Musk invites liberal TV hosts to Twitter
In a pinned tweet, Musk invites liberal television hosts (Rachel Maddow, Don Lemon and “others”) to bring their shows to Twitter to try and balance out Tucker Carlson’s presence on the platform. (This is the second time he has invited Lemon to start a show there.)
It’d be great to have @maddow, @donlemon, & others on the left put their shows on this platform. No exclusivity or legal docs required! You will receive our full support. The digital town square is for all.
It’d be great to have @maddow, @donlemon & others on the left put their shows on this platform. No exclusivity or legal docs required!
You will receive our full support. The digital town square is for all. https://t.co/v1Yse6TQ6u
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 8, 2023
Tesla in talks to build factory in Spain
In a bid to build a factory there, Tesla is negotiating with the regional government of Valencia in Spain. A spokesperson for Valencia’s government says it had held meetings and conversations with a company about a “large automobile investment,” but did not specify which company it was, citing the confidentiality of the negotiations. Tesla’s total investment in this enterprise could surpass 4.5 billion euros ($4.83 billion).
Twitter’s U.S. ad sales drop 59%
According to an internal presentation obtained by The New York Times, Twitter’s U.S. advertising revenue for the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59% from a year earlier. The document says the company has regularly fallen short of its U.S. weekly sales projections, sometimes by as much as 30 percent. The company has forecast that its U.S. ad revenue this month will be down at least 56 percent each week compared with a year ago, according to one internal document. Neither CEO Yaccarino nor Musk commented on the report.
According to staff interviews, Twitter’s ad sales staff is concerned that advertisers may be spooked by a rise in hate speech and pornography on the social network, as well as more ads featuring online gambling and marijuana products. In one week last month, four of Twitter’s top 10 U.S. advertisers were online gambling and fantasy sports betting companies, according to one presentation. Twitter has also started allowing ads for cannabis accessories, including “bongs, vapes, rolling paper,” as well as erectile dysfunction products and services, according to internal emails.
Former employees say some of Twitter’s biggest advertisers — including Apple, Amazon and Disney — have been spending less on the platform than last year, and that large specialized “banner” ads on Twitter’s trends page that can cost $500,000 for 24 hours and are almost always bought by large brands to promote events, shows or movies, are often going unfilled.
Netanyahu ‘greatly’ appreciates Musk’s ‘contribution to humanity’
After speaking on the phone with Musk, Netanyahu calls him “a person whose intelligence and contribution to humanity I greatly appreciate.” In his account of their “long” conversation, the prime minister says the two discussed artificial intelligence – something Netanyahu says he wants more of for Israel, and plans to convene a team about it. He adds:
[Musk] expressed his view that Israel could become a significant global player in the field. Just as we turned Israel into a global cyber power, we will also do so in artificial intelligence.
Senators ask Musk and Yaccarino about Twitter FTC violations
Four US senators send a letter to Musk and Yaccarino asking them whether the layoffs and resignations at Twitter have hindered its ability to comply with the company’s FTC obligations. The senators are examining Twitter’s privacy practices under Musk to determine whether consumer protection laws are being flouted. The letter – signed by Elizabeth Warren (D), Ron Wyden (D), Ed Markey (D), and Mazie Hirono (D) – cites Ella Irwin’s departure as the latest source of concern about Twitter’s compliance track record. It asks whether Twitter conducted a privacy and security assessment of Twitter Blue before rolling it out (according to its 2022 consent agreement, Twitter must perform such assessments “prior to implementing any new or modified product”) as well as whether the platform has maintained a comprehensive cybersecurity program to protect user data since Musk’s takeover. It also asks whether Twitter has met various reporting requirements, including obligations to report any significant data breaches to the authorities.
[P]ersonnel changes, firsthand accounts from employees, and hasty launch of new products raise questions about whether Twitter is able to comply with its obligations under the FTC consent decree.
Mr. Musk’s behavior reveals an apparent indifference towards Twitter’s longstanding legal obligations, which did not disappear when Mr. Musk took over the company.
Regardless of his personal wealth, Mr. Musk is not exempt from the law, and neither is the company he purchased. Twitter must meet the requirements it agreed to under the 2011 and 2022 FTC agreements.
