Elon Musk and Twitter Reach Deal for Sale (Update: WSJ report details Musk’s relationship with Putin) (1 Viewer)

[SaintForLife]

Elon Musk struck a deal on Monday to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, in a victory by the world’s richest man to take over the influential social network frequented by world leaders, celebrities and cultural trendsetters.

Twitter agreed to sell itself to Mr. Musk for $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the company’s share price this month before he revealed he was the firm’s single largest shareholder. It would be the largest deal to take a company private — something Mr. Musk has said he will do with Twitter — in at least two decades, according to data compiled by Dealogic.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Mr. Musk said in a statement announcing the deal. “Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

The deal, which has been unanimously approved by Twitter’s board, is expected to close this year, subject to a vote of Twitter shareholders and certain regulatory approvals.

The blockbuster agreement caps what had seemed an improbable attempt by the famously mercurial Mr. Musk, 50, to buy the social media company — and immediately raises questions about what he will do with the platform and how his actions will affect online speech globally.

Elon Musk and Twitter Reach Deal for Sale

Twitter agreed to be taken over at $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the share price before it was revealed that Mr. Musk had been buying up the company’s stock.

www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org

If Musk does what he claims he wants to do it will be a big improvement and good for free speech.

 

[MT15]

Evidently Putin can afford to pay for blue check marks for his trolls

 

[MT15]

Here’s an example:

“Biden offers food, water, medicine, shelter, payouts of pension and social services to Ukraine! Ohio first! Offer and deliver to Ohio!” posted one of the pro-Moscow accounts, which boasts 25,000 followers and features an anonymous location and a profile photo of a dog. Twitter awarded the account a blue check mark in January.”

Musk’s new “verification” system, which has no vetting, allows users to post longer tweets and boosts their tweets giving them more exposure.

 

[UriUT]

Twitter Isn’t Making Money. Here’s Why Musk Thinks It Could Soon.

Twitter is over $13 billion in debt. Many advertisers have fled. But CEO Elon Musk said the company has a shot at becoming cash-flow positive within a few month

www.wsj.com

Sorry no written story accompanied this video reporting.

13 billion in debt? Damn a bad investment is an understatement, that is not accounting for the overvalued sell price to start.

 

[MT15]

Elon still up to his old tricks: NPR has been labeled as “state-affiliated” which is inaccurate. This results in its tweets essentially being de-platformed by the algorithms. I follow NPR, and their tweets no longer show up in my feed, the one for accounts I follow. Then one hour after people pointed out that Twitter uses NPR as a literal example of an account that isn’t “state-affiliated”, Twitter quietly edited their policy to remove them as an example.

This isn’t the type of neutral transparency that Musk claimed he would bring.

 

[zztop]

Statement by NPR head regarding it being labeled as state affiliated media...

 

[coldseat]

To put it crudely, Elon Musk continues to show us how small his dick is.

That guys ego and vanity are as paper thin as Trump's. That seems a common occurrence on the right wing (cough, cough ... DeSantis).

 

[SaintForLife]

Here’s an example:

“Biden offers food, water, medicine, shelter, payouts of pension and social services to Ukraine! Ohio first! Offer and deliver to Ohio!” posted one of the pro-Moscow accounts, which boasts 25,000 followers and features an anonymous location and a profile photo of a dog. Twitter awarded the account a blue check mark in January.”

Musk’s new “verification” system, which has no vetting, allows users to post longer tweets and boosts their tweets giving them more exposure.

OMG, how will we survive when our brains are exposed to that? That's how Russia will take over the world. Russian blue check marks are the next Pearl Harbor!

 

[SaintForLife]

Elon still up to his old tricks: NPR has been labeled as “state-affiliated” which is inaccurate. This results in its tweets essentially being de-platformed by the algorithms. I follow NPR, and their tweets no longer show up in my feed, the one for accounts I follow. Then one hour after people pointed out that Twitter uses NPR as a literal example of an account that isn’t “state-affiliated”, Twitter quietly edited their policy to remove them as an example.

This isn’t the type of neutral transparency that Musk claimed he would bring.

How is it not considered state affiliated media if they get funding from the US government?

 

[zztop]

^ less than 1% comes directly from them

National Public Radio (NPR) - InfluenceWatch

National Public Radio (NPR) is a national nonprofit media outlet created and funded by the federal government. Though the organization claims to strive for objectivity, many media watchdogs consider NPR to have a left-of-center bias. NPR’s funding has been a point of controversy since its...

www.influencewatch.org

NPR receives funding for less than 1% of its budget directly from the federal government, but receives almost 10% of its budget from federal, state, and local governments indirectly

 

[SaintForLife]

^ less than 1% comes directly from them

National Public Radio (NPR) - InfluenceWatch

National Public Radio (NPR) is a national nonprofit media outlet created and funded by the federal government. Though the organization claims to strive for objectivity, many media watchdogs consider NPR to have a left-of-center bias. NPR’s funding has been a point of controversy since its...

www.influencewatch.org

NPR receives funding for less than 1% of its budget directly from the federal government, but receives almost 10% of its budget from federal, state, and local governments indirectly

They receive funding from the government.. period

 

[coldseat]

Media companies need to go ahead and leave Twitter to the right wing trolls. Nothing good is going to come of Twitter while Elon owns it. The rules governing everything are going be capricious and change at his whims.

They'll probably suffer with less engagement, but that's better than being subject to Elon and his idiocy.

 

[MT15]

They receive funding from the government.. period

The government doesn’t have any editorial control and you are just showing you are completely in thrall to right wing sources without any consideration for facts and truth.

Why does Twitter consider the BBC to not be state-affiliated when they get about 40-50% of their funding from the government? I can tell you why - because the government has no editorial control over their content.

This is nothing but naked partisanship by Twitter at this point - and without any of the transparency that Musk was supposedly bringing. He’s a complete butt crevasse.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

The government doesn’t have any editorial control and you are just showing you are completely in thrall to right wing sources without any consideration for facts and truth.

Why does Twitter consider the BBC to not be state-affiliated when they get about 40-50% of their funding from the government? I can tell you why - because the government has no editorial control over their content.

This is nothing but naked partisanship by Twitter at this point - and without any of the transparency that Musk was supposedly bringing. He’s a complete butt crevasse.

Exactly this. And to piggyback, I also would like SFL his thoughts on NPR being used as an example of what is not considered "state-affiliated", then being removed from the rules as an example in the wake of them receiving that label.

Hell, while we are at it, here's how Twitter defines state-affiliated media:

“outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”

Now explain to me how the hell Fox News didn't get this label when we know they bow down to political pressure?

 

[MT15]

There is a link to a story in this tweet that confirms that editorial control by the state has always been the criteria Twitter has used to apply the “state-affiliated” label and it’s accompanying downgrade by the algorithms. Musk is “looking into it” .

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[MT15]

Poor Matt. He doesn’t seem to be in the least bit familiar with his own work. Not a good look. Lol.

 

[MT15]

Elie is a funny man. This thread is well worth the read. He totally had me at Dollar Store Iron Man, lol.

 

[MT15]

Lol some more: