Elon Musk: Officially a fraud and piece of shit. Official or unofficial war criminal?

[Chuckie Finster 22752]

Hey, maybe this guy has no idea what the fuck he is doing.

 

[SydneyCarton 48203]

Can't wait for the "Why is Europe against Free Speech" tweet from this nimrod. He's tweaking Apple, which holds about 1/3 of the market share in Europe. But you know what, why fuck with just 150 million people when you can fuck around and guarantee you get shut out entirely by the whole 445 million enchilada that is the EU? This, ladies and gentlemen, is a masterclass in spiking your own balls efficiency. Fucking professor Stumbledore over there. 

That guy could disenfranchise every single iPhone user in the US and the EU and it would STILL only be about 2/3 of the population of the entire EU. Bravo, buddy.

[BrickHorn 18289]

4 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Can't wait for the "Why is Europe against Free Speech" tweet from this nimrod.

“So I guess in Europe the First Amendment only protects woke speech now.”

['stache 21892]

1 minute ago, BrickHorn said:

“So I guess in Europe the First Amendment only protects woke speech now.”

They've been violating the second amendment for decades.

[Genco 3041]

20 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Musk is throwing a hissy fit for sure, but anyone not getting behind his pushback on the App Store (and Google to lesser degree) doesn't realize what a problem it is.

Since Twitter is basically a mobile app focused product (80% of users)... the Apple cut is going to take 30% of any profits they try to raise.

I'll take "Things that should have been considered in the valuation of Twitter BEFORE signing a binding purchase agreement" for $44 billion Alex.

[elfenix 34338]

1 hour ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

It's also funny how many people will scream about net neutrality concerns but don't see an issue with what Apple is doing / has done.

[NoName 16408]

i love the constant self owns that happen from Community Notes/Birdwatch

then below it:

[Brian Fantana 6691]

[Chopper 17287]

6 hours ago, HenryJames said:

Username checks out.

for @NeverMarryAStripperi think this response is as evergreen as it gets!

3 hours ago, MeerkatBong said:

It will be interesting to see if Musk can recruit other big name CEO/companies to create a coalition to go against Apple. Fortnite and Shopify are premiere names in consumers minds:

In taking the gloves off with Apple, Musk formed an alliance with other tech leaders who’ve been grumbling about the App Store:

 

Again, what would have other than a public company evenly enforcing published rates, policies and prices across-the board, entry for which is entirely up to the whims of a customer? Do you want congress to set the rates, establish a utility commission of some sort to set rates, let a court decide the rates, let Fortnite decide how much they want to pay apple for the privilege of being in their ecosphere? Fortnite has other ways to sell their goods...they don't NEED to be in the app stores. It's just more profitable for them to sell there yet they don't want to pay apple a profit nor for the work on apples's end to monitor Fornite's compliance.

3 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

It's very funny to see so many entities that attempt to exercise monopolistic practices themselves complain when someone else has them over a barrel. Everyone wants government help the moment the lack of regulation begins to hurt them.

Good lord you are so right. Fucking Spotify being dragged out as some sort of victim is absolutely nauseating. The company makes billions while fucking over hundreds of thousands of musicians by paying them next to nothing.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Chopper

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

39 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

Free speech absolutist.

[MeerkatBong 115]

It will be interesting to look back and see if Elmo's Twitter escapade helped to create a star in the making and new celebrity CEO. The former Chairman of the Board at Twitter and Co-CEO of Salesforce has resigned with the assumption he has bigger and better things on the horizon.

He got a lot of clout and respect in business crowds for how he handled Elmo's attempts to strong-arm and remain calm and cool and get the deal executed, essentially going toe-to-toe against him and winning. Before that he was already seen as a rising star, at least that was the perception whether you agree with his bona fides or not.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/30/bret-taylor-steps-down-as-co-ceo-of-salesforce-marc-benioff-stays-on-as-ceo.html

Edited November 30, 2022 by MeerkatBong

[ultimaton 2982]

3 hours ago, Grade of D as in David said:

Shopify charges a vig for their app store as well. Don't see them fighting against apple on this one.

