Elon Musk

mace1229

I think the number of people who are willing to spend 45k on the new "red hat" is a very small number. People will either want the Tesla or not. 

HughFreakingDillon

gimmesometruth27 said:

the entire world knows who elon musk is, and i bet most of them know he is an idiot.

well of course most know who he is, but many won't be aware of the goings-on on twitter. 

The Juggler

OnWis97 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I think some are overestimating how many people are truly aware of what's going on. Only people on twitter or who follow trump are going to be aware of all of this. I'm sure there's a significant portion that won't know and/or just won't care. 

That's true...as much as the world's changing, Twitter is nothing compared to things like TV news in terms of number of people reached.

True...however if/when Trump starts tweeting, that will likely be on the news. 

Gern Blansten

At least Musk is keeping Alex Jones off of twitter....props for that

mickeyrat

Gern Blansten said:

At least Musk is keeping Alex Jones off of twitter....props for that

so far

OnWis97

mace1229 said:

I think the number of people who are willing to spend 45k on the new "red hat" is a very small number. People will either want the Tesla or not. 

Probably so. That's a lot of money to spend on the culture war. Most people don't have that kind of money to spend on a vehicle and most red-hat-wearers that do are much more likely to buy a pickup truck so big that they can't see the pedestrians they're hitting.

On the other hand, the opposite (i.e., libs that may have bought one) could flee towards another electric vehicle. The customer base is probably non-politically-obsessed moderates/liberals that want to reduce emissions. Not sure how much the loss of the hard left impacts that...

Halifax2TheMax

Demographics of Tesla owners.

https://hedgescompany.com/blog/2019/03/tesla-model-3-demographics-income/

static111

Lol that Jack thinks Elon ever did one good thing.  He literally took advantage of an existing power structure and relied on government contracts and subsidies to make his fortune while delivering a sham dream of a "clean" ev.  So glad Elon is being revealed as the sleazy PT Barnum bullshit peddler that he is.

If he manages to destroy twitter he will have done one good thing even if it was unintentional.

mickeyrat

gift article....

https://wapo.st/3V3wiKQ 

 Advertisers are dropping Twitter. Musk can’t afford to lose any more.
By Naomi Nix and Jeremy B. Merrill
November 22, 2022 at 16:50 ET
More than a third of Twitter’s top 100 marketers have not advertised on the social media network in the past two weeks, a Washington Post analysis of marketing data found — an indication of the extent of skittishness among advertisers about billionaire Elon Musk’s control of the company.
Dozens of top Twitter advertisers, including 14 of the top 50, have stopped advertising in the few weeks since Musk’s chaotic acquisition of the social media company, according to The Post’s analysis of data from Pathmatics, which offers brand analysis on digital marketing trends.
Ads for blue-chip brands including Jeep and Mars candy, whose corporate parents were among the top 100 U.S. advertisers on the site in the six months before Musk’s purchase, haven’t appeared there since at least Nov. 7, the analysis found. Musk assumed ownership of the site Oct. 27.
“Mars started suspending advertising activities on Twitter in late September when we learned of some significant brand safety and suitability incidents that impacted our brand,” said a statement to The Post from Mars, which, in addition to its namesake candy, makes other foods and pet products.
Pharmaceutical company Merck, cereal maker Kellogg, Verizon and Samuel Adams brewer Boston Beer also have stopped their advertising in recent weeks, the Pathmatics data shows. The companies didn’t respond to requests for comment from The Post.
[Musk seeks to reassure advertisers, promises rapid changes to Twitter]
Pathmatics data is generated from collecting the ads shown to a sample of Twitter users in the United States. The company estimated that each top marketer’s ads were shown tens of millions of times per week or more during their busiest weeks on the site, with some of the advertisers’ ads being shown billions of times over the six months before the pause.

continues.....