The lawmakers want Twitter to respond by June 18.
Musk predicts lawsuits against Target
Musk predicts lawsuits against Target after the company’s value sinks more than $15 billion following boycotts over its controversial “PRIDE” collection. Reacting on Twitter to conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, who wrote:
BREAKING: JP Morgan just downgraded Target’s stock, after its longest losing streak in 23 years citing “too many concerns rising’. Happy Pride Month Target!!
Musk says:
Won’t be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders against the company and board of directors for destruction of shareholder value.
Kirk replied to Musk by encouraging legal action against the company.
Won’t be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders against the company and board of directors for destruction of shareholder value
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
Pentagon buys Starlink terminals for Ukraine
The Pentagon signs a contract to buy Starlink terminals and services to aid the Ukrainian military in its war against Russia. Starlink has previously donated terminals to the Ukrainian war effort. Shortly after the country was invaded, Starlink donated 3,667 terminals to Ukraine and the country had approximately 22,000 of them as of December, with funding secured to receive 10,000 more. The terminals access a network of satellites to provide internet and help maintain stable communications and internet connections for the Ukrainian military despite the attacks on their telecommunications infrastructure. Details about terminal costs, specific capabilities, contracts, and partners involved in the deal were not revealed for “security reasons.”
Investors accuse Tesla of ‘carnival barking, market manipulation, insider trading’
Investors accuse Musk of insider trading in a class action lawsuit against Tesla, saying the company’s manipulation of Dogecoin cost them billions of dollars. They argue in a Manhattan federal court that Musk used paid online influencers, deliberately undertook ‘publicity stunts’ like his 2021 appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and more, to trade profitably at their expense through several Dogecoin wallets that he or Tesla controls. They say this included the time Musk sold about $124 million of Dogecoin after he replaced Twitter’s blue bird logo with Dogecoin’s Shiba Inu dog logo, leading to a 30% jump in Dogecoin’s price. The accusations are part of a proposed third amended complaint in the lawsuit which began in June 2022. (Tesla sought a dismissal of the second amended complaint, calling it a “fanciful work of fiction,” and said another amendment was unjustified, but US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said he would “likely” allow the third amended complaint, as the defendants would not likely be prejudiced.) A “deliberate course of carnival barking, market manipulation and insider trading” enabled Musk to defraud investors, promote himself and his companies, the filing said.
Boreing: Twitter suppressing one side of ‘trans debate’
Daily Wire CEO Boreing accuses Twitter of joining other “tech superpowers” in their suppression of “one side of the [trans] debate.”:
Twitter canceled a deal with @realdailywire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of “misgendering.”
(“What is a Woman?” is an online film about gender and transgender issues presented by conservative political commentator Matt Walsh.) Boreing says he thought Twitter was “the perfect place to distribute the film” because of its “recent commitments to free speech,” adding:
Twitter responded with enthusiasm and offered us the opportunity to buy a package to host the movie on a dedicated event page and to promote the event to every Twitter user over the first 10 hours. After reviewing the film, though, Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, they would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as “hateful conduct” because of “misgendering.”
When the Daily Wire noted that Twitter had actually removed its policy around misgendering, Twitter representatives allegedly “clarified they only removed ‘misgendering’ from their policy because they didn’t need to be that specific, but that they still consider ‘misgendering abuse and harassment,” and also said that the Daily Wire’s “own followers would not be able to see it in their feeds.” As Boreing puts it:
We brought all our shows to Twitter Tuesday because we believed Twitter was committed to free speech, especially on this issue. After all, the @TheBabylonBeewas silenced on Twitter over this very issue, and that in part prompted @elonmusk to purchase the platform. The other tech platforms have already decided where they stand in the trans debate and demonetize and deprioritize all those who disagree. Now, Twitter has joined the ranks of the other tech superpowers in ensuring one side of the debate is suppressed.
@elonmusk is not beholden to conservatives. He has the right to run his business as he sees fit. But if Twitter is going to throttle one side of one of the most important debates facing society, it cannot claim to champion free speech.
I hope @elonmusk will reconsider this awful policy. If we can’t debate these issues on Twitter, where can we debate them? If conservatives aren’t welcome on Twitter, where are they welcome? It’s unlikely another centibillionaire will come along to offer an alternative.
