Tag: twitter

Elon Musk Calls Donald Trump’s Twitter Ban ‘Grave Mistake’, Condemns Violence

Twitter’s ban on then President Donald Trump after January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters was a “grave mistake” that had to be corrected, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Friday, although he also stated that incitement to violence would continue to be prohibited on Twitter.

“I’m fine with Trump not tweeting. The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service,” Musk said in a tweet. “Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America.”

Last week, Musk announced the reactivation of Trump’s account after a slim majority voted in a Twitter poll in favor of reinstating Trump, who said, however, that he had no interest in returning to Twitter. He added he would stick with his own social media site Truth Social, the app developed by Trump Media & Technology Group.

Republican Trump, who 10 days ago announced he was running for election again in 2024, was banned on January 8, 2021, from Twitter under its previous owners.

At the time, Twitter said it permanently suspended him because of the risk of further incitement of violence following the storming of the Capitol. The results of the November 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden were being certified by lawmakers when the Capitol was attacked after weeks of false claims by Trump that he had won.

Trump repeatedly used Twitter and other sites to falsely claim there had been widespread voter fraud, and had urged supporters to march on the Capitol in Washington to protest.

The attack is being investigated by US prosecutors and a congressional committee.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday on Musk’s statement that Trump did not violate any Twitter terms of service when his account was suspended.

Earlier on Friday, Musk tweeted that calling for violence or incitement to violence on Twitter would result in suspension, after saying on Thursday that Twitter would provide a “general amnesty” to suspended accounts that had not broken the law or engaged in spam.

Replying to a tweet, Musk said it was “very concerning” that Twitter had taken no action earlier to remove some accounts related to the far-left Antifa movement. In response to another tweet asking if Musk considered the statement “trans people deserve to die” as worthy of suspension from the platform, the billionaire said: “Absolutely”.

Change and chaos have marked Musk’s first few weeks as Twitter’s owner. He has fired top managers and it was announced that senior officials in charge of security and privacy had quit.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Musk says Twitter to launch gold, grey checks alongside blue verified mark

Twitter will roll out verified gold and grey check marks as it relaunches the coveted blue check service next Friday, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in a tweet, after holding off the rollout earlier this week.

“Gold check for companies, grey check for governments, blue for individuals (celebrities or not). Painful, but necessary,” Musk said in a tweet.

All verified accounts will be manually authenticated before the check is activated, Musk said.

“Individuals can have a secondary tiny logo to show they belong to an organization if verified as such by that organization,” Musk said in another tweet, adding that he will give a longer explanation next week.

The company had paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service as fake accounts mushroomed, and had said the sought-after blue check subscription service will be relaunched on Nov. 29. 

Elon Musk announced that all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before the check is activated.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett

The blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures.



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Kanye West says he’s running for president in 2024

Kanye West said he’s planning a 2024 presidential run and has tapped far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos in a video posted to Twitter Sunday.

The video, in which West says Yiannopoulos is working on his campaign, comes as the rapper’s Twitter account was restored after he was banned from the app in the wake of vile, anti-Semitic remarks he made last month.

“This is Milo right here, working on the campaign,” West, 45, said in the video posted by “PatriotTakes” Twitter account.

“Is that an announcement?” one of the men asks as they both laugh.

“I guess it is,” Yiannopoulos — who most recently worked as an unpaid intern for right-wing firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — replied chuckling. “Thanks, I accept.”

The cameraman then asked West, “So you are running?”

The news comes after Kanye West’s Twitter account was restored after he was banned from the app following his anti-Semitic remarks last month.
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“Yes,” Ye answered with a laugh. “It’s simple ’cause ain’t nobody can tell me, you know, ‘you should say this, you shouldn’t say that,’ you know? It’s just we’re moving towards the future.”

West and Yiannopoulos have a shared experience of making horrific remarks and quickly being slammed by the public.

West, who changed his legal name to Ye, tweeted about going “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE” in early October and was subsequently banned from the social media platform.

Earlier Sunday, the musician-turned-designer posted a message to his Twitter profile to see if his account was reinstated since Elon Musk took over the company.

“Testing Testing Seeing if my Twitter is unblocked,” West wrote to his nearly 32 million followers.

Musk, who bought the company for $44 billion, said last month that West’s account was restored before the acquisition and he was not consulted beforehand.

