Tag: elon musk

X to Delete ‘Block’ Feature Except For in DMs, Announces Elon Musk

X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, will remove the ability for users to block other accounts, owner Elon Musk said in a post Friday.

Musk, who acquired Twitter last year for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,65,900 crore) and has set about overhauling the social media site, said blocking will still be possible for direct messages, but that it would be deleted as a “feature.”

Blocking has been a popular safety tool that helps users protect themselves from unwelcome interactions on X. It ensures that blocked accounts won’t see your posts — and that their posts won’t show up in your feed. The blocked account also can’t direct-message you.

People will still be able to mute other accounts, which means they won’t see that user’s posts. But a muted account can see the person’s posts, respond to them and repost them to their own followers with commentary. Muted accounts also can still send direct messages. 

Since he acquired the platform, Musk has rolled back safety policies that Twitter had in place. He’s also fired content moderators and reinstated formerly banned users who broke previous rules. Advertisers have left the platform, contributing to a 50 percent drop in ad revenue.

In response to criticism about how the changes have affected the platform’s safety, X Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino has said “more than 99 percent of content users and advertisers see on Twitter is healthy.” She hasn’t disclosed what defines “healthy” or how the company calculates that measurement.

© 2023 Bloomberg LP

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Mark Zuckerberg vs Elon Musk: Meta CEO Says ‘Time to Move On’ From Cage Fight as Tesla CEO ‘Isn’t Serious’

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, says it’s “time to move on” from the speculation on a cage fight with Elon Musk, whom he said is not serious about it. Taking to his Threads account, Zuckerberg said, “I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won’t confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead. If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I’m going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously.”

The tension between Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Musk intensified after the initial success of Meta’s Threads, which is the biggest competitor to X (formerly known as Twitter), social media platform in July.

Threads is similar to the X, the Musk-owned platform, which got 30 million users on its first day.

Earlier, the Tesla CEO claimed that his and Zuckerberg’s fight will be live-streamed on X as well as Meta’s platforms and will likely take place in Italy, the Meta owner dropped a statement on Threads and requested netizens not to buy into whatever Musk says.

“I love this sport and I’ve been ready to fight since the day Elon challenged me. If he ever agrees on an actual date, you’ll hear it from me. Until then, please assume anything he says has not been agreed on,” Zuckerberg wrote.

Zuckerberg further said that was not holding his breath for Musk and will share the details of the fight when he is ready.

He added, “Not holding my breath for Elon, but I’ll share details on my next fight when I’m ready. When I compete, I want to do it in a way that puts a spotlight on the elite athletes at the top of the game. You do that by working with professional orgs like the UFC or ONE to pull this off well and create a great card.”

Musk took notice of Zuckerberg’s post and reacted to it with a series of tweets.

“If Zuck my really wants a lesson in why there are weight categories in fighting so badly, I could just head over to his house next week and teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget…Otherwise, we will do it as soon as the arena in Italy is ready,” Musk wrote.” Or we could do both and consider next week just a practice session,” he added. 

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Twitter.com Starts Switching Over to X.com; iOS Users Reportedly See Changed URLs

X — Elon Musk-led microblogging website formerly known as Twitter — is in a big transition phase. Its blue bird logo has been replaced with an X logo in July. Now recently, a user pointed out that URLs generated from the share sheet of the X app on iOS now begin with X.com instead of the earlier domain, twitter.com. Billionaire Elon Musk rebranded Twitter as X last month. The mobile application icon for Twitter on both Android and iOS platforms is now shown as X. The company later named tweets as posts.

Musk’s X might have started to shift towards X.com. As per a report by The Verge, URLs generated from the share sheet of the X app on iOS are now showing X.com instead of the old twitter.com. However, the Web link and Android app are redirecting users to the old domain as of yet. The company could change this in the coming days.

X owner Musk earlier confirmed that X.com would redirect users to Twitter. The Tesla tycoon recently rebranded Twitter as X and replaced its legacy blue bird logo with the single letter “X”. The company has then changed the mobile app icon for Twitter on both Android and iOS platforms to X. Now, the content shared by users, previously called as tweets, are known as posts. However, Twitter’s paid subscription is still known as Twitter Blue.

