founder and former CEO of the social media site, which Musk bought for an estimated $44 billion.

“As judged by the people of Twitter via Community Notes (formerly Birdwatch),” Musk wrote, referring to the feature that allows users to add notes on tweets they find misleading.

Dorsey, who stepped down as CEO a year ago, then took aim over the new name.

“I still think…Birdwatch is a far better name. And ‘more informative’ a far better goal,” he wrote.

“Twitter needs to become by far the most accurate source of information about the world. That’s our mission,” Musk said in a tweet.
AP

“Birdwatch gives me the creeps,” Musk replied.

“Community notes is the most boring Facebook name ever,” Dorsey continued, prompting Musk to hit back, “Not everything needs to have ‘bird’ in the name!”

“Too many bird groups fighting each internally other at Twitter. Angry Birds,” Musk added, using the name of the popular video game to apparently suggest infighting at Twitter.

“Agree, but that wasn’t reason for the name. Descriptive is always better, but don’t think ‘community’ or ‘notes’ is the right descriptor,” Dorsey wrote back.

The sparring between the two tech moguls came shortly after The Post ran a story about how Twitter staffers — many of whom were fired by Musk on Friday — “hate” Dorsey.

“Jack is hated at Twitter,” a source told The Post. “They blame what happened with Elon taking over the company on Jack. Parag [Agrawal, the recently-ousted head of Twitter] and the board think he is this really bad character.”

Dorsey on Saturday acknowledged that many employees are “angry” with him.

“Folks at Twitter past and present are strong and resilient,” Dorsey tweeted early Saturday.

“They will always find a way no matter how difficult the moment. I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that,” he wrote.

“I am grateful for, and love, everyone who has ever worked on Twitter,” Dorsey added. “I don’t expect that to be mutual in this moment…or ever…and I understand,” Dorsey added.

Dorsey pressed the Tesla billionaire about his tweet on the social media platform’s “mission” on accuracy.

Dorsey recently launched a social media company called Bluesky, a decentralized platform that promises to give users and developers more autonomy.

Meanwhile, Twitter is delaying doling out blue verification check marks as part of its new $8-a-month subscription service until after Tuesday’s elections, according to the New York Times.

Musk cut Twitter’s workforce Friday to stabilize finances, saying in a tweet he had no choice because the company was losing $4 million every day – but in an embarrassing flub, it reportedly pleaded for some of those workers to take their old jobs back over the weekend.

Dozens of laid-off staffers were asked back because some were cut by mistake and others were terminated before management realized their work and experience are potentially valuable to help build new features Musk wants for the site, according to a Bloomberg report. Some 3,700 workers lost their job Friday.

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