Poncier

Elon going with the Antonio Brown business model, don't pay your bills:

Musk Refused to Pay Twitter Execs' Past Travel Expenses: NYT (businessinsider.com)

mickeyrat

say one thing do another. the pattern is set.

https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-technology-donald-trump-business-misinformation-c60bc41229339eaec5008188fa6d057c

 

Elon Musk Donald Trump Misinformation Online safety Government and politics

Musk says granting 'amnesty' to suspended Twitter accounts

Today

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — New Twitter owner Elon Musk said Thursday that he is granting "amnesty” for suspended accounts, which online safety experts predict will spur a rise in harassment, hate speech and misinformation.

The billionaire's announcement came after he asked in a poll posted to his timeline to vote on reinstatements for accounts that have not “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” The yes vote was 72%.

“The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people, the voice of God.”

Musk used the same Latin phrase after posting a similar poll last last weekend before reinstating the account of former President Donald Trump, which Twitter had banned for encouraging the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Trump has said he won’t return to Twitter but has not deleted his account.

Such online polls are anything but scientific and can easily be influenced by bots.

In the month since Musk took over Twitter, groups that monitor the platform for racist, anti-Semitic and other toxic speech say it’s been on the rise on the world’s de facto public square. That has included a surge in racist abuse of World Cup soccer players that Twitter is allegedly failing to act on.

---

ELON MUSK

Twitter, others slip on removing hate speech, EU review says

Europe seeks bigger piece of space market with new launchers

Elon Musk's Twitter reinstates Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Amid Musk Twitter chaos, athletes & celebs cope just like us

The uptick in harmful content is in large part due to the disorder following Musk’s decision to lay off half the company’s 7,500-person workforce, fire top executives, and then institute a series of ultimatums that prompted hundreds more to quit. Also let go were an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation. Among those resigning over a lack of faith in Musk’s willingness to keep Twitter from devolving into a chaos of uncontrolled speech were Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth.

Major advertisers have also abandoned the platform.

On Oct. 28, the day after he took control, Musk tweeted that no suspended accounts would be reinstated until Twitter formed a “content moderation council” with diverse viewpoints that would consider the cases.

On Tuesday, he said he was reneging on that promise because he’d agreed to at the insistence of “a large coalition of political-social activists groups” who later ”broke the deal” by urging that advertisers at least temporarily stop giving Twitter their business.

A day earlier, Twitter reinstated the personal account of far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, which was banned in January for violating the platform’s COVID misinformation policies.

Musk, meanwhile, has been getting increasingly chummy on Twitter with right-wing figures. Before this month’s U.S. midterm elections he urged “independent-minded” people to vote Republican.

A report from the European Union published Thursday said Twitter took longer to review hateful content and removed less of it this year compared with 2021. The report was based on data collected over the spring — before Musk acquired Twitter — as part of an annual evaluation of online platforms’ compliance with the bloc’s code of conduct on disinformation. It found that Twitter assessed just over half of the notifications it received about illegal hate speech within 24 hours, down from 82% in 2021.

mickeyrat

https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-twitter-inc-spacex-entertainment-technology-c98f680c00fa73e50eaa836716638336

 

Elon Musk SpaceX Twitter Inc Social media Misinformation Government and politics

Musk plans to relaunch Twitter premium service, again

By KELVIN CHAN

14 mins ago

LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk said Friday that Twitter plans to relaunch its premium service that will offer different colored check marks to accounts next week, in a fresh move to revamp the service after a previous attempt backfired.

It's the latest change to the social media platform that the billionaire Tesla CEO bought last month for $44 billion, coming a day after Musk said he would grant “amnesty” for suspended accounts and causing yet more uncertainty for users.

Twitter previously suspended the premium service, which under Musk granted blue-check labels to anyone paying $8 a month, because of a wave of imposter accounts. Originally, the blue check was given to government entities, corporations, celebrities and journalists verified by the platform to prevent impersonation.

In the latest version, companies will get a gold check, governments will get a gray check, and individuals who pay for the service, whether or not they're celebrities, will get a blue check, Musk said Friday.

“All verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates," he said, adding it was “Painful, but necessary" and promising a “longer explanation” next week. He said the service was “tentatively launching" Dec. 2.

