Twitter has been a mess lately, all thanks to Elon Musk who has been turning a blind eye to the complaints of the users on the platform. Instead, we have a bunch of new changes on Twitter that keep appearing without any public demand every other month. Recently, Musk stirred up controversy yet again after setting up a rather weird automated response system. So, if you are a reporter reaching out to Twitter’s press department, don’t expect to be greeted with a professional email. Instead, you will be greeted with an automated response in the form of a poop emoji. While many were outraged, some decided to have their own fun with it.

According to New York Post, the CEO of Twitter announced the change in a tweet on March 19, 2023, and a lot of people have mailed press@twitter.com since then to confirm the baffling change. "press@twitter.com now auto responds with [poop emoji]," Musk tweeted. Before Musk’s Twitter takeover, reporters could expect a generic response to their questions over emails but now, times have changed. Musk acquired Twitter following a $44 billion deal on October 27, 2022, and ever since then, the press team of Twitter has apparently stopped replying to emails.

Musk has been known to be notoriously confrontational towards journalists and he has even gotten rid of Tesla’s press department back in 2020, per Forbes. Despite some Tesla investors begging Musk to bring back Tesla’s press team, Musk has not considered the department a necessity. On April 2021, Musk tweeted: "Other companies spend money on advertising & manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product. I trust the people."

The lack of a press team in a company can lead to an increase in bad information circulation in an environment where social media rumors can do a lot of damage. On top of that, the lack of a press team at any company of this size can leave the public with less information regarding the future goals of a business leader like Musk. But it seems, he doesn’t care at all.

Many people have responded to the tweet with negative reactions and bashed the Twitter CEO for his seemingly whimsical decisions. Few people wondered if Musk is trying to make the press his enemy when he is aware that he needs the press activity for his company's offline business as well. 

Previously, Musk also decided that Twitter would start sharing ad revenue with creators so people naturally had a lot of questions about details but the lack of a press team left those questions unanswered. However, we are aware that Musk calls the final shots since he is the boss who runs Twitter however he likes. Time and again, people have shown their displeasure with his takeover of Twitter and have even rallied on the platform so he can step down as the CEO. But since the billionaire is still here, who knows what kind of emojis will be hurled at us in the near future?