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


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4 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

This is kind of misleading. X people browsing twitter is quite different from the same number of people trying to simultaneously establish a connection with a stream.

Either way, it's the kind of load balancing problem that was solved many years ago and it's hilarious to see them consistently fail at it.

 

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1 hour ago, Brian Fantana said:

This is kind of misleading. X people browsing twitter is quite different from the same number of people trying to simultaneously establish a connection with a stream.

Either way, it's the kind of load balancing problem that was solved many years ago and it's hilarious to see them consistently fail at it.

South Austin's mom is pretty clever.  For a whore.

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1 hour ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Page 420?  Elon sure as hell would be celebrating this

 

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Not trying to be anti LGBTQ, but this pic makes Elon look like those lesbians that MAGA always makes fun of for being passionate or angry about something. 

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2 hours ago, Brian Fantana said:

Either way, it's the kind of load balancing problem that was solved many years ago and it's hilarious to see them consistently fail at it.

It's one that twitter faces all of the time during events like the Super Bowl, the Olympics, major college football games, Formula 1 races, breaking news events (Trump being wounded probably hitting twitter harder than last night's interview), etc.

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13 minutes ago, mdmost said:

HELL YEAH! This is how you make this bullshit stop. Hit these fuckers where it hurts, their pockets. 

That's not how criminal complaints filed in France work.  The most France could do is ask the US to prosecute him under a similar law, which we don't have because of 1A.

But I am here to be in on 420.

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1 hour ago, C-Man said:

Elon and JK Rowling named in a "cyberbullying lawsuit" filed by female Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who won gold in Paris.

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/jk-rowling-elon-musk-imane-khelif-lawsuit-1236105185/

 

 

1 hour ago, mdmost said:

HELL YEAH! This is how you make this bullshit stop. Hit these fuckers where it hurts, their pockets. 

Petrificus Totalus
 

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8 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I know a lot don’t like him, but I appreciate his trolling

 

That picture of Trump is like the 20 year old facebook profile picture of the girls I knew in highschool.

i.e. not at all reflective of present reality.

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2 hours ago, JBJ said:

That's not how criminal complaints filed in France work.  The most France could do is ask the US to prosecute him under a similar law, which we don't have because of 1A.

But I am here to be in on 420.

I'm not sure that is 100% true.

On most of the continent, the judiciary is actively involved in investigating offenses as well as trying them.  The system is "inquisitorial" rather than adversarial.  The court issues subpoenas and similar process and even questions witnesses.  Most of the submissions by the lawyers are in writing and the judge does all the talking and questioning.

The key question here is whether French jurisdictional law permits their criminal courts to reach those who never set foot in France in committing their crimes.

Also, in many cases where civil and criminal law overlap, filing a criminal complaint is a prerequisite to filing a civil suit for damages.

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3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I'm not sure that is 100% true.

On most of the continent, the judiciary is actively involved in investigating offenses as well as trying them.  The system is "inquisitorial" rather than adversarial.  The court issues subpoenas and similar process and even questions witnesses.  Most of the submissions by the lawyers are in writing and the judge does all the talking and questioning.

The key question here is whether French jurisdictional law permits their criminal courts to reach those who never set foot in France in committing their crimes.

Also, in many cases where civil and criminal law overlap, filing a criminal complaint is a prerequisite to filing a civil suit for damages.

A key thing to remember is that these criminal complaints are closer to a police report than they are to criminal charges— they oblige prosecutors and investigators to respond to the filing but they have not overcome any threshold.  This is a citizen claiming they have been victimized by a crime, unlike criminal charges in the U.S. which means that the state has decided a crime happened and that you probably did it.
 

They are extremely low-cost and in many countries it’s a popular pastime to file complaints of various degrees of seriousness against political or even entertainment industry rivals mostly to create headlines.
 

 

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'Musk’s X using far-right hate to promote ads for Daily Telegraph and Saudi Arabia'

https://inews.co.uk/news/musk-x-twitter-far-right-advertising-saudi-arabia-daily-telegraph-3224883

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Adverts promoting The Daily Telegraph, Saudi Arabia and investment firm eToro have appeared alongside far-right figures on X, helping to boost Elon Musk’s revenues, i can reveal.