Musk took over the microblogging platform in October last year for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,40,800 crore) and has since introduced several changes to the company. He fired thousands of employees from different departments and started charging users $8 (roughly Rs. 600) a month to get the Twitter Blue subscription.

The company, which is struggling with its advertisement revenue, came under widespread criticism from users and marketing professionals in the first week of July when Musk limited the posts readers could view. He also restricted access to TweetDeck to verified accounts.

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X Video Calling Support Confirmed by CEO Linda Yaccarino as Elon Musk-Led Firm Expands Functionality

X video calls are coming to the app in the future, the platform’s CEO has confirmed in an interview. The Elon Musk-led microblogging website formerly known as Twitter is working on adding support for new features as part of the billionaire’s plan to turn X into an “everything app”. Users will be able to make video calls without sharing their phone number, a feature offered by rivals like Facebook and Instagram where account usernames are used to connect with other users.

During a recent CNBC interview, X CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed that the platform would add support for video calling soon. The upcoming feature will allow X users to “make video chat calls without having to give your phone number to anyone on the platform,” she stated. Yaccarino also told CNBC that she had “autonomy” to run the company under Musk, and that their roles were “very clear”.

Last month, X employee Andrea Conway shared two screenshots of what appears to be the X video calling UI on iOS. The first screen shows a phone receiver icon at the top right corner of the screen inside a direct messages chat that shows a pop-up menu with options for audio and video calls. The second screen shows a video calling screen with four buttons: speaker, mute, video, and end call.

The screengrabs shared by Conway are over a month old, so it is possible that the X video calls interface could look a little different when the feature is rolled out to users. On Thursday, Conway posted that she had “just called someone on X”. Neither Yaccarino nor Conway have revealed when the feature will be rolled out to users.

In June, Yaccarino told investors that X — the platform was still called Twitter at the time — would focus on video, creator and commerce partnerships as part of efforts to make the service more competitive with other social media platforms. At the time, Yaccarino’s presentation reportedly revealed that over 10 percent of user activity on Twitter was spent on watching vertical videos.

The service recently began sharing ad revenue with eligible creators on the platform. On Friday, the support account for X announced that the firm was lowering the eligibility threshold for ads revenue sharing from 15 million impressions over three months to 5 million impressions. Users who have an X Premium — formerly known as Twitter Blue — subscription and meet the service’s requirements will be able to receive minimum payouts of $10 (roughly Rs. 830) — down from $50 (roughly Rs. 4,100) — according to the platform.

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Elon Musk’s X Reduces Minimum Requirement for Impressions for Ad Revenue Sharing to 5 Million

Tech giant X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday, announced a new update to their Ads Revenue program for creators, reducing the minimum amount of impressions needed from 15M to 5M.

The company tweeted from its official handle, “Now, even more people can get paid to post! We’ve lowered the eligibility threshold for ads revenue sharing from 15M to 5M impressions within the last 3 months. We’ve also lowered the minimum payout threshold from $50 (roughly Rs. 4,137) to $10 (roughly Rs. 827). Sign up for a Premium subscription to get access.”

X has also lowered its payment threshold from USD 5O to USD 10.

Elon Musk on the other hand shared some more information regarding the new update and tweeted, “This essentially means that X Premium (fka Twitter Blue) is free for accounts that generate above 5M views. Note, only views from verified handles count, as scammers will otherwise use bots to spam views to infinity.”

Previously, the micro-blogging site required users to have a minimum of 15 million impressions within three months to qualify for ad revenue sharing.

According to The Verge, an American Technology news website, Musk announced the revenue-sharing plan in February, and the company sent out the first round of payments for eligible accounts (with paid verification via Twitter Blue or Verified organizations, 15 million “organic” impressions in the last three months, and at least 500 followers) a couple of weeks ago before opening up registration to more people. 

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Elon Musk’s X Fined $350,000 by US Appeals Court Over Donald Trump’s Records

The US special counsel investigating Donald Trump obtained a search warrant for the former president’s Twitter account in January and the company delayed complying, according to a US appeals court opinion on Wednesday.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the federal trial judge’s decision to hold Twitter, now known as X, in contempt and fine it $350,000 (nearly Rs. 3 crore).

The ruling said that Twitter had raised First Amendment concerns about a nondisclosure order issued over the warrant, as the company wanted to notify Trump about it.

“Under the circumstances, the court did not abuse its discretion when it ultimately held Twitter in contempt and imposed a $350,000 sanction,” the ruling said.

Trump, in a post on his social media site Truth Social, said the Justice Department “secretly attacked my Twitter account, making it a point not to let me know about this major ‘hit’ on my civil rights.”

Prosecutors will often ask judges that targets of subpoenas issued in criminal probes not be notified in order to protect their investigations, a practice the appeals court cited in Wednesday’s ruling.

A spokesperson for Smith declined comment and a spokesperson for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wednesday’s opinion did not identify which judge held Twitter in contempt.

While Trump’s tweets are publicly viewable, the company also holds non-public information on accounts like direct messages, drafts of tweets, location data and the type of device used to send tweets.

The opinion said the warrant was related to Smith’s investigation into the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, siege on the US Capitol by supporters of Trump while he was still president.

Republican Trump last week pleaded not guilty to an indictment that charged him with plotting to overturn his November 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump is the front-runner for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Indian-Origin Vaibhav Taneja Named New Tesla CFO as Zachary Kirkhorn Steps Down

Tesla‘s finance chief Zachary Kirkhorn has stepped down after four years in the role, the world’s most valuable automaker said and named accounting head Vaibhav Taneja in his place, sending shares down more than 3 percent on Monday.

The Elon Musk-led firm did not specify a reason for the departure of Kirkhorn, who has been with Tesla for 13 years. He will remain with the company through the end of the year to aid a smooth transition.

During his tenure, Tesla posted its first quarterly profit after it launched the mass-market Model 3 compact sedan and hit a market valuation of more than $1 trillion (nearly Rs. 82,78,000 crore).

Kirkhorn’s appointment in 2019 and his predecessor Deepak Ahuja’s exit were disclosed by Musk in a surprise move toward the end of a conference call with analysts to discuss the company’s quarterly results.

“Being a part of this company is a special experience and I’m extremely proud of the work we’ve done together since I joined over 13 years ago,” Kirkhorn said in a LinkedIn post.

Kirkhorn did not immediately respond to queries when contacted on LinkedIn.

“That he’s going to be around until the end of the year is evidence that this is just for personal reasons and the personal reason is likely that working with Elon Musk is really hard and he’s done it for 13 years,” said Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management.

Taneja, 45, joined Tesla after the automaker acquired SolarCity in 2016. He takes on the role, or the so-called “Master of Coin” position, in addition to his job as chief accounting officer, the automaker said.

The Austin, Texas-based automaker this year cut prices of its cars in a move that prioritized sales growth and market share and squeezed its industry-leading margins.

Tesla has also hinted at more price cuts in what Musk called “turbulent times” as rising borrowing costs take a toll on the sales of electric-vehicle makers.

Outgoing CFO Kirkhorn was also being considered as a possible successor to Musk earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal had reported amid growing investor concern about the lack of a clear succession plan.

Musk currently leads SpaceX, Neuralink, the Boring Company and is chief technology officer at social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

Is the iQoo Neo 7 Pro the best smartphone you can buy under Rs. 40,000 in India? We discuss the company’s recently launched handset and what it has to offer on the latest episode of 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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X to Now Let Users Stream Live Videos, Elon Musk Announces New Feature

Elon Musk, who recently rebranded Twitter as X, has teased people with a new feature on the microblogging site. On Friday, the billionaire posted a live video, also featuring some employees from X, raking 4.9 million users. In another tweet, he shared about the live video feature being live. Users can stream live clips using the blue coloured, camera logo. A day before, Musk announced another feature that now allows verified users to download videos from the platform, if the content creators who post them allows to do so.

“Live video now works reasonably well,” Musk posted on X along with the image of the camera icon.

