Elon Musk and Twitter

[sgmaven]

Elon Musk has once again redoubled his efforts to acquire Twitter. Considering the number of use on twitter, what do you think about this?

 

Frankly, I do not trust Elon Musk and whatever he claims about Twitter. I wonder if there will be an alternative platform to move to, if the acquisition goes through?

[dilbert0987]

I didnt follow the developments between EM and Twitter, but i guess the acquisition is due to the strong presence of Twitter in social media. If the alternative platform becomes popular, would it attract EM's attention and another buyover? 😅

[sgmaven]

3 hours ago, dilbert0987 said:

I didnt follow the developments between EM and Twitter, but i guess the acquisition is due to the strong presence of Twitter in social media. If the alternative platform becomes popular, would it attract EM's attention and another buyover? 😅

Well, if enough people defect to an alternative platform, it would mean that EM would lose a ton of $$$ in the acquisition. Would he then risk his $$$ again to acquire that new platform, even if they are open to a takeover?

[Guest Tongue Twitters]

Becos Donald Trump is banned on all social media. 

 

Musk , acquiring Twitter will allow Trump to speak on Twitter , influencing the outcome of the 2024 president election. 

 

Trump is pro big business and cutting taxes for the super rich.

 

If I am American and not top 1%  of the super rich population, 

 

There is no point in living and staying alive there , there will be no jobs that will allow you to climb, the top jobs people are not dying and creating an opening. 

 

Jobs are meaningless.

 

People all want to be entrepreneurs , investors , making money from crypto, stocks, bonds. 

 

Nobody is actually own the food creating process, its all owned by giant corporations.

 

 

There is so much free for all porn, filth, on Twitter. And Twitter is not making any money out of billions of porn images shared on Twitter.

 

I think Elon musk will clean up twitter from non revenue generating porn, dirty pic images. 

 

 

There are plenty of Taiwanese, Prc dirty pics on Twitter. Channwl creators are making money by promoting it on Twitter but Twitter itself is not making money off of it. 

 

So I think Musk.will revamp twitter. No more free porn links to Only Fans , or other paid porn. 

 

DRAIN THE TWITTER SWAMP, MUSK.

 

 

 

 

[sgmaven]

 

[sgmaven]

Twitter makes money via ads, just like most social media companies. Other than the advertisers, does twitter make money from any of the content creators? No. So, twitter "depends" on the content creators to draw people to visit the site, and tries to draw people in more and more, thereby being able to serve more ads (and earn ad renvenue).

 

Does it make sense for Elon Musk to "drain the swamp", like some "Guest" suggests? If it results in fewer users, and lower amount of time spent per user, then it does not make any business sense (considering their revenue model).

 

Twitter going private though, makes it such that they no longer need to divulge any financial data. That means, we are unlikely to know how successful the acquisition will be, until there comes a day that Elon Musk decides that he wants to sell Twitter or refloat the company.

[sgmaven]

Oh! And since the acquisition, Musk has promptly fired both the Twitter CEO and the Top Censorship Exec...

[singalion]

15 hours ago, sgmaven said:

Elon Musk has once again redoubled his efforts to acquire Twitter. Considering the number of use on twitter, what do you think about this?

 

Frankly, I do not trust Elon Musk and whatever he claims about Twitter. I wonder if there will be an alternative platform to move to, if the acquisition goes through?

 

 

I assume there will be less Work from Home arrangements for the workers at Twitter since Musk took over...😂

 

I read Musk sacked already 1000 employees...

 

[Guest Tongue Twitters]

I think Trump will drain the porn Swamp in Twitter just like what happened to Tumblr. 

 

Suddenly , all.the free porn pics sharing and personal.nude branding and promotion will.just go poof , bye bye. 

 

No more free , non revenue generating porn stuff.

 

I hope he keeps the Japanese girls R rated stuff. 

 

So nice to see Japanese XMM   pure porcelain skin, white and fair and pink nipples.

[Guest Gayler]

Musk is a business man, business man only chase after money.

[sgmaven]

10 minutes ago, Since u r here said:

u need a good product too , in order to grow his $! He is no fool

He is an investor, a person w deep insights and MUCH MORE!

Why do u think he carry a heavy sink on his first day to twitter office?
to bulk his muscles like some?

 

If you think that all investors really care about the quality of service or product that the company offers, think again. Most are just there for the $$$$, unless there is an underlying agenda in the acquisition. Just look at the insidious things that big-tech have done in the past, even though internal research had shown negative impact.

 

Free speech is one thing, but if no one is going to fact-check, and the likes of Trump and MAGA politicians are allowed to spew falsehoods that the 2020 elections were stolen, then I think that the system is broken.

 

Twitter before Musk was not perfect. That much I agree. Let's see what direction Musk takes them... I still don't trust him though...

[sgmaven]

For me, I am more concerned about EM allowing Trump to tweet again. Trump has spread enough falsehoods previously, and seriously damaged the democracy of the US...

 

Not a big twitter user, and I think I only did a single tweet... So, no biggie if I think I should stop using the platform altogether, much like what I did with facebook.

[sgmaven]

Fine, I will stick to the more "financial" side on the discussion. Twitter rises and falls by its ad revenues. This in turn is driven by the "stickiness" of the platform, which in turn is related to the content-creators on the platform, as well as the algorithm that recommends new accounts to follow.

 

Not sure how EM is going to "right" the ship for Twitter though. If he means "draining the swamp" by banning all those NSFW content, then he should take a look at Tumblr, which used to have "vibrant" NSFW content. They started to clamp down, and users migrated to Twitter, and Tumblr has lost a lot of users in that arena. I am not saying whether NSFW content is right or wrong, just that trying to take the moral high ground can cause revenues to suffer.

 

If EM allows Trump and the MAGA crowd to continue posting falsehoods in the name of "Freedom of Speech", then it will really serve to destabilise an already unstable democracy in the US. Any major political turmoil in the US (being the No.1 economy in the world), is going to have financial repercussions throughout the world.

 

You can say that it is fine in Singapore, because the government will censor stuff. However, do remember that we are but a tiny red dot, that might get later consumed by a tsunami induced by lies and falsehoods, allowed on Twitter (in the name of Free Speech). Can you imagine if Twitter gets hijacked by religious extremists in Malaysia and Indonesia, and they want to take over the "Apostate" that is Singapore?

[Guest Swampy Pals]

The state of Twitter before this purchase is in very bad shape with a few top executives making decisions to ban and censor certain stories they don’t like and affront to their beliefs.
 

Hopefully with this new owner, things will be better and more transparent. 

[Steve5380]

10 hours ago, sgmaven said:

For me, I am more concerned about EM allowing Trump to tweet again. Trump has spread enough falsehoods previously, and seriously damaged the democracy of the US...

 

Not a big twitter user, and I think I only did a single tweet... So, no biggie if I think I should stop using the platform altogether, much like what I did with facebook.

 

I don't have an account on twitter, and I have one on facebook that I never use.  I would not mind if these companies suffer severe losses, and become more regulated.

 

As for EM,  the respect I had for him originally is fast disappearing.  It could be that his richness and power have affected his head.  In contrast, I keep admiring Bill Gates for the work he has done and is doing to help society.  I enjoyed his book "How to avoid a climate disaster".

[Guest FK ELON]

Twitter , latest rumors.

 

You gotta pay about $10.00 a month to access Twitter  and keep your account.

 

 

Told u so. 

 

There is so much free porn, nudes and illicit business being done on Twitter platform and twitter is not getting a cut off it.

 

 

So Elon is gonna make you pay to use it.

 

In twiiter for PRC, All kinds of drugs are being peddled, GHB, sedatives to help immobilise before taking advantage, smartt chinese using code words, fake viagra, fake anything.

 

 

And then self promoters , peddle their onlynfans, 4 fansonly , also on twitter but twitter makes no money off them.

 

Like Tumblr , once they get you hooked on their free porn candies, they will reel.the net in for harvest.

 

Twitter will make you pay to verify identity and pay to use.

 

Sooner than later.

[singalion]

The problem has been before Musk that people take such chatter boxes representing facts.

 

Twitter seems to me a big chatroom, where everyone seems thrilled to give a comment on anything...

Where tabloids in the old days were creating hype, rumours or took pictures on embarrassing talks, events, situations, that seems now to be on twitter...

 

I am aware of the problematic sides and potential abuse or manipulations.

 

To me it is much too time consuming to follow any discussion on twitter...

[sgmaven]

1 hour ago, singalion said:

The problem has been before Musk that people take such chatter boxes representing facts.

 

Twitter seems to me a big chatroom, where everyone seems thrilled to give a comment on anything...

Where tabloids in the old days were creating hype, rumours or took pictures on embarrassing talks, events, situations, that seems now to be on twitter...

 

I am aware of the problematic sides and potential abuse or manipulations.

 

To me it is much too time consuming to follow any discussion on twitter...

Just take the tweet by Elon Musk himself, that he soon deleted, over the incident involving Paul Pelosi... More than meets the eye?

 

I really think that those who have a real and tangible influence in the social media sphere should be MORE RESPONSIBLE with what they put on it...

[sgmaven]

Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, tweets conspiracy theory about attack on Paul Pelosi  - CNN

 

Quite clear where our dear Elon Musk stands...

[Steve5380]

I assume that blowingwind.org is not for sale.   Otherwise, imagine how much damage Musk could do to this website if he buys it...    Who would give up anonymity and pay a monthly fee to be a member?   

[sgmaven]

I am sure that most would just leave Blowing Wind...

[doncoin]

Well, it turns out that the people who are co-funding Musk's Twitter acquisition include Dorsey (the original Twitter founder who got ousted by the recently fired CEO), Qatar, and to one's big surprise, MBS himself. However, MBS' stake is triggering the attention of the regulators, CFIUS, which can be problematic. But again, MBS has invested in most of Musk's endeavors, SpaceX, Tesla, etc. so it is no surprise. I also suspect his usual Paypal Mafia probably has some stake in the investment as well. 

[Guest Maikoyu]

Elon Musk just decreed that Twitter engineers work 12 hour days, 7 days a week or get fired. 

 

In China they work  , 23 hour days  365.25 days a year  .

 

How to compete ?

[7heaven]

The White House in US had to delete a twit apparently for wrongly attributing the reasons for the increase in social security payment. The new “Context” feature in twitter was apparently the reason why The White House had to delete the twit.
 

—————

White House deletes tweet flagged by Twitter that credited Biden for Social Security payment increase

The tweet came down without explanation from the White House

 

The White House on Wednesday deleted a tweet that credited "President Biden’s leadership" for the increase in Social Security payments, which was flagged by Twitter as something that was actually caused by a 40-year high in inflation.
 

"Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden's leadership," the White House tweeted Tuesday.

 

The White House tweet was accompanied by a note from Twitter that said many readers were adding "context" to the WH message that said the rise in Social Security payments was "due to the annual cost of living adjustment, which is based on the inflation rate."

 

Twitter adds "context" notes when they are rated highly enough by Twitter users, a point that Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, stressed Wednesday morning.

 

"The community notes feature is awesome. Our goal is to make Twitter the most accurate source of information on Earth, without regard to political affiliation," Musk said.

 

Soon after the tweet was taken down, a White House official told Fox News Digital that the decision was made because "the point was incomplete." For a more complete explanation, that official referred Fox to a mid-October statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that said Social Security checks will rise as Medicare premiums fall, which means "seniors will have a chance to get ahead of inflation."

 

Jean-Pierre reiterated that point at the White House briefing by saying, "the tweet was not complete."

While the tweet was deleted, the White House Twitter account automatically archives all account activity, in compliance with federal laws about keeping public records. That means the deleted tweet will still be archived.

Edited November 2, 2022 by 7heaven
v

[singalion]

 

"The community notes feature is awesome. Our goal is to make Twitter the most accurate source of information on Earth, without regard to political affiliation," Musk said.

 

😂

 

Elon Musk is a ‘piece of s- -t’ for promoting Paul Pelosi conspiracies

Jimmy Kimmel has a few choice words for Elon Musk.

The late-night show host, 54, went ham on the new Twitter owner, 51, on the social media platform after the businessman posted a conspiracy theory about the recent attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul.

Musk then responded in a since-deleted tweet noting: “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” while linking to a Santa Monica Observer article.

 

Kimmel was quick to reply to the Tesla CEO’s tweet before it was erased from the platform.

“It has been interesting, over the years, to watch you blossom from the electric car guy into a fully-formed piece of s – – t,” Kimmel penned on Sunday.

When Musk’s tweet was still posted, many fans were shocked that he desired to spread misinformation.

 

Yael Eisenstat, a vice president of the Anti-Defamation League, said: “When the world’s richest man/owner of this very site himself traffics in conspiracy theories days after claiming to advertisers that he’s going to be a responsible leader, all I can say is: I’m not overreacting by expressing my concerns.”

“Actions always speak louder than words,” she added.

 

Donald Moynihan, a public policy professor at Georgetown University, explained how he was concerned that Musk would use his new role as Twitter’s head to “amplify conspiracy theories that are destroying American democracy.”

“A big problem in contemporary American politics is that one party has become obsessed with conspiracy theories, encouraging radical responses including anti-democratic actions and violence,” he scribed on Twitter. “Musk will just make the problem worse.”

 

https://nypost.com/2022/10/31/kimmel-elon-musk-a-piece-of-s-t-for-paul-pelosi-conspiracies/

 

 

[7heaven]

6 hours ago, 7heaven said:

The White House in US had to delete a twit apparently for wrongly attributing the reasons for the increase in social security payment. The new “Context” feature in twitter was apparently the reason why The White House had to delete the twit.
 

—————

White House deletes tweet flagged by Twitter that credited Biden for Social Security payment increase

The tweet came down without explanation from the White House

 

The White House on Wednesday deleted a tweet that credited "President Biden’s leadership" for the increase in Social Security payments, which was flagged by Twitter as something that was actually caused by a 40-year high in inflation.
 

"Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden's leadership," the White House tweeted Tuesday.

 

The White House tweet was accompanied by a note from Twitter that said many readers were adding "context" to the WH message that said the rise in Social Security payments was "due to the annual cost of living adjustment, which is based on the inflation rate."

 

Twitter adds "context" notes when they are rated highly enough by Twitter users, a point that Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, stressed Wednesday morning.

 

"The community notes feature is awesome. Our goal is to make Twitter the most accurate source of information on Earth, without regard to political affiliation," Musk said.

 

Soon after the tweet was taken down, a White House official told Fox News Digital that the decision was made because "the point was incomplete." For a more complete explanation, that official referred Fox to a mid-October statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that said Social Security checks will rise as Medicare premiums fall, which means "seniors will have a chance to get ahead of inflation."

 

Jean-Pierre reiterated that point at the White House briefing by saying, "the tweet was not complete."

While the tweet was deleted, the White House Twitter account automatically archives all account activity, in compliance with federal laws about keeping public records. That means the deleted tweet will still be archived.

 

Kudos to Twitter for preventing The White House of US from twitting misleading information. If the twit in question had been accurate, why did they have to delete the twit?
 

😂

 

———————

White House is forced to DELETE fact-checked tweet claiming Biden has given American seniors the biggest boost in Social Security in 10 years

The White House was forced into an embarrassing Twitter climbdown on Wednesday, deleting a tweet that claimed President Joe Biden was responsible for seniors getting the biggest increase in Social Security checks in a decade.
 

As fact checkers were quick to point out, the increase is based on the rate of inflation and required by law.

 

At first, Twitter added a note to the original Monday afternoon tweet. 

By Tuesday lunchtime the message had been deleted.

The trouble began with a tweet from the official White House account.   

 

'Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership,' it said.

 

Part of that is true. Next year Social Security benefits will rise by 8.7 percent next year, which is the largest cost-of-living adjustment since 1981. 

 

Policy experts on Twitter were quick to suggest the Biden administration was claiming credit for something that happened automatically - and which reflected historic levels of inflation.

 

Twitter then added its fact check note.

'Seniors will receive a large Social Security benefit increase due to the annual cost of living adjustment, which is based on the inflation rate,' it said.

'President Nixon in 1972 signed into law automatic benefit adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index.'

 

 

[singalion]

Wed November 2, 2022

 

Musk is also working with some urgency to boost Twitter’s revenue, including from a subscription product, after taking out a significant amount of debt financing to pay for the $44 billion acquisition.

In a follow-up tweet Wednesday, Musk said: “Twitter’s content moderation council will include representatives with widely divergent views, which will certainly include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence.”

In the days since Musk took over as Twitter’s owner and de-facto CEO, the platform has faced a surge of hateful rhetoric and other toxic content, which has caused outcry from civil society groups and prompted some advertisers to think twice about working on the platform.

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by singalion

[singalion]

Wed November 2, 2022

 

It’s unclear whether VP of Operations Lindsey Iannucci, the other two members of Twitter’s top leadership team, will remain with the company. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment about the current employment status of Caldwell, Sullivan, Berland and Iannucci.

In place of Twitter’s former leadership, Musk appears to have tapped venture capitalists and friends to work with him as he weighs product changes, significant layoffs and product changes.

Investor Jason Calacanis and Sriram Krishnan, an Andreessen Horowitz general partner focused on crypto and Twitter’s former consumer teams lead, have both confirmed on Twitter that they are working with Musk to manage the company and brainstorm new products Musk has also reportedly brought in Craft Ventures partner David Sacks, as well as a handful of Tesla engineers.

Calacanis earlier this week tweeted that he was in New York on behalf of Twitter meeting with “the marketing and advertising community.” He has also tweeted questions to Twitter users about the platform’s subscription and bookmark features.

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by singalion

[singalion]

 

 

Why does Elon Musk want Twitter? The answer may lie with what he could do with your data

28/10/2022

 

Another social media giant coming under the control of a single billionaire is alarming governments, researchers, and rights groups who are concerned about the amount of data Elon Musk’s Twitter buy will allow him and how far he will take the free speech he has promised.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said in a statement when the deal was announced on April 25, 2022.

 

Freedom of speech is a nice idea in principle, but on social media, it doesn’t quite work the same way.

 

Twitter and other social media companies have over the last several years taken the spreading of misinformation and calls for violence more seriously.

 

Twitter, for example, permanently banned former US president Donald Trump from the platform for spreading false information blamed for inciting the January 2021 riot on Capitol Hill. It is now feared that Musk could reinstate Trump back onto Twitter.

