Friday evening, a CBS News reporter announced on air that the network had decided to boycott its tweeting operations “out of an abundance of caution,” citing the turmoil at the company following rounds of mass layoffs and resignations.
Hilariously, in under 48 hours, the outlet was back on Twitter, and its return generated brutal mockery given that it appeared the network fell for what turned out to be blatantly false hype that Twitter’s backend would fail without its once-bloated and needlessly large workforce.
“After pausing for much of the weekend to assess the security concerns, CBS News and Stations is resuming its activity on Twitter as we continue to monitor the situation,” CBS News’s official Twitter account posted Sunday afternoon.
After pausing for much of the weekend to assess the security concerns, CBS News and Stations is resuming its activity on Twitter as we continue to monitor the situation.
— CBS News PR (@CBSNewsPress) November 20, 2022
The outlet’s Friday night announcement came at the same time intense speculation emerged that Twitter would soon be nonfunctional after its new owner, Elon Musk, fired thousands of employees, with many more leaving voluntarily. Most of the establishment media outlets worked their followers into a frenzy, and many seemed convinced that by Saturday morning, Twitter would be Thanos’ed from existence.
“In light of the uncertainty around Twitter and out of an abundance of caution, CBS News is pausing its activity on the social media site as it continues to monitor the platform,” CBS News national correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti said Friday evening.
CBS News and its owned and operated stations are “pausing” activity on Twitter; blaming “uncertainty” on the platform. pic.twitter.com/Pv1gEQjQJH
— Jim Lokay (@LokayFOX5) November 19, 2022
Should companies who boycotted Twitter be allowed back on the platform?
Yes: 24% (130 Votes)
No: 76% (406 Votes)
CBS News and many other left-leaning establishment media outlets — and their frenzied, anti-Musk followers — apparently didn’t believe that a man who has landed a reusable rocket on a floating platform in the ocean — who also happens to be one of the wealthiest and most intelligent humans on Earth — could muster up the internal reinforcements needed to keep Twitter online.
And on Sunday, Twitter users flooded the network’s return announcement, which came less than 48 hours after it went Twitter dark.
After pausing for much of the weekend, I have assessed that you’re a bunch of partisan clowns instead of a serious news organization. I continue to monitor the situation.
— Whispers of Dementia (@mgEyesOpen) November 20, 2022
Some Twitter users blasted the network’s dramatic set of announcements regarding the situation.
This is not an airport, no need to announce your departure or arrival.
— It’s all a distraction (@it_distraction) November 20, 2022
While CBS News probably wasn’t fond of being forced to return so soon, it makes sense, as Twitter is a significant driver of traffic — translation: money — for news networks.
With 8.8 million followers on its primary Twitter account, of course CBS News would decide to resume tweeting sooner than later. They presumably need the web traffic to keep the lights on and the Keurig machines running.
Since Musk took the company private, the Tesla and SpaceX founder has also sparked a new wave of woke corporate knee-jerk responses to his latest endeavor.
A Gizmodo report earlier this month noted that major advertisers like General Motors, Pfizer, and United decided to exit the platform upon Musk’s purchase, citing the possibility of “a rise in misinformation, hate speech, and other distasteful content under his watch.”
However, with the reinstatement and possible return (or not) of former President Donald Trump, Twitter is guaranteed to be nothing less than a spectacle for the foreseeable future. Musk has already said on multiple occasions that engagement on the platform is at record highs.
“And … we just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage lol,” Musk tweeted Thursday.
And … we just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Now that Twitter is the talk of the town once more, one shouldn’t be surprised to see some of those woke advertisers hightail it back to Twitter’s trenches in the cover of darkness. They can’t afford not to.
