Tag: elon musk

Donald Trump Feels Twitter With Elon Musk Is in ‘Sane Hands’, Says He Prefers Being on Truth Social

Former US President Donald Trump on Friday said he was happy Twitter was in “sane hands” after Elon Musk formally took over, but did not say whether he would return to his account on the platform that banned him.

Trump said he thought his own Truth Social media platform “looks and works better.” “I LOVE TRUTH,” Trump wrote in a post on his platform. Trump was banned from Twitter after the deadly January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Musk has said he would reinstate Trump’s account, but Trump previously said he would not return.

Donald Trump on Friday said he plans to make use of his own Truth Social media platform despite Twitter‘s takeover by billionaire Elon Musk, who has promised to reinstate the former US president’s Twitter account.

“I like Elon, but I’m staying on Truth,” Trump told Fox News in an interview without explicitly saying he would not post on Twitter if his account is reinstated.

When he posts on his own platform, “it goes all over the place anyway,” Trump told Fox. “Everyone who is on Twitter and on all the other places, they all put it out anyway.”

Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, took over Twitter with brutal efficiency on Thursday, firing top executives but offering little clarity over how he will achieve his ambitions goals for the influential social media platform.

Mere hours after Musk kicked off a new era at Twitter, he was deluged with pleas and demands from banned account holders and world leaders.

Others whose Twitter accounts were suspended have had or could have them reinstated soon.

However, Musk, in his latest tweet, has confirmed that he will be forming a content moderation council at Twitter with widely diverse viewpoints.

 

Before the council convenes, the social media platform will see no major content decisions or account reinstatements.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

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Twitter to Form ‘Content Moderation Council’ to Consider Unblocking Accounts, Elon Musk Tweets

Elon Musk has tweeted that Twitter will instate a ‘Content Moderation Council’ comprised of people with ‘widely diverse viewpoints’. One of the key functions of this council will be to consider unblocking the accounts of people who have been permanently suspended. No major decisions about content moderation or reinstating blocked accounts will be made without without that council, according to Musk’s tweet. This suggests that the rumoured unblocking of controversial users, potentially including former US President Donald Trump, will not happen all of a sudden and might not happen at all. Musk has previously indicated that he considers account bans contrary to a commitment to free speech, and he envisions Twitter as a digital “public square”.  

 

Elon Musk took over the ownership of Twitter with brutal efficiency on Thursday. Soon after signing the deal, he fired top executives including Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter. He had accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the platform.

“The bird is freed,” he tweeted soon after completing his acquisition on Thursday, referencing Twitter’s bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on content that can be posted.

The CEO of electric car maker Tesla and self-described free speech absolutist has, however, also said he wants to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.

Other goals include wanting to “defeat” spam bots on Twitter and make the algorithms that determine how content is presented to its users publicly available.

Yet Musk has not offered details on how he will achieve all this and who will run the company.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

Apple launched the iPad Pro (2022) and the iPad (2022) alongside the new Apple TV this week. We discuss the company’s latest products, along with our review of the iPhone 14 Pro on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Government Amends IT Rules to Set Up Grievance Appellate Panels for Social Media

The government on Friday tweaked IT rules to pave way for setting up of grievance appellate panels, which will settle issues that users may have against the way social media platforms initially addressed their complaints regarding content and other matters.

These committees will be able to review content moderation decisions by social media companies like Meta and Twitter.

The ‘Grievance Appellate Committees’ will be set up within three months, according to a gazette notification on Friday.

Incidentally, the move comes at a time when the CEO of electric car maker Tesla, Elon Musk, has completed his $44 billion (nearly Rs. 3,62,300 crore) takeover of Twitter, placing the world’s richest man at the helm of one of most influential social media apps in the world.

The IT rules changes have been in the works for months, though, ever since users red-flagged instances of digital platforms acting arbitrarily. The latest move will arm the users with a grievance appeal mechanism in the form of appellate committees that will look into complaints filed by individuals against decisions of grievance officers of social media platforms.

The amendement to IT rules were notified on Friday.

“The central government shall, by notification, establish one or more grievance appellate committees within three months from the date of commencement of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022,” the notification said.

Each grievance appellate committee will consist of a chairperson and two whole-time members appointed by the central government, of which one will be a member ex-officio and two shall be independent members.

“Any person aggrieved by a decision of the grievance officer may prefer an appeal to the grievance appellate committee within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of communication from the grievance officer,” it said.

The grievance appellate panel will deal with such appeal “expeditiously” and make an endeavour to resolve the appeal finally within thirty calendar days from the date of receipt of the appeal. 