We plan to post the movie anyway tonight at 8:00 pm eastern. Will Twitter make good on their threat to throttle it and label it “hateful conduct,” or will Twitter live up to its great promise?
We’ll all find out together.
Twitter canceled a deal with @realdailywire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of “misgendering.”
I’m not kidding.
Here's what happened:🧵1/16
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
Musk apologizes to Magneto for Soros comparison
In an interview with The Babylon Bee, Musk is asked about his comments comparing Soros to the Marvel character, Magneto, while claiming Soros ‘hates humanity:
Sorry Magneto. Y’know, I shouldn’t have said that. It was unfair to Magneto.
@elonmusk apologizes to Magneto for comparing him to George Soros. pic.twitter.com/hfEzvwCJai
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) May 31, 2023
Musk criticises NPR: ‘You don’t generally bite the hand that feeds you’
In an interview with The Babylon Bee, Musk talks about NPR leaving Twitter, after the company labelled it as state0funded media:
We’re trying to apply the rules consistently at Twitter. If we’re going to call some media state-affiliated, then we should apply the label equally. They got pretty upset at that, and said that ‘state-affiliated’ implies that the state has editorial authority and influence over the content. So you’re saying you don’t have that? How self-aware are you? NPR literally, on their own website, said government funding was essential to their operation. We even changed [the label] from ‘state-affiliated’, to ‘state-funded’. That’s literally a statement of fact. But they’re unhappy with that. They have got to their punches in criticizing the government. It’s just a guess, based on their extreme dependence on government funding. I mean you don’t generally bite the hand that feeds you.
How will we ever stay informed on Twitter without NPR? pic.twitter.com/wWNN0fv8uq
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) May 31, 2023
Fidelity: Twitter worth 33% of Musk’s purchase price
According to Fidelity, which helped finance Musk’s purchase of Twitter, its valuation of its equity stake in the company puts the total value of Twitter at $15 billion, around 33% of what Musk originally paid for it. Fidelity downgraded its holdings in the company by 56% a month after the acquisition, by 63% in February 2023, and now by 66%. Musk’s investment in Twitter is now worth $8.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which uses Fidelity’s valuation to calculate the value of his holding. Musk spent more than $25 billion to acquire an estimated 79% stake in the company in 2022.
Musk: China and U.S. are like ‘conjoined twins’
In his first visit to China since January 2020, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Musk meets with Foreign Minister Qin Gang. Musk compares US-China interests to conjoined twins and says Tesla opposes “decoupling” of the world’s two biggest economies. Gang told Musk that the two countries should “avoid dangerous driving” and:
keep the steering wheel in the right direction of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation…A healthy, stable and constructive China-US relationship is not only beneficial to both countries, but also to the world.
Gang also said that China’s development is an opportunity for the world.
EU: Twitter ‘can run’ from disinformation obligations, ‘but can’t hide’
Twitter withdraws from the European Union’s Code of Practice on online disinformation. But Twitter is considered a “very large online platform” under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and is therefore obligated to assess and mitigate systemic risks to civic discourse and electoral processes, such as disinformation, under pan-EU law. Breaches of the DSA can attract penalties of up to 6% of global annual turnover, but VLOPs are given a three month deadline to comply. Internal market commissioner Thierry Breton:
Twitter leaves EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation. But obligations remain. You can run but you can’t hide. Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under #DSA as of August 25. Our teams will be ready for enforcement.
Twitter leaves EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation.
But obligations remain. You can run but you can’t hide.
Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under #DSA as of August 25.
Our teams will be ready for enforcement.
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) May 26, 2023
Israel: Musk promoting ‘fake news’ about COVID-19 data
Israel’s Ministry of Health says Musk was promoting “fake news” regarding COVID-19 data when he replied to a tweet from ZeroHedge, claiming Israeli data showed “zero young healthy individuals died of COVID-19.” Musk wrote “Zero …” (Twitter added a note to the Zero Hedge tweet, saying Israel’s health ministry “has called this article ‘misinformation.’”) The health ministry writes:
Elon, unfortunately this is not what the whole data shows. fake news is dangerous. Israel Ministry of Health was asked on chronic disease data and explained that we don’t have access to clinical records. We know from clinicians that young healthy people did die from COVID and hopefully data on that will be available on the near future from our HMOs.