The tech billionaire is facing a backlash from several major brands after an i analysis revealed paid-for adverts for many high-profile companies are appearing next to controversial posters.

Promotional material for The Telegraph appears under tweets from Paul Golding, one of Britain’s most notorious fascists and co-leader of the far-right group Britain First.

Golding, who has been jailed for a series of hate crimes against Muslims, was banned from Twitter in 2017 for posting anti-Muslim videos. He was allowed back on X by Mr Musk last year.

The tech tycoon has reinstated several far-right figures onto X since he took over the platform in 2022, and i‘s disclosure shows how the world’s richest man is profiting from far-right hate.

It will also raise renewed questions over regulation of social media in the wake of last week’s riots and Mr Musk’s spat with Keir Starmer.

Screenshots of the two Telegraph adverts appearing under Paul Golding’s X post. i has made the decision not to show the original posts, but the URL showing Golding’s profile is visible

Also appearing under Golding’s tweets is promotional material for Saudi Vision 2030, a government programme that aims to increase “diversification” of the country in “line with the vision of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman”.

Golding is also a former member of the British National Party and National Front.

Other ads to appear under tweets from him were for eToro, a leading investment platform; event company Manchester Central; a nationwide social care agency; two gambling sites; the Colombia tourist board – and Shout Out UK – a group that educates voters about extremism and misinformation.

i understands The Telegraph takes the view it has no control over the placement of ads on X. It is unclear if the newspaper is looking to pause adverts or investigate further.

i also discovered leading anti-virus software company McAfee had ads placed under a post made by influencer Andrew Tate, who is not considered far-right but spread misinformation inflaming anti-migrant anger in the wake of the Southport stabbings.

He is also known for his misogynistic posts.

He and his brother Tristan were arrested in Romania last December over allegations of rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang – charges they deny.

Mr Musk reinstated Mr Tate to Twitter in 2022. He had been banned from the site in 2017.

McAfee’s advert was under a conspiratorial tweet from the influencer claiming people are supporting “the destruction of free speech in the UK” and that “history shows [these people] may get shot last but they’ll still be shot”.

After being alerted by i that its ads were appearing alongside Mr Tate, McAfee said: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have paused all advertising on X pending further investigation.”

Several other companies have also now decided to pause or review their relationship with X following i’s investigation.

Manchester Central, which is advertised as “an award-winning venue in the heart of one of Europe’s most vibrant cities”, paused its adverts after being alerted. A spokesperson said: “We are extremely concerned to learn that advertising has appeared alongside hate speech on the X platform.” Helping Hands care agency did likewise.

An advert for Shout Out UK, an organisation seeking to help voters “identify disinformation for themselves, extreme views and conspiracy theories” was seen under a tweet from Golding in which he shared a video with the caption: “An immigrant attacks a native Irish citizen in county Donegal.”

Shout Out UK is reviewing any further adverts with X.

Mr Musk had previously announced a general amnesty to some suspended accounts in what he claimed was the pursuit of protecting free speech.

Elon Musk is CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, and owner of X (Photo: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – the co-founder of the English Defence League, had his X profile reactivated last year after it been banned in 2018.

He thanked Mr Musk last week for giving what he said was a “voice for truth”, and called the billionaire “the best thing to happen for free speech this century”. The far-right figure now has almost one million followers on X.

The anti-Islam campaigner has been accused of stoking up racial tensions that led to violence and disorder across the UK after the Southport stabbings, including describing the riots as “justified”. These posts racked up more than 400 million views.

Unlike Golding, who is allowed to make money from adverts that appear alongside his tweets, ads do not appear on Yaxley-Lennon’s account.

However, digital advertising experts say these far-right accounts still contribute to X’s ability to generate revenue by bringing people to the platform.

Jake Dubbins, co-founder of the Conscious Advertising Network (CAN), said: “The business model is attention. The system works in a way that it can tell, ‘We’ve got lots of people looking at our website, so we’re going to set our price at this,’ and therefore when advertisers knowingly or unknowingly appear on their website they will be charged for that.”