---

ELON MUSK

Musk says granting 'amnesty' to suspended Twitter accounts

Twitter, others slip on removing hate speech, EU review says

Europe seeks bigger piece of space market with new launchers

Elon Musk's Twitter reinstates Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Twitter had put the revamped premium service on hold days after its launch earlier this month after accounts impersonated companies including pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co., Nintendo, Lockheed Martin, and even Musk’s own businesses Tesla and SpaceX, along with various professional sports and political figures.

It was just one change in the past two days. On Thursday, Musk said he would grant “amnesty” for suspended accounts, following the results of an online poll he conducted on whether accounts that have not “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam” should be reinstated.

The yes vote was 72%. Such online polls are anything but scientific and can easily be influenced by bots. Musk also used one before restoring former U.S. President Donald Trump's account.

“The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted Thursday using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people, the voice of God.”

The move is likely to put the company on a crash course with European regulators seeking to clamp down on harmful online content with tough new rules, which helped cement Europe’s reputation as the global leader in efforts to rein in the power of social media companies and other digital platforms.

Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank, said giving blanket amnesty based on an online poll is an “arbitrary approach" that's “hard to reconcile with the Digital Services Act," a new EU law that will start applying to the biggest online platforms by mid-2023.

The law is aimed at protecting internet users from illegal content and reducing the spread of harmful but legal content. It requires big social media platforms to be “diligent and objective" in enforcing restrictions, which must be spelled out clearly in the fine print for users when signing up, Meyers said.

Britain also is working on its own online safety law.

“Unless Musk quickly moves from a ‘move fast and break things' approach to a more sober management style, he will be on a collision course with Brussels and London regulators," Meyers said.

European Union officials took to social media to highlight their worries. The 27-nation bloc's executive Commission published a report Thursday that found Twitter took longer to review hateful content and removed less of it this year compared with 2021.

The report was based on data collected over the spring — before Musk acquired Twitter — as part of an annual evaluation of online platforms’ compliance with the bloc’s voluntary code of conduct on disinformation. It found that Twitter assessed just over half of the notifications it received about illegal hate speech within 24 hours, down from 82% in 2021.

The numbers may yet worsen. Since taking over, Musk has l aid off half the company’s 7,500-person workforce along with an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation. Many others have resigned, including the company's head of trust and safety.

Recent layoffs at Twitter and results of the EU's review “are a source of concern,” the bloc's commissioner for justice, Didier Reynders tweeted Thursday evening after meeting with Twitter executives at the company's European headquarters in Dublin.

In the meeting, Reynders said he “underlined that we expect Twitter to deliver on their voluntary commitments and comply with EU rules,” including the Digital Services Act and the bloc's strict privacy regulations known as General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

Another EU commissioner, Vera Jourova, tweeted Thursday evening that she was concerned about news reports that a “vast amount" of Twitter's European staff were fired.

“If you want to effectively detect and take action against #disinformation & propaganda, this requires resources," Jourova said. “Especially in the context of Russian disinformation warfare.”

HughFreakingDillon

https://twitter.com/stealthygeek/status/1596518142423232513?s=46&t=mqSLYgA9VXy9z17Li-X1Cw

“Tesla is not a car company”

Lerxst1992

https://youtu.be/oVj4kZF-Fgk


Great take on Musk, Zuck and SBF

mace1229

Lerxst1992 said:

https://youtu.be/oVj4kZF-Fgk


Great take on Musk, Zuck and SBF

Didn't like his Adam Ruins Everything show. I'll give this a watch and see if I like h I'm more now.

mace1229

Lerxst1992 said:

https://youtu.be/oVj4kZF-Fgk


Great take on Musk, Zuck and SBF

Just watched it last night. Better than his Adam Ruins Everything show. Disagree on a few of his side points he threw in, but some good info too. DIdn't know about the Musk underground car thing in Vegas.

mickeyrat

https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-technology-health-misinformation-public-cc232c9ce0f193c505bbc63bf57ecad6

  

Elon Musk Public health COVID-19 Misinformation

Twitter ends enforcement of COVID misinformation policy

By DAVID KLEPPER

57 mins ago

Twitter will no longer enforce its policy against COVID-19 misinformation, raising concerns among public health experts that the change could have serious consequences if it discourages vaccination and other efforts to combat the still-spreading virus.

