[Merged] Musk buys Twitter!/ Elon Musk puts Twitter deal on hold....

[Fast Eddie B]

Quite the drama.

In short, Tate tweeted this, and you can see Greta’s reply:

To which Tate posted a video. In that video was a pizza box. The printing on that box allowed Romanian officials to locate and arrest Tate. And Greta replied “This is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes.”

Sweet!

 

[Ziggurat]

Shock, horror, misleading covid information was fact-checked by Twitter in an attempt to save lives.

But no, ominous stuff, according to deniers.

True information was censored as well. Why is that of no concern?

 

[catsmate]

True information was censored as well. Why is that of no concern?

Citations?

 

[catsmate]

Birds of a feather and all that....

"Controversial" social media personality Andrew Tate has been arrested in Romania for human trafficking:





https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64122628

Andrew Tate was suspended from Twitter for claiming that women bear responsibility for being sexually assaulted. Elon Musk has recently reinstated his account. I'm sure that Twitter's advertisers are jumping at the opportunity to be associated with this kind of individual.

Yeah there will be some interesting revelations there. Horrible stuff.

 

[dudalb]

Oh. And this too.

Twitter outage: Elon Musk says ‘works for me’ as users report problems with website

Let's totally disrespect your customers. That always works well.

 

[Ziggurat]

Citations?

Examples were given in that very Twitter thread Orphia linked. Including someone citing CDC statistics.

Why on earth does anyone want Twitter trying to act as a fact checker and censoring on that basis? They are not competent to do so. They proved that many times over. There was never any institutional capacity to take on that role.

 

[angrysoba]

Seems like a pretty good summary of Elon Musk's speech policies at Twitter and the Twitter files.

https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/307-twitter-elon-free-speech

I pretty much agree with what Sam Harris says about most things here about how the Twitter files mostly showed people in good faith trying to figure out how to avoid their platform signal boosting bad information, such as a possibly dubiously sourced laptop, and some obviously bad Covid and vaccine takes that shaded off towards less obviously bad, and possibly correct Covid information that had to be flagged by bots, rather than the right-wing narrative that Twitter was the public square whose free speech was being suppressed by a liberal government (especially given that Trump was the president at the time of the Hunter Biden laptop story).

 

[Cain]

Quite the drama.

In short, Tate tweeted this, and you can see Greta’s reply:

[qimg]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52596085910_2a51663636.jpg[/qimg]

To which Tate posted a video. In that video was a pizza box. The printing on that box allowed Romanian officials to locate and arrest Tate. And Greta replied “This is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes.”

Sweet!

The funniest comment I've heard about Tate is that he looks like what you'd get if you tried to draw Pitbull from memory.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

Examples were given in that very Twitter thread Orphia linked. Including someone citing CDC statistics.

Why on earth does anyone want Twitter trying to act as a fact checker and censoring on that basis? They are not competent to do so. They proved that many times over. There was never any institutional capacity to take on that role.

So bovine excrement is "true information" now? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

For what it’s worth, Romanian authorities are denying the pizza box in the video is what led them to Tate’s whereabouts.

 

[Ziggurat]

So bovine excrement is "true information" now? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

You didn't read the thread, did you? Twitter censored citations of peer reviewed scientific research, and even the CDCs own statistics. That wasn't bull ****, that was the truth.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

You didn't read the thread, did you? Twitter censored citations of peer reviewed scientific research, and even the CDCs own statistics. That wasn't bull ****, that was the truth.

[Citation needed]

Because, frankly nothing that's come out of these twitter files articles have been anything other than rubbish. The reason Musk set his minions to "reveal" Covid "coverups" is because he's an anti-vaxxer sore that the science (as is usual) disagrees with his pronouncements.

 

[Darat]

[Citation needed]

Because, frankly nothing that's come out of these twitter files articles have been anything other than rubbish. The reason Musk set his minions to "reveal" Covid "coverups" is because he's an anti-vaxxer sore that the science (as is usual) disagrees with his pronouncements.

It's even baser than that, it's because the science led to imposing restrictions on the way he could run his businesses.

 

[Dr. Keith]

You didn't read the thread, did you? Twitter censored citations of peer reviewed scientific research, and even the CDCs own statistics. That wasn't bull ****, that was the truth.

Was it wrapped in ********?

 

[TragicMonkey]

For what it’s worth, Romanian authorities are denying the pizza box in the video is what led them to Tate’s whereabouts.

They never sausage evidence?

 

[8enotto]

No, as spicy as it was it still fell flat.

