Hillicon Valley —Twitter’s altering verify mark system

Twitter eliminated grey supplementary verification labels positioned on some accounts inside 24 hours of their launch, however they could seem on different accounts once more because the platform tweaks its labels and subscription options beneath new CEO Elon Musk.

In the meantime, Mississippi state officers stated on Wednesday they’re unable to substantiate and attribute actors behind a cyberattack that impacted election web sites on Election Day.

That is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you should learn about tech and cyber information from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Ship tricks to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Somebody ahead you this text? 

One verify, two verify, grey verify, blue verify

Twitter’s new CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday stated he “killed” the rollout of second verification labels lower than 24 hours after they began showing on choose customers’ accounts, with an organization director clarifying that the marks are nonetheless set to be launched when the corporate’s up to date subscription service launches.

• Twitter stated Tuesday night it might begin rolling out grey labels marking some accounts as “official” as the corporate launches its plans to begin charging customers for its earlier blue verify mark verification system.
• By Wednesday afternoon among the grey “official” labels that had been positioned on choose customers’ accounts had been eliminated.  

In response to YouTuber Marques Brownlee, who famous that his “official” label was gone practically as rapidly because it appeared, Musk stated, “I simply killed it.” 

“Please observe that Twitter will do numerous dumb issues in coming months,” Musk tweeted shortly after. “We’ll preserve what works & change what doesn’t.” 

Twitter’s Esther Crawford tweeted after that the official label “continues to be going out as a part of” the Twitter Blue subscription launch.

“What you noticed him point out was the truth that we’re not specializing in giving people the ‘Official’ label proper now,” she tweeted, referring to Musk’s tweet.

Learn extra right here. 

Mississippi unable to substantiate cyberattack wrongdoer

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson (R) stated Wednesday his workplace was unable to substantiate the actors behind a cyberattack that disrupted state election web sites on Tuesday, as extra proof is required to attribute it to any particular group.

Watson stated the assault precipitated the websites to be “periodically inaccessible,” however was assured that the “election system was not compromised.” 

• A Russian hacking group reportedly claimed duty for the assault. In keeping with USA TODAY, the group stated in a Telegram publish that it focused Mississippi’s state election web sites to “hit the part that’s immediately associated to the elections.”
• The hackers additionally stated that they might “assault American Democrats as a present to the Republicans for the elections,” and that their first goal is the Democratic Nationwide Committee, USA TODAY reported.

A senior official on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company (CISA) informed reporters that the company is “actually conscious of the [Russian] claims… however that’s not sufficient for the federal authorities to offer attribution.” 

Learn extra right here. 

META LAYOFFS

Meta, the father or mother firm of Fb and Instagram, introduced Wednesday it will lay off greater than 11,000 workers as the corporate struggles financially amid excessive inflation and a potential recession sooner or later.

• CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated in a message to workers that the layoffs will scale back the scale of the corporate’s employees by about 13 p.c.
• He additionally stated Meta is taking steps to turn out to be a “leaner and extra environment friendly” firm by way of slicing discretionary spending and increasing a hiring freeze by way of the primary quarter of subsequent yr.  

“I need to take accountability for these selections and for the way we acquired right here,” Zuckerberg stated. “I do know that is robust for everybody, and I’m particularly sorry to these impacted.”  

He stated the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic led to elevated income development in e-commerce, which he and others predicted could be everlasting, main Zuckerberg to considerably make investments the corporate’s pursuits in it. 

Learn extra right here.  

MUSK SELLS $4B OF TESLA STOCK

Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought $3.95 billion price of shares within the electrical automobile firm inside the final week, following his latest buy of Twitter, The Related Press reported. 

Musk bought 19.5 million Tesla shares from Nov. 4-8, in response to latest filings with the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee. The billionaire has now bought greater than $19 billion price of inventory within the firm since April, when he first introduced his plans to purchase Twitter, in response to the AP. 

Musk took over Twitter late final month after finalizing his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform. The takeover has been controversial, with Musk ousting the corporate’s earlier management and shedding about half of its workforce. 

Learn extra right here.  

👾 BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Musk’s Twitter shake-up may ship a essential blow to social media analysis 

Notable hyperlinks from across the net: 

How a viral teen app grew to become the middle of a intercourse trafficking conspiracy (The Washington Publish / Taylor Lorenz) 

Fall of a Crypto Titan Places an Trade on Edge (The New York Instances / David Yaffe-Bellany) 

How Elon Musk is altering Twitter (Vox / Shirin Ghaffary) 

🎶 Lighter click on: The long run is right here 

Another factor: One other Artemis delay

NASA on Tuesday delayed the extremely anticipated launch of its Artemis rocket as Tropical Storm Nicole strikes towards Florida. 

Company officers stated in a weblog publish they determined to maneuver the launch date from Monday, Nov. 14, to Wednesday, Nov. 16, to make sure the very best circumstances can be found on the Kennedy House Heart in Florida. 

“Adjusting the goal launch date will enable the workforce to are inclined to the wants of their households and houses, and supply adequate logistical time to get again into launch standing following the storm,” NASA wrote. 

There might be a two-hour launch window starting at 1:04 a.m. ET on Nov. 16. A backup launch date is accessible on Saturday, Nov. 19, if wanted. 

Learn extra right here.  

That’s it for at this time, thanks for studying. Try The Hill’s Know-how and Cybersecurity pages for the newest information and protection. We’ll see you tomorrow.