 

"We are generally concerned that a self-proclaimed 'freedom of speech absolutists' with a record of breaking unions, takes over one of the platforms that are most widely used by human rights defenders, journalists, and activists to pursue their goals," said Diego Naranjo, Head of Policy at the association European Digital Rights.

 

"The concentration of wealth of money and power in few hands is always the enemy of democracy, and the fact that one of the most wealthy people on the planet takes over Twitter should put everyone on guard and speed up alternatives to current dominant big tech businesses such as Twitter," he told Euronews Next.

 

Profiting from Twitter users' data

Besides wanting to implement his vision for Twitter to become a platform of free speech, whatever that may mean, Musk may also want Twitter to help market his other companies.

 

Social media users are at the mercy of algorithms, which extract data about users and then use the information to keep them on the site for as long as possible, earning the social media sites more money through advertising.

 

Musk is entering a market that has great power in terms of algorithms that he can use and use data as he wants to influence the market for his companies Tesla and SpaceX.

Petros Iosifidis

Professor, City University

 

"We should have access to algorithms that platforms use in order to be able to understand how platforms work," said Naranjo, who calls for a ban on this business model and urges companies “must be pushed to find another way to obtain profit that is not based on the 24/7 surveillance of basically any individuals connected to the Internet".

Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink, the company that’s developing implantable brain-machine interfaces, could use the data from Twitter’s algorithms to market his companies.

 

"Musk is entering a market that has great power in terms of algorithms that he can use and use data as he wants to influence the market for his companies Tesla and SpaceX," said Petros Iosifidis, Professor of media and communication policy at City University in London.

 

He told Euronews Next the platform will be a "great marketing tool" for his other companies.

 

"Every individual company like Meta has the power to collect data on individuals through algorithms. Not just where you live but also what you do and buy," Iosifidis said.

"Targeted advertising can be something he could exploit more. It’s a little bit scary he is entering the media market".

 

 

'We still need to be vigilant'

However, due to data protection legislation around the world, personal data that is input on Twitter can not legally be used for other purposes such as for other companies used by Musk or by anyone else.

 

"Be it cars or social media, any company operating in Europe needs to comply with our rules – regardless of their shareholding," Thierry Breton, the European Union Commissioner for the internal market, posted on Twitter.

 

"Mr Musk knows this well. He is familiar with European rules on automotive, and will quickly adapt to the Digital Services Act," he added, referencing the EU regulation proposal which intends to boost company competition in the bloc by preventing large companies from abusing their market power.

 

"In Europe, and in other parts of the world, there is strong data protection legislation so we are fairly well protected," said Naranjo.

 

"However, we still need to be vigilant with the fact when these big tech platforms become even bigger, they become an even bigger threat for our privacy, data protection and generally for our democracies".

 

 

https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/10/28/why-does-elon-musk-want-twitter-the-answer-may-lie-with-what-he-could-do-with-your-data

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by singalion

[singalion]

 

 

November 3, 2022 1:06 AM GMT+8

Elon Musk’s Twitter runs into subscription fatigue

Reuters

 

 

NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Elon Musk is on a mission for some much-needed revenue at Twitter. The social-media company’s new owner tweeted, appropriately enough, that he would start charging users $8 a month for a blue check, the symbol that affirms a user’s authenticity. Strapped consumers are already rethinking the litany of fees they pay regularly to everyone from Walmart (WMT.N) to Spotify Technology (SPOT.N). And charging micro-bloggers could hurt as much as it helps, if it scares off users.

 

Twitter has approximately 424,000 verified accounts. A prominent one, author Stephen King, retorted “F**k that” when Musk first floated the idea of asking prolific and well-read posters to pay for the privilege. As Musk noted, though, he has his own bills to pay after larding $13 billion of debt onto the company. Even if everyone with a blue check forks over $96 annually, it would only add up to around $41 million. Twitter’s interest payments alone could be more than $1 billion a year, according to New York Times calculations. The financial burden provides a reality check. (By Jennifer Saba)

 

 

 

[Guest Mia Nipples]

Liberal Democrat celebs are leaving and saying bye bye to Twitter. 

 

 

Thanks to Elon Musk. 

 

Thanks again , pinkish demon Elon Musk.

 

What will be left is a pile of Only Fans, promoters.

 

 

👀👀👀👀👀

[Steve5380]

16 hours ago, singalion said:

 

In a follow-up tweet Wednesday, Musk said: “Twitter’s content moderation council will include representatives with widely divergent views, which will certainly include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence.”

