Elon Musk’s sweet response to Elton John as singer decides to leave Twitter

British musician Elton John has announced that he will quit Twitter following its acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk. John joins a long list of celebrities including supermodel Gigi Hadid, writer Shonda Rhimes and former White Stripes guitarist Jack White who have quit Twitter recently.

The singer of hits such as "Tiny Dancer" and "Rocket Man", who is currently on his last-ever global tour, blamed Twitter's recent policy change as a reason for quitting.

"All my life I've tried to use music to bring people together. Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world," John tweeted to his 1.1 million followers.

"I've decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked".

Musk in a very polite tone replied to the musician. The billionaire wrote, "I love your music. Hope you come back. Is there any misinformation in particular that you're concerned about?"

Since Musk took over Twitter in a $44 billion deal, a series of changes including charging users for a "blue tick", the roll-back of a policy aimed at tackling misinformation related to Covid-19, and reinstating some previously suspended accounts, including that of former US President Donald Trump, has attracted a widespread backlash.

Musk has also halved the company's workforce and made deep cuts to its trust and safety team, which is responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation and harmful content.

Besides, Twitter Inc will roll out new controls as soon as next week to let companies prevent their ads from appearing above or below tweets containing certain keywords.

The new controls are part of Twitter's effort to reassure and lure back advertisers that have pulled ads off the platform.

Twitter earns nearly 90% of its revenue from selling digital ads. Musk recently attributed a "massive drop in revenue" to civil rights organizations that have pressured brands to pause their Twitter ads.

In a call on Thursday with an advertising industry group, a Twitter representative said the platform was considering bringing its content moderators, many of whom are contracted through third-party vendors, in-house, according to a source familiar with the remarks.

According to a report by Reuters news agency, the social media platform is planning a revamped version of Twitter's subscription service called Twitter Blue that would be rolled out soon.

The subscription will allow accounts to receive a verified check mark. Accounts for individuals will get a blue check, while gold and gray check marks will denote business and government accounts, the agency wrote citing an email thread.

The subscription price will be $7 per month on the web and $11 per month on Apple devices, the email said.