Twitter HQ projection trolls Musk
A projection displayed on Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters trolls Musk with taunts and insults, including calling him a “bankruptcy baby”,”supreme parasite”,”petulant pimple”,”apartheid profiteer”,”space Karen” and “mediocre manchild”. It is not clear who ran the projection.
Twitter's San Francisco headquarters has gone hardcore tonight. #TwitterTakeover pic.twitter.com/DoG5pDD4AD
— Strictly Woke AF (@christoq) November 18, 2022
Fired SpaceX employees file charges
Eight former SpaceX employees file unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging they were let go for being part of a group that had drafted and circulated a letter to SpaceX executives in June. The letter asked SpaceX executives for three things: to curb “Elon’s harmful Twitter behavior,” to define and enforce the company’s sexual harassment policies, and ensure that all leadership is held accountable for violating such policies.
SpaceX’s current systems and culture do not live up to its stated values, as many employees continue to experience unequal enforcement of our oft-repeated ‘No Asshole’ and ‘Zero Tolerance’ policies.
US labor law prohibits employers from firing workers who band together to advocate for better working conditions. At the time, Musk called the letter a “distraction and embarrassment” to the company.
Musk: Twitter will drop 280-character limit ‘soon’
After a user complains about a Twitter thread that is 82 posts long, Musk says:
Ability to do long tweets coming soon
Ability to do long tweets coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 17, 2022
Musk later says he is working on the project personally.
Musk defends $55 billion compensation plan in court
Musk defends his $55 billion pay award in a Delaware court, in a suit brought by Gregory Vallo, a Tesla shareholder. The plaintiff alleges that the compensation package, which called for Musk to reap billions if Tesla hit certain market capitalization and operational milestones, was approved by Tesla board members who had conflicts interest due to personal and professional ties to Musk.
Musk would receive the full benefit of the pay plan, $55.8 billion, only if Tesla hit a market capitalization of $650 billion and unprecedented revenue and earnings within a decade. To date, Tesla, under Musk’s management, has achieved all 12 of the market capitalization milestones and 11 operational milestones, providing Musk over $52.4 billion in stock option gains
Musk says he did not dicate the terms of the package, or attend any meetings at which the plan was discussed by the board, its compensation committee, or a working group that helped develop it.
I was entirely focused on the execution of the company,
Varallo also questioned Musk about how he splits his time among Tesla and his other companies. Musk said he never intended to be CEO of Tesla, and that he didn’t want to be chief executive of any other companies either, preferring to see himself as an engineer instead.
The suit also alleges the shareholder vote approving the compensation plan was based on a misleading proxy statement.
Fallon asks Musk to take down #RIPJimmyFallon hashtag
Fallon asks to Musk to take down the hashtag #RIPJimmyFallon that has been trending on the platform.
Elon, can you fix this? #RIPJimmyFallon
Musk intitially replied with ‘Fix what?’, and later replied with a joke:
Wait a second, how do we know you’re not an alien body snatcher pretending to be Jimmy!? Say something that only the real Jimmy would say …
Wait a second, how do we know you’re not an alien body snatcher pretending to be Jimmy!?
Say something that only the real Jimmy would say …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 16, 2022
Musk to Twitter staff: Do hardcore work or get out
In an internal email, Musk gives Twitter employees until the evening of Nov 17 to commit to “extremely hardcore” work or else leave the company:
A Fork in the Road
Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.
Twitter will also be much more engineering-driven. Design and product management will still be very important and report to me, but those writing great code will constitute the majority of our team and have the greatest sway. At its heart, Twitter is a software and servers company, so I think this makes sense.
If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below. Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance. Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful. Elon
Musk reschedules Blue Verification to Nov 29
Musk says the relaunch of Twitter Blue verification will be delayed until Nov 29:
Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid
He also says that all unpaid legacy Blue checkmarks will be removed in a few months.
Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
Musk ‘rehires’ Ligma and Johnson
Musk ‘rehires’ Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson, the two fake employess who pranked news networks by claiming to be laid off Twitter employees. Ligma later claimed he had been hired and fired by FTX.
