Dorsey, Musk, Trump and the battle for Twitter

In August 2016, Twitter secured a $5mn advertising deal with Donald Trump’s election campaign, including the promise that it could have an emoji automatically run alongside a bespoke hashtag. Most brands use an image of their logo, but the campaign wanted to employ the emoji of a robber running away with a bag of money. The hashtag? #CrookedHillary.

Days before it was supposed to go live, Twitter balked. Trump’s team was furious, and pulled part of the deal. “For [then chief executive Jack] Dorsey and Twitter, it was an embarrassing and costly introduction to dealing with Trump,” writes Bloomberg journalist Kurt Wagner in his new book Battle for the Bird. “It was also a reminder of the power it suddenly had.”