SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter announced Tuesday it would double the limit for tweets to 280 characters, a bid to draw in more users and boost engagement at the social network.
Giving users twice the space to voice their thoughts ushers in a new era for the online platform, whose hallmark 140-character cap had encouraged users to craft succinct missives.
“We’re expanding the character limit! We want it to be easier and faster for everyone to express themselves,” tweeted the site, which started testing an increase to its limit in most languages in early September.
The changes will be rolling out in all languages except Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, in which space limitations have not been an issue, Twitter said.
It is the first time the tweet character cap has been raised since Twitter was founded 11 years ago.
Twitter, which has been lagging behind rival social networks in user growth and struggling to reach profitability, faced a dilemma over the change in that it could alienate longtime users and transform the nature of the service.
Product manager Aliza Rosen said in a blog post that the test showed most people still used 140 characters or fewer, suggesting the fast-moving nature of Twitter will not change.
“Our goal was to make this possible while ensuring we keep the speed and brevity that makes Twitter, Twitter,” Rosen said. “We’re excited to share we’ve achieved this goal and are rolling the change out to all languages where cramming was an issue.”
Rosen noted that in the first few days of the test many people used the full 280-limit because it was new and novel, “but soon after behavior normalized.”
As a result, “the brevity of Twitter remained,” she said.
While Twitter itself changed the way people communicate in the Internet age, doubling the tweet character limit promised to shift it once again, according to Jennifer Grygiel, an assistant professor of communications at Syracuse University.
“It will slow down the speed at which users consume information and will allow for more clarity,” Grygiel said.
“This might not be a bad thing during a time when world leaders are making military threats via the platform.”
US President Donald Trump favors the platform for making major policy announcements, as well as criticizing allies, taunting opponents and threatening North Korea with destruction.
He sent his inaugural 280-tweet while on South Korea as part of his Asia tour: “Getting ready to make a major speech to the National Assembly here in South Korea, then will be headed to China where I very much look forward to meeting with President Xi who is just off his great political victory.”
Some users have worried that longer tweets could profoundly change the nature of the one-to-many messaging platform, which is popular with journalists and politicians but has failed to win the mass appeal of rivals like Facebook.
There was also worry that raising the character cap would give blowhards and abusers more room to spout.
“I will gladly give up my extra 140 characters if Twitter will delete Trump’s account,” author and civil rights commentator DaShanne Stokes said in a tweet fired off from @dashannestokes.
Stokes said Twitter’s move gives Trump “a bigger weapon with which to hurt more people.”
Twitter, which became a public company in 2013, has never reported a profit, even though it has built a loyal base of celebrities, journalists and political figures, including prolific tweeter Trump.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said that longer test tweets got tended to prompt more engagement by others using the service.
“In addition to more Tweeting, people who had 280 characters received more Likes, Retweets, @mentions, Followers, and were more satisfied with Twitter. So, you’ll be getting 280 too — enjoy!” Stone tweeted.
Some analysts maintain longer tweets are not the fix Twitter needs, and may even change the appealing ability to take in messages with glances.
It also risks Twitter looking a bit more like Facebook, one analyst contended, and might prompt the leading online social network to respond to what it might see as a competitive threat.
Meanwhile, many users welcomed the news and said raising the character cap was long overdue. Some people already resort to long strings of rapid-fire tweets, known as “tweet storms,” to string together lengthy comment.
Last month, Twitter reported its loss for the past quarter narrowed as the company suggested it could reach profitability for the first time in the fourth quarter.
The update showed Twitter’s monthly active user base rose slightly to 330 million, roughly in line with forecasts.
Twitter to double tweet limit to 280 characters
Twitter to double tweet limit to 280 characters
Pro-Palestinian group to proceed with London march despite ‘discriminatory’ police ban
- Met Police have upheld a ban on Jan. 18 rally despite Palestinian Solidarity Campaign proposing alternative route
- Group rejects claim that supporters encouraged people to defy police-imposed conditions
LONDON: The organizers of a planned pro-Palestine demonstration outside the BBC’s London headquarters have labeled a police decision to block the march as “discriminatory” and announced their intention to proceed with the event on Jan. 18.
