Twitter net customers on Monday have been met with a brand new mascot of kinds: Kabosu, the Shiba Inu who impressed the Doge meme, appeared this week instead of the corporate’s trademark blue chicken icon.
There’s presently no rationalization for the change—which is nearly definitely not a delayed April Fools’ Day joke, however quite one other strategy to amuse Doge superfan CEO Elon Musk.
Musk this week shared a screenshot of a March 22 change by which a person who goes by @WSBChairman prompt Musk “simply purchase Twitter … and alter the chicken brand to a doge.”
Many Twitter users were unimpressed by the stunt, calling it “embarassing,” “annoying,” and the final straw which will push them to give up the social community. Others questioned if it was a ploy to bury Friday’s information that Musk’s authorized staff filed a movement to toss out a 2022 lawsuit accusing him of operating a pyramid scheme supporting Dogecoin.
The primary cryptocurrency primarily based on an web meme, Dogecoin launched in December 2013 as a joke. By early Might 2021, the altcoin reached a market capitalization of greater than $85 billion. Musk’s common Dogecoin-related tweets, although not unlawful themselves, have led some to assert his actions quantity to market manipulation, because the digital foreign money’s worth usually fluctuates shortly after Musk talks it up.
“There’s nothing illegal about tweeting phrases of assist for, or humorous photos about, a legit cryptocurrency that continues to carry a market cap of almost $10 billion,” Musk’s authorized staff wrote in a Friday submitting, as reported by Reuters. “This courtroom ought to put a cease to plaintiffs’ fantasy and dismiss the criticism,” which seeks $258 billion in damages.
This all comes amid confusion about whether or not legacy verified Twitter customers will lose their blue checkmarks, as Musk promised to do on April 1 (additionally not an April Fools’ joke, apparently). As an alternative of pulling the checkmarks, nonetheless, Twitter accounts now bear a message that claims “This account is verified as a result of it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.”
