Social Media

Mediaite reports: Elon Musk tweeted that “legal action is being taken” against 20-year-old Jack Sweeney, who ran the now-banned Twitter account that tracked Musk’s private jet. Presumably, Musk plans to sue him. Since taking over Twitter, the billionaire has pledged to make the platform safe for “free speech.” On Wednesday, Twitter changed its terms of service to prohibit flight-tracking on …

Fortune reports: Elon Musk, who lost his No. 1 spot on Bloomberg’s ranking of the world’s richest people this week, unloaded Tesla Inc. stock for the fourth time this year. Tesla’s chief executive officer sold almost 22 million shares of the electric-car maker for $3.58 billion, a filing showed late Wednesday in the US. The transactions happened between Dec. 12 and Dec. …

From the Justice Department: A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas returned an indictment that was unsealed yesterday charging eight men with conspiracy to commit securities fraud for a long-running, social media-based “pump and dump” scheme. According to court documents, Edward Constantinescu, aka Constantin, 38, of Montgomery, Texas; Perry “PJ” Matlock, 38, of The Woodlands, Texas; John …

Axios reports: Twitter has clipped the wings of the account that actively tracked Elon Musk’s private jet, the owner of the account said Wednesday. The suspension raises questions about Musk’s commitment to free speech on Twitter. Musk said in early November that his “commitment to free speech” included the account following his plane. Florida college student Jack Sweeney, the owner …

The Daily Beast reports: Elon Musk, who implored his army of Twitter followers to vote Republican in the 2022 midterms, did not vote in the election, state records show. “Based on our records, we do not have any indication that Mr. Musk participated in the November 2022 Election in Cameron County,” the county’s election administrator told The Daily Beast. The …

The New York Times reports: Over the past two weeks, Elon Musk has shaken up Twitter’s legal department, disbanded a council that advised the social media company on safety issues and is continuing to take drastic steps to cut costs. Mr. Musk appears to be gearing up for legal battles at Twitter. He and his team have revamped Twitter’s legal …

CNBC reports: A new bill from a bipartisan group of lawmakers, if passed, would ban TikTok in the U.S. after years of broad concern across the Trump and Biden administrations about potential Chinese government influence on the company. The new bill, introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., would ban “all transactions …

The Washington Post reports: Twitter on Monday night abruptly dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the latest sign that Elon Musk is unraveling years of work and institutions created to make the social network safer and more civil. Members of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council received an email with the subject line, “Thank You,” that informed them the council was …

The Hill reports: Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Sunday suggested the platform will dramatically increase character limits on tweets from 280 to 4,000. “Elon is it true that Twitter is set to increase the characters from 280 to 4000?” one user tweeted at the social media platform’s new owner. “Yes,” Musk responded. Such a change would shift Twitter away from …

Gizmodo reports: Elon Musk, the billionaire who wants nothing more in life than to be adored by legions of fans, was loudly booed by a crowd in San Francisco on Sunday night after he was invited onstage by comedian Dave Chappelle. And the footage is pretty rough, even if you don’t particularly like Musk. “Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise …

Bloomberg News reports: Elon Musk posted tweets including an excerpt of Yoel Roth’s doctoral dissertation Saturday that suggested the former Twitter executive is an advocate for child sexualization — a baseless trope that leaves Roth susceptible to online abuse. “Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis,” tweeted …

Newsweek reports: Twitter CEO Elon Musk declared on Sunday that his “pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” taking aim at the top immunologist. Musk’s early morning tweet about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the soon-to-be retired chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, is the latest case where the billionaire has won praise from conservatives on the social media platform. In his tweet, the billionaire, …

The Hill reports: Twitter announced it will relaunch its subscription service on Monday, although prices will be higher for Apple users in an apparent jab at the tech giant’s fees on in-app purchases. The social media company said users can subscribe to Twitter Blue, which includes a blue checkmark, editing abilities and 1080-pixel video uploads, for $8 per month if …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott banned the social media platform TikTok from government-issued cellphones and computers on Wednesday, becoming the latest GOP governor to target the video-sharing app over cybersecurity fears. Abbott cited concerns that TikTok posed a threat to state information given that the app is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd. Republican governors in South …

Bloomberg Law reports:  The mass layoffs and constructive discharges that have hit Twitter Inc. since Elon Musk bought the company have impacted female employees to a significantly greater degree than male workers, a new class lawsuit charges. That women were more affected by Musk’s immediately laying off more than half of Twitter’s workforce and his “quickly implemented new policies” is …

The Daily Beast reports: Elon Musk lost the title of world’s richest person on Wednesday, according to Forbes’ billionaire rankings. The Tesla CEO lost $3.4 billion of his net worth overnight as the electric car company’s stock plummetted. So far this year, Musk has lost more than $100 billion to the carmaker’s tanking stock, though previous losses didn’t affect his …

Fox News reports: Elon Musk revealed he “personally wanted to punch” Kanye West after the rapper posted a photo of a swastika to Twitter. “How are you going to balance the level to which we speak about the freedom of expression on Twitter?” Musk was asked during a Live Q&A regarding “Twitter files,” which revealed how the tech giant censored …

Mediaite reports: Actor and outspoken conservative James Woods is promising a lawsuit against the DNC following revelations from Elon Musk about Twitter’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story. Matt Taibbi shared one internal communication that included a James wood tweet apparently sent to the company “from the DNC.” “Celebrities and unknowns alike could be removed or reviewed at the …

The New York Times reports: The World Cup has historically been a boon for Twitter, bringing in record traffic and an influx of advertising dollars. But this time, when the global soccer tournament started on Nov. 20, Twitter’s U.S. ad revenue was running at 80 percent below internal expectations for that week, three people with knowledge of the figures said. …

Politico Europe reports: Twitter needs to comply with EU rules on content moderation and other online policies, French President Emmanuel Macron told Elon Musk in a meeting on Friday. “Transparent user policies, significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech: efforts have to be made by Twitter to comply with European regulations,” Macron said after what he …