Epic does as well, they take a 12% cut of every transaction made on the Epic Games Store.

[BrickHorn 18289]

1 hour ago, Brian Fantana said:

Tweeting from a locked account?

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

2 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

Tweeting from a locked account?

It’s a little buggy these days.

[Chopper 17287]

twitter fast becmong a platform for charlatans

[Deej 76946]

53 minutes ago, Chopper said:

The company makes billions while fucking over hundreds of thousands of musicians by paying them next to nothing.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

[Goredho 17422]

23 minutes ago, Chopper said:

 Fucking Spotify being dragged out as some sort of victim is absolutely nauseating. The company makes billions while fucking over hundreds of thousands of musicians by paying them next to nothing.

It’s almost like those who have no qualms with misleading and exploiting others for personal gain are aligning in an effort to dismantle all the guardrails and standards that serve to protect the mass of people from being misled and exploited.

All for Freedom.  The freedom to oppress, rob, defraud, coerce and exploit your fellow man.

Ain’t it great?

 

[NoName 16408]

22 minutes ago, ultimaton said:

Epic does as well, they take a 12% cut of every transaction made on the Epic Games Store.

basically every store does in some way shape or form. 30% is absolutely industry standard, but some like Epic are trying to change that. in part because they were hacked off at Apple taking 30% of the amount they were selling vbux for on the app store.

Amazon does if you are a third party seller, as does Facebook, etsy and eBay. these all vary greatly depending on final price, if tehy charge for listings, etc.

Steam/Epic Games for video games. Xbox and Playstation do as well. Epic does too but only 12%

Apple App Store/Google Play store for apps. As does Amazon and Samsung's "Galaxy Store"

want to know something funny/ For Twitter's SuperFollows feature (this was in beta, but not sure if it is wide or not?) Twitter takes 3% commission, up to $50k, then takes 20%.

Youtube has a 45/55 split with the creator on ads and takes 30% on memberships. Twitch I think is 50%. Patron depends but is up to 12%.

this is absolutely standard across the entire industry. if i didn't specifically call it out they are taking 30%.

[Chopper 17287]

Elon Musk claims to be “fighting for free speech in America” but the social network’s new owner appears to be overseeing a purge of left-wing activists from the platform.

Several prominent antifascist organizers and journalists have had their accounts suspended in the past week, after right-wing operatives appealed directly to Musk to ban them and far-right internet trolls flooded Twitter’s complaints system with false reports about terms of service violations.

As the Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin noted on Twitter, the suspended users include Chad Loder, an antifascist researcher whose open-source investigation of the U.S. Capitol riot led to the identification and arrest of a masked Proud Boy who attacked police officers. The account of video journalist Vishal Pratap Singh, who reports on far-right protests in Southern California, has also been suspended.

..

tried to copypaste the rest of the article but their code got in the way. Free article though https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-ngo-antifascist/\

 

Perhaps notably the article has somethings positive to say about mastodon...haven't heard any positives about them in a couple weeks until now.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Chopper

[Humble Beast 258]

Wonder if he and Tim Apple worked something out?

[Foosters 17889]

Did I create a hack when I used twitter for 3 years without once downloading an app from any store? Do I have a very special web browser?

[Firemans4Horn 18127]

1 hour ago, Humble Beast said:

Wonder if he and Tim Apple worked something out?

 

Tim released the video of him meeting with Eli

 

 

[atomheartbevo 89824]

6 hours ago, MeerkatBong said:

I agree he's probably not who you want to hitch your wagon to right now, but tech people are weirdos and tech bro politics make for strange bedfellows, I think. As stated originally, it will be interesting to watch if it gains legs or not. I tend to think it's just another one of Elmo's tempest in a teacup that will be mostly forgotten about when there is another dust-up and self-imposed humiliation in a day or two that makes headlines.

