Social media platform X to offer video, audio calls: Musk

(FILES) In this file photo taken on February 10, 2022 (FILES) In this file photo taken on February 10, 2022 , Elon Musk speaks during a press conference at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas. – A US judge, Kathaleen McCormick, permitted Musk to amend his complaint against Twitter on September 7, 2022,, but rejected delaying the lawsuit over the disintegration of the billionaire’s deal to acquire the social media company. In a mixed ruling, McCormick, the chancellor of the Delaware court, said Musk could add whistleblowing revelations from a Twitter ex-security chief that surfaced in August. But she denied his request to push back the litigation, saying prolonging the suit “would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify.” (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

The social media platform X will begin offering video and audio calling, owner Elon Musk announced on Thursday, a step towards turning the former Twitter into an “everything app.”

“Video & audio calls coming to X,” Musk wrote in a post on the platform, without specifying when the new features would be available.

The calling features would work on iOS, Android, Mac and PC systems, and no phone number would be needed, he said.

“X is the effective global address book,” the billionaire added. “That set of factors is unique.”

Last month, Musk and his newly hired chief executive Linda Yaccarino announced the rebranding of Twitter as X, saying it would become an “everything app” inspired by China’s WeChat that would allow users to socialize as well as handle their finances.

X’s payment branch Twitter Payments LLC was granted a “crucial” currency transmitter license from the US state of Rhode Island on Monday, allowing it to “engage in cryptocurrency-related activities” such as exchanges, wallets and payment processors, the crypto website CoinWire reported this week.

The license allows X to “securely store, transfer, and facilitate the exchange of digital assets on behalf of its users,” according to CoinWire.

Since Musk bought Twitter last October, the platform’s advertising business has collapsed as marketers soured on his management style and mass firings that gutted content moderation.

In response, the tycoon has moved towards building a subscriber base and pay model in a search for new revenue.

Many users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the site’s new charges for previously free services, as well as its changes to content moderation and the return of previously banned far-right accounts.

Musk also killed off the Twitter logo, replacing its globally recognized blue bird with a white X.

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