 

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Elon Musk’s Twitter Era Begins, Politicians Warn Billionaire of Existing Regulations

Elon Musk begins on Friday his first full day leading Twitter, with critics and fans anxious to see how the planet’s richest man will run one of the world’s leading social media platforms. The mercurial Tesla chief’s tumultuous, $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,37,465 crore) bid to buy the company concluded after months of uncertainty and speculation, and now users could start to see his plans. Musk tweeted “the bird is freed” on Thursday, a humorous reference to the firm’s logo, shortly after he said he made the purchase “to help humanity, whom I love”.

Yet the idea of Musk running Twitter has alarmed activists who fear a surge in harassment and misinformation, with Musk himself known for trolling other Twitter users.

European politicians were quick to warn him that the continent had regulations for social media companies.

“In Europe, the bird will fly by our rules,” tweeted Thierry Breton, the EU internal market commissioner, in response on Friday to Musk’s “bird” message.

Musk said on Thursday Twitter “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences”.

He had previously vowed to dial back content moderation and was expected to clear the way for former US president Donald Trump to return to the platform.

The then-president was blocked over concerns he would ignite more violence like the deadly attack on the Capitol in Washington to overturn his election loss.

Far-right users were quick to rejoice over the purchase on the network, posting comments such as “masks don’t work” and other taunts, under the belief that moderation rules will now be relaxed.

“Free speech will always prevail,” tweeted Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, prompting hundreds of mostly angry replies accusing her of hypocrisy.

Benefit of the doubt

Among Musk’s first acts in power on Thursday were the reported firing of chief executive Parag Agrawal and other senior officials — though the company did not reply to AFP’s request for comment and Agrawal still listed himself as CEO on his Twitter profile. Agrawal previously went to court to hold Musk to the terms of the deal, and the takeover came just before a deadline imposed by the judge.

Musk, who is using a combination of his own money, funds from wealthy investors and bank loans to finance the deal, has conceded he is overpaying for a company that has regularly posted eye-watering losses.

Twitter says it has 238 million daily users, dwarfed by the likes of Facebook’s two billion, but has not been able to monetize in the same way as its rivals. However, Twitter holds an outsized influence on public debate because it is the favoured platform for many companies, politicians, journalists and other public figures.

Musk, though, has expressed frustration at content moderation and critics fear his ownership will be seen as a greenlight for hate speech and misinformation.

Musk is already the boss of car firm Tesla and rocket company SpaceX and it is not clear what his Twitter role might be, though unconfirmed reports suggested he might become interim CEO. The closure of the deal marks the culmination of a long back-and-forth between the billionaire and the social network.

Musk tried several times to step back from the deal after his unsolicited offer was accepted in April, accusing Twitter of misleading him over the number of “bot” accounts. Twitter dismissed his claims and accused him of inventing excuses, eventually filing a lawsuit to hold him to the agreement.

With a trial looming, the unpredictable billionaire capitulated and revived his takeover plan.

During the tumult, some employees have quit the firm over Musk’s takeover, said a worker who asked to remain anonymous. “But a portion of people, including me, are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now,” the employee said.

Apple launched the iPad Pro (2022) and the iPad (2022) alongside the new Apple TV this week. We discuss the company’s latest products, along with our review of the iPhone 14 Pro on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX Rolls Out In-Flight WiFi Services for Private Jets With Starlink Aviation

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expanding its satellite internet unit’s foray into in-flight WiFi services with the rollout on Wednesday of Starlink Aviation, offering customers a $150,000 (nearly Rs. 1.2 crore) airplane antenna amid mounting competition for airborne connectivity.

Starlink, SpaceX‘s growing network of thousands of internet satellites, will charge customers seeking broadband internet on private jets between $12,500 (nearly Rs. 10.3 lakh) to $25,000 (nearly Rs. 20.7 lakh) a month for the service, on top of a one-time $150,000 hardware cost, the company said on its website.

Starlink Aviation will begin delivering terminals in mid-2023, it said on its website, with reservations requiring a $5,000 (nearly Rs. 4.1 lakh) payment. It added each terminal can deliver up to 350Mbps, fast enough for video calls and online gaming.

Companies building low-Earth orbiting satellite networks beaming broadband internet, like SpaceX’s Starlink and Britain-backed satellite operator OneWeb, are racing to court airlines and private jet services in a market dominated by companies such as Inmarsat and its rival ViaSat, which are planning to merge.

OneWeb on Tuesday announced an agreement with in-flight broadband giant Panasonic Avionics, which offers service to some 70 airlines, to market and sell OneWeb’s broadband service to airlines by mid-2023.