He spent $44 billion (far too much) to read Grimes's DMs, and now he's stuck with a company that pulls in $5 billion or so a year, and that has only made a profit two years out of the 16 it's been around, and he's saddled it with an extra $1 billion a year in debt.  His customers are the advertisers, and he's driven a chunk of them away. And he desperately needs to bring in more revenue, and the $8 a month blue check thing would require tens of millions of users to pony up in order to bring in billions more, and clearly those users won't/aren't.

So he needs his biggest advertisers to get back on board with what he's selling them, including his biggest advertiser from earlier in the year, Apple, a company that brought in $394 Billion this year.

And instead he's going to form a coalition to take on Apple (and Google, $282 Billion for the year) and try and not only publicly shame them, but change the industry standard of 30% and force them to make less money.

I'm not a business grad, but I'm pretty sure the technical term for that is "fucking stupid".

Which means that no, it's not going to happen, and you should find better newsletters to read.

That photo of his nightstand that he posted a few days ago, you know what that photo is?  It's a peek into the life of a very lonely man.

[Brisketexan 105433]

He spent $44 billion (far too much) to read Grimes's DMs, and now he's stuck with a company that pulls in $5 billion or so a year, and that has only made a profit two years out of the 16 it's been around, and he's saddled it with an extra $1 billion a year in debt.  His customers are the advertisers, and he's driven a chunk of them away. And he desperately needs to bring in more revenue, and the $8 a month blue check thing would require tens of millions of users to pony up in order to bring in billions more, and clearly those users won't/aren't.
So he needs his biggest advertisers to get back on board with what he's selling them, including his biggest advertiser from earlier in the year, Apple, a company that brought in $394 Billion this year.
And instead he's going to form a coalition to take on Apple (and Google, $282 Billion for the year) and try and not only publicly shame them, but change the industry standard of 30% and force them to make less money.

I'm not a business grad, but I'm pretty sure the technical term for that is "fucking stupid".
Which means that no, it's not going to happen, and you should find better newsletters to read.
That photo of his nightstand that he posted a few days ago, you know what that photo is?  It's a peek into the life of a very lonely man.

Yep. Occam’s razor. What you’re seeing with Elmo is exactly what it looks like.

[atomheartbevo 89824]

2 hours ago, Humble Beast said:

Wonder if he and Tim Apple worked something out?

Tim probably pointed at the main building and told Elon "See that building, it cost more than your company made last year."

There is nothing to work out.  Elon is trying to cause problems for Apple, trying to hurt their revenue, singling them out over industry standards, and he's loosening/removing policies that in the past sought to prevent homophobia against people like Tim Cook (who is probably the highest-profile gay CEO in the world).

If anything, Elon was probably told to think long and hard about what kind of platform he wants, and what kind of platform that companies like Apple will advertise on.

As I said, Elon is at the point of turning a business into an expensive hobby.

[MeerkatBong 115]

22 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

He spent $44 billion (far too much) to read Grimes's DMs, and now he's stuck with a company that pulls in $5 billion or so a year, and that has only made a profit two years out of the 16 it's been around, and he's saddled it with an extra $1 billion a year in debt.  His customers are the advertisers, and he's driven a chunk of them away. And he desperately needs to bring in more revenue, and the $8 a month blue check thing would require tens of millions of users to pony up in order to bring in billions more, and clearly those users won't/aren't.

So he needs his biggest advertisers to get back on board with what he's selling them, including his biggest advertiser from earlier in the year, Apple, a company that brought in $394 Billion this year.

And instead he's going to form a coalition to take on Apple (and Google, $282 Billion for the year) and try and not only publicly shame them, but change the industry standard of 30% and force them to make less money.

I'm not a business grad, but I'm pretty sure the technical term for that is "fucking stupid".

Which means that no, it's not going to happen, and you should find better newsletters to read.

That photo of his nightstand that he posted a few days ago, you know what that photo is?  It's a peek into the life of a very lonely man.

