Twitter Inc boss Elon Musk on Tuesday put out word that audio and video calls are coming to the platform.
“Coming soon will be voice and video chat from your handle to anyone on this platform,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
“So you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number,” he wrote.
Photo: AP
WHATSAPP?
In a subsequent comment on Twitter, Musk contended that the WhatsApp messaging service operated by Meta Platforms Inc “cannot be trusted.”
A messaging feature at Twitter would compete with an array of free services, including Messenger, Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp.
Musk added that starting yesterday, Twitter would encrypt direct messages on the platform, scrambling contents to safeguard privacy.
Since buying Twitter for US$44 billion late last year, Musk has implemented changes in seemingly impulsive ways, sometimes causing chaos for users.
The Twitter boss has talked publicly of building an all-purpose “X” application that combines messages, payments and more.
Musk recently made the tech firm part of an “X” shell corporation, getting rid of the Twitter company name, but continuing to use it for the service.
GUILTY HACKER
Separately, a British man on Tuesday pleaded guilty for his role in schemes to hack the Twitter accounts of celebrities like Musk and former US president Barack Obama, and stealing US$794,000 in cryptocurrency.
Joseph James O’Connor, 23, entered his guilty plea in a New York court after being extradited from Spain on April 26.
He was arrested nearly two years ago in Spain for the July 2020 hack of more than 130 Twitter accounts, including those of Apple Inc, Uber Technologies Inc, Kanye West, Bill Gates and US President Joe Biden.
He and others in his hacking group hijacked the accounts and asked the owners’ followers to send them bitcoin, promising to double their money.
O’Connor, who went by the online name of PlugwalkJoe, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of computer intrusion, extortion, stalking, wire fraud and money laundering.
The most serious of the charges brings up to 20 years in prison.
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