The announcement generated over 3.5 million views and over 40,000 engagements within the first two hours of Musk posting it.

The development comes after Musk went live for 53 seconds on X last night, along with his office team. At the time, the billionaire had not disclosed any information of this upcoming feature.

Replying on one of the comments, Musk also said that the feature will require further refinement.

A day earlier, Musk announced another new feature for X that lets users download videos. However, only verified users will be able to download these videos from content creators who allow the videos to be downloaded.

As part of his ongoing Twitter revamping, Musk has taken up the role of product and engineering chief at X.

On July 23, the billionaire posted about changing Twitter’s blue bird logo to a minimal X, along with its name and domain address. The change was quick to reflect on X’s iOS, Android, as well web versions.

From monetising verification ticks on X to introducing more features almost every week, Musk is accelerating efforts to make X ‘the everything app’.

In July, Musk announced that the monthly users on the platform have spiked to a ‘new high’ to reach the mark of 540 million.

Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 alongside the Galaxy Tab S9 series and Galaxy Watch 6 series at its first Galaxy Unpacked event in South Korea. We discuss the company’s new devices and more on the latest episode of 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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Tesla in India: How the Automaker Could Enter World’s Third-Largest Market With No Threat From Chinese Rivals

China’s loss in India could be Elon Musk’s gain.

Tesla has had a red-carpet welcome from India for its proposal to invest in the country, while its largest rival in electric vehicles, China’s BYD, has been stopped cold by increased scrutiny from New Delhi.

The result could be an opening for Tesla to negotiate terms for an entry to the world’s third-largest auto market without the competitive threat from BYD that it faces in other emerging markets, like Thailand.

“The future of who wins in India will have some bearing on who wins globally in the EV race,” said Jasmeet Khurana of the World Economic Forum.

Since a meeting between Musk and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June in New York, Tesla has fast-tracked closed-door discussions with Indian officials on a potential plant investment and plans to build a new low-cost $24,000 (roughly Rs. 19.85 lakh) EV.

Those talks continued over the past week with Tesla discussing minute details of its plans to gain access to India’s fast-growing EV market, and PM Modi personally tracking developments, sources say.

Those meetings, though, have been strictly kept under wraps, with officials putting out no photos on social media of handshakes with executives which otherwise is a usual affair after high-profile meetings.

BYD, meanwhile, appears to be taking a backseat. Months after seeking clearance for its own $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,233 crore) investment in India, BYD is no longer keen to pursue the approval, Reuters reported. In a further setback, BYD is facing an investigation over allegations that it underpaid import tax in India.

Among other concerns, Indian officials are worried about the national security implications of Chinese-made vehicles and the data they could collect. India is “uncomfortable with Chinese automakers,” an official said.

While all investments from China have faced tightened approval requirements in India since a border clash between the two in 2020, there could be an outsized effect on the developing market for EVs in India because of China’s dominance in battery materials, battery production, and other technology.

Tesla, too, has Chinese suppliers that have helped it slash production costs at its Shanghai factory and it now wants to bring them to India – where it appears to have an upper hand in talks with New Delhi.

India has told Tesla it will allow its Chinese suppliers into the country if they forge partnerships with local firms, just like Apple did. But at the same time, India is hesitant about BYD’s $1-billion (roughly Rs. 8,233 crore) plan even though that too was proposed as a partnership with a domestic engineering firm.

The Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper, said the reported pushback on BYD’s investment plan “will lead to a chain reaction and deal a blow to the overall confidence of Chinese companies in investing India.”

BYD did not respond to requests for comment on the status of its India investment plan or the import tax claim. In a statement to Reuters, the company noted it had been active in the Indian market for 16 years and sells commercial vehicles and passenger cars there.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on its talks with Indian officials. Musk had said in June that PM Modi was “pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do.”

INDIA’S GROWING EV MARKET

Tesla wants to sell 20 million cars globally by 2030, up from 1.31 million in 2022, but faces hurdles to expanding its Shanghai factory.

BYD was the world’s biggest seller of EVs and plug-in hybrids in 2022 with a total of 1.86 million units – the vast majority in China. It trails Tesla in terms of sales of fully electric cars.