+ rep, my friend.

[Brian Fantana 6691]

29 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Tim probably pointed at the main building and told Elon "See that building, it cost more than your company made last year."

To be fair, a McDouble costs more than his company made last year

[elfenix 34338]

4 hours ago, NoName said:

basically every store does in some way shape or form. 30% is absolutely industry standard, but some like Epic are trying to change that. in part because they were hacked off at Apple taking 30% of the amount they were selling vbux for on the app store.

Amazon does if you are a third party seller, as does Facebook, etsy and eBay. these all vary greatly depending on final price, if tehy charge for listings, etc.

Steam/Epic Games for video games. Xbox and Playstation do as well. Epic does too but only 12%

Apple App Store/Google Play store for apps. As does Amazon and Samsung's "Galaxy Store"

want to know something funny/ For Twitter's SuperFollows feature (this was in beta, but not sure if it is wide or not?) Twitter takes 3% commission, up to $50k, then takes 20%.

Youtube has a 45/55 split with the creator on ads and takes 30% on memberships. Twitch I think is 50%. Patron depends but is up to 12%.

this is absolutely standard across the entire industry. if i didn't specifically call it out they are taking 30%.

the difference, of course, is that there's a lot of hurdles to running side loaded software on an iphone.  whereas with pc app stores there's no such thing, which is why there's so many of them.  microsoft can't treat it's customers as an asset and charge tolls on access.  neither can valve, epic, gog, whoever.  you can still go to gamestop and buy games there as well.  so you get 12% for epic on pc because there's a competitive store market.

apple's rent seeking behavior in charging tolls to businesses that apple's customers want to do business with is much more akin to comcast charging netflix for serving content that comcast's customers are requesting.

[Chopper 17287]

4 hours ago, Foosters said:

Did I create a hack when I used twitter for 3 years without once downloading an app from any store? Do I have a very special web browser?

I did that the last couple years and it was an improvement over the app because @'ing at anyone is almost always waste of time, and you don't see any advertisements, or sponsored tweets, or get your feed infested...you just read what/who you want.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

I bet that was a highly scripted meeting on Cook’s part.

[Surly Bevo 25177]

This is all starting to get very boring. Which is probably what Elon fears most.

[atomheartbevo 89824]

1 hour ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

I bet that was a highly scripted meeting on Cook’s part.

Lots of Tim Cook doing this:

[atomheartbevo 89824]

1 hour ago, Surly Bevo said:

This is all starting to get very boring. Which is probably what Elon fears most.

Don't worry, he's got you covered

 

[atomheartbevo 89824]

On the one hand, kudos to congratulating a competitor.

On the other hand, it should be nudging Tesla to do more than they are.  This is some writing on the wall stuff.

 

[ultimaton 2982]

2 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Don't worry, he's got you covered

 

[atomheartbevo 89824]

A week after removing the ban on posting COVID misinformation, he thinks Twitter's "trust & safety" will be better with twitter 2.0.

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21106]

 

[BrickHorn 18289]

6 hours ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

 

That USA Today headline appears to be fake. 

[Chuckie Finster 22752]

8 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Don't worry, he's got you covered

 

 

 

[NoName 16408]

11 hours ago, elfenix said:

the difference, of course, is that there's a lot of hurdles to running side loaded software on an iphone.  whereas with pc app stores there's no such thing, which is why there's so many of them.  microsoft can't treat it's customers as an asset and charge tolls on access.  neither can valve, epic, gog, whoever.  you can still go to gamestop and buy games there as well.  so you get 12% for epic on pc because there's a competitive store market.

apple's rent seeking behavior in charging tolls to businesses that apple's customers want to do business with is much more akin to comcast charging netflix for serving content that comcast's customers are requesting.

