Elon Musk calls new Twitter NFT feature ‘annoying’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Elon Musk says a new Twitter feature aimed at allowing users to highlight their NFTs is “annoying”.
The company announced the new tool overnight, as a way of allowing users to display their non-fungible tokens in their profile pictures.
It also means that users can connect their crypto wallet to their Twitter account, and will get access to a special hexagonal-shaped profile picture, in comparison with the usual round one.
The tool aims to ensure that people can only show off pictures which they have bought using the new technology. However, it has already run into trouble, with users complaining that ownership is not verified, meaning anyone can use the new tool – even with images they have not officially bought.
The update has already drawn mockery from those who are doubtful about the ongoing NFT trend. And that includes Elon Musk.
“This is annoying,” he tweeted, alongside a screengrab of Twitter’s explanation of the feature.
In a follow-up, he explained that he was annoyed at least in part because Twitter continues to be such a home for crypto scammers. There is a vast problem on the site of users who make their accounts look like they belong to celebrities such as Mr Musk, and then use that trick to steal money from others.
“Twitter is spending engineering resources on this bs while crypto scammers are throwing a spambot block party in every thread,” he wrote in a reply.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments