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Elon Musk wants the SEC to figure out how many bots are on Twitter

| May 18, 2022 1:20 AM CDT

Elon Musk is attempting to figure out how many Twitter users are bots and how many are authentic users.

Elon Musk wants the SEC to figure out how many bots are on Twitter

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO recently stated that the deal to purchase Twitter was temporarily put on hold while an investigation was conducted into how many fake, spam, illegal, or duplicate accounts are on Twitter. According to Twitter's latest numbers, the social media platform estimates that below 5% of Twitter's total accounts are bots, and if that number is found to be inaccurate, it may impact the $44 billion price tag in a way that Musk gets a discount.

Musk recently took to his Twitter account to publicly say that Twitter claims >95% of daily active users are real, unique humans. The Tesla CEO then asked his followers if anyone has that experience. Musk followed up by replying to a journalist that stated the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) should investigate Twitter's numbers to see if the company lied on its official filing with the regulatory body. Musk jokingly prodded the SEC by writing the below tweet.

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Continue reading: Elon Musk wants the SEC to figure out how many bots are on Twitter (full post)

Twitter deal paused: Elon Musk wants to evaluate spam, bots

| May 13, 2022 7:41 AM CDT

Aaaaand the fun continues... SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk has said that the Twitter acquisition deal is on hold, as he calls BS over Twitter's number of spam/fake accounts.

Twitter deal paused: Elon Musk wants to evaluate spam, bots

In a new tweet, Musk said: "Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users". Acquiring a company for tens of billions of dollars requires extensive research, documentation, proof, and a million other things... to find out that 10-20-30% of accounts of the second-largest social network in the world are fake or bots? Oh boy.

Musk replied to himself, adding that he is "still committed to the acquisition", while Mega founder Kim Dotcom tweeted that "30% bots, fake and spam accounts. Minimum". 30% of them wouldn't surprise me, and I think that would be across ALL social networks, not just Twitter... something I think we're all going to see very soon.

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Continue reading: Twitter deal paused: Elon Musk wants to evaluate spam, bots (full post)

Twitter founder reacts to Elon Musk's decision to unban Donald Trump

| May 12, 2022 3:02 AM CDT

Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has come out and approved of Elon Musk's decision to bring back former President Donald Trump's Twitter account.

Twitter founder reacts to Elon Musk's decision to unban Donald Trump

The Twitter co-founder praised Elon Musk for his choice of reinstating Trump's Twitter account, which was banned under inciting violence following the January 6 capital hill riots. Dorsey took to Twitter on Tuesday to say that generally, permanent bans are a "failure of ours and don't work", while going on to list exceptions where permanent bans don't solve an issue such as child sexual exploitation, spam, scams, network manipulation, and more.

Notably, the Twitter co-founder directed attention to his Twitter thread, where he explained why the company decided to ban Donald Trump's Twitter account. According to Dorsey, the decision to ban the president "was the right decision" motivated by "the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter." Despite Musk stating that he would reverse the permanent ban on Trump's account, the former president only stated at the end of last month that he won't be returning to Twitter and will be staying on his own social platform Truth Social.

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Continue reading: Twitter founder reacts to Elon Musk's decision to unban Donald Trump (full post)

Elon Musk replies to William Shatner's request to be 'face of Twitter'

| May 3, 2022 1:31 AM CDT

Famed "Star Trek" actor William Shatner recently asked Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk if he could be the new face of Twitter.

Elon Musk replies to William Shatner's request to be 'face of Twitter'

Following Musk's official purchase of Twitter and entering into a year-long closing deal, the billionaire entrepreneur has received multiple requests from various public figures asking him to make certain changes to the social media platform. Additionally, Musk has received countless questions regarding which changes he will implement and why.

On a lighter note, Shatner seems to have coyly asked Musk if he could hire him "as the face of Twitter", adding that he should remove the Twitter bird logo with the hashtag "#dumpthebird". Musk replied to Captain Kirk's tweet, saying that "You will always be my Captain". Recently, Musk revealed a change that is likely to be implemented into Twitter's direct-messaging system. To find out what check out this link here.

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Continue reading: Elon Musk replies to William Shatner's request to be 'face of Twitter' (full post)

Elon Musk drops hint on Twitter accounts becoming 'authentic'

| May 3, 2022 12:02 AM CDT

Now that Elon Musk has purchased Twitter, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has begun revealing some of his stances on changes that may come to the platform.

Elon Musk drops hint on Twitter accounts becoming 'authentic'

Musk hasn't been shy about saying that Twitter needs changes, as it was one of his main reasons for purchasing the world's second-largest social media to take it private as he believes that under his guidance and changes, he will "unlock it". Since the purchasing has gone through, Musk has dropped hints on his beliefs for Twitter to "deserve public trust,"; what Twitter's direct-messaging services needs, and now account authentication.

In reply to a post by Mike Huckabee that directly asks Musk to change Twitter's account requirements to have people's real names attached to them so people cannot hide behind anonymity. Huckabee calls upon people to "be man enough or woman enough to stand by what you say!". In response to this Tweet, Musk says that "Authentication is important, but so is anonymity for many. A balance must be struck."

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Continue reading: Elon Musk drops hint on Twitter accounts becoming 'authentic' (full post)

Elon Musk reveals a change that may come to Twitter DM's

| May 2, 2022 2:32 AM CDT

Despite having restrictions on his tweets, Elon Musk has taken center stage once again to reveal his stance on direct messaging (DMs) on Twitter.

Elon Musk reveals a change that may come to Twitter DM's

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO took to his personal Twitter account to reveal that he supports end-to-end encryption-style DMs and then referenced the messaging platform Signal. Musk went on to write that he believes Twitter should have this messaging service "so no one can spy on or hack your messages".

At the moment, administrators at Twitter with the appropriate level of system access can view a message sent between two individuals, and by proposing end-to-end encryption, Musk is saying that Twitter shouldn't be allowed to read the messages users are sending. Essentially, when a message is sent from the user's phone, it arrives on the Twitter server encrypted and is then transferred to the receiver's phone, where its deciphered.

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Here's how many billions of people use Facebook everyday

| Apr 28, 2022 9:32 PM CDT

Meta's latest financials reveal how many people use Facebook every day, and the answer is surprising.

Here's how many billions of people use Facebook everyday

Facebook is absolutely huge and is easily the largest social media platform on the market. A quarter of the world's population, or 25% of people on planet Earth, log into and use Facebook every day.

The numbers show that more people are using Facebook than ever before. A record-breaking 1.96 billion people used Facebook on a daily basis through January and March 2022. That's a substantial yearly increase of 4.4% in users, or 82 million people

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Facebook admits even it doesn't know what happens to your private data

| Apr 28, 2022 4:22 AM CDT

Facebook is under pressure from several regulators worldwide to change how it handles users' data.

Facebook admits even it doesn't know what happens to your private data

A leaked internal document written in 2021 obtained from Facebook by Motherboard shows that Facebook was "surprised" by a "tsunami of inbound regulations," and privacy engineers on its Ad and Business Product team are sounding alarm bells within the company to institute change to prevent trouble with regulators. The document uses the acronyms 3PD, 1PD, and SCD to refer to third-party data, first-party data, and sensitive categories data, respectively.

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Continue reading: Facebook admits even it doesn't know what happens to your private data (full post)

New York Times, Forbes 'bought Twitter followers', Elon Musk replies

| Apr 28, 2022 3:04 AM CDT

Since Elon Musk's official purchase of Twitter, many individuals have been asking the SpaceX CEO questions about what he will do to the platform when the deal has closed and what he should investigate internally once he has taken the reins.

New York Times, Forbes 'bought Twitter followers', Elon Musk replies

Dave Rubin, a conservative political commentator who hosts "The Rubin Report," took to Twitter to ask Musk to investigate The New York Times, Forbes, and other media outlets for buying "their Twitter followers to fake influence." Rubin then pointed out that The New York Times Twitter account has 53 million followers but only gets about 50 retweets per post, indicating a severe lack of user engagement despite the extremely high follower count.

The very same principle applies to Forbes' Twitter account, which has 17.8 million followers but only receives about fifteen retweets per post and about ten comments. Notably, Rubin didn't provide evidence of these media outlets directly purchasing followers but has pointed out an interesting metric nonetheless. Furthermore, Musk has responded to the call for an investigation to be launched by replying, "Yeah, I noticed that too. Pretty weird."

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Continue reading: New York Times, Forbes 'bought Twitter followers', Elon Musk replies (full post)

Elon Musk reveals what Twitter needs to be trusted by everyone

| Apr 28, 2022 2:32 AM CDT

Since his purchase of Twitter, Elon Musk has been launching off several tweets about what he believes Twitter needs to be in the future, revealing some of the ethos he will be bringing to the company.

Elon Musk reveals what Twitter needs to be trusted by everyone

Earlier this week, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $46.5 billion, citing that free speech is the "bedrock of a functioning democracy" and that "Twitter is the digital town square". When the deal was struck, Musk said that he wanted to "unlock it" by implementing changes such as making the social media platform open source and making it "politically neutral".

The now Twitter owner seeks to make Twitter a publicly trusted platform, and recently revealed how he intends to do that. Musk to his personal account on April 28 to write that "For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally". Jokingly, Musk said that his next big company purchase will be Coca-Cola as he desires to put the cocaine back in the drink. More on that story below.

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Continue reading: Elon Musk reveals what Twitter needs to be trusted by everyone (full post)

Elon Musk agrees to put restrictions on his Tweets, posts two anyway

| Apr 28, 2022 1:34 AM CDT

Following Elon Musk's official purchase of Twitter and the long process of closing a multi-billion dollar deal, Musk has found himself in the middle of some controversy.

Elon Musk agrees to put restrictions on his Tweets, posts two anyway

Musk only recently purchased Twitter, and as a part of the 95-page-long agreement, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO agreed to put restrictions on any future tweets until the deal was closed. The restrictions that Musk signed on for was that any future tweets wouldn't "disparage" Twitter or any of its representatives.

Twenty-four hours after the agreement was signed, Musk posted two tweets; one was a reply to podcast host Saagar Enjeti flagging, who posted an article that claimed Twitter's legal head, Vijaya Gadde, was "emotional" and cried during a meeting where the deal was being discussed. Enjeti described Gadde as Twitter's "top censorship advocate", which was a call back to the role Gadde played in Twitter's decision to stop the New York Post from publishing a story about President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden.

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Continue reading: Elon Musk agrees to put restrictions on his Tweets, posts two anyway (full post)

A YouTuber that crashed his own plane did it for views, says US agency

| Apr 26, 2022 7:10 AM CDT

A YouTuber that goes by the Trevor Jacob filmed himself crashing his own plane over California's Los Padres national forest and has now lost his pilot license.

A YouTuber that crashed his own plane did it for views, says US agency

Jacob filmed himself flying over California's Los Padres national forest in a small plane that was equipped with several camera angles. In the video, Jacob can be heard saying, "I'm over the mountains and I ... have an engine out," and then he can be seen abandoning his plane, jumping out, and filming himself parachuting towards the ground. The video was uploaded on December 24, 2021, and sparked an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on April 11, 2022.

The investigation has concluded that the crash of Jacob's 1940 Taylorcraft BL-65 was intentional and that Jacob "demonstrated a lack of care, judgment, and responsibility by choosing to jump out of an aircraft solely so you could record the footage of the crash."

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Continue reading: A YouTuber that crashed his own plane did it for views, says US agency (full post)

Twitter's ex-CEO Jack Dorsey: 'Elon is the singular solution I trust'

| Apr 26, 2022 12:14 AM CDT

President Trump won't be returning to Twitter any time soon, while SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk has just secured Twitter for $44 billion... and ex-CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, is singing Musk's praises.

Twitter's ex-CEO Jack Dorsey: 'Elon is the singular solution I trust'

In a series of new tweets, Jack said that doesn't believe "anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness".

Jack continued: "Elon's goal of creating a platform that is "maximally trusted and broadly inclusive" is the right one. This is also Parag's goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path...I believe it with all my heart".

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Here's the first ever YouTube video, it was uploaded 17 years ago

| Apr 25, 2022 5:33 AM CDT

YouTube launched on December 15, 2005, and since then, it has become an internet sensation and a standard, to the point where younger generations can't even imagine an internet without it.

Here's the first ever YouTube video, it was uploaded 17 years ago

With YouTube getting thousands upon thousands of hours uploaded to its every day in 2022, in 2005, there was nothing on the platform, that was until YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, an American software engineer, uploaded the very first YouTube video titled "Me at the zoo" on April 24, 2005. The 17-year anniversary of the video's upload and the beginning of YouTube's journey was just yesterday.

In April 2005, YouTube launched a public beta and around the same time, Karim, one of YouTube's co-founders, left the project to study for a master's degree in computing science at Stanford University. Karim left with a substantial number of shares in the company, which was later purchased by Google for $1.65 billion in 2006, sending YouTube's share value skywards.

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Elon Musk secures $46.5 billion financing to acquire Twitter

| Apr 21, 2022 11:42 AM CDT

Elon Musk has secured the required $46.5 billion in funding for his acquisition of Twitter, according to a filing with US regulators on Thursday.

Elon Musk secures $46.5 billion financing to acquire Twitter

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO will be ponying up $33.5 billion on his own, which includes $21 billion in equity and $12.5 billion in margin loans. The richest man on the planet still requires regular banks, with financial firms like Morgan Stanley agreeing to cough up $13 billion in debt against Twitter, according to the filing.

Twitter has been tripping over itself to not let this happen, going as far as introducing a "poison pill" so that someone like Musk couldn't buy the social networking giant. Well, spoiler alert... I think it's about done. The second-largest shareholder of Twitter has just secured $46.5 billion in funding to do what you should do when you're obscenely rich -- whatever the hell you want to.

