Today’s Cache | Twitter Blue lands in India, Indians prone to dating scams, and EU slams Twitter disinformation report

With Twitter Blue launching in India, Android and iOS users in the country can expect to pay ₹900 pe

With Twitter Blue launching in India, Android and iOS users in the country can expect to pay ₹900 per month for a verified blue tick and other features that will be coming soon, such as prioritised tweets, fewer ads, and shared ad revenue. Twitter Blue costs ₹650 per month for web users, and is ₹6,800 under the yearly plan. However, non-paying users are not the only ones struggling with Twitter engagement, as CEO Elon Musk reportedly complained to staff members that his own reach was dropping. An engineer who attempted to explain the fall in users’ interest in Mr. Musk was said to be fired on the spot.

Findings published by Norton revealed that out of 1,000 Indian adults who were surveyed, around three in four fell victim to romantic scams and ended up losing an average of about ₹7,966 due to these encounters. Further investigation revealed that 76% of Indian survey respondents who used a dating app or website said they cut short their interactions with their potential date after finding out unsettling information about them. Many survey respondents also admitted to looking up their potential date’s social media profiles, family and friends, job titles, and their uploaded photos, before leaping into love.

The European Union made it clear that it was disappointed with Twitter’s efforts to tackle disinformation as the social media company submitted its reports along with other Big Tech companies to show how it was complying with the EU’s voluntary 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation. Twitter’s report was much thinner than those of rivals such as Google, TikTok, Microsoft, Facebook and Instagram, though it still claimed it had made advances in fighting fake news. An official noted that Twitter’s report lagged behind the others and did not contain enough data.