The story
Almost 1 million. That’s how many Twitter accounts have been deactivated since Elon Musk bought the social media platform last month.
Musk’s takeover has been controversial.
Some people are worried about his approach to free speech, thousands of staff have lost their jobs and there are plans to make some users pay a subscription.
Many users are moving to an alternative called Mastodon, a free social network platform, where posts are called ‘toots’.
Eugen Rochko, the founder of the platform, tooted on Monday that the massive increase is “pretty cool”.
Key words and phrases
flock
move together in a large group
· Fans of the musician flocked to the website to buy tickets.
· Eager shoppers flocked to the sales to grab a bargain.
on fire
impressive because something is done very well
· Your social media post is on fire – it’s got almost 1 million views!
· He scored three goals in that football match – he was on fire!
mammoth
something very big
· It took me over two hours to get to work today – it was a mammoth journey!
· Moving house can be a mammoth job.
For a quiz and downloads, check out our website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/course/newsreview-2022/unit-1/session-44
0:00 – Introduction
0:24 – Story
1:35 – Headline 1: The National: Top Scottish Twitter users flock to Mastodon amid Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover
3:40 – Headline 2: CNN: With Twitter in chaos, Mastodon is on fire
5:10 – Headline 3: Slate: Could Mastodon Really Become a Social Media Mammoth?
6:40 – Language summary