 

[Ziggurat]

[Citation needed]

Because, frankly nothing that's come out of these twitter files articles have been anything other than rubbish. The reason Musk set his minions to "reveal" Covid "coverups" is because he's an anti-vaxxer sore that the science (as is usual) disagrees with his pronouncements.

I gave you the citation. It was the Twitter thread that Orphia linked. It gave multiple specific examples where factually correct info was censored. You haven't read that thread, have you?

 

[Ziggurat]

Was it wrapped in ********?

Nope. Which you would know if you had read that link. But you didn't.

 

[gabeygoat]

It's even baser than that, it's because the science led to imposing restrictions on the way he could run his businesses.

pretty much

 

[Upchurch]

I gave you the citation. It was the Twitter thread that Orphia linked. It gave multiple specific examples where factually correct info was censored. You haven't read that thread, have you?

You’re not talking about “The Twitter Files”, are you? One of the least transparent non-journalistic, non-contextual propaganda dump of all times? The one crafted to reinforce the cognitive bias of the right-wing extremists?

Is that the source you’re citing?

 

[Dr. Keith]

Nope. Which you would know if you had read that link. But you didn't.

I don’t twitter. I just like the drama.

 

[Dr. Keith]

You’re not talking about “The Twitter Files”, are you? One of the least transparent non-journalistic, non-contextual propaganda dump of all times? The one crafted to reinforce the cognitive bias of the right-wing extremists?

Is that the source you’re citing?

He said it wasn’t wrapped in ********. Maybe we have different definitions of ********.

 

[Upchurch]

Examples were given in that very Twitter thread Orphia linked. Including someone citing CDC statistics.

Well, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. Is it possible that someone was misrepresenting those CDC statistics?

Why on earth does anyone want Twitter trying to act as a fact checker and censoring on that basis? They are not competent to do so. They proved that many times over. There was never any institutional capacity to take on that role.

Which raises the question: who do you trust to fact check or censor content on a privately run social network that primarily makes money off of advertising.

Once you understand that question, you will begin to understand the situation. I’ve been there.

 

[jeremyp]

I almost feel sorry for him

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1610454795177062401?s=20&t=L2ih0CUtCVqwmK4K5Vi4Og

12 months ago, I was Person of the Year

 

[jimbob]

Oliver Alexander
@OAlexanderDK
·
Jan 4
Though to be fair, being the head of HR at a company that doesn’t offer employees toilet paper can only be marginally more fun than being head of engineering when the CEO is randomly disconnecting sensitive server racks.

https://twitter.com/OAlexanderDK/status/1610469019932303360?s=20&t=MBJ2zdQeoo9D1_tBcLuRLA

Discussing the latest high level Twitter resignations

 

[The Don]

I almost feel sorry for him

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1610454795177062401?s=20&t=L2ih0CUtCVqwmK4K5Vi4Og

12 months ago, I was Person of the Year

All of the people, some of the time

 

[Aridas]

I almost feel sorry for him

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1610454795177062401?s=20&t=L2ih0CUtCVqwmK4K5Vi4Og

"Pride goeth before a fall" is what comes to mind for me. Manning up and facing unpleasant truths can be hard, either way. I have slight sympathy for those willing to do so. I don't get the feeling that that tweet had anything at all to do with manning up and facing reality, though.

 

[Upchurch]

"Pride goeth before a fall" is what comes to mind for me.

I was thinking Icarus, but it's the same moral from a different source.

Musk has always been just smart enough to buddy up with actually smart people. This time, he thought that because he uses Twitter, surely he could run Twitter with no other relevant experience. The idiot believed his own hype.

 

[Upchurch]

Twitter said it fixed ‘verification.’ So I impersonated a senator (again).

Elon Musk said he would fix Twitter’s problem with impostors. The blue check mark on my fake U.S. senator suggests he still has a long way to go.

On Tuesday, @SenatorEdMarkey briefly went viral on Twitter. Gisele Barreto Fetterman, the wife of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), thanked @SenatorEdMarkey in a tweet that garnered 140,000 views.

The problem is, @SenatorEdMarkey is actually me, not the real Sen. Edward J. Markey. It’s a test of Twitter’s $7.99 per month Blue “verification” service I made with the permission of the real Democrat from Massachusetts. I wouldn’t blame anyone for being confused: My test account has the senator’s name and photo and a blue check mark that says it is “verified.”

But Twitter, it seems, isn’t verifying much of anything.

Twitter didn’t reply to a request for comment. After I published this story, Twitter suspended the @SenatorEdMarkey account.

It's behind a paywall, but it almost doesn't matter unless you're interested in the details in how they did it.