Welcoming back Ligma & Johnson! Important to admit when I’m wrong & firing them was truly one of my biggest mistakes
Important to admit when I’m wrong & firing them was truly one of my biggest mistakes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
Musk tells Sen. Markey: Your acccount sounds like a parody
After Sen. Ed Markey demanded to know why a Washington Post reporter was able to create a verified account impersonating him:
A @washingtonpost reporter was able to create a verified account impersonating me—I’m asking for answers from @elonmusk who is putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation,” Markey tweeted Friday, with a screenshot of his letter to Musk on the matter. “Twitter must explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.
Musk responds:
Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?
Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022
When a user says that it may not be a good idea to troll a senator who is on Senate communications subcommittees, Musk responds:
Are you suggesting the Senator will abuse his political power to attack me?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022
SpaceX buys Twitter Starlink ad campaign
Musk confirms SpaceX purchased a $250,000 ad campaign on Twitter to promote Starlink services in Australia and Spain, which will place SpaceX’s ad on top of the main Twitter timeline for a full day. Users will see the ad the first three times they open Twitter when the ad campaign is scheduled. The ad buy is the first for any of Musk’s companies, including Tesla, which does not engage in traditional advertising.
SpaceX Starlink bought a tiny – not large – ad package to test effectiveness of Twitter advertising in Australia & Spain. Did same for FB/Insta/Google.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2022
Musks says he has ‘too much work on his plate’
In a videolink interview for the B20 Indonesia conference in Bali, Musk, who is wearing a traditional batik shirt sent by the event’s organizers, says that has too much work:
You know my workload has recently increased quite a lot. I mean, I have too much work on my plate that is for sure. No doubt about it
When asked about his thoughts on other business leaders in Asia who wish to become the “Elon Musk of the East” the Tesla CEO says:
I’d be careful what you wish for. I’m not sure how many people would actually like to be me. They would like to be what they imagine being me, which is not the same thing as actually being me. The amount that I torture myself is next level, frankly.
Musk also noted that longer video content is coming to Twitter.
Twitter for sure, I think it’s gonna be a lot more on video… And it’s kind of a no-brainer to enable longer video and also enable content creators to make a living with content on Twitter
Verified Twitter users complain they can’t change name
Users complain to Musk after Twitter disables name changes on legacy verified accounts. A user called Count Dankula pleads for help after his name gets stuck after what he thought was a temporary change to “GIANT PENIS (parody)”:
Hello Elon, you seem to have disabled name changes. I was wondering when that would be getting turned back on as I appear to have gotten myself into a bit of a situation.
This is not a drill any time you try it just says DENY and doesn’t let you change it. I am literally stuck as GIANT PENIS this is not the future I imagined for myself Elon pls.
This is not a drill any time you try it just says DENY and doesn't let you change it. I am literally stuck as GIANT PENIS this is not the future I imagined for myself Elon pls. pic.twitter.com/rfWNxNiE0R
— Count Dankula (@CountDankulaTV) November 11, 2022
Twitter suspends Blue after impersonations
After reports of multiple impersonations of major brands and politiciansaccounts, Twitter suspends it’s Twitter Blue $8 verification process. An account impersonating Nintendo tweeted an image of the Super Mario character holding up a middle finger. One posing as Eli Lilly & Co. tweeted that insulin was now free, forcing the company’s official account to say:
We apologize to those who have been served a misleading message from a fake Lilly account
An internal Twitter memo confirmed the change:
An update on what we did tonight: hid the entry point to Twitter Blue, added the ‘official’ label for ONLY advertisers. Note: here is at least one way for users to sign up for Blue. Legacy Blue users can go to subscriptions and upgrade.
In an email to staff, Musk wrote:
Over the next few days, the absolute top priority is finding and suspending any verified bots/trolls/spam
Yoel Roth, the company’s head of trust and safety also resigned
Peterson: It would be a catastrophe to see Musk derailed
On Piers Morgan Uncensored, Peterson say he supports Elon Musk’s efforts to improve Twitter.
