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Tag: Elon Musk

  • Elon Musk launches profane attack on X advertisers

    Elon Musk launches profane attack on X advertisers

    In a profanity-laced outburst, Elon Musk has slammed advertisers that have left X, warning they will kill the social media platform.

    At an event in New York, he accused companies that have joined an ad boycott of the site formerly known as Twitter of trying to blackmail him.

    “Go [expletive] yourself,” the billionaire said in an interview.

    Some firms have paused advertising on X amid concerns over antisemitism, including a post from Mr Musk himself.

    The Tesla and SpaceX boss apologised on Wednesday for that post, saying it might be the “dumbest” thing he has ever shared online.

    But it was his response to a question about an advertising boycott by companies including Disney, Apple and Comcast that caused a stir at the gathering of leaders from the worlds of business, politics and culture.

    “I don’t want them to advertise,” Mr Musk said at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit.

    “If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money go [expletive] yourself.

    “Go. [Expletive]. Yourself. Is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel.”

    He was apparently referring to Disney chief executive Bob Iger, who spoke at the summit earlier in the day.

    In the room with Mr Musk was Linda Yaccarino, X’s chief executive, who has been charged with trying to bring back advertisers to the platform.

    Mr Musk also said that advertisers could kill X.

    “What this advertising boycott is going to do is it’s going to kill the company,” he said.

    “The whole world will know those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail,” he added.

    Ms Yaccarino has since reposted what she called his “candid interview”, adding her perspective on advertising that “X is standing at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street — and the X community is powerful and is here to welcome you”.

    Mr Musk has been on a visit to Israel after he last month appeared to personally back an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

    “I’m sorry for that tweet… it might be literally the worst and dumbest post that I’ve ever done,” he said on Wednesday.

    The boycott isn’t just to do with that post, though.

    Many advertisers had already decided to spend their dollars elsewhere.

    In an interview with the BBC in April, Mr Musk said “almost all of them [advertisers] have either come back or they’re going to come back”.

    Three months later he acknowledged in a post on X that ad revenue had fallen by 50%.

    That was before a report by liberal pressure group Media Matters, which claimed to have found evidence that some adverts had been placed next to Nazi content.

    Read Also: Elon Musk meets Israel PM Netanyahu amid antisemitism furor

    X says the group’s report had “misrepresented the real user experience of X” in order to “undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers”. X has filed a lawsuit against Media Matters.

    It’s hard to see how Mr Musk’s comments will bring advertisers running back. The company is heavily reliant on their money.

    It is unclear how much of X’s revenue currently comes from ads, because it’s now a private company and no longer publishes quarterly reports.

    But before Mr Musk took over the firm, advertising made up about 90% of Twitter revenue.

    BBC

  • Elon Musk meets Israel PM Netanyahu amid antisemitism furor

    Elon Musk meets Israel PM Netanyahu amid antisemitism furor

    Elon Musk, who’s been under fire over accusations of antisemitism flourishing on his social media platform X, paid a visit Monday to Israel, where he toured a kibbutz that was attacked last month by Hamas militants and was set to meet with top leaders.

    The billionaire and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the Kfar Azza kibbutz, a rural village that Hamas militants stormed on Oct. 7 in a deadly assault that launched the war.

    Musk, wearing a protective vest and escorted by a phalanx of security personnel as rain fell, used his phone to take photos or videos of the devastation, according to video released by Netanyahu’s office.

    The Tesla CEO and prime minister visited the homes of some victims, including the family of Abigail Edan, a 4-year-old girl with dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship who was held hostage by Hamas after her parents were killed. She was released Sunday in the latest round of exchanges during a cease-fire in Gaza that is set to expire after Monday.

    “It was jarring to see the scene of the massacre,” Musk later said in an X Spaces conversation with Netanyahu. Musk said he was troubled by video and photos that the prime minister showed him of the killings of civilians, including children.

    They spoke broadly about the conflict, the protests it has generated, Hamas, the Middle East and more but did not touch on antisemitism online. Netanyahu said he hoped Musk would be involved in building a better future, to which the billionaire replied, “I’d love to help.”

    Musk also was due to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Benny Gantz, a former defense minister who’s now part of a special war Cabinet.

    Government spokesperson Eylon Levy declined to say whether Musk was invited or came on his own. X, formerly known as Twitter, did not respond to a request for comment.

    Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, tweeted earlier Monday about a deal that his ministry had reached with Musk’s Starlink satellite internet company.

    “As a result of this significant agreement, Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip,” Karhi wrote, without providing further details.

    Musk has faced accusations from the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil rights organization, and others of tolerating antisemitic messages on the platform since purchasing it last year, and the content on X has gained increased scrutiny since the war between Israel and Hamas began.

    Read Also: Why Elon Musk snubbed me – Odumodublvck

    A slew of big brands, including Disney and IBM, decided to stop advertising on the platform after a report by liberal advocacy group Media Matters said ads were appearing alongside pro-Nazi content and white nationalist posts. It came the same week Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory that drew outcry, including from the White House.

    Musk responded on X this month to a user who accused Jews of hating white people and professing indifference to antisemitism by posting, “You have said the actual truth.”

    X has since sued Media Matters, saying the Washington-based nonprofit manufactured the report to “drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.”

    Monday’s visit is not the first time Musk and Netanyahu have met. Netanyahu came to California in September, telling the Tesla CEO that he hopes Musk can find a way to roll back antisemitism and other forms of hatred within the limits of the First Amendment.

  • Elon Musk’s X says it has removed ‘hundreds’ of Hamas-affiliated accounts

    Elon Musk’s X says it has removed ‘hundreds’ of Hamas-affiliated accounts

    X says it has removed “hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts” and taken down thousands of posts since the attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group.

    The platform, formerly known as Twitter, was given 24 hours by the European Union earlier this week to address illegal content and disinformation regarding the conflict or face penalties under the bloc’s recently enacted Digital Services Act.

    CEO Linda Yaccarino responded to EU official Thierry Breton in a letter dated Wednesday that she posted to X. She said the company had “redistributed resources and refocused internal teams who are working around the clock to address this rapidly evolving situation.”

    “There is no place on X for terrorist organizations or violent extremist groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real time,” Yaccarino wrote.

    “X is… addressing identified fake and manipulated content during this constantly evolving and shifting crisis,” she added. The platform had “assembled a leadership group to assess the situation” shortly after news broke about the attack, Yaccarino said.

    Read Also: Biden calls Hamas attack on Israel ‘deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust’

    A slew of mischaracterized videos and other posts went viral on X over the weekend, alarming experts who track the spread of misinformation and offering the latest example of social media platforms’ struggle to deal with a flood of falsehoods during a major geopolitical event.

    Since the attack on Israel, Yaccarino said X had acted to “remove or label tens of thousands of pieces of content” that break its rules on violent speech, manipulated media and graphic media. It had also responded to more than 80 “take down requests” from EU authorities to remove content.

    “Community Notes” — which allow X users to fact check false posts — are visible on “thousands of posts, generating millions of impressions,” she wrote.

    According to Yaccarino, notes related to the conflict take about five hours on average to show up after a post is created, a revelation that could fuel concerns that fake or manipulated content is being seen by thousands — or in some cases millions — of people before being moderated.

    Acknowledging receipt of Yaccarino’s letter Thursday, Breton said on X that the the Digital Services Act enforcement team “will analyse the reply and decide on next steps.”

    The law is one of the most ambitious efforts by policymakers anywhere to regulate tech giants and companies face billions in fines for violating the act.

    Newsnow

  • X to charge all users subscription fees, says Elon Musk

    X to charge all users subscription fees, says Elon Musk

    Billionaire owner of X, Elon Musk, has said the platform, formerly known as Twitter, is gearing up to charge all users for accessing the site.

    He indicated that establishing a paywall around the company would deter the bots, or automated accounts, which have grown to be an Achilles’ heel for the tech giant.

    The CEO of Tesla stated that X might start charging its user base while speaking in a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

    X currently only charges users for its subscription service X Premium, which includes benefits like a verified account checkmark and costs £11 in the UK and $11 in the US for iPhones.

    It’s the same $11 for Android apps and iOS users in Nigeria but $8 for web. This is because subscription cost is higher if done through the app, but lower on the web.

    Read Also: Elon Musk reportedly welcomes 11th child with singer

    Musk stated: “We’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the system.”

    According to him, bots cost “a fraction of a penny” to set up so raising the cost of an account to “a few dollars or something” could put off operators of the software.

    He added: “Plus, every time a bot creator wanted to make another bot, they would need another new payment method.”

    The discussion between Musk and Netanyahu was supposed to be about technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI), but it swiftly veered off to a debate on free speech and antisemitism after complaints that X wasn’t doing enough to stop racist content on the platform.

    Netanyahu hoped Musk would find ways within the confines of the First Amendment to crack down on antisemitism and other forms of hate speeches on the microblogging platform.

    He said: “I encourage you and urge you to find the balance, it’s a tough one.”

    Meanwhile, Musk had used his account on X to say that he is “pro-free speech, but against antisemitism of any kind.”