 

 

In his tweet, Musk did not wrote a comprehensive list of representatives with widely divergent views in his "content moderation council".   He did not include the groups who promote hate-fueled violence,  the groups who create conspiracies theories, the promoters of sex with children, the exterminators of gays and lesbians,  the creators of Big Lies.   So we really don't know what his "content moderation" will be.

[sgmaven]

Don't hope too much with Musk's idea of a "content moderation council", considering that he can tweet nonsense in response to Hillary Clinton's tweet after the attack on Paul Pelosi.

[singalion]

7 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

In his tweet, Musk did not wrote

 

Oh oh oh oh....

[singalion]

2 hours ago, sgmaven said:

Don't hope too much with Musk's idea of a "content moderation council", considering that he can tweet nonsense in response to Hillary Clinton's tweet after the attack on Paul Pelosi.

 

 

content moderation council

But it sounds good, doesn't it, and it gives a veil of neutrality, while nobody knows what directions or instruction that Council has to follow...

 

If Musk had wanted more impartiality in the decisions, then he had created an outside body of "judges" or professionals to look into potential violations and suspensions.

 

I assume, less lies, truth distortions, manipulations or hate speech will be suspended on Twitter in the future.

 

 

In the long term, Musk will sell Twitter, in particular when the value will go down... I hope he wasted a lot of money...

 

 

Anyhow, Musk is one of the disgusting, ignorant riches, who practises a similar "cowboy culture" as other of these exploitative rich guys (or some of them pretending to be rich by cheating banks and investors....)

 

 

Elon Musk embodies the quality people hate most in a boss

 

 

 

[singalion]

 

 

 

Elon Musk announces Twitter mass layoffs to begin Friday

The reduction, which will be delivered by email, comes as the new Twitter CEO was speculated to cut as much as 50% of staff

 

Fri 4 Nov 2022

 

Elon Musk will begin mass layoffs at Twitter on Friday, sharply reducing the social media platform’s workforce, the company said in an email to staff on Thursday.

“In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday,” said the email. The New York Times and Washington Post both reported on the layoffs and cited the internal email.

All employees will receive an email on Friday, the notice said. Those who will keep t

heir jobs will get an email to their work account, those being laid off will receive a notification to their personal email. Employees were reminded not to disclose “confidential company information” on social media or with press.

The layoffs come as Musk was speculated to cut as much as 50% of Twitter’s workforce, just days after becoming the head of the company he purchased for $44bn. That could mean thousands of jobs lost, as the company had more than 7,000 employees at the end of 2021 according to a regulatory filing.

 

 

Does he intend to cripple Twitter?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[singalion]

General Mills latest to halt Twitter ads as Musk takeover sparks brand exodus

Cheerios and Lucky Charms cereal company joins General Motors Co and Audi among others in pulling money from the platform

 

 

Fri 4 Nov 2022
 

General Mills is the latest to join a growing group of companies halting advertising on Twitter after the social media platform was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk for $44bn.

 

 

 

someone left?

[Steve5380]

7 hours ago, singalion said:

 

Elon Musk announces Twitter mass layoffs to begin Friday

The reduction, which will be delivered by email, comes as the new Twitter CEO was speculated to cut as much as 50% of staff

 

 

So he will lay off half of Twitter's staff, hundreds of people.   People who so far had lived with the impression that they had a stable job with good income, able to feed and support their families.  And they must have had at least a standard work performance,  since they were not fired earlier.  All these people now lose their jobs thanks to a whim of this billionaire-turning-insane.   This shows Musk's sense of society's well being...  The BILLIONS are frying his brain.  But there is no Elon Musk without his body.  And his body seems to be turning into a ruin.  Poor guy! 

[sgmaven]

Now that advertisers are fleeing the platform, Elon Musk has taken to twitter to accuse the "activists" of pressurising the advertisers...

"Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America." - Elon Musk on twitter...

 

 

 

 

[Guest PINK DEMON]

Elon musk is so cruel and Evil, firing people just around Christmas , 

 

With an energy crisis in Uk, Europe, a cold , no heated home winter awaits. 

 

Elon Musk.is heartless. 

 

Can't it wait, until it gets warmer next May b4 firing people. 

 

 

A lot of people will pribably.consider suicide after being terminated at Twitter.

[Steve5380]

5 hours ago, sgmaven said:

Now that advertisers are fleeing the platform, Elon Musk has taken to twitter to accuse the "activists" of pressurising the advertisers...

"Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America." - Elon Musk on twitter...

 

 

 

 

 

Poor Elon Musk!   So unfairly treated,  when he is trying to INCREASE free speech in America! 

 

Free speech to the miserable author of the Big Lie,  to inventors of conspiracy theories,  to racists, supremacists, and all kinds of propagators of falsities.