Epic only charges 12% because of getting hacked off with the Apple iOS stuff and are trying to move the market because they make $$$ per day. IIRC it had some success with Steam making change.

regarding hurdles - yeah, you can pirate the shit out of a PC game to get around Steam/Epic/Itch/wherever, download an android APK from some random chinese site and hope it's just cracked and nothing else or do the same for a windows EXE if you choose to. if you think your parents or mine can easily sideload an APK from F-Droid you have another thing coming.

i am far from an apple fanboy but to act like they are the only ones being difficult here and making bank off of their 30% is is wrong.

[MeerkatBong 115]

Another tech company publicly supporting (or trolling and egging Elmo on for his own demise), is Reed Hastings of Netflix. Read this: 

Quote

Hastings also defended Musk’s contentious acquisition of Twitter, saying he was “excited” to see what the Tesla C.E.O. does with the social media platform. “Elon Musk is the bravest, most creative person on the planet,” he said, adding, “I’m 100 percent convinced that he is trying to help the world in all of his endeavors.”

Hastings sounds like he has a crush or is a 6 year old girl. He's the stwongest and bestest and bwavest superhewo awound!

Edited December 1, 2022 by MeerkatBong

[MeerkatBong 115]

8 minutes ago, NoName said:

Epic only charges 12% because of getting hacked off with the Apple iOS stuff and are trying to move the market because they make $$$ per day. IIRC it had some success with Steam making change.

regarding hurdles - yeah, you can pirate the shit out of a PC game to get around Steam/Epic/Itch/wherever, download an android APK from some random chinese site and hope it's just cracked and nothing else or do the same for a windows EXE if you choose to. if you think your parents or mine can easily sideload an APK from F-Droid you have another thing coming.

i am far from an apple fanboy but to act like they are the only ones being difficult here and making bank off of their 30% is is wrong.

Zuck spoke out about this yesterday as well, joining Epic and Spotify in the growing chorus: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/30/business/dealbook-summit-conference#:~:text=Mr. Zuckerberg said that unlike,a conflict of interest there.”

Quote

 

“The fact that companies have to deliver their apps exclusively from platforms controlled by competitors — there is a conflict of interest there.”

Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta chief executive, said that Apple had too much power as a gatekeeper for apps in its marketplace. Compared with other platforms like Google Play or Windows, he said, Apple “is the only one where one company can control what apps get on the device,” and that is not “sustainable or good.”

Mr. Zuckerberg contrasted the Apple App Store with the Google Play app store. “Google might control what goes in the play store, but they have always made it so you can side-load and have other app stores and work directly with phone manufacturers.”

 

 

[NoName 16408]

5 minutes ago, MeerkatBong said:

Zuck spoke out about this yesterday as well, joining Epic and Spotify in the growing chorus: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/30/business/dealbook-summit-conference#:~:text=Mr. Zuckerberg said that unlike,a conflict of interest there.”

 

yeah, Zuck is unhappy that Apple just cut their legs off with asking apps not to track: https://www.vox.com/recode/22929715/facebook-apple-ads-meta-privacy

 

Quote

 

And all of those stories have a degree of truth. But the idea that Apple has hurt Facebook’s revenue in a direct and meaningful way seems the truest: Facebook says changes Apple made that affect how ads work on iOS apps — namely, that it’s now much harder for app-makers and advertisers to track user behavior — will cost it $10 billion in revenue this year.

For context: Facebook is still making an enormous amount of money from advertising — analyst Michael Nathanson estimates the company will generate $129 billion in ad revenue in 2022. But that would mean its ad business will only grow about 12 percent this year, compared to a 36 percent increase the previous year. Wall Street has prized Facebook for its ability to grow at a rocket velocity, and now that rocket may be sputtering.

 

the company i trust the LEAST with my data from FAANG absolutely Facebook and nobody is close to second.

Edited December 1, 2022 by NoName

[MeerkatBong 115]

8 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

On the one hand, kudos to congratulating a competitor.

On the other hand, it should be nudging Tesla to do more than they are.  This is some writing on the wall stuff.

 

Indeed, they need to do more before they completely lose category dominance (and sorry for subsequent posts, I should have merged all these):

https://press.spglobal.com/2022-11-29-New-EV-entries-nibbling-away-at-Tesla-EV-share,-according-to-S-P-Global-Mobility

Quote

 

Per estimates from S&P Global Mobility, Tesla’s US EV market share will drop to less than 20% by 2025, down from 65% this year and 71% last year.

As more affordable options become available, Tesla’s entry-level Model 3, which starts at $40k+, is looking increasingly pricey.

To that end, Tesla is reportedly ramping up development of a cheaper Model 3. The company is also delivering its first-ever electric Semi Truck to Pepsi today.

Big picture: Roughly 5.1% of 10.22m vehicles registered in the US through Q3 were electric, up from 2.8% in 2021. Small, but growing fast.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by MeerkatBong

[MeerkatBong 115]

4 minutes ago, NoName said:

yeah, Zuck is unhappy that Apple just cut their legs off with asking apps not to track: https://www.vox.com/recode/22929715/facebook-apple-ads-meta-privacy

 

 

Yep, I mentioned this yesterday but for anyone curious google and read about Apple's ATT (app tracking transparency) which has absolutely eaten the lunch of Facebook, Snapchat, Google, anyone who relies on targeted advertising. It's been interesting to watch companies downplay it initially and then now blame it outright on earnings calls. Like I said, it was a complete mafia boss strong arm move and it's why Apple is the $2T beast it is while everyone else in Tech is at the kiddie table.

Edited December 1, 2022 by MeerkatBong

[atomheartbevo 89824]

17 minutes ago, NoName said:

if you think your parents or mine can easily sideload an APK from F-Droid you have another thing coming.

There is no way in hell I want my parents or in-laws sideloading anything on their phones.  They get in enough trouble as it is with email.

I think Musk will move on from tilting at this particular windmill.  Even he will realize it’s fucking stupid to mess with his largest advertiser at some point, as well as somebody may have explained what would be involved if he sold his own Twitter/Tesla phone. 

[atomheartbevo 89824]

8 minutes ago, NoName said:

yeah, Zuck is unhappy that Apple just cut their legs off with asking apps not to track: https://www.vox.com/recode/22929715/facebook-apple-ads-meta-privacy

the company i trust the LEAST with my data from FAANG absolutely Facebook and nobody is close to second.

 

When Zuckerberg jumps into the fray, I automatically side against him because of Facebook’s deliberate fucking around in the past. He fucking knows full well what has been done with the data they sold/provided.

And yeah, Facebook is pissed that Apple provided some privacy protections that cut off Facebook tracking/revenue, so their reasons are far from altruistic.

[Brisketexan 105433]

7 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

 

When Zuckerberg jumps into the fray, I automatically side against him because of Facebook’s deliberate fucking around in the past. He fucking knows full well what has been done with the data they sold/provided.

And yeah, Facebook is pissed that Apple provided some privacy protections that cut off Facebook tracking/revenue, so their reasons are far from altruistic.

But....and follow me here.  The same "SUPER LIBERTY FREE SPEECH ABSOLUTIST GO ELON!" fanboys who worship all of Elon's supposed ideals, and are super-anti big tech and blah blah blah......will absolutely get in line with Zuck and crew (who they now perceive as being on Elon's side) fighting for....the right to mine every bit of your personal information and sell it to anyone in the world.  They will also line up to get their Neuralink chip installed (contrast with their freakout about getting a COVID vaccine, which was a government mind control project or somesuch).

Someday, the archeologists are going to write about this era in the history of the former United States of America as "The Age of Complete Cognitive Dissonance."  It will be fascinating for the survivors to read.

[atomheartbevo 89824]

Twitter 2.0 launch party preview, because it will be every bit as cringe-worthy.

 

[G650 14278]

1 minute ago, atomheartbevo said:

Twitter 2.0 launch party preview, because it will be every bit as cringe-worthy.

 

That Windows launch is still the all time whitest thing that has ever happened.