Social Media

PragerU Makes $1 Million Anti-Trans Ad Buy On X

NBC News reports: The Prager University Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, purchased a “takeover” ad on X on Thursday as part of a larger $1 million marketing campaign to promote its polarizing film “Detrans: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care.” The 21-minute film focuses on two people who have detransitioned, meaning they previously identified as transgender and later decided they were …

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Musk: I Bought X To Stop San Francisco’s “Mind Virus”

“I mean, this is going to sound somewhat melodramatic, but I was worried that it was having a corrosive effect on civilization. That it was just having a bad impact and, I mean, part of it is that it’s where it was located, which is, you know, downtown San Francisco, and while I think San Francisco is a beautiful city …

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Elon Musk: X Will Add “Fully-Fledged” Dating Feature

The New York Daily News reports: Elon Musk plans to add a dating element to the struggling social media platform he purchased as Twitter one year ago, then rebranded into X in July. The billionaire told employees during a Thursday video call celebrating the anniversary that he plans to add the “fully fledged” coupling component in 2024, according to Insider, …

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X Formally Valued At Less Than Half What Musk Paid

The Verge reports: Everyone knew that Twitter wasn’t worth $44 billion when Elon Musk bought it a year ago. Now, we know what Musk himself thinks the company is worth today: $19 billion. On Monday, employees at X were awarded equity in the company at a valuation of $19 billion, or $45 per share, according to internal documents seen by …

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Musk: Next Year X Users “Won’t Need A Bank Account”

The Verge reports: Elon Musk wants X to be the center of your financial world, handling anything in your life that deals with money. He expects those features to launch by the end of 2024, he told X employees during an all-hands call on Thursday, saying that people will be surprised with “just how powerful it is.” “When I say …

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Musk Offers Wikipedia $1 Billion To Change Its Name

The Hill reports: Billionaire Elon Musk offered Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, $1 billion under the condition that it changes its name to “Dickipedia.” He had previously posted a screenshot of a personal appeal from Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales stating that the website is “not for sale.” Wales has been an outspoken critic of Musk. In May, Wales condemned Musk’s …

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Supreme Court Temporarily Allows Biden Admin To Continue Requesting Action On Social Media Disinfo

The Washington Post reports: The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily allowed the Biden administration to continue its efforts to get social media companies to remove posts from their platforms that the government says are misleading. The administration had asked the justices to put on hold a lower-court ruling that found top officials likely violated the First Amendment by improperly pressuring …

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Twitter/X Removes Gold Verification Badge For NYT

The Washington Post reports: The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has removed the gold “verified” badge from the New York Times’ account amid ongoing complaints about the news organization from X owner Elon Musk. The badge was the only symbol distinguishing the Times’ 55-million-follower account from impostors amid two major global conflicts in Israel and Ukraine. X …

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Team Biden Passes Team Trump In Truth Social Follows

Axios reports: President Biden’s campaign has surpassed former President Trump’s in followers on Truth Social. The Biden campaign pithily announced it was joining his likely 2024 presidential race competitor on Trump’s Twitter-like platform, as they both vie to appear extremely online. “The U.S. presidential campaign is playing out in real time on Truth Social,” Truth Social said in an email …

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Twitter/X To Test $1 Annual Subscription For New Users

Reuters reports: Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, said on Tuesday it will test a new subscription model under which it will charge $1 annual fee for basic features. The new subscription termed as “Not A Bot” will charge users for likes, reposts or quoting other accounts’ posts, and bookmarking posts on the web version of the platform. …

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Biden Campaign Joins Truth Social: “Converts Welcome”

The Hill reports: The Biden campaign Monday joined Truth Social, the platform founded by former President Trump, pushing its message on a platform largely dominated by the former president and his followers. “Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!” the campaign wrote in its first post on the platform under the handle @BidenHQ. The campaign followed up with another …

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EU Launches New Hate Speech/Terrorism Probe Into X

Via press release from the European Commission: Today the European Commission services formally sent X a request for information under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This request follows indications received by the Commission services of the alleged spreading of illegal content and disinformation, in particular the spreading of terrorist and violent content and hate speech. The request addresses compliance with …

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X Moves To Comply With EU On Hamas Accounts

Reuters reports: The X social media platform has removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts and taken action to remove or label tens of thousands of pieces of content since the militant group’s attack on Israel, its chief executive Linda officer Yaccarino said on Thursday. The move came in response to EU industry chief Thierry Breton’s 24 hour-ultimatum to Elon Musk to …

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EU Issues Stern Warning To Twitter Over War Disinfo

The Guardian reports: The EU has issued a warning to Elon Musk over the alleged disinformation about the Hamas attack on Israel, including fake news and “repurposed old images”, on X, which was formerly known as Twitter. The letter arrives less than two months after sweeping new laws regulating content on social media seen in the EU came into force …

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Musk Continues To Amplify Israel-Hamas War Disinfo

Wired reports: On Monday night, what is left of the trust and safety team at X (formerly Twitter) announced the measures it was taking to try and put the genie back in the bottle and curb the virulent spread of disinformation around the Israel-Hamas war on its platform. The statement, issued three days after the conflict began, reads: “As the …

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Musk Promotes Fake News Accounts As War Sources

The Washington Post reports: As false information about the rapidly changing war between Gaza Strip militants and Israel proliferated on the social media platform X over the weekend, owner Elon Musk personally recommended that users follow accounts notorious for promoting lies. “For following the war in real-time, @WarMonitors & @sentdefender are good,” Musk posted on the platform formerly called Twitter …

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Twitter Rolls Out Unmarked Ads That Can’t Be Blocked

Mashable reports: X, the Elon Musk-owned platform formerly known as Twitter, has begun serving its users with a weird new ad format and it’s one of the company’s least transparent products yet. The rollout of these ads also provides the public with a hint regarding just how much the company is struggling to attract advertisers. These new X ads don’t …

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SEC Sues Musk To Compel Testimony On Buying Twitter

Reuters reports: Billionaire Elon Musk is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over his 2022 purchase of social media giant Twitter, according to a Thursday court filing in which the agency sought to compel Musk to provide testimony. The investigation concerns whether Musk broke federal securities laws in connection with his 2022 purchases of stock in Twitter, …

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Twitter Removes Headlines From Linked News Articles

The Guardian reports: X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has stopped showing headlines for links posted on the site, after site owner Elon Musk said it would make posts look better. Links posted on Twitter now appear as the image included in the article, as well as text in the left-hand corner of the image noting the domain of …

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Reuters: Banks Might “Take Back The Keys” To Twitter

Reuters reports: X is still worth something, but not for the people running it. Boss Linda Yaccarino is set to present her plans for the social network formerly known as Twitter to bankers holding nearly $13 billion of its debt, the Financial Times reported. Looming over talks is the likelihood that X’s value is substantially less than even that figure. …

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