Tag Archives: social media

NYT: Musk Spreads Election Lies Without Restraint

The New York Times reports: In the spring of 2020, when President Donald J. Trump wrote messages on Twitter warning that increased reliance on mail-in ballots would lead to a “rigged election,” the platform ran a corrective, debunking his claims. “Get the facts about mail-in voting,” a content label read. “Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter …

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Florida House Approves Social Media Ban For Minors

The Messenger reports: The Florida House of Representatives has passed two bills banning social media for minors under age 16 and requiring age verification for pornographic sites, just two weeks into their 2024 legislative session. With House approval, the bills will now head to the state Senate before making its way to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s desk. If the governor …

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X Suspends Prominent Journalists And Progressives

The Messenger reports: The accounts of several prominent journalists and progressive-leaning influencers have been suspended by Elon Musk’s X platform for apparently violating X’s rules. The affected users include Ken Klippenstein, an investigative journalist who is on staff at The Intercept, and Texas Observer reporter, Steven Monacelli. Monacelli told The Messenger that he did not receive an explanation for the …

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X Loses SCOTUS Appeal On Surveillance Disclosures

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request by Elon Musk’s X Corp to consider whether the social media company, formerly called Twitter, can publicly disclose how often federal law enforcement seeks information about users for national security investigations. The justices declined to hear X’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling holding that the FBI’s restrictions on …

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Florida GOP Bill Would Ban Minors From Social Media

Florida Politics reports: Legislation filed late Friday would prohibit minors in Florida from having social media accounts. Fiona McFarland, a Sarasota Republican, filed the legislation (HB 1). Of note, the designation of HB 1 is normally held for priority legislation for House leadership. As written, the bill would require tech companies to enact reasonable age verification methods, prevent anyone under …

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Mutual Fund Values X At 29% Of Musk’s Purchase Price

Axios reports: Fidelity has again marked down the value of its shares in X Holdings, which the mutual fund giant helped Elon Musk buy for $44 billion when the company was known as Twitter. Fidelity believes that X is worth 71.5% less than at the time of purchase, according to a new disclosure that runs through the end of November …

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Musk Loses Suit Against CA Content Moderation Law

Reuters reports: Elon Musk’s X on Thursday failed to block a California state law that requires social media companies to publicly disclose how they moderate certain content on their platforms. X, formerly known as Twitter, in September sued California to undo the content moderation law, saying the law violated its free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and …

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Judge: Twitter Stiffed Employees On Millions In Bonuses

Reuters reports: Twitter violated contracts by failing to pay millions of dollars in bonuses that the social media company, now called X Corp, had promised its employees, a federal judge ruled on Friday. Mark Schobinger, who was Twitter’s senior director of compensation before leaving Elon Musk’s company in May, sued Twitter in June, claiming breach of contract. Schobinger’s suit alleged …

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“Rioter Central” Platform Parler To Relaunch In 2024

NBC News reports: Parler, one of the Trump-era social media apps that featured little content moderation and became popular among conservatives, has been sold again and is planning for a relaunch early next year ahead of the 2024 presidential election, its new owners said Monday. The app, known for its use by participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, will …

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Bloomberg: Twitter Ad Sales Down $1.5B Over 2022

Bloomberg News reports: Elon Musk’s X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, is on track to bring in roughly $2.5 billion in advertising revenue in 2023 — a significant slump from prior years, according to people familiar with the matter. X generated a little more than $600 million in advertising revenue in each of the first three quarters of …

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Ex-Twitter Exec’s Lawsuit: I Was Fired For Objecting To Musk Ending Sharing Our Info With Law Enforcement

Reuters reports: A former executive at Twitter Inc, now called X Corp, has filed a lawsuit claiming he was fired after Elon Musk acquired the company for objecting to budget cuts that would prevent the company from complying with a U.S. government settlement over its security practices. Alan Rosa, who was Twitter’s global head of information security, filed the lawsuit …

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YouTuber Gets Six Months For Deliberate Plane Crash

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports: An extreme sports athlete from Santa Barbara County was sentenced to six months in federal prison on Monday for intentionally crashing a small plane for a YouTube stunt and then destroying the wreckage. In November 2021, authorities say Trevor Jacob, 30, took off from the Lompoc City Airport in his single-engine Taylorcraft BL-65 on a …

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Experts Say X Posts Fueled Far-Right Riots In Dublin

CBS News reports: Elon Musk’s social media platform X has fueled far-right disinformation in Ireland and played a key role in riots last month in the country’s capital Dublin, experts tell CBS News. The violent clashes erupted on Nov. 23 between about 200 civilians and riot police in central Dublin as demonstrators vented rage after a stabbing incident that left …

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Walmart Joins Exodus Of Twitter/X Advertisers

Reuters reports: Walmart said on Friday it is not advertising on social media platform X, one of the latest brands to say it has dropped the Elon Musk-owned site. “We aren’t advertising on X as we’ve found other platforms to better reach our customers,” a Walmart spokesperson said. The platform has struggled to retain advertisers since Musk acquired the company …

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X Advertisers To Elon Musk: We Will Indeed F*ck Off

The New York Times reports: Advertisers said on Thursday that they did not plan to reopen their wallets anytime soon with X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, after its owner, Elon Musk, insulted brands using an expletive and told them not to spend on the platform. At least half a dozen marketing agencies said the brands they …

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Federal Judge Blocks Montana’s Ban On Using TikTok

Reuters reports: A U.S. judge late on Thursday blocked Montana’s first-of-its kind state ban on the use of short-video sharing app TikTok from taking effect on Jan. 1, saying it violated the free speech rights of users. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued a preliminary injunction to block the ban on the Chinese-owned app, saying the state ban “violates the …

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Elon Musk To Advertisers: “Go F*ck Yourself” [VIDEO]

Deadline reports: Elon Musk made plain his view of the widespread advertiser withdrawal this month from X, formerly Twitter. “Don’t advertise,” he advised any marketer with misgivings. “Somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising?! Blackmail me with money? Go f–k yourself. Go. F–k. Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.” The remarks came at the beginning of …

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Trump Judge Recuses From Musk’s Media Matters Suit

The Hill reports: The judge presiding over tech billionaire Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Media Matters for America has recused himself from the case, according to court documents. In a notice filed with the court on Tuesday, Judge Mark Pittman of the U.S. District Court in Northern Texas wrote that he was recusing himself from the case and requested the clerk …

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Meta Accused Of Collecting Data On Underage Users

The New York Times reports: Meta has received more than 1.1 million reports of users under the age of 13 on its Instagram platform since early 2019 yet it “disabled only a fraction” of those accounts, according to a newly unsealed legal complaint against the company brought by the attorneys general of 33 states. Instead, the social media giant “routinely …

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NYT: Twitter Likely To Lose $75M In Ads By Year’s End

The New York Times reports: X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, could lose as much as $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year as dozens of major brands pause their marketing campaigns after its owner, Elon Musk, endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory this month. Internal documents viewed by The New York Times this …

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