[Guest Fatty]

4 hours ago, Guest PINK DEMON said:

Elon musk is so cruel and Evil, firing people just around Christmas , 

 

With an energy crisis in Uk, Europe, a cold , no heated home winter awaits. 

 

Elon Musk.is heartless. 

 

Can't it wait, until it gets warmer next May b4 firing people. 

 

 

A lot of people will pribably.consider suicide after being terminated at Twitter.

Why pay those jiak liao bee for another 6 months for doing nothing?

[Steve5380]

I don't understand what is in the mind of Musk.

 

Twitter appeared to be a normal company,  with a normal management.  A normal company will not be employing half their personnel that is not necessary.  Paying salaries to 7500 employees it does not need.  Who will now do the work of these 7500 employees laid off?    Maybe Musk will replace them with 7500 of "his people"?   This would be like a change in government where a new leader replaces the staff of the old one with his own cronies.  But if they are not replaced,  who will be doing their work?  It does not look like his aim is more "context moderation". 

 

I have worked in a large multinational company.  Several times during my time there we had big changes in management, with different business ideologies that led the company in different directions but,   but there were no layoffs.  There was work to do, and need for people to do it.   But we never had a CEO crazy like this one...

[Guest ffffffff]

Musk's Halloween costume

 

https://vigilantcitizen.com/pics-of-the-month/symbolic-pics-of-the-month-november-2022/

[Guest Derelict]

Elon Musk's mother Maye

 

Scroll towards the end of article for pix.

 

https://vigilantcitizen.com/pics-of-the-month/symbolic-pics-of-the-month-09-22/

[singalion]

 

 

Alarm on Capitol Hill over Saudi investment in Twitter

Possible access to users’ data could pose national security risk and could be used to target kingdom’s dissidents

 

 

Fri 4 Nov 2022

 

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington

 

 

It has been five years since Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who has been known for decades as among one of the richest Middle East investors, received a phone call summoning him to the royal court in Riyadh.

 

The prince – who together with his investment firm has emerged as the second-largest investor in Twitter after Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform – became a prisoner.

 

According to his own account, the prince was holed up in Room 628 of the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh for 83 days. At the time, the round-up of Saudi royals and other businessmen was hailed inside Saudi Arabia as an anti-corruption purge led by the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Alwaleed’s cousin.

 

Little is known about the prince’s prolonged stay at the Ritz, but the harrowing episode is key to understanding some of the power dynamics that are now at play behind one of the world’s most powerful social media platforms.

 

It also raises questions about how much influence Alwaleed or Prince Mohammed may wield in their new relationship with Musk as part of what Alwaleed has publicly said would be a long-term investment in Twitter.

 

Alarm bells are already ringing on Capitol Hill, where two US senators – Democrat Ron Wyden, who chairs the finance committee, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut – have called for a “thorough vetting” of the Twitter deal on national security grounds.

 

In a statement, Wyden said: “Given the Saudi regime’s history of jailing critics, planting a spy at Twitter, and brutally murdering a Washington Post journalist, the Saudi regime must be blocked from accessing Twitter account information, direct messages and other data that could be used to identify political opponents or to suppress criticism of the royal family.

 

“I’ve long argued that the United States has a national security interest in protecting Americans’ data from murderous foreign governments, and this Saudi regime absolutely fits that description.”

 

Press reports that emerged after the Ritz purge detailed how rich Saudi prisoners were tortured and coerced during their detention there, and stripped of their fortunes after accusations of corruption, though there were never formal charges, evidence, or trials.

 

Alwaleed, who reportedly looked “underfed and haggard” during his Ritz stay, discussed his confinement with Bloomberg in March 2018, seven weeks after he was released. In the interview, Alwaleed denied any maltreatment or torture, but acknowledged he had reached an “understanding” with the kingdom that was “confidential and secret between me and the government”.

 

He claimed his relationship with Prince Mohammed had grown “stronger” after his imprisonment and that they talked or messaged one another multiple times a week.

 

He also said he would be permitted to travel, though observers have noted that Alwaleed – whose firm also has significant investments in Uber, Citibank, and Lyft – has not been seen outside Saudi Arabia or its ally the United Arab Emirates since his confinement.

 

In April, after Elon Musk first made his audacious bid to takeover Twitter, it was rejected by Alwaleed in a tweet. “I don’t believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects. Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer,” he wrote, referring to his investment company, Kingdom Holding, which first invested in Twitter in 2011.

 

But just a few weeks later, Alwaleed appeared to have changed his mind. In a tweet on 5 May, he wrote: “Great to connect with you my ‘new’ friend @elonmusk. I believe you will be an excellent leader for @Twitter to propel & maximise its great potential.”

 

Later that month, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, which is chaired by Prince Mohammed, acquired a 17% stake in Kingdom Holding for $1.5bn.

