Elon & Twitter

[advocate8]

Comical, on multiple levels.

One of the things you have to appreciate about this exchange is the gray area Elon left between his talking points. He’s of course insinuating Taibbi was a spy for substack and helping them steal proprietary data from Twitter.

Maybe Taibbi can now do a story using all the texts and emails between himself and Elon. Let’s call it the "Twitter Files Files."

 

[Crutonius]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1644638493883211779

Community Notes is now calling Elon Musk a liar. I assume we'll see a patch to Twitter soon that exempts Elon from such things.

 

[stopcrazypp]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1644638493883211779

Community Notes is now calling Elon Musk a liar. I assume we'll see a patch to Twitter soon that exempts Elon from such things.

I was wondering when this will happen as eventually the community notes will apply to him, then we'll see how far "free speech absolutism" gets.

The whole Taibbi thing makes the Twitter files into a complete clown show (not that it revealed anything substantial in the first place) and Elon's tweet does nothing to give a better impression. Can't help but think if he didn't fire all the PR people, they'll probably be able to help make things less embarrassing.

 

[italian bread]

Would you hire Musk as an intern?

Does Elon Musk Know What He's Even Doing?

There are plenty of data points you could plot on the “Does Elon Musk Have Any Idea What Is Going On?” chart. Here’s a quick and incomplete primer featuring his most ludicrous actions since he bought Twitter and took over as CEO at the end of October:

• Lifting a conspiracy theory about Paul Pelosi from fake local news site and tweeting it to his 130 million-plus followers;
• Suspending journalists for posting publicly accessible information revealing the locations of climate-careless multimillionaires and their private jets;
• Possibly lying about agreeing to step down as the CEO if Twitter users voted for him to do so during a Twitter poll he conducted;
• Bringing in a sink into Twitter HQ as a Le Epic bit.
• Making the Twitter logo the “Doge dog” for a few days, amid a $258 billion class-action federal lawsuit accusing him of manipulating the cryptocurrency, also as a Le Epic bit.

…
Musk evidently didn’t know about NPR’s funding mix until it was flagged in an email from NPR’s own tech reporter, Bobby Allyn... The CEO of Twitter is turning in inept, intern-level homework for extremely high-profile decisions.

 

[Electroman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1644638493883211779

Community Notes is now calling Elon Musk a liar. I assume we'll see a patch to Twitter soon that exempts Elon from such things.

Agreed. Community notes is saying Elon is not giving the full context and implying he is guilty by omission. Either he is ignorant or not being fully truthful.

Glad we have Twitter with community notes.

 

[JRP3]

Glad we have Twitter with community notes.

Neither of which were created by Elon.

 

[T3SLAROD]

Looks like Musk allows for Top Secret Pentagon Documents to be posted on Twitter…… but yeah he is all about America

 

[italian bread]

I didn’t think there was anything that could drive people away from Twitter but I was wrong.

Musk admits NPR isn’t state-affiliated after asking questions he could have Googled

He asked me at one point, quote, "what's the breakdown of NPR's annual funding?" And he asked, "who appoints leadership at NPR?" These are questions you can get by Googling, but for some reason he wanted to ask me. And also, let's take a moment and pause on these questions, Mary Louise, because he made a major policy decision, right? And after doing so, he is just now asking for the basic facts. This is not exactly how most CEOs in America operate. Anyway, I answered his questions. About 1 percent of NPR's budget is from federal grants, and an independent board appoints NPR's CEO, who picks leadership.
…
KCRW, an NPR member station in Santa Monica, California, emailed listeners to tell them that KCRW will no longer post on Twitter from its main accounts. KCRW President Jennifer Ferro noted that the state-affiliated media tag is "a term the platform applies to propaganda outlets in countries without a free press, a guaranteed right in the United States."

"There is a chance that Twitter will remove the label from NPR. Even so, we no longer have confidence that Twitter is a credible platform," the email said.

 

[italian bread]

Looks like Musk allows for Top Secret Pentagon Documents to be posted on Twitter…… but yeah he is all about America

If the Pentagon doesn’t want their files to be posted on Twitter, they should include a Twitter-like feature like Substack does.

 

[Dave EV]

I didn’t think there was anything that could drive people away from Twitter but I was wrong.

Elon has a long history of speaking first and asking questions later, most visible on Twitter. His purchase of Twitter has only made those actions more visible.

