Twitter’s Press Email Now Auto-Replies With a Poop Emoji

Twitter's behavior has regressed to that of a child.

The Chief Twit himself, Elon Musk, recently made his disdain for the press clear with an auto-reply function that sends poop emojis to media outlets who send a request to Twitter's press email.

It is unknown when Musk will revert Twitter's auto-reply function to its original state if he does at all.

Twitter Press Email Auto-reply Details

Musk mentioned in a tweet that media outlets and publications that send messages to Twitter's press email would automatically receive a poop emoji as a reply, including those that have gone unanswered for months, presumably since his takeover of Twitter in Nov. 2022.

You may remember that Twitter currently has no communications team responding to any messages from the press and third-party app developers alike after Musk's layoffs sacked every single member of the team, per Axios.

Gizmodo mentioned that Musk's decision to forego a communications team with Twitter once he took over as its owner and CEO is consistent with his decisions with Tesla and SpaceX, which rarely responds to the press. CBS News added that Musk mostly disbanded Tesla's PR department, though it notes that the EV company occasionally answers press inquiries.

Musk's decision to use the poop emoji to reply to messages and requests from the press isn't surprising. Musk became increasingly hostile to the mainstream press over time, with him stating that those who believe the media are "idiots." Meanwhile, he was noted to be slowly embracing right-wing media along with dis-and misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Musk also started pushing back against media reports he doesn't approve of on Twitter, with him criticizing a Platformer article that reported he made Twitter boost his tweets because he was jealous of the engagement President Biden received during that day's Super Bowl match.

He also claimed that the article was a "fake" report and that Platformer's source was a disgruntled Twitter ex-employee that would be the company's target for legal action in the future, per his tweet. Meanwhile, Casey Newton, Platformer's founder who authored the piece Musk attempted to discredit, said that Musk's explanations were incorrect and that they will be standing by its reporting.

A Closet Hypocrite?

Deadline reports that two now-independent writers with sizable followings, Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss acquired access to the "Twitter Files," a tranche of internal documents Musk released to show what had been going on behind closed doors in Twitter before his takeover.

The two writers found in the files that Twitter censored journalists even before Musk's takeover, something Musk rallied against and pledged to undo. However, the banning of dozens of journalists for allegedly doxxing Musk's location, which led to his child being harassed by a stalker in Los Angeles, California, showed that he contradicted his pledge to undo the censorship happening on Twitter in the name of free speech.

The journalists Musk banned from Twitter at the time include NBC News Senior Reporter Ben Collins, Donie O'Sullivan from CNN, Drew Harwell from The Washington Post, and Aaron Rupar. Drew Harwell from The Washington Post, Ryan Mac from The New York Times, Matt Binder from Mashable, and Micah McFlee followed suit.