Eagle-eyed users spotted the change Monday night, noting that a one-sentence update had been made to Twitter's online rules: "Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.”

By Tuesday, some Twitter accounts were testing the new boundaries and celebrating the platform's hands-off approach, which comes after Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk.

“This policy was used to silence people across the world who questioned the media narrative surrounding the virus and treatment options,” tweeted Dr. Simone Gold, a physician and leading purveyor of COVID-19 misinformation. “A win for free speech and medical freedom!”

Twitter's decision to no longer remove false claims about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines disappointed many public health officials, however, who said it could lead to more false claims about the virus, or the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.

“Bad news,” tweeted epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, who urged people not to flee Twitter but to stay and stand up for accurate information about the virus. “Stay folks — do NOT cede the town square to them!”

---

ELON MUSK

Musk says granting 'amnesty' to suspended Twitter accounts

Musk plans to relaunch Twitter premium service, again

Twitter, others slip on removing hate speech, EU review says

Europe seeks bigger piece of space market with new launchers

The virus, meanwhile, continues to spread. Nationally, new COVID cases averaged nearly 38,800 a day as of Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University — far lower than last winter but a vast undercount because of reduced testing and reporting. About 28,100 people with COVID were hospitalized daily and about 313 died, according to the most recent federal daily averages.

Cases and deaths were up from two weeks earlier. Yet a fifth of the U.S. population hasn’t been vaccinated, most Americans haven’t gotten the latest boosters, and many have stopped wearing masks.

Musk, who has himself spread COVID misinformation on Twitter, has signaled an interest in rolling back many of the platform's previous rules meant to combat misinformation.

Last week, Musk said he would grant “amnesty” to account holders who had been kicked off Twitter. He's also reinstated the accounts for several people who spread COVID misinformation, including that of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose personal account was suspended this year for repeatedly violating Twitter's COVID rules.

Greene's most recent tweets include ones questioning the effectiveness of masks and making baseless claims about the safety of COVID vaccines.

Since the pandemic began, platforms like Twitter and Facebook have struggled to respond to a torrent of misinformation about the virus, its origins and the response to it.

Under the policy enacted in January 2020, Twitter prohibited false claims about COVID-19 that the platform determined could lead to real-world harms. More than 11,000 accounts were suspended for violating the rules, and nearly 100,000 pieces of content were removed from the platform, according to Twitter's latest numbers.

Despite its rules prohibiting COVID misinformation, Twitter has struggled with enforcement. Posts making bogus claims about home remedies or vaccines could still be found, and it was difficult on Tuesday to identify exactly how the platform's rules may have changed.

Messages left with San Francisco-based Twitter seeking more information about its policy on COVID-19 misinformation were not immediately returned Tuesday.

A search for common terms associated with COVID misinformation yielded lots of misleading content, but also automatic links to helpful resources about the virus as well as authoritative sources like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 coordinator, said Tuesday that the problem of COVID-19 misinformation is far larger than one platform, and that policies prohibiting COVID misinformation weren't the best solution anyway.

Speaking at a Knight Foundation forum Tuesday, Jha said misinformation about the virus spread for a number of reasons, including legitimate uncertainty about a deadly illness. Simply prohibiting certain kinds of content isn't going to help people find good information, or make them feel more confident about what they're hearing from their medical providers, he said.

“I think we all have a collective responsibility,” Jha said of combating misinformation about COVID. “The consequences of not getting this right — of spreading that misinformation — is literally tens of thousands of people dying unnecessarily.”

Halifax2TheMax

What a guy! Visionary, one might say.

gimmesometruth27

wow. all this because people dunked on him on the internet for being what he is. an incompetent businessman with far right politics.

static111

I remember when platforms were deplatforming people and everyone was arguing that a company is not the government and doesn't need to recognize your right to free speech, and now people want the government to reign in the private company to reign in the free speech.  Here's an idea, just say no to all social media. It's garbage if they run it the way you want and it is garbage if they aren't running it the way you want. with the exception of our esteemed message board of course.