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, which is organizing the march, made the announcement on Tuesday following a meeting with London’s Metropolitan Police.
In a statement, the group accused the authorities of deliberately seeking to prevent their protest outside the BBC. “The police have made abundantly clear that the real aim is to block us from protesting at the BBC under any circumstances,” the PSC said.
The Met had previously announced its decision to ban the march, citing security concerns after consultations with local business owners and religious leaders who raised objections to the demonstration’s proximity to a synagogue.
The PSC has repeatedly denied that its marches — which are regularly attended by Jewish groups — pose any threat to the Jewish community.
To address the police’s concerns, the PSC proposed reversing the original route, and suggested that the march begin at Whitehall and avoid the synagogue’s Shabbat service, which ends at 1 p.m., before finishing at Portland Place.
However, the group said that police rejected the proposal and instead introduced “new and dubious justifications” for the ban. The PSC also accused authorities of falsely claiming that “influential supporters and organizers” of the march had encouraged attendees to defy police-imposed conditions.
Over the weekend, hundreds of political, cultural and social figures voiced their support for the right to demonstrate in solidarity with Palestine.
A letter organized by a Jewish bloc that regularly takes part in pro-Palestine marches gathered more than 700 signatures from members of the Jewish community.
The PSC said its protest is rooted in frustration over “the complicity of the BBC, which has failed to report the facts of this genocide,” adding that the police have “no legitimate grounds” to block the march.
It remains unclear how the situation will unfold on Saturday or whether an agreement will be reached to avoid potential disruption or police intervention.
In a statement to Arab News on Wednesday, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said that there were no updates, highlighting that the police’s position “still stands” based on earlier statements.
PSC media officer Bhavesh Hindocha described the situation as “fluid,” adding that changes could occur up to the day of the march.
“We intend to march from Whitehall towards the BBC, as close as we can depending on police conditions,” he said.
TikTok calls report of possible sale to Musk’s X ‘pure fiction’
- Rumors circulated Monday that TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, is considering selling the platform’s US operations to Elon Musk’s social media platform, X
- Congress legislation could force TikTok to divest its US operations, requiring its parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the platform or shut it down
NEW YORK: TikTok on Tuesday labeled as “pure fiction” a report that China is exploring a potential sale of the video-sharing platform’s US operations to billionaire Elon Musk as the firm faces an American law requiring imminent Chinese divestment.
Citing anonymous people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News had earlier reported that Chinese officials were considering selling the company’s US operations to Musk’s social media platform X.
The report outlined one scenario being discussed in Beijing where X would purchase TikTok from Chinese owner ByteDance and combine it with the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction,” a TikTok spokesperson told AFP.
The report estimated the value of TikTok’s US operations at between $40 billion and $50 billion.
Although Musk is currently ranked as the world’s wealthiest person, Bloomberg said it was not clear how Musk could execute the transaction, or if he would need to sell other assets.
The US Congress passed a law last year that requires ByteDance to either sell its wildly popular platform or shut it down. It goes into effect on Sunday — a day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The US government alleges TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and is a conduit to spread propaganda. China and ByteDance strongly deny the claims.
TikTok has challenged the law, taking an appeal all the way to the US Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on Friday.
At the hearing, a majority of the conservative and liberal justices on the nine-member bench appeared skeptical of arguments by a lawyer for TikTok that forcing a sale was a violation of First Amendment free speech rights.
Bloomberg characterized Beijing’s consideration of a possible Musk transaction as “still preliminary,” noting that Chinese officials have yet to reach a consensus on how to proceed.
Musk is a close ally of Trump and is expected to play an influential role in Washington in the coming four years.
He also runs electric car company Tesla, which has a major factory in China and counts the country as one of the automaker’s biggest markets.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to enact new tariffs on Chinese goods, which would expand a trade war begun in his first term and which was largely upheld, and in some cases supplemented, by outgoing President Joe Biden.
Indonesia plans minimum age for social media use
- Minister Meutya Hafid said plans will “protect children in digital space,” did not specify minimum age
JAKARTA: Indonesia plans to issue a regulation to set a minimum age for users of social media, a move aimed at protecting children, its communications minister has said.
The plans follows Australia’s decision to ban children under 16 from accessing social media, with fines for tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok if they failed to prevent children accessing their platforms.