 

This week, Alwaleed congratulated “Chief Twit” Musk on closing the Twitter transaction this week, saying the two would be “together all the way”.

 

The Twitter investment does not appear to offer either Alwaleed or the Saudi government any formal control over Twitter. Musk is now the company’s sole director. But the kingdom’s known use of the platform as a propaganda tool, and its harsh crackdown on dissidents or others who use the platform, are areas of concern for human rights experts.

 

Saudi woman given 34-year prison sentence for using Twitter

 

“I think it’s worth asking questions about what Saudi investment means for the security of Saudi dissidents and debate around Saudi issues. Will requests for actions against users be filtered through Alwaleed? Requests for user data, or for the promotion of some networks?” said David Kaye, a law professor at UC Irvine.

 

A top official in the kingdom is also alleged to have masterminded the 2015 infiltration of Twitter by spies who were working for the Saudi government and were indicted by the Department of Justice.

 

The infiltration allowed the Saudi government to identify individuals who were criticising the kingdom’s government from anonymous Twitter accounts – leading to at least one arrest of a young man, Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, who is serving a 20-year jail sentence in Saudi Arabia for using a parody account to mock the Saudi government.

 

Two of the men who were indicted are still sought by the FBI after they were able to escape the US before they were arrested. Last month, as top US and other executives went to Riyadh to celebrate the Future Investment Initiative, known as “Davos in the Desert”, one accused Twitter spy wanted by US authorities – Ahmed Almutairi – posed videos on his personal Snapchat account of a party he was attending to celebrate the conference, and boasted that he would be attending six parties held that night.

 

It is far from clear whether demands by some US senators for a national security review will be taken up by the Biden administration. Rules surrounding such reviews by the US Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS), which has the power to unwind transactions if they are deemed to threaten US national security, have usually been triggered when the foreign entity (in this case, Saudi Arabia) has assumed control of a company or asset. This is not the case in the Musk deal.

 

The Washington Post reported this week that US officials were weighing whether to open a formal investigation into Musk’s purchase and, citing a person familiar with the matter, said the Treasury Department had contacted Twitter to learn more about the confidential agreements Musk had struck with foreign investors.

 

One attorney familiar with the process and who spoke on the condition of anonymity said any risk assessment by the US government would probably show that the Saudis have had the capability and intent to “compromise” the platform in the past. That said, the attorney added: “Are there sanctions and other levers to use? I doubt they would sanction Alwaleed or MBS.”

 

A lawyer for Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

 

 

 

[singalion]

wow now Musk is threatening the businesses...

 

this is even from Fox Business here:

 

 

Elon Musk says what's next for Twitter advertisers if they bow to activists demands and leave the platform

 

Sat, November 5, 2022

 

 

Elon Musk has warned advertisers who are canceling purchases on Twitter amid fear of boycotts from activists that they may soon face a "thermonuclear name and shame."

 

In a pair of tweets on Friday, Musk claimed Twitter suffered a "massive drop in revenue" after he purchased the platform and stepped in as CEO just seven days ago "due to activist groups pressuring advertisers" to discontinue ad purchases.

 

Responding to a user’s request to "name and shame the advertisers who are succumbing to the advertiser boycotts," Musk affirmed he would soon be taking action.

 

"A thermonuclear name and shame is exactly what will happen if this continues," he ambiguously warned.

 

Musk wrote his own letter to same advertisers, namely to the chief executives of Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, Apple, Capital One, CBS, CenturyLink, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Best Buy, Disney, Google, HBO, IBM, Merck, Meta, Mondelez International, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Verizon.

 

 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/elon-musk-whats-next-twitter-advertisers-bow-activists-demands-leave-platform

 

 

 

 

 

I guess the corporations will embrace his threats and warnings... 😂

 

 

[sgmaven]

My, my... Doesn't Elon Musk now behave like a little kid,who has discovered that no one in the playground wants to play together with him?

[sgmaven]

No matter how much you disagree with how Twitter WAS being run, I do not think it is justification to fire about half the staff in short notice. Yes, there was a precipitous drop in ad revenues, as well as many well-known companies declaring their decision to stop advertising with twitter, but I think Elon Musk's recent behaviour in the twitterverse has left lots of people (and top executives of big corporations) with questions about the long term trajectory of the company. To then blame "activists" for all the fall in revenue, and subsequent "justification" to fire half the staff is totally uncalled for. Better to call an emergency townhall meeting and meet the various stakeholders to reassure them, unless of course, Elon Musk has no intention of proper content moderation, and would allow all manner of fake news and conspiracy theories to be promoted on twitter.

[7heaven]

Why do some people have such entitled mentality to expect that a product or service should be free?