Once I had all of those pieces in place, I signed up for Twitter Blue on the web, paying with a credit card. At that point, I expected Twitter would ask me to prove my identity, such as uploading a snapshot of a drivers’ license. I thought Twitter might be suspicious that the account was owned by a random Gmail address, not one ending in senate.gov. I assumed its verification system might challenge me after scanning for the word “senator” or maybe even the names of the notable people with legacy verification status.

But no. After 7 days, a blue check mark appeared on the faux Markey account, no questions asked.

As far as I can tell, Twitter has never said what goes into “manually authenticating” an account. Since Musk bought Twitter, the company also now has a greatly reduced workforce — so it’s not clear who’d be around to do the checking.

Musk has no idea what he is doing and clearly isn't listening to anyone around who might have experience in this. I've seen this before, on a much smaller and less public scale. He's in one of those scenarios where the tighter he grasps, the more he'll lose.

His best move at this point is to temporarily halt new development, deploying only for critical maintenance, and get an actual roadmap in place before moving forward. And, for the love of Ed, he has to stop tweeting like a clueless idiot.

 

[plague311]

he has to stop tweeting like a clueless idiot.

You'd have a better chance getting a rock to jump.

 

[Upchurch]

You'd have a better chance getting a rock to jump.

Both my comment and your reply are applicable to so. Many. People.

 

[catsmate]

Two hundred million Twits have had their email addresses leaked.

 

[Darat]

Two hundred million Twits have had their email addresses leaked.

Apparently 211,524,284 to be exact and one of them is my primary email address. The breach occurred in 2001 so nothing to do with the recent change in ownership.

Really surprised me that mine was on the list as I can't ever recall joining twitter, and my primary email address isn't one I use on social media sites. Tried to use their "forgot password" and I can't reset the password. Perhaps someone else joined as me?

 

[dudalb]

I am so happy I never used Twitter.
I had an account, but that was just to be able to read twitter comment on hte internet.

 

[dudalb]

All of the people, some of the time

Shades of Brando's "I could have been a contender" in "On The Waterfront".

 

[Trebuchet]

I am so happy I never used Twitter.
I had an account, but that was just to be able to read twitter comment on hte internet.

Not only can you read it without an account, you don't get the ads. Just have to close the "sign up" screens once in a while.

 

[jeremyp]

A new story in Ars Technca

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ent-leaves-elon-musk-with-unpalatable-options

the tl;dr is that the first payment on the $13 billion loan may be coming due at the end of January and there is probably no way that Twitter can pay it off.

Another interesting point from the story is the graph of Twitter's profits. It shows a huge loss for 2020, a modest loss for 2021 and a profit for the first half of 2022. Twitter was going in the right direction until Musk ****** it over.

 

[jimbob]

A new story in Ars Technca

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ent-leaves-elon-musk-with-unpalatable-options

the tl;dr is that the first payment on the $13 billion loan may be coming due at the end of January and there is probably no way that Twitter can pay it off.

Another interesting point from the story is the graph of Twitter's profits. It shows a huge loss for 2020, a modest loss for 2021 and a profit for the first half of 2022. Twitter was going in the right direction until Musk ****** it over.

This probably won't help

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64293744

If a San Francisco jury rules in the shareholder's favour, Mr Musk may be ordered to pay billions of dollars in damages.

He has already paid $20m to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for the 7 August 2018 tweet, while Tesla had to pay another $20m.

The SEC also removed Mr Musk as chairman of Tesla as a result of the tweet.

 

[Doubt]

A new story in Ars Technca

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ent-leaves-elon-musk-with-unpalatable-options

the tl;dr is that the first payment on the $13 billion loan may be coming due at the end of January and there is probably no way that Twitter can pay it off.

Another interesting point from the story is the graph of Twitter's profits. It shows a huge loss for 2020, a modest loss for 2021 and a profit for the first half of 2022. Twitter was going in the right direction until Musk ****** it over.

Just in time for Musk to break his word and sell more Tesla stock, which might bring Tesla closer to a fairly priced stock.

 

[angrysoba]

A new story in Ars Technca

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ent-leaves-elon-musk-with-unpalatable-options

the tl;dr is that the first payment on the $13 billion loan may be coming due at the end of January and there is probably no way that Twitter can pay it off.

Another interesting point from the story is the graph of Twitter's profits. It shows a huge loss for 2020, a modest loss for 2021 and a profit for the first half of 2022. Twitter was going in the right direction until Musk ****** it over.

This probably won't help

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64293744

Masterful gambit, sir!

You guys just don't get 5D chess!