Well, I know people who know him very well and have worked with him very closely. These are very solid people, extremely competent and extremely creative. And they’re admirers of Musk. I talked with my brother-in-law Jim Keller, who is one of the word’s great chip engineeers, and he worked very closely with Musk for years. He believes that he is, in many ways, exactly what you think he was: He’s a genius, a visionary genius. But he’s also someone who is very, very good at implementing, very good at running companies, as you can tell because he has a multitude of impossible, succesful companies. So he goes into a company and he cleans house and puts things in order and makes things work efficiently. Maybe he can do that at Twitter. I hope he can, because Musk is doing all sorts of things that are useful and difficult and it would be a catstrophe to see him derailed.
"It would be a catastrophe to see him derailed."
Jordan Peterson says he hopes Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter will be a success.@elonmusk | @jordanbpeterson | @piersmorgan | @TalkTV | #PMU pic.twitter.com/XdBFyv75Sc
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) November 10, 2022
Crypto company builds 30ft ‘Musk goat rocket’
A cryptocurrency company creates a 30-foot long monument to Musk, showing him as a goat riding on a rocket. The art took 700 hours to build and is worth an estimated $600k. The 5’9″ tall aluminium head of the statue was built by Canadian metal sculptors Kevin and Michelle Stone. The cryptocurrency firm Elon GOAT Token ($EGT) plan to present the monument to Musk in Austin, TX, on Nov 26. Company spokesperson:
We built Elon Musk a $600,000 monument on the back of a semi trailer in honour of his many accomplishments and commitment to Cryptocurrency. Most people thought we would never do it, but after one year of building the time has come to bring it home to Elon. Really we just want to meet the guy and give it to him. After all, he is the most innovative human alive, hence the GOAT – Greatest Of All Time.
Musk kills ‘official’ grey checkmark
After grey checkmarks that had been rolled out to indicate ‘official’ accounts on Twitter started to disappear, Musk says:
I just killed it. Blue check will be the great leveler
I just killed it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022
Later, Musk says:
Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.
Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months.
We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022
Musk sells $3.95 billion of Tesla stock
Regulatory filings show Musk sold nearly $4 billion worth of Tesla shares, bringing his total sold since April to $19 billion. He sold $7 billion in August. These three most recent blocks of Tesla stock sales represent only 4% of the shares that Musk owns outright through a trust, and less than 3% of his holdings if options that he has to buy additional shares are included.
Musk’s filings did not disclose the reason for those earlier stock sales. But after someone on Twitter asked him if he was done selling Tesla shares, he responded “Yes” and then pointed to the possibility of being forced to buy Twitter as the reason for those sales. Shares of Tesla are down almost 50% this year.
Biden: Musk’s foreign ties ‘worthy of being looked at’
At a news conference at the White House, when Biden is asked if Musk is a ‘threat to national security’ and whether his acquisition of Twitter with the help of foreign governments, notably Saudi Arabia, should be investigated, the President says:
I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at. Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate — I’m not suggesting that — I’m suggesting it’s worth being looked at. And that’s all I’ll say.
Recently, Musk has given opinions on the Russia-Ukraine war and China-Taiwan relations, while Senator Chris Murphy has called for an investigation into the national security implications of Saudi Arabia’s stake in Twitter.
Musk: Twitter usage at an all-time high
Musk says Twitter’s usage is at an all -time high:
Twitter usage is at an all-time high lol, I just hope the servers don’t melt!
I just hope the servers don’t melt!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 8, 2022
He later posts two charts that show Twitter’s mDAU (number of monetizable daily active users) at over 255 million glabal users, of which over 45 million are in the United States.
Musk says he voted Democrat until this year
After urging ‘independent-minded ‘ voters to vote Republican, Musk says that his party affilation is Independent, but that he has actually voted for Democrats until this year, and says that he is open to the idea of voting Democrat again.
To be clear, my historical party affiliation has been Independent, with an actual voting history of entirely Democrat until this year
And I’m open to the idea of voting Democrat again in the future
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2022