“Tesla sees competition mainly with BYD, and both are expanding globally at great speed,” said Gaurav Vangaal of S&P Global Mobility.

“If they want volumes, they have to come to India,” he said, adding that with the government incentivising companies to build EVs locally, India can also serve as an export base.

Annual production of light electric vehicles in India is expected to rise to 1.4 million by 2030, close to 19 percent of the total forecast production of 7.25 million, according to estimates by S&P Global Mobility. It was less than 50,000 in 2022.

India’s nascent EV market is dominated by local player Tata Motors, whose best-selling Nexon EV sells for as high as $19,000 (roughly Rs. 15.71 lakh) while Chinese carmaker MG Motor’s ZS EV starts at $28,000 (roughly Rs. 23.15 lakh) while BYD’s Atto 3 retails at around $41,000 (roughly Rs. 33.90 lakh) in India.

Toyota Motor, Hyundai Motor and Kia all sell mid-sized gasoline SUVs priced at around $24,000 (roughly Rs. 19.85 lakh), Tesla’s identified entry point.

Tesla does not currently sell vehicles in India.

“Tesla has become a desirable product in name alone,” said Sam Fiorani of AutoForecast Solutions. “Add to that an affordable product tailored for the Indian market and it has the potential to be a hit locally.” 

© Thomson Reuters 2023 

Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 alongside the Galaxy Tab S9 series and Galaxy Watch 6 series at its first Galaxy Unpacked event in South Korea. We discuss the company’s new devices and more on the latest episode of 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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Tesla Asked to Emulate Apple in Finding Indian Firms to Partner Chinese Suppliers for Electric Car Factory

As Tesla examines building a plant in India, officials have asked the company to emulate Apple in finding local firms to partner with any Chinese suppliers involved, according to three government sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Tesla has been in talks with India for weeks about setting up a factory which will potentially build a $24,000 (roughly Rs. 20 lakh) car for local sales and exports, however strained India-China ties threaten to complicate Tesla’s plans for bringing in Chinese suppliers.

Tesla founder Elon Musk is seeking to expand beyond the company’s biggest foreign base of China where regulatory approvals for expansion are slow to come.

But Chinese suppliers could be critical if Tesla were to establish a plant in India and keep costs in check for a cheap EV. India does not have local suppliers for components such as battery cells, with even India’s largest EV maker, Tata Motors, importing them from China.

In meetings with officials in New Delhi, Tesla executives informed the Indian government that it would like to have some of its vendors from China set up base locally to boost its supply chain, three Indian officials with direct knowledge of talks said.

In response, officials told Tesla that granting approvals for wholly-owned Chinese companies in India could be difficult due to intense scrutiny of Chinese firms since a 2020 border clash between the two countries.

Instead, the Indian officials said they had suggested a workaround in which Tesla would emulate the approach of Apple. The US smartphone giant in recent months has obtained approvals to bring Chinese suppliers to India after they found local joint-venture partners.

Tesla, the spokesperson of the Indian government and the trade ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Apple has a fast-growing supply chain in India which includes Taiwan’s Foxconn assembling its iPhones.

New Delhi in recent months has been approving some Chinese suppliers’ JV partnerships with Indian companies on a case-to-case basis, one of the government sources said.

India remains hesitant about allowing Chinese companies, especially automakers, to expand in the country, however.

Last month, China’s BYD told its Indian partner it would shelve a new $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,233 crore) investment plan to build EVs there after its investment proposal faced scrutiny from New Delhi.

Without specifying Chinese vendors, a fourth source with direct knowledge of Tesla’s discussions in India said the US company is looking at supply chain partners for its India factory.

One of the Indian officials said pairing local and Chinese players could work for Tesla.

“Tesla has been demanding a separate ecosystem for their (Chinese) vendor base … those approvals can be granted on a case-to-case basis if there an Indian joint venture partner,” the official said.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 alongside the Galaxy Tab S9 series and Galaxy Watch 6 series at its first Galaxy Unpacked event in South Korea. We discuss the company’s new devices and more on the latest episode of 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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