Britain’s competition regulator last week referred Viasat’s planned takeover of rival Inmarsat for an in-depth investigation over concerns the tie-up could hamper new competition in the aviation connectivity market and increase prices for airlines’ on-board Wi-Fi.

SpaceX plans to offer Starlink internet connectivity to Hawaiian Airlines planes next year. The company offers the service for maritime customers and RVs, and already has tens of thousands of individual consumers paying $110 (nearly Rs. 9,100) a month with a $599 (nearly Rs. 49,700) terminal.

In other news, Elon Musk said on Tuesday that SpaceX’s Starlink services have not received any funding from the US Department of Defense. The statement came a day after reports said The Pentagon is considering paying for Starlink satellite network in war-torn Ukraine. According to Musk’s tweet, SpaceX is losing approximately $20 million (roughly Rs. 165 crore) a month from unpaid service and costs related to security measures for cyberwar defence. 

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

 

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Twitter Mention Limiting Feature Spotted in Development, May Let Users Block All Mentions: All Details

Twitter is reportedly developing a feature that would allow users to control public mentions of their accounts on the platform. The social media platform allows users to tag and address public accounts by typing “@” followed by the unique username the user wishes to mention in their tweets, replies, or quote tweets on the platform. Security researcher and reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong (Twitter: @wongmjane), tweeted that the social media company is working on a way to allow users to block these mentions through controls that either block mentions entirely, or limit them to pre-approved followers. Users may also choose to continue allowing all mentions, according to a report.

Wong posted a screenshot along with the tweet, that shows the limiting control feature that is currently in development. Twitter privacy designer Dominic Camozzi had reportedly also confirmed that the feature to limit mentions is being developed through a tweet. However, he later deleted the tweet, according to a report by The Verge.

Back in 2020, Twitter introduced a feature that allowed users to limit replies to tweets users they follow or to users mentioned in the tweet. Earlier this year, the social media platform introduced a feature called Twitter Circles that allows users to curate a select list of users that can access certain tweets posted by the user.

Twitter’s mention limiting controls could radically impact the way in which the digital town square social media platform functions. The feature may also help in minimising harassment, and bullying from unknown user accounts, while also protecting marginalised accounts, as per the report. Aside from the now-deleted tweet from Camozzi, Twitter is yet to officially announce plans for a feature to allow users to control mentions.

The social media platform was recently spotted asking users who take screenshots of tweets to share a link to the tweet instead, as part of efforts by the firm to improve engagement on the platform, ahead of a takeover by Elon Musk, that is expected to take place later this month.

Twitter also recently confirmed the rollout of a feature that allows Twitter Blue subscribers in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand to edit tweets that have already been published. The company is also expected to roll out the edit feature in US soon.

 

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SpaceX to Fly First Space Tourist, Entrepreneur Dennis Tito, Around the Moon on Starship

SpaceX plans to announce two new space tourists slated to fly on the Starship rocket: Dennis Tito, the world’s first-ever space tourist in 2001, and his wife, Akiko. 

The couple paid an undisclosed amount to fly around the moon on Starship once the vehicle is complete. They will travel with 10 other undisclosed passengers on a roughly week-long journey. The trip doesn’t include a landing on the lunar surface and it’s unclear if the other passengers have been chosen yet.

It may be a while before the mission gets underway and there’s still no target date. It’s scheduled to be Starship‘s fourth passenger mission, conducted after SpaceX uses the vehicle to land astronauts on the moon for NASA and following trips by other customers who have purchased rides in the vessel.   

Then there’s the fact that Starship has yet to travel to space. SpaceX still needs to send an uncrewed version of the vehicle to orbit, which Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said could occur as early as November. The company must also show it can refuel Starship while in space so that it can reach the moon’s vicinity, and it needs the necessary life-support systems and other hardware to keep humans alive.

“I know this rocket is going to be tested backwards and forwards; there’ll be hundreds of flights before we’re flying,” Tito said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We’re not going to fly next year. It’s going to be a wait.”

After a brief stint working as a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Tito co-founded investment-management firm Wilshire Associates in 1972. He was the first civilian space tourist to visit the International Space Station, paying $20 million (nearly Rs. 1,64,500 crore) to purchase a seat on Russia’s Soyuz rocket for a week-long stay. Tito said that, at the time, NASA wasn’t happy with his trip. 

Since his flight, space tourism has greatly expanded, and NASA has opened up the ISS to more commercial endeavors. Nearly a dozen tourists have flown there with the help of a company called Space Adventures. The first all-civilian crew visited the space station in April, coordinated by a company called Axiom. 

Paying customers are also able to get a brief taste of space by purchasing tickets on suborbital vehicles from companies like Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, which send passengers to the edge of space and back.