The billionaire restored former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account a day earlier after polling users. Trump, who also announced a 2024 White House run, was dumped from Twitter in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

Kanye West stands as he talks with real estate developer and US President Donald Trump in the White House’s Oval Office in Washington D.C. on Oct. 11, 2018.
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Yiannopoulos, who remains off Twitter, had largely disappeared from the public eye since 2017 when he made comments allegedly advocating for pedophilia — stating that sex between 13-year-olds and older men can be “life-affirming.”

He made headlines over the summer with the announcement of his humble, unpaid gig working for Taylor Greene.



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Elon Musk Reinstates Some Banned Twitter Accounts, No Decision on Donald Trump Yet

Elon Musk, in a tweet on Friday, announced his decision to reinstate some previously banned Twitter accounts, including those belonging to the controversial comedian Kathy Griffin, public speaker Jordan Peterson, and satire website The Babylon Bee. The new Twitter CEO, however, stated that there has been no decision yet on whether or not to bring former US President and 2025 Presidential election candidate Donald Trump back to Twitter. Musk also tweeted about the latest version of Twitter’s content moderation policy, which seems to guarantee “freedom of speech” but not “freedom of reach”.

The billionaire further stated that all negative and hate tweets will now be “max deboosted and demonetised”, indicating that they might not be visible in users’ feeds and will not receive any attention or promotion, but will still exist on the service. To find such tweets, users will have to search for them specifically. In another Tweet, Musk added that this policy applies to individual tweets, not entire accounts.

Kathy Griffin was suspended from Twitter in early November for impersonating Elon Musk, soon after his decision to allow anyone with a Twitter Blue subscription to receive a blue checkmark. She was one of several people who took advantage of the chaos around the changed checkmark policy for comedic purposes. The badge had previously been displayed on accounts that were verified to have been operated by a corporation or public figure. Following widespread misuse and the brief introduction of a secondary label for verified accounts, Twitter Blue has also been suspended.

Public figure Jordan Peterson was banned earlier this year after violating Twitter’s policy against hate speech for a tweet about the transgender actor Elliot Page, while The Bablyon Bee, a conservative satire publication, refused to delete a tweet mocking a transgender US federal government official. 

One of Elon Musk’s primary criticisms of Twitter before and after buying it has been its handling of censorship. Calling himself a “free speech absolutist”, Musk has indicated he might allow former US President Donald Trump to use the service again. Trump was banned for allegedly instigating attacks on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, but is now a Presidential candidate again, having recently announced he will run again in 2024.  

Musk also announced the formation of a “Content Moderation Council” to decide matters such as account bans and reinstatements, though it was not clear whether this has already been instituted or it played any part in the restoration of three prominent accounts. More ban reversals are likely to follow. In addition to satirical impersonations and fraud attempts, researchers tracking disinformation and hate speech have noted a surge in racist language on Twitter. Reports have also indicated that Twitter’s content moderation staff might have been reduced considerably in the wake of the layoffs and mass resignations that have occurred since Musk took over. 



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Elon Musk Celebrates ‘All-Time High’ in Twitter Usage Amid Engineer Exodus

Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted out an upbeat message saying the company beat its all-time high in usage late Thursday, on a day when many employees decided to leave the company.

It was the second time in a week that the social network set a record, according to Musk, who said it hit its highest-ever number of daily active users on November 11. In another message posted this week, the billionaire — who hasn’t given himself a specific job title at Twitter after adopting “chief Twit” and “complaint hotline operator” briefly — posted a chart showing user numbers rising since his acquisition. Musk has long disputed the accuracy of Twitter’s internal metrics, saying they are unreliable due to an overabundance of fake or bot accounts.

Earlier on Thursday, Twitter decided to abruptly shut its offices after many employees reacted negatively to Musk’s ultimatum of either staying for a new “hardcore” work environment or leaving with three months’ severance. So many employees decided to take severance that it created a cloud of confusion over which people should still have access to company property, Bloomberg News reported.

Uncertainty hangs over Twitter’s ability to continue normal operations after the company dismissed its executive team and laid off half the workforce in Musk’s first few days in charge. The new leader has since reversed several decisions he’s made, including recalling some laid-off staff who were working on features he wanted to add.

Musk has also equivocated about Twitter’s “Official” label attached to accounts of recognised public entities or companies. His signature $8 (roughly Rs. 600) Blue Verified subscription offering has been delayed to November 29 “to make sure that it is rock solid,” Musk said.

© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Facebook to Reconsider Donald Trump’s Suspension in January 2023

Donald Trump may be running for president, but he still can’t use Facebook.

The social media platform has no plans to reinstate Trump’s account following the former president’s announcement that he will seek a second term in the White House, the company confirmed Wednesday. Trump was kicked off Facebook following the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump may not have to wait long to get back on the site, however. His suspension from Facebook is set to be reconsidered in January, two years after it was first imposed.

One change will be immediate: As a candidate, Trump will no longer be subject to Facebook fact checks. That’s because under Facebook rules, comments by elected officials and candidates for office aren’t subject to fact checks on its site. The Associated Press participates in Facebook’s independent fact-checking program.

Throughout his tenure as president, Trump’s use of social media posed a significant challenge to major social media platforms trying to balance the public’s need to hear from their elected leaders with worries about misinformation, harassment and incitement of violence.

Following the January 6 riot, Trump was also kicked off Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook parent company Meta. Trump’s ability to post videos to his YouTube channel was suspended.

YouTube spokeswoman Ivy Choi said Wednesday the company had no plans to lift the suspension.

Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has said he disagreed with the platform’s decision to bar Trump following the January 6 attack. Musk said no announcement about reinstating banned users will be made until a content moderation council has reviewed the issue.

Twitter did not respond to questions about whether Trump’s candidacy will impact the decision. Since his suspension, Trump has started his own social media platform, TruthSocial, and said he has no plans to rejoin Twitter if allowed.

The platforms would be justified if they extend their restrictions on Trump or make them permanent, said Heidi Beirich, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and a member of the Real Facebook Oversight Board, a group that has criticized Meta’s response to extremist content and misinformation.

“The big problem is treating candidates as if they’re in a special category and deserve special treatment,” Beirich said. “If you have a set of rules, it should apply to everyone. The decision shouldn’t be a struggle.”

Facebook initially placed a 24-hour suspension on Trump’s account on January 6 after he praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol. Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced an indefinite suspension on January 7, adding that “the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.”

The company’s quasi-independent oversight board upheld the ban but directed Facebook to set a time limit. The ban is now set to expire January 7, 2023.

 

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Amazon Laid Off Devices Unit Staff, Including Retail and HR, Amid Job Cuts

Amazon on Wednesday said it has laid off some employees in its devices group as a person familiar with the company said it still targeted around 10,000 job cuts, including in its retail division and human resources.

The announcement, Amazon‘s first since media outlets including Reuters reported its layoff plans on Monday, heralded a dramatic shift for a company known for its job creation and added shape to the latest dismissals befalling the technology sector.

Amazon executive Dave Limp in a blog post said the company had decided to consolidate teams in its devices unit, which popularised speakers that consumers command through speech. It notified the employees it cut on Tuesday.

“We continue to face an unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment,” he said. “In light of this, we’ve been working over the last few months to further prioritize what matters most to our customers and the business.”

Plans, still in flux, to eliminate around 10,000 roles through reductions in more units would amount to about a 3 percent cut in Amazon’s roughly 3,00,000-person corporate workforce.

For years, the online retailer aimed to make Alexa, the voice assistant that powers gadgets it sells, ubiquitous and present to place any shopping order, even though it was unclear how widely users have embraced it for more complex tasks than checking the news or weather.

A project inspired by a talking computer in science fiction show Star Trek, Alexa had garnered headcount that grew to 10,000 people by 2019.

At the time, Amazon touted sales of more than 100 million Alexa devices, a figure it has not since refreshed publicly. Founder Jeff Bezos later said the company often sold Alexa devices at a discount and sometimes below cost.

While Amazon has toiled to encode intelligent answers to any question Alexa might expect from users, Alphabet‘s Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI have had breakthroughs in chatbots that could respond like a human without any hand holding.

Following the layoff news, shares pared losses and were down about 1 percent on Wednesday afternoon.

About-Face

The news follows Facebook‘s parent Meta Platforms announcement last week to eliminate 11,000 jobs, on top of layoffs at Twitter, Microsoft, Snap and others.

For Amazon, the cuts sharply contrast with efforts months ago to double its base pay ceiling to compete more aggressively for talent.

In September last year it had marketed 55,000 corporate roles globally during a career fair, an increase dwarfed only by hiring in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. In short order, the online bookseller that Bezos envisioned on a road trip not 30 years before had become America’s second-largest private employer, with more than 1.5 million workers including warehouse staff.