Imran Ahmed, founder of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) told i he was concerned at advertisers funding X: “His platform is increasingly as toxic as Telegram, but remains monetised by advertisers as though it were a mainstream platform. Even when individual posters aren’t monetised on their feed, X itself places ads on people’s For You (algorithm-led) feeds, meaning disinformation and hate are still being rewarded.”

Rioters outside the Holiday Inn Express Hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty)

Other far-right figures Mr Musk has allowed back onto X include Golding’s Britain First co-founder Ashlea Simon, British far-right writers Katie Hopkins and Milo Yiannopoulos, and US alt-right figures Anthime Gionet – known as Baked Alaska – and Rogan O’Handley – known as DC Draino

Since being allowed back onto to X, their hugely popular profiles have racked up millions of views and boosted revenue for Mr Musk.

An advert for Shout out UK under one of Golding’s posts. Original posts not shown, URL showing Golding’s profile is visible.

Although it is difficult to calculate exactly how much Mr Musk has made from reinstating these individuals, last year the CCDH estimated that 10 “toxic” reinstated accounts could have generated up to $19m in advertising revenue for X. Those profiles included Mr Tate, but not Yaxley-Lennon, Golding or Simon.

CCDH’s Mr Ahmed said: “Elon Musk’s X has played a significant role in these riots, with algorithms turbocharging the spread of lies spread by bad actors he let back onto the platform, after the previous owners banned them for spreading hate and lies.”

How do adverts appear on X?

Brands advertising on X can not ordinarily request where adverts appear on the platform.

Instead, an algorithm determines where their promotions pop up.

This is based on a number of variables, from the amount of money the brand is willing to pay to the quality of the advert itself.

A brand can opt for their advert to appear to certain audiences, including for those associated with certain key words. For example, a brand may look to target their advert at someone who is interested in “politics” or “cooking” or “wild swimming”.

X has a ‘help centre’ for advertisers

This means adverts tend to be shown to a broad range of people and so can unexpectedly appear in parts of the website that may not align to a brand’s values.

Although it’s not thought that an advertiser can block where their adverts appear on X, they can adjust what is known as “Sensitivity Settings” on the platform. A brand can adopt a higher or lower risk in regards to what content their advert appears next to on the For You page, the algorithm-led news feed. It does not appear to affect adverts shown in tweet replies.

According to X’s website, a brand may opt for “standard” sensitivity, which would see their adverts avoid “targeted hate speech, explicit sexual content, gratuitous gore, excessive profanity”.

Some social media sites allow brands to set up specific exclusions for pages, but it is not clear if this is the case on X.

Jake Dubbins, co-founder of the Conscious Advertising Network (CAN), said advertisers often do not know where their promotions are shown.

“We talk a lot about transparency, and we’ve never called for any kind of boycott but advertisers have the right to know where their adverts are appearing, and the right to know if their money is then going directly or indirectly to certain profiles as a revenue share,” he said.

How Musk makes money from the far right

Since CCDH’s research was published in February 2023, technology changes brought in by Musk have made it harder to calculate X’s potential earnings from advertising.

i has manually been recording tweet impressions across a range of far-right accounts. Our analysis showed last week that Yaxley-Lennon gained 354 million impressions, which is the number of times a post is displayed. Some 95 million impressions were generated on just one day.

Two adverts from The Telegraph were seen by i alongside posts from Golding and Simon. One was shown alongside Golding’s post sharing Simon’s video complaining the police had barred her from entering Blackpool, where she planned to launch a protest.

The second appeared below a post from Golding with a video that he captioned: “Mobs of African migrants enrich British culture in Bradford.” The racist post shows men fighting on the street.

Other posts from Golding include racist and fearmongering AI images, such as one that shows a white and blonde-haired teenager wearing a Union Jack t-shirt crying and frightened, while standing on a bus surrounded by people from ethnic minority groups, who crowd around her laughing.

In another post, he refers to migrants as “feral invaders”, and in a further one, he writes that “multiculturalism will mean the disappearance of white people”.

Golding gained 36 million impressions last week. When approached for comment, he did not refute any of the reporting in this piece.

Adverts promoting Saudi Arabia and Colombia were also recorded. Original posts not shown, URL showing Golding’s profile is visible

Mr Dubbins of the Conscious Advertising Network said these companies may be unaware that their brands are appearing alongside such contentious profiles. “I find it bewildering [these adverts showed there] and I wonder if The Telegraph and McAfee know,” he added.

“We talk a lot about transparency, and we’ve never called for any kind of boycott but advertisers have the right to know where their adverts are appearing and the right to know if their money is then going directly or indirectly to certain profiles as a revenue share.”

i analysed how many adverts were shown on average on Paul Golding’s posts and using the latest rate for the cost of these types of adverts, was able to generate a rough idea of the potential annual advertising earnings brought in by his profile.

Golding is on the lower end in terms of the number of followers, with around 212,000. Andrew Tate, for comparison, has 9.8 million.

An advert for eToro was seen below a post made by Golding. Original post not shown, URL showing Golding’s profile is visible

Looking at the average number of impressions generated on his posts in the last week, if that number proved stable throughout the year, Golding’s account could bring in an estimated $70,500 (£55,000) for X. Golding has a verified account which makes him eligible for a cut of these proceeds.

This estimate is based on the assumption that all views of the advert count towards generative revenue. In the past it was only views from other verified accounts that counted, but it’s unclear whether this policy remains.

In the past 18 months, the cost for advertising on X has plummeted as it has struggled to attract brands. Jack Moore, head of social at media agency Hatch Group, told Ad Week that advertisers now pay X $0.38 per 1,000 impressions. In February 2023, when CCDH carried out its investigation, they cited a price of $6.38.

Last week, Mr Musk sued food giants Unilever and Mars, along with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), accusing them of unlawfully agreeing to mount a boycott the site.

Pressure mounts on Musk

Mr Musk is under scrutiny as evidence mounts that he and his company are earning revenue off the back of extremist and hate speech on the platform.

The billionaire owner of X went on the offensive when Sir Keir Starmer demanded platforms such as his must do more to combat misinformation and hate speech.

Mr Musk called the Prime Minister “two-tier Keir, in reference to the conspiracy theory which claims UK police treat white far-right agitators more harshly than those from an ethnic minority.

The American CEO has repeatedly posted on X complaining about Sir Keir, and has called the UK leader’s comments “insane”.

Keir Starmer has been criticisd by Mr Musk (Photo: Alberto Pezzali/AFP)

In the UK, the Online Safety Act was passed last year, and is designed to give authorities greater powers to crack down on “illegal content” online. However, it does not come into effect until 2025.

Under the law, companies face fines of up to £18m or 10 per cent of their revenue worldwide (whichever is larger).

Richard Wilson, director of Stop Funding Hate, told i: “If you advertise on X right now, then you’re enabling dangerous lies and hate, whether or not your ads appear directly alongside that content.

“All X is doing by stopping ads from showing on a few of the most extreme accounts is saving the blushes of advertisers and making their complicity less obvious.

“Demonetising an individual X account does nothing to reduce real-world harm if that account is still being allowed to spread toxic lies to millions of people.”

A spokesperson for McAfee told i: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have paused all advertising on X pending further investigation.

“Our mission is to create a safe digital world for all, and we’re committed to doing all we can to help our customers live their lives online safely and with confidence.”

A spokesperson for Manchester Central said: “We are extremely concerned to learn that advertising has appeared alongside hate speech on the X platform.

“We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind and we were unaware of this placement. In light of these findings, we have immediately suspended all advertising on X.”

Matteo Bergamini, CEO of Shout Out UK, said the advert shown alongside Golding’s post had been funded by a programme from X that offers adverting credits for social campaigns, and was not funded by by Shout Out UK.

He said: “We are currently reviewing our working relationship with X and have confirmed that any public sector funding received will not be used on the platform.”

A spokesperson for Helping Hands said: “We care for people as a daily priority, and kindness is at the foundation of everything we do. We absolutely do not tolerate hate speech or discrimination.

“We are therefore upset to learn that our adverts have appeared alongside content which is so misaligned with our values.

“Though we were previously unaware of this issue, we have paused all adverts on X and are reviewing our approach to targeted advertising as a priority.”

i approached eToro, Vision 2030 Saudi Arabia, Colombia tourism, and Lord Ping gambling, for comment, but did not receive a reply at the time of publication.

Robinson and Mr Tate were approached for a comment but did not respond.

X did not respond to comment, beyond an auto-reply email stating “Busy now, please check back later.”

 

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/13/musk-ordered-to-pay-x-employee-470000-for-unfair-dismissal

I'm surprised anyone stuck around at that shithole

Quote

Twitter has been ordered to pay a record fine of more than €550,000 (£470,000) to a former senior employee at its European headquarters in Ireland, after it was found to have dismissed him unfairly when he failed to respond to an email from Elon Musk calling on staff to be “extremely hardcore”.

When Musk paid $44bn in October 2022 for the social media platform, which he rebranded the following year as X, Gary Rooney was a director of “source-to-pay”, a procurement role, in Twitter International’s Dublin office.

Within weeks of the takeover, the billionaire sent a message to staff outlining his vision for the business.

“Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore,” the South Africa-born entrepreneur wrote.

“This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing a grade.”

The message was known as the “Fork in the Road”, a phrase Musk deployed again this week in reference to America, during an interview late on Monday with former president Donald Trump, who the Tesla boss said offered a “path to prosperity”.

In the email, Musk wrote: “If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below,” adding that staff who did not would receive three months’ severance pay.

Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), the country’s employment tribunal, heard that Rooney did not click “yes”.

Three days later, on 19 November, he received another email from the company “to acknowledge your decision to resign and accept the voluntary separation offer”.

 

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12 minutes ago, JMFP said:

Just got called in this morning for the random drug test. My company is making my group take a breathalyzer now too. Glad I only had two bourbons last night...  

Not sure whether this thread is where you meant to post this, so perhaps you're playing with fire right now... 

How heavy were your pours? 

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Just now, Prepuce of Doom said:

Not sure whether this thread is where you meant to post this, so perhaps you're playing with fire right now... 

How heavy were your pours? 

I wanted to be in on the 420 talk but didn't have much else to contribute. 

It was good, just Bulleit so not high end but still makes a decent old fashioned. 

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23 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

A key thing to remember is that these criminal complaints are closer to a police report than they are to criminal charges— they oblige prosecutors and investigators to respond to the filing but they have not overcome any threshold.  This is a citizen claiming they have been victimized by a crime, unlike criminal charges in the U.S. which means that the state has decided a crime happened and that you probably did it.
 

They are extremely low-cost and in many countries it’s a popular pastime to file complaints of various degrees of seriousness against political or even entertainment industry rivals mostly to create headlines.
 

 

Yes and one of the more amusing things, if the complaint is filed by a third party (not the victim or a law-enforcement official) it is often called a "denunciation."

It's not really funny, but the practice of denouncing dissenters in autocracies, notably the Soviet Union and I believe Nazi Germany, kind of cracked me up:  "I denounce thee (and then I throw dog poopy on your shoes)."

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3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yes and one of the more amusing things, if the complaint is filed by a third party (not the victim or a law-enforcement official) it is often called a "denunciation."

It's not really funny, but the practice of denouncing dissenters in autocracies, notably the Soviet Union and I believe Nazi Germany, kind of cracked me up:  "I denounce thee (and then I throw dog poopy on your shoes)."

That's an interesting point about the third-party complaint. "Denunciar" (at least in Portuguese) can mean "to report" and "to complain (about)" as well as "denounce", so that term makes some sense without necessarily having the same harshness that denouncing someone has in English. Plus the dog poopy toss following the denunciation is never not funny.

I'd also go with "I rebuke thee!" prior to the flinging of Fido's feces if possible.

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2 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

Jesus, Musk doesn't need AI. He just needs his own lame content moderation to write the jokes now

Mike Judge could not have written a more cartoony character for a 7th season of Silicon Valley.

And having started rewatching SV (and Veep), it maybe more relevant now than when it first aired.

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2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Mike Judge could not have written a more cartoony character for a 7th season of Silicon Valley.

And having started rewatching SV (and Veep), it maybe more relevant now than when it first aired.

Mike Judge is always ahead of the curve.

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