SpaceX has also entered the space-tourism market. In 2021, an all civilian crew, sponsored by billionaire Jared Isaacman, flew into orbit for three days on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, a mission called Inspiration4.

‘To the Moon’

Tito’s plans came about when he visited SpaceX in June 2021 after a friend of his wife arranged a meeting with company personnel. He was asked if he wanted to go to space again, either to visit the space station or on a quick trip to orbit.

“No, I want to go to the moon,” Tito recalled saying. “And then I looked at Akiko just when I said that, and she said ‘me, too.’ And that’s how it started.”

Dennis Tito is 82 years old, which could make him the oldest person to go into orbit and into deep space. He acknowledged that he’s been focused on staying fit while waiting for Starship’s development. He and his wife, who is 57, are both pilots, while Dennis says he holds four American weightlifting records for an 80-year-old. 

“Whatever will be, will be. It’s going to take a certain amount of time, but it will be ready, and it will be safe when it’s ready,” Tito said. “It’s more limited by how much time I have on this planet.”

© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.

 

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Elon Musk, dad of 10, reveals whether more babies are ‘looming’

Is baby No. 11 on the horizon?

Elon Musk joked about his big family in a Friday interview with the Financial Times, saying that he is “pretty sure there are no other babies looming.”

The 51-year-old, however, called himself an “autumn chicken,” clarifying that he isn’t opposed to welcoming more children down the line.

The Tesla CEO became a dad in 2002 when his son Nevada arrived, but the infant died at 10 weeks old.

Two years later, he and then-wife Justine Wilson welcomed twins Griffin and Vivian, now 18.

Musk and Vivian are estranged, with the teenager even changing her last name in June in order to not “be related to [her] biological father in any way, shape or form.”

The engineer called himself an “autumn chicken.”
Bloomberg via Getty Images

Vivian also had her first and middle monikers changed at the time, as well as her gender.

Musk spoke to the outlet about their strained relationship, saying, “I have very good relationships with all the others. Can’t win them all.”

He and Wilson, 50, are also the parents of 16-year-old triplets Kai, Saxon and Damian, born in 2006.

After the former couple’s 2008 divorce, the SpaceX founder went on to welcome son X AE A-XII, now 2, and daughter Exa, now 10 months, with his on-again, off-again girlfriend Grimes in May 2020 and December 2021, respectively.

In July, news broke that Musk is the father of Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis‘ twins. The little ones were born in November of the previous year.

The entrepreneur has an estranged relationship with his eldest daughter, Vivian.
POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The entrepreneur confirmed the news to Page Six, saying, “Bravo to big families. [I want to have] as many as I am able to spend time with and be a good father.”

Musk gave more insight into his expanding family via Twitter.

“Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis,” he wrote. “A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”



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PayPal Says It Never Intended to Fine for ‘Misinformation’ Days After Drawing Criticism for User Agreement

PayPal Holdings said it has no intention of fining customers for spreading misinformation, after attracting criticism for publishing a new user agreement outlining such a plan.

The issue gained traction over the weekend after the company published policy updates prohibiting users from using the PayPal service for activities identified by the company as “the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials” promoting misinformation, in an Acceptable Use Policy due to kick in on November 3. A penalty of $2,500 (nearly Rs. 2,06,000) could be imposed for each violation,” according to the update.

The notice included “incorrect information,” a spokesperson for PayPal said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy.”

Shares of the company tumbled as much as 5.3 percent to $85.43 (nearly Rs. 7,000), the biggest intraday decline since July 26. They dropped 4.7 percent to $85.90 (nearly Rs. 8,000) today morning in New York.

The original notice attracted the ire of former leaders at the company, including David Marcus, the president of PayPal from 2012 to 2014, who called such a move “insanity” on Twitter. Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, who co-founded the platform, said he agreed with Marcus in a tweet.

Right-wing politicians in the US have long accused major tech firms of censoring conservative voices, with social media giants such as Twitter and Meta Platforms attracting the most ire. Musk, who is offering to buy Twitter for $44 billion (nearly Rs. 3,62,500 crore), has said he will prioritise free speech on the platform, after criticizing its treatment of personalities including former President Donald J Trump and rapper Kanye West.

While Republican calls for more regulation of big tech has found support among some progressives, current proposals requiring platforms to safeguard user privacy and security have largely faltered as Congress pursues other priorities.

The PayPal controversy was also seized upon by conservative politicians and social media personalities, who called on users to delete their PayPal accounts. Tim Scott, a Republican senator from South Carolina, said before the firm’s statement that his office will look into the validity of the policy and take any necessary action to stop such “corporate activism.”

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