In the past, we have praised Twitter for its accessibility and for a good reason. The social media platform boasts one of the most user-friendly layouts amongst its competitors. It’s easy to read, well-formatted, and compatible with accommodations such as screen readers.
Twitter also serves as a vehicle for communication. For people of differing ability levels, this platform is essential for staying connected with the world around them.
Beyond its practices, Twitter’s accessibility has endured in its ethos. Over the last few years, the platform announced several public commitments and innovations to accommodate users of all ability levels. By the summer of 2022, Twitter was on track to set a new standard of web accessibility.
However, Twitter was moving in a different direction by the fall of that year. After months of drama and back-and-forth, Elon Musk officially became the platform’s CEO. The acquisition has not been without its controversies.
Even before the final deal, there was talk of all the changes that would be part of “Twitter 2.0”. These included revamping Twitter’s verification system and reinstating certain suspended accounts. These kinds of changes have been reported ad nauseam for most of 2022. This is partly due to the fluid and inconsistent way these changes occur.
One of the less-reported changes involves the fate of Twitter’s accessibility. With all the news, outcry, and opinion pieces, it can be hard to parse what is happening with Twitter.
This piece briefly overviews Twitter’s recent evolution and what it means for the site’s accessibility.
Recap of Musk’s Twitter acquisition
The timeline of Musk’s Twitter acquisition has been eventful.
At the beginning of 2022, Elon Musk began to invest in Twitter and held a stake of 9.2% by March of that year. In an April securities filing, Musk disclosed his stake in the platform was worth $2.89 billion.
The ensuing weeks saw a chaotic back and forth between Musk and Twitter's administration. At one moment, Musk was joining Twitter’s board, but suddenly, he wasn’t. Then he announced his intent to buy Twitter, whose stockholders responded by diluting Musk’s shares.
By the end of April, Twitter confirmed Musk’s acquisition of the company. But that was far from the end of the chaos.
Over the next few months, the deal was off and then on again. Shareholders sued Musk for various reasons, and worry grew over his expressed desire to reinstate certain suspended accounts.
Finally, in October 2022, Elon Musk closed the Twitter deal and became the social media platform’s new CEO. Shortly after that, Twitter faced mass layoffs that roughly halved its in-person workforce.
At the time of this writing, Twitter has changed its verification system, “Covid misinformation” posts are no longer banned, and Musk has recently dispelled rumors that Apple plans on removing Twitter from its app store.
Public reaction
The recent changes have sent several critics into an uproar. Among the critics, people with disabilities and accessibility advocates have expressed their fear of the platform’s recent direction.
These fears stem mostly from the recent layoffs that the company has faced. Amongst the many afflicted teams, Musk has reportedly dismantled Twitter’s Accessibility team. The now-former head of accessibility confirmed the move in a tweet in early November.
This move comes roughly two years after Twitter made a public commitment to increase accessibility on the platform. This resulted from a failed beta test of voice tweets in the summer of 2020. These changes involved creating two new Twitter teams: the Accessibility Center of Excellence and the Experience Accessibility Team.
The creation of these teams resulted in several accessibility innovations throughout the next two years. These changes included captions on voice tweets, alt-text badges, and highly anticipated alt-text reminders. The recent layoff of Twitter’s accessibility team gives the sense that this momentum has stalled, at best.
This has resulted in an outcry from various publications and critics who lament Twitter’s new direction as careless. A piece in ADWEEK states that the future of Twitter’s accessibility has “been put on the back burner in the name of capitalism, pettiness, and a misguided understanding of free speech.”
Others criticize Elon Musk and his apparent disregard for accessibility matters. The president of the Tourettes Association of America, in particular, expressed distaste for a seemingly ableist tweet that Musk made in mid-November.
What this means
These changes to Twitter are still new, so it’s hard to say what direction the company is taking. From an accessibility standpoint, the restructuring and layoffs give a glimpse into the company’s priorities. As it stands, accessibility does not appear at the top of that list.
In closing
The situation at Twitter is fluid, at best. At Accessibility, we will be monitoring the situation closely. As such, we will keep you informed of any developments.
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