Elon, unfortunately this is not what the whole data shows.
fake news is dangerous.
Israel Ministry of Health was asked on chronic disease data and explained that we don’t have access to clinical records >>>
— משרד הבריאות (@IsraelMOH) May 29, 2023
Cuban: Twitter algorithms designed to help Musk
Cuban accuses Musk of rigging Twitter algorithms to promote his own tweets. He says that because Twitter’s “For You” timeline, which is the first thing users see on the app, ranks tweets by the amount of interaction by a user’s followers, that it make’s Musk’s posts more influential, as he has the most followers, and the most interactions on the app. Cuban still has 8.8 million followers, but worries the algorithm change will affect how he promotes his online pharmacy, Cost Plus Drugs.
I figured I was/am on some Twitter s— list that doesn’t show me to new or existing users as a possible follow. I thought maybe, by paying the annual contract, that would change. It didn’t…It stands to reason that the person with the greatest number of followers will have the greatest influence on the most number of For You timelines. And For You candidates include, as stated above , tweets that people you follow engage with. So who @elonmusk engages with on Twitter has an ENORMOUS impact on what an indeterminable number of people see in their For You Timelines
Oops, I left out possibly the most obvious and important influence to For You timelines.
“What tweets did the people I follow recently engage with “
It stands to reason that the person with the greatest number of followers will have the greatest influence on the most number…
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 19, 2023
SpaceX releases Starship launch video
SpaceX releases a video of the first Starship launch, which flew for four minutes on April 20, 2023.
Another step closer to Mars — the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket
Musk: Next Starship launch in two months
Musk says the next Starship launch will take place in two months, after tested upgrades are made to the launchpad that was destroyed during the first launch.
Major launchpad upgrades should be complete in about a month, then another month of rocket testing on pad, then flight 2 of Starship
Major launchpad upgrades should be complete in about a month, then another month of rocket testing on pad, then flight 2 of Starship
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 27, 2023
Neuralink human trials approved
Neuralink announces that it has received FDA approval for human trials. Musk congratulates the team in a tweet.
We are excited to share that we have received the FDA’s approval to launch our first-in-human clinical study! This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people. Recruitment is not yet open for our clinical trial. We’ll announce more information on this soon!
Congratulations Neuralink team! https://t.co/AWZGf33UDr
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 26, 2023
Ford to use Tesla Superchargers
Ford strikes deal with Tesla to allow its electric vehicle owners to gain access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in North America in early 2024. This makes Ford the first major automaker to embrace Tesla’s proprietary charging standard and gives the company access to the biggest network of high-speed Superchargers in the United States. Tesla will provide an adapter to Ford EVs fitted with the Combined Charging System (CCS), giving them port access to Tesla’s V3 Superchargers. Ford will equip future EVs with Tesla’s own charging standard, removing the need for an adapter for direct access to Tesla Superchargers, starting in 2025. Pricing will be “competitive”. On Twitter Spaces, Musk tells Ford CEO Jim Farley:
The idea is that we don’t want the Tesla supercharger network to be like a walled garden. We want it to be something that is supportive of electrification and sustainable transport in general.
Farley:
We love the locations, we love the reliability, your routing software, the ease of use of the connector, the reliability of it. Tesla storms through the [Japanese bullet] train station like 300 kilometers per hour Shinkansen. We’re learning a lot.
Farley said earlier at a Morgan Stanley forum that:
[O]n the infrastructure side, I think it’s room for some collaboration between the auto companies, which is totally unnatural for us….the first step is to work together in a way we haven’t, probably with the new EV brands and the traditional old companies…. It seems totally ridiculous that we have an infrastructure problem, and we can’t even agree on what plug to use. I think the first step is to work together in a way we haven’t, probably with the new EV brands and the traditional auto companies. I think you’ll see Ford do that just because that’s what kind of company we are.
Coming soon: More locations to charge your Ford® electric vehicle. Thousands of them. @Tesla https://t.co/FayrARjD3s pic.twitter.com/CtDEcqvdwu
— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) May 25, 2023