Science, Technology, and Innovation

Elon Musk doesn’t appear to be amused with Twitter’s move to let users have verified non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as profile pictures. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO called the integration “annoying” and suggested Twitter was wasting engineering resources on this effort instead of trying to curb spam activity on the platform. Twitter recently began rolling out NFT features for its users, initially allowing its Twitter Blue subscribers on iOS to use NFTs as their profile pictures. The latest option is slightly different from the usual round-type display picture on Twitter. This one has a hexagonal shape.

Musk has previously extended support to blockchain technology, but he has also made public his displeasure when he disliked something. His recent criticism of Twitter’s NFT move is likely triggered by the rising crypto giveaway scams by people who impersonate the Tesla CEO and other notable figures.

The problem reached the point where Twitter had to block unverified accounts that changed their names to “Elon Musk” in 2018.

“This is annoying,” said Musk in a tweet on Twitter’s NFT decision.

He followed it with an explanation, “Twitter is spending engineering resources on this bs while crypto scammers are throwing a spambot block party in every thread.”

Twitter’s NFT tool debut comes months after it allowed users to send and receive Bitcoin. An NFT is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, which is also the underlying technology for cryptocurrency. As this technology evolved, NFTs came into prominence. NFTs come with certificates that are used to verify a digital asset to be unique. They can represent photos, videos, audio clips, and other types of digital files.

Musk has often expressed his acceptance of this emerging industry on social media and via his electric vehicle company. In March last year, Musk announced Tesla would accept payments in Bitcoin, but reversed that decision in May citing environmental concerns. Earlier this month, Tesla started accepting payments in Dogecoin for some merchandise.