In March 2006, Jack Dorsey sent the first message from a service called twttr to a small group of Odeo employees. The prototype relied on Short Message Service technology to deliver text updates to mobile phones. Work began in February that year with Dorsey and contractor Florian Weber building an internal tool for their startup. The public launch arrived on the 15th of July 2006, after the team purchased the domain twitter.com six months later. Biz Stone and Evan Williams formed Obvious Corporation in October 2006 to acquire Odeo from its investors. Noah Glass remained silent about his role until 2011, though he had inspired the five-character name based on American SMS short codes. Twitter spun off into its own company in April 2007 following rapid early adoption. The tipping point came at the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive conference where daily usage jumped from 20,000 tweets to 60,000. By 2012, more than 100 million users produced 340 million daily posts. The platform grew to over 200 content partners streaming video across 450 events by 2019.
The original strict limit required every post to stay under 140 characters of text. In 2017, Twitter doubled this allowance to 280 characters while excluding handles and media from the count. Subscribers gained the ability to create posts up to 4,000 characters starting in 2023. Multimedia support arrived gradually with photo sharing launching globally in August 2011. Polls became available for seven days in 2015 without revealing voter identities. Video streaming partnerships included major leagues like the NFL and networks such as MTV and BET. Twitter Spaces allowed live audio conversations with a maximum of 13 people on stage since October 2021. Fleets offered temporary stories that disappeared after 24 hours before being removed in August 2021. Quote reposts let users add comments to existing posts starting in 2015. Hashflags generated custom emojis next to hashtags during specific time periods beginning in 2014.
Elon Musk purchased Twitter for US$44 billion in October 2022 to transform it into an everything app. Linda Yaccarino succeeded him as CEO on the 5th of June 2023, while he remained chairman and chief technology officer. The company transitioned to X Corp. in March 2023 following the acquisition. Musk announced the rebranding to X in July 2023, retiring the signature bird logo by May 2024. The new logo resembles the Unicode mathematical alphanumeric symbol for the letter X styled in double-strike bold. Mike Proulx of The New York Times criticized the change as wiping out brand value. Rolling Stone called the rebrand desperate while critics noted its Big Brother tech overlord vibe. Users review bombed the newly rebranded app on the iOS App Store immediately upon reveal. In March 2025, X Corp. was acquired by xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company, valuing the platform at $33 billion with a full valuation of $45 billion including debt. Linda Yaccarino stepped down from her role as CEO in July 2025.
A report released on the 21st of October 2021 analyzed millions of tweets sent between April 1 and the 15th of August 2020. Machine learning algorithms amplified right-leaning politics on personalized user Home timelines across seven countries. Researchers used the 2019 Chapel Hill Expert Survey to position parties on political ideology within each nation. Twitter randomly chose 1% of users whose Home timelines displayed content in reverse-chronological order from directly followed accounts. A 2021 study found that 47% of local trends in Turkey and 20% of global trends were fake or created from scratch by bots. Fake trends included phishing apps, gambling promotions, disinformation campaigns, and hate speech against vulnerable populations. The platform has been accused of becoming increasingly right-wing and catering to hate groups since the acquisition. Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic spread widely during 2020 despite fact-checking efforts. State-linked misinformation operations originated from Russia, China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia by late 2023.
On the 15th of July 2020, a major hack affected 130 high-profile accounts including Barack Obama and Bill Gates. Scammers used social engineering to obtain credentials from employees to access an administration tool for a smash-and-grab bitcoin scheme. Analysis revealed over $30,000 in bitcoin deposited before Twitter intervened. On the 25th of May 2022, the Federal Trade Commission fined Twitter $150 million for collecting phone numbers and email addresses for targeted advertising. The European Commission issued a €120 million fine in December 2025 for alleged non-compliance with Digital Services Act requirements. A bug introduced in June 2021 allowed linking email addresses and phone numbers to user accounts until January 2022. A hacker on Breach Forums compiled over 5.4 million user profiles to sell for $30,000. Twitter settled a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump in February 2025 paying him approximately $10 million after suspending his account in January 2021. The FTC released a report in September 2024 summarizing nine company responses regarding data practices that put individuals vulnerable to identity theft and stalking.
Twitter released its first public API version in September 2006 which quickly became iconic for programming tutorials. Developer interest surged immediately following launch as teams built mobile clients and URL shorteners. In 2010, Twitter mandated OAuth authentication with just nine weeks of notice while launching its own URL shortener in competition. Stricter usage limits introduced in 2012 completely crippled some developers despite increasing stability. Third-party access ended in January 2023 forcing all external clients to shut down permanently. Twitterrific's Sean Heber confirmed the 16-year-old app discontinued due to unannounced policy changes. Paid tier plans replaced free access starting in February 2023 with more limited capabilities. The Innovators Patent Agreement announced on the 17th of April 2012 obligated Twitter to use patents only for open source purposes. Source code for the recommendation algorithm was released to GitHub on the 31st of March 2023 after Elon Musk polled followers about transparency. Proprietary code leaked during a security attack in March 2023 before being removed from repositories.
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Common questions
When was Twitter founded and who created it?
Twitter began work in February 2006 with Jack Dorsey and Florian Weber building an internal tool for their startup Odeo. The public launch arrived on the 15th of July 2006 after the team purchased the domain twitter.com six months later.
What are the character limits for posts on Twitter now compared to the past?
The original strict limit required every post to stay under 140 characters of text. Subscribers gained the ability to create posts up to 4,000 characters starting in 2023 while the allowance doubled to 280 characters in 2017.
Who owns X Corp. as of March 2025 and what is its valuation?
X Corp. was acquired by xAI Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company in March 2025 valuing the platform at $33 billion with a full valuation of $45 billion including debt. Linda Yaccarino stepped down from her role as CEO in July 2025 following the acquisition.
How did Twitter handle political bias according to the October 2021 report?
A report released on the 21st of October 2021 analyzed millions of tweets sent between April 1 and the 15th of August 2020 showing machine learning algorithms amplified right-leaning politics on personalized user Home timelines across seven countries. Researchers used the 2019 Chapel Hill Expert Survey to position parties on political ideology within each nation.
What fines has Twitter received for data privacy violations?
On the 25th of May 2022 the Federal Trade Commission fined Twitter $150 million for collecting phone numbers and email addresses for targeted advertising. The European Commission issued a €120 million fine in December 2025 for alleged non-compliance with Digital Services Act requirements.