Musk confirms X link post deprioritization
After Graham complains that the deprioritization of links in X posts:
The deprioritization of tweets with links in them is Twitter’s biggest flaw. It bothers me more than all the new right-wing trolls. Trolls I’m used to, but what draws me to Twitter is to find out what’s going on, and you can’t do that without links.
Musk responds:
Just write a description in the main post and put the link in the reply. This just stops lazy linking.
Just write a description in the main post and put the link in the reply. This just stops lazy linking.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2024
Lemon quits X
In a post on X, Lemon says he is leaving the platform, highlighting X’s incoming new terms of service, which state that lawsuits against the social media platform will be handled in the Northern District of Texas.
I have loved connecting with all of you on Twitter and then on X for all of these years, but it’s time for me to leave the platform. I once believed it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency, and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose.
Citing the change of venue:
Quote, all disputes be brought exclusively in the US District Court for the northern district of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas, end quote…This quote ensures that such lawsuits will be heard in courthouses that are a hub for conservatives, which experts say could make it easier for X to shield itself from litigation and punish critics. I think that speaks for itself.
Lemon says he will remain on Facebook, TikTok, and other social media platforms.
Here's why I'm leaving Twitter… pic.twitter.com/VIope68L2k
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) November 13, 2024
The Guardian leaves X
The Guardian says it will no longer post content on X, saying the platform is ‘toxic’ and that Musk has used its influence to shape political discourse. The newspaper has more than 80 accounts on X with approximately 27 million followers.
We wanted to let readers know that we will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X (formerly Twitter). We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere.
This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism. The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.
X users will still be able to share our articles, and the nature of live news reporting means we will still occasionally embed content from X within our article pages.
Our reporters will also be able to carry on using the site for news-gathering purposes, just as they use other social networks in which we do not officially engage.
Social media can be an important tool for news organisations and help us to reach new audiences but, at this point, X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work. Our journalism is available and open to all on our website and we would prefer people to come to theguardian.com and support our work there.
Essex Police: Post was ‘likely or intended to cause racial hatred’
In relation to Pearson’s case, Essex Police say that officers had opened an investigation under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986 relating to material allegedly “likely or intended to cause racial hatred”. Spokesperson:
We’re investigating a report passed to us by another force. The report relates to a social media post which was subsequently removed. An investigation is now being carried out under section 17 of the Public Order Act. As part of that investigation, officers attended an address on Sunday November 10 to invite a woman to attend a voluntary interview on the matter.
Accused of non-crime hate incident
As Pearsons is getting ready to attend a Remembrance Sunday event, two police constables from Essex Police come to her door. The police inform her that she had been accused of a non-crime hate incident (NCHI) related to ‘stirring up hatred’ in a post on X a year before. When she asks which post, the constable says he is not allowed to say. When she asks who made the complaint, she is told she is not allowed to know that either.
Pearson: You can’t give me my accuser’s name?”
Police: It’s not ‘the accuser, they’re called ‘the victim’.
Pearson responds:
Today, we are commemorating hundreds of thousands of British men, most of them roughly the age you two are now, who gave their lives so that we could live in a free country, not under the jackboot of tyranny. And you, YOU come here on this sacred day… You know, those soldiers, they could never have imagined that their country, our country, the country they died for, would ever become a place where the police would turn up at the door of a person who has done nothing wrong…
Pearson accuses the police of wasting time and asks them why it has taken a year to come forward, with no response. One of the constables asks for her phone number and email address in case they needed to call her in for an interview; She gives him her email only.
X TOS venue changes to Northern District of Texas
X’s new terms of service, which take effect Nov. 15, stipulates that lawsuits against the social media platform must be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas — not the Western District of Texas, where the company is headquartered.
Musk borrowed $1 billion from SpaceX in same month of Twitter deal
The Wall Street Journal reports that Musk borrowed $1 billion from SpaceX in October 2022, the same month he bought Twitter. The loan was backed by some of Musk’s SpaceX stock and Musk drew all of the funds down the same month. According to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, as of March 2023, Musk is SpaceX’s largest shareholder with a 42% stake and almost 79% of its voting power. SpaceX had $4.7 billion in cash and securities on hand at the end of 2022.
Musk biography: Ex-Twitter CEO Agrawal lacked ‘leadership quality’
An excerpt from an upcoming Musk biography reports that, after meeting Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal for dinner in March 2022, Musk concluded that the CEO did not have leadership quality:
He’s a really nice guy. What Twitter needs is a fire-breathing dragon and Parag is not that.
Musk fired Agrawal shortly after he purchased the company.
Musk to sue ADL for £22 billion for ‘trying to kill’ X with false anti-semitism claims
In a series of tweets, Musk says he will sue the Anti-Defamation League for $22 billion, which he says is 60% in lost revenue, as a result of the organisation putting pressure on advertisers to stop using the platform with claims that Musk and X is anti-semitic.
To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind. Since the acquisition, The @ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic. Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter! If this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation suit against, ironically, the “Anti-Defamation” League. If they lose the defamation suit, we will insist that they drop the the “anti” part of their name, since obviously …
Musk later explains:
Advertisers avoid controversy, so all that is needed for ADL to crush our US & European ad revenue is to make unfounded accusations. They have much less power in Asia, so our ad revenue there is still strong. This “controversy” causes advertisers to “pause”, but that pause is permanent until ADL gives the green light, which they will not do without us agreeing to secretly suspend or shadowban any account they don’t like. That is the relationship they’ve had with X/Twitter for many years. Presumably, they have that with all western search or social media orgs.
Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
When told about a $10.5 million defamation fine awarded against ADL, Musk says that the organisation would be potentially liable for half of X’s revenue:
Interesting. In our case, they would potentially be on the hook for destroying half the value of the company, so roughly $22 billion.
Interesting.
In our case, they would potentially be on the hook for destroying half the value of the company, so roughly $22 billion.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
X to train AI models with users’ posts
X plans a change to its privacy policy that will allow information posted by users to be used to train its AI models. Musk says X will train AI models only with publicly available information. It will not use “DMs or anything private.” The updated policy states that the company:
may use the information we collect and publicly available information to help train our machine learning or artificial intelligence models for the purposes outlined in this policy.
Musk booed by gamers chanting ‘Bring back Twitter’
When Musk is briefly shown on camera during the broadcast of the Valorant World Championship Final, the crowd of gamers boos, prompting a surprised reaction from the event’s announcers, who did not address Musk’s roughly four-second appearance on camera. The crowd then shouts “Bring back Twitter!. Organiusers:
Where is that from? That can’t be from in here, surely?
Musk later laughed off the incident, describing the booing crowd members as “unhinged leftists.”
Elon Musk getting booed at VALORANT Champs and the crowd starts chanting "bring back Twitter" lmao pic.twitter.com/lDoWse78YV
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) August 26, 2023
Musk to remove headlines from news articles shared on X
Musk will remove headlines that are automatically generated as part of the preview image and text that appeasr when news organisations share articles to X. Anyone sharing a link on X—from individual users to publishers—would need to manually add their own text alongside the links they share on the service; otherwise the post will display only an image with no context other than an overlay of the URL. According to a source, the change is being pushed directly by Musk, to reduce the height of tweets and allow more posts to fit on screen. Musk also believes the change will help curb clickbait. Musk:
This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.
This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2023
Musk: ‘How does the medicine taste?’
Musk mocks users on X for complaining about plans to remove the platform’s “block” feature (which he announced in response to an account questioning its utility), asking how “the medicine” tastes and saying that he is using the feature while it still exists to ignore users who want it to stay.
Pretty fun blocking people who complain that blocking is going away. How does the medicine taste?
Pretty fun blocking people who complain that blocking is going away.
How does the medicine taste? 😂😂
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2023
Musk blocks Woods after actor complains about block feature removal
Musk blocks Woods following his comments on the X CEO’s plans to remove the block feature from Twitter.
If @elonmusk removes the ability to block concerted harassment by trolls or organized political entities, how will “X” be any different from Jack Dorsey’s horrid Twitter? Musk, whom I once championed, is only doing this to protect his advertisers anyway. Users of X are mere pawns to turn the site into an electronic shopping mall. The man I thought was a defender of free speech is just another greedy capitalist. Disappointing, but not surprising.
To which Musk responds:
Then delete your account
Then delete your account
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2023
Woods then posts a screenshot showing that Musk has blocked him:
Your prerogative, sir, which is exactly my point. Have a nice day.
You prerogative, sir, which is exactly my point. Have a nice day. pic.twitter.com/qt8ZD3wbM9
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 20, 2023
Musk: X may fail
Musk says that X may fail:
The sad truth is that there are no great ‘social networks’ right now. We may fail, as so many have predicted, but we will try our best to make there be at least one.
The sad truth is that there are no great “social networks” right now.
We may fail, as so many have predicted, but we will try our best to make there be at least one.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 19, 2023
Musk says he will ‘delete’ X’s block feature
In response to a post asking if ‘there is ever a reason to block vs. mute someone,’ Musk says that he will delete the block feature from the app, except for DMs.
Block is going to be deleted as a “feature”, except for DMs. It makes no sense.
Later, a community note is added to Musk’s post, saying that the block feature cannot be removed as it is a required feature for social media apps sold on Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
It makes no sense
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023
Twitter signs and equipment to be auctioned
In part due to its rebrand, X announces it is auctioning off a large number of Twitter-branded items, including the bird logo that was previously on the outside of the building. Other items for sale include sculptures, booths, chairs, computers, couches, musical equipment and artworks.
The auction, hosted by Heritage Global Partners, will start on September 12 at 7 a.m. PST and end on September 14 at 9 a.m. PST. All items have a starting bid of $25. They are all being sold out of X headquarters in San Francisco. According to HGP’s terms and conditions, buyers must use the items in their businesses and cannot purchase them for personal use.
Musk: Fight with ‘Zuck’ to be streamed on X
Musk says that his fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X. He tweets:
Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on 𝕏. All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.
Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on 𝕏.
All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023
Musk: X will never launch crypto coin
Musk says that Twitter/X will never launch a crypto coin. In a tweet, user @DogeDesigner stated:
Elon Musk and 𝕏 never launched a crypto token
to which Musk replied:
And we never will.
Elon Musk and 𝕏 never launched a crypto token. Be careful of such articles. ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/tZqfwMMm2X
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) August 5, 2023
Musk: X will pay ‘unfairly’ treated users’ legal bills
Musk says that if any X (formerly Twitter) users are treated unfairly by their employers for posting or liking something on the platform, X will pay their legal bills and even sue on their behalf. Financial assistance from X will have no limit, he says, and asks that users “let us know” if they have experienced unfair treatment for their activity on the site.
If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill.
No limit.
Please let us know.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023