The turn has been abrupt. The retailer is now responding to sales that could rise as little as 2 percent this holiday season, compared with a 38 percent increase two years ago. Amazon’s chief financial officer told reporters last month that consumers had tighter budgets in the face of inflation and higher fuel costs.

Its cloud-computing division, a profit engine for the company, likewise has increased revenue more slowly quarter after quarter in the past year, when adjusted for foreign exchange.

Andy Jassy, who ascended to the role of CEO in 2021, has focused on cutting costs and stemming Amazon’s 42 percent share-price drop this year to date.

Under his tenure Amazon announced the end of its virtual healthcare service for employers and pruning of its much-hyped autonomous sidewalk delivery program. It froze incremental corporate hiring as well.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

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Elon Musk Expecting Short Time at Twitter, to Find New Leader to Run the Company

Elon Musk said on Wednesday he expected to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company, adding that he hoped to complete an organisational restructuring this week.

Musk made the remarks while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his $56 billion (nearly Rs. 4,56,100 crore) pay package at Tesla was based on easy to achieve performance targets and was approved by a compliant board of directors.

“There’s an initial burst of activity needed post-acquisition to reorganize the company,” Musk said in his testimony. “But then I expect to reduce my time at Twitter.”

The billionaire’ s first two weeks as Twitter’s owner has been marked by rapid change and chaos. He quickly fired Twitter’s previous chief executive and other senior leaders and then laid off half of Twitter’s staff earlier this month.

As reported earlier, the trial will run through Friday and is being presided over by Judge Kathaleen McCormick, the same judge who was to preside over the Twitter case.

There is no deadline for her decision which could take months.

It’s “highly unusual” for this kind of case to be brought to trial, Jill Fisch, Law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told AFP.

“There aren’t all that many successful challenges to executive compensation (as) the courts have typically treated this as a business decision,” she added.

But the court found in this case that Musk’s ownership of about 22 percent of Tesla and his role as CEO “could have an undue impact” on the board and other shareholders, she noted.

Musk cancelled an in-person appearance on Sunday at an event on the sidelines of the G20 in Bali to be in court.

Asked why he had not travelled to the tropical Indonesian island, the new Twitter boss joked that his “workload has recently increased quite a lot” after his takeover of the social media giant.

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Sen. Ed Markey tells Elon Musk to stop ‘Wild West’ Twitter

WASHINGTON – Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is asking Elon Musk to stop Twitter from becoming the “Wild West of social media” after the billionaire changed his newly acquired social media site’s verification process to allow anyone with $8 to obtain the sought-after blue check mark.

“Your Twitter takeover, rapid and haphazard imposition of platform changes, removal of safeguards against disinformation and firing of large numbers of Twitter employees have accelerated Twitter’s descent into the Wild West of social media,” Markey told Musk in an official letter Friday.

Twitter, under Musk’s direction, began Nov. 5 to dole out check marks – which used to be reserved for accounts of notable companies, celebrities, politicians, journalists and others – to those who pay for the Twitter Blue service.

The monthly subscription plan also came with other benefits, such as an “edit” button for already posted tweets and fewer advertisements, but Musk highlighted the elusive checkmark to the package with his takeover.

“Blue checkmark: Power to the people. Your account will get a blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you follow,” the company wrote in an announcement earlier this month.

“Your account will get a blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you follow,” Elon Musk’s Twitter announced.
REUTERS
Sen. Ed Markey accused Elon Musk of “putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation.”
AP

Some have been taking advantage of the new system, creating false accounts for companies and individuals. Last week, a Washington Post reporter set up an account under the handle “@realedmarkey” for a story showing how easily the system can be abused.

“The [Washington] Post reporter was able to accomplish this impersonation despite Twitter having previously verified my actual Twitter account under the handle ‘@SenMarkey,’” the senator said. “Safeguards such as Twitter’s blue checkmark once allowed users to be smart, critical consumers of news and information in Twitter’s global town square.”

Markey accused Musk of “putting profits over people and his debt over stopping disinformation,” posting his letter to Twitter over the weekend.

On Sunday, Musk snapped back: “Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?”

In response, the senator pointed out bigger issues Musk’s companies are facing, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s investigations into multiple Tesla crashes and the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation into a possible violation involving an obligation Twitter must comply with whenever it experiences a structural change, such as mergers and sales.

“One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online,” Markey said. “Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”



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