He takes the whole "act fast and break things" concept way too literally when making decisions that have large repercussions, very often leading to backtracking.

 

[advocate8]

Elon has a long history of speaking first and asking questions later, most visible on Twitter. His purchase of Twitter has only made those actions more visible.

He takes the whole "act fast and break things" concept way too literally when making decisions that have large repercussions, very often leading to backtracking.

Yes, exactly. The mechanics that keep democracy grinding along are somewhat more important than, say, a "Tick Tock for Pets!" startup company....

 

[advocate8]

I didn’t think there was anything that could drive people away from Twitter but I was wrong.

Musk admits NPR isn’t state-affiliated after asking questions he could have Googled

He asked me at one point, quote, "what's the breakdown of NPR's annual funding?" And he asked, "who appoints leadership at NPR?" These are questions you can get by Googling, but for some reason he wanted to ask me. And also, let's take a moment and pause on these questions, Mary Louise, because he made a major policy decision, right? And after doing so, he is just now asking for the basic facts. This is not exactly how most CEOs in America operate. Anyway, I answered his questions. About 1 percent of NPR's budget is from federal grants, and an independent board appoints NPR's CEO, who picks leadership.
…
KCRW, an NPR member station in Santa Monica, California, emailed listeners to tell them that KCRW will no longer post on Twitter from its main accounts. KCRW President Jennifer Ferro noted that the state-affiliated media tag is "a term the platform applies to propaganda outlets in countries without a free press, a guaranteed right in the United States."

"There is a chance that Twitter will remove the label from NPR. Even so, we no longer have confidence that Twitter is a credible platform," the email said.

So, he admitted he was wrong ... then simply changed the label from “state affiliated” to “state funded” ... over less than 1 percent of the funding and zero government input re: content or leadership. Such a straight shooter. Good thing we’ve got him looking out for free speech, transparency, truth and justice.

 

[italian bread]

He takes the whole "act fast and break things" concept way too literally when making decisions that have large repercussions, very often leading to backtracking.

That’s how he ended up owning Twitter!

 

[Norbert]

I wonder if it still matters if the "government" in "government-funded media" is democratically elected?
May I propose the following labels:
"oil industry funded"
"coal industry funded"
"funded by commercial interests"
"billionaire funded"
"funded by advertisement"
"funded by the PR department of a commercial entity"
"funded by self-interest"
"funded by a political think tank"
"public servant receiving unreported gifts valued in sum above $10k"
and so on.

 

[EfficientWatts]

So, he admitted he was wrong ... then simply changed the label from “state affiliated” to “state funded” ... over less than 1 percent of the funding and zero government input re: content or leadership. Such a straight shooter. Good thing we’ve got him looking out for free speech, transparency, truth and justice.

With regards to the funding, by that logic one could argue for Tesla to be "govt funded" because of the tax credits, loans, etc. it received from the government. I think what everyone thinks the label should apply to will differ, but taken to the extreme you can see how silly that can become.

 

[daniel]

With regards to the funding, by that logic one could argue for Tesla to be "govt funded" because of the tax credits, loans, etc. it received from the government. I think what everyone thinks the label should apply to will differ, but taken to the extreme you can see how silly that can become.

Yeah, it's just Elon being petty. He's got the power to put negative labels on posters he doesn't like, and he uses it. After all, he spent 42 (?) billion dollars, he figures he should be able to do what he likes with his very expensive toy.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Lost in all the weirdness about removing the “w” from the sign and fake outrages, here is one of the biggest stories about Twitter - we’ll see what happens. I don’t think these changes have actually happened yet. But hard to know!!!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1644022535288401920

The gov’t Twitter accounts, unsurprisingly, produce some of the most valuable content and engaging content on Twitter. They are basically my entire Twitter feed with nothing else, the stuff is so good. I do wonder whether other avenues will be as good if bad things happen here.

Don’t let Elon’s clever misdirection campaign distract from the potential corrosive losses here!

Never forget what he destroyed, if that happens.

 

[Buckminster]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1645431171176865799

 

[Buckminster]

Elon having a good time:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1645559315275862017

 

[JRP3]

Elon having a good time:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1645559315275862017

Apparently not.

Maybe Substack will be the true free speech platform, clearly Elon seems to be afraid of it