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Continue reading: Elon Musk secures $46.5 billion financing to acquire Twitter (full post)

Documents from 'The Facebook Papers' are now online for you to read

| Apr 20, 2022 4:44 AM CDT

The full collection of The Facebook Papers contains thousands of pages of internal company documents from Meta.

Documents from 'The Facebook Papers' are now online for you to read

The collection was shared last year with seventeen United States news outlets by Frances Haugen, a whistleblower, and former Facebook product manager. Haugen also shared the documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission and a consortium of European news organizations.

The Facebook Papers have yet to make their way into the wider public domain for public access and scrutiny. Gizmodo was one of the outlets that had the documents shared with them and announced in November 2021 that it would publicize the documents after partnering with independent experts who would review them to redact private individuals' sensitive information.

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Continue reading: Documents from 'The Facebook Papers' are now online for you to read (full post)

Elon Musk reveals why he wants to buy Twitter and 'unlock it'

| Apr 15, 2022 1:33 AM CDT

Hours after putting down an offer of $43 billion for the world's second-largest social networking company, Elon Musk appeared on the TED stage to explain why.

Elon Musk reveals why he wants to buy Twitter and 'unlock it'

In early April, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased a 9.2% state in Twitter valued at $2.9 billion. This purchase by Musk caused the social media's share price to skyrocket by 25% and led people to believe that Musk was going to join Twitter's board of directors and attempt to implement a bunch of new changes. Now, the SpaceX CEO has changed his plans by putting down $43 billion for 100% of the company's shares at $54.20 a share, according to an SEC filing.

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Continue reading: Elon Musk reveals why he wants to buy Twitter and 'unlock it' (full post)

Twitter to add an edit button, the Elon Musk effect works fast

| Apr 5, 2022 6:45 PM CDT

Twitter is finally... finally... FINALLY adding an edit button that millions have wanted for years now. The social networking giant -- now 9.2% owned by SpaceX and Tesla owner Elon Musk -- has announced people can edit their tweets after they've posted them. Hooray!

Twitter to add an edit button, the Elon Musk effect works fast

Twitter will be testing the edit feature with its Twitter Blue subscribers in "the coming months", but the social networking giant tweeted -- without an edit -- that it had been "working on an edit feature since last year". The edit feature comes within 24 hours of Musk being added to the board of directors at Twitter, and barely a few more hours more in the aftermath that Musk had purchased billions of dollars in Twitter shares.

Jay Sullivan, the company's VP of consumer product explained last week: "the most requested Twitter feature for many years" had been an edit feature. He continued: "Without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation. Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work".

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Continue reading: Twitter to add an edit button, the Elon Musk effect works fast (full post)

TikTok influencers caught being paid pushing Putin's war propaganda

| Mar 12, 2022 6:26 AM CST

A report from VICE claims that a group of TikTok influencers is being paid to push out content that is pro-Kremlin narratives.

TikTok influencers caught being paid pushing Putin's war propaganda

According to the report, VICE has uncovered what is described as a "coordinated campaign to pay Russian TikTok influencers" to create and post content that fits certain guidelines and narratives. VICE reports that it discussed a Telegram channel that included prominent Russian TikTok influencers. This Telegram channel was run by an anonymous user who told VICE he was a journalist. He also explained that his job was to tell influencers the date and time the video needs to be posted and how to get around TikTok's banning of new uploads from within Russia.

The anonymous administrator posted a campaign to gather TikTok users to push content that called for national unity and used an "audio track featuring Putin calling for all ethnic groups in Russia to unite at this time of conflict," per VICE. Additionally, the administrator would instruct influencers on what text to add to the videos, what audio tracks, and even what emojis are to be used.

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YouTube cracks down on Russia, announces purge of content and channels

| Mar 12, 2022 1:14 AM CST

YouTube has announced it will be targeting a selection of channels on its platform and remove them while also purging specific content.

YouTube cracks down on Russia, announces purge of content and channels

The announcement was made via Twitter and states that YouTube is now blocking access to channels that are funded by the Russian government, which includes state-run media outlets such as RT and Sputnik. YouTube explains that it will also be blocking access to channels associated with Russian state-funded media globally.

Additionally, YouTube writes that its community guidelines prohibits "content denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events" and that it will be removing content that violates this policy. The video platform wrote that these changes will be "effective immediately" and then followed up with a series of tweets explaining that it has removed more than 1,000 channels and more than 15,000 videos that violated policies for hate speech, misinformation, and graphic content.

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Continue reading: YouTube cracks down on Russia, announces purge of content and channels (full post)

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