Minister Meutya Hafid did not say what the minimum age would be in Indonesia. Her remarks, made late on Monday, came after Meutya discussed the plan with President Prabowo Subianto.
“We discussed how to protect children in digital space,” she said in a video uploaded on the YouTube channel of the president’s office.
“The president said to carry on with this plan. He is very supportive on how this kind of child protection will be done in our digital space,” she said.
Internet penetration in Indonesia, a country of about 280 million people, reached 79.5 percent last year, according to a survey of 8,700 people by the Indonesia Internet service providers’ association.
The survey showed 48 percent of children under 12 had access to the Internet, with some respondents of that age group using Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The survey showed Internet penetration was 87 percent among “Gen Z” users, or those age 12 to 27.
Saudi Arabia chairs Arab media talks in Tunisia
- Mohammed bin Fahad Al-Harthi highlighted the importance of enhancing Arab media cooperation to address development issues and convey the voice of Arab people globally
- Meeting was a key step toward unifying media efforts among member states, with a strategic vision focused on promoting Arab identity
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia chaired the 112th executive council meeting of the Arab States Broadcasting Union in Hammamet, Tunisia, on Tuesday, with the presence of member states and the union’s president, Mohammed bin Fahad Al-Harthi.
Al-Harthi highlighted the importance of enhancing Arab media cooperation to address development issues and convey the voice of Arab people globally, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The meeting was a key step toward unifying media efforts among member states, with a strategic vision focused on promoting Arab identity, shared values and keeping pace with global media developments in line with the needs of Arab societies, he said.
Al-Harthi also highlighted investment projects to provide the union with sustainable financial resources, ensuring its flexibility and continuity, including the creation of a company to serve as the union’s investment arm.
The meeting reviewed the union’s achievements over the past year, discussed challenges facing Arab media and explored investment opportunities to support media integration.
It also covered preparations for the Arab Media Conference, expected to be held in Iraq later this year, which will serve as a platform for exchanging expertise and fostering media collaboration among member states.
The meeting concluded by stressing the importance of continued joint efforts to achieve the union’s objectives, elevate Arab media’s global status and present a positive, comprehensive image of the Arab world.
Head of hostage NGO believes US journalist Tice still in Syria
- Zakka said he had no information on Tice’s precise location but suspected that a deal, possibly involving pressure from Assad’s ally Russia, could see the American journalist released
DAMASCUS: The head of an American organization focused on hostage releases said on Monday he believes US journalist Austin Tice was still being held in Syria by people loyal to toppled leader Bashar Assad.
Speaking to Reuters in Damascus, Nizar Zakka said he believed Tice was being held by “very few people in a safe house in order to do an exchange or a deal.”
Zakka, a Lebanese businessman with US permanent residency who was held in Iran for four years until 2019 on charges of spying, is the president of Hostage Aid Worldwide.
He has traveled to Syria multiple times following Assad’s ouster by rebels on Dec. 8 in a bid to track down Tice, a former US Marine and a freelance journalist who was abducted in 2012 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Assad.
Zakka said his group’s own investigation had revealed Tice was still in Syria, and that “a lot of progress” had been made in his hunt in recent weeks. But he added that Syria’s new rulers, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), had not provided much assistance.
“We were hoping that HTS would help us more, but unfortunately HTS did not help us because they had their own concerns,” he said.
Zakka said he had no information on Tice’s precise location but suspected that a deal, possibly involving pressure from Assad’s ally Russia, could see the American journalist released.
Tice was detained at a checkpoint in Daraya, near Damascus, in August 2012. Reuters was first to report that Tice managed to slip out of his cell in 2013 and was seen moving between houses in the streets of Damascus’ upscale Mazzeh neighborhood.
He was recaptured soon after his escape, likely by forces who answered directly to Assad, current and former US officials said.
Tice’s mother Debra has voiced hope that upheaval in Syria will lead to freedom for her son and has expressed gratitude for efforts by journalists and other civilians searching for him, including from Hostage Aid Worldwide.
Zakka said he was in regular touch with Debra.
“She gave us all the power and the support for us to make it happen, to find Austin and to work for Austin,” he said.
