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]

 

[Optimus Prime]

It looks like they’ve finally done it. For years, the far right has repeatedly tried and failed to set up a social network of their own – one where they can spread conspiracy theories and sow hate without any of the pesky content moderation that happens on the big tech platforms.

Numerous sites including MeWe, Parler, Gab, Gettr and Trump’s own Truth Social have popped up but none of them have really gained any traction.

Indeed Parler, the self-described “uncancelable free-speech social platform” Kanye West tried to buy last year, shut down in April. “No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business any more,” Parler’s parent company said in a statement.

You know why that is? Because there’s no longer any need: Elon Musk has successfully turned Twitter into a site where extremists have free rein. There isn’t even a head of content moderation any more: on Thursday, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, resigned.

Twitter lurched to the right almost immediately after Musk acquired the social network last year and started bringing back banned accounts. “Elon now controls twitter. Unleash the racial slurs … ” one account proclaimed after the purchase was completed. The use of racist language soared as bigots felt emboldened. Twitter has felt (extra) toxic ever since Musk took over but in recent weeks things have become even more extreme. It feels as if the rightwing takeover of Twitter is complete.

Ron DeSantis’s decision to announce his presidential run in a Twitter audio event last month was one major marker of this shift to a more explicitly partisan Twitter. “Fox News used to be the place where conservatives went to break news.

But the rightwing ecosystem has turned on the network, leaving Twitter as the center of media gravity for the Republican party just as the 2024 election heats up,” Axios noted at the time.

Bolstering Twitter’s credentials as the new center of the conservative ecosystem is Tucker Carlson’s recent announcement that he’ll be launching a new version of his show on the platform.

Before getting fired from Fox News, Carlson was the highest-rated cable show host in history, and he used his immense platform to push testicle tanning and white supremacy…….

Twitter’s rightwing takeover is complete. Why are liberals still on it?

Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company has transformed it into the center of the conservative media ecosystem

www.theguardian.com

 

[MT15]

This is so very true of Twitter. I saw a thread yesterday filled with threats against Biden, just blatant calls for his death. Would have fit in on 4chan easily. I reported the first few, then just blocked everyone because there were way too many to report all of them. I suspect a great deal of them are foreign agents who desperately want the US to fall apart. They’re not normal people, at least that much is for sure. As of this moment, I have not heard anything back and assume the tweets are still up.

Example: one addressed another person in the thread and said This is our only hope with a GIF of a military sniper drawing his weapon and zeroing in on a target.

 

[MT15]

So, this is the third completely moronic, horrible take I’ve seen Jack post. I think becoming a billionaire makes you lose any common sense you ever had. These tech bros won a lottery and think that makes them smart.

 

[MT15]

 

[MT15]

 

[zztop]

I'm shocked

Twitter’s U.S. Ad Sales Plunge 59% as Woes Continue (Published 2023)

In internal forecasts, the company projected that ad sales would keep declining, handing a tough challenge to its new chief executive.

www.nytimes.com

you know it is bad when an ice cream company calls you out

Ben & Jerry’s axe Twitter budget – how many brands will follow?

Twitter’s “content moderation has become all but non-existent” stated Ben & Jerry’s. Improper regulation puts the platform at risk of becoming a “toxic cesspit” of hate speech, sinking Twitter further into dangerous waters if more brands leave the platform.

www.performancemarketingworld.com

In a statement the ice cream brand said: "We’ve watched with great concern the developments at Twitter following Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media platform. Hate speech is up dramatically while content moderation has become all but non-existent.

“Musk himself has doubled down on dangerous anti-democratic lies and white nationalist hate speech. The platform has become a threatening and even dangerous space for people from so many backgrounds, including people who are Black, Brown, trans, gay, women, people with disabilities, Jewish, Muslim and the list goes on. This is unconscionable in addition to being plain bad business.”

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

I'm shocked

Twitter’s U.S. Ad Sales Plunge 59% as Woes Continue (Published 2023)

In internal forecasts, the company projected that ad sales would keep declining, handing a tough challenge to its new chief executive.

www.nytimes.com

you know it is bad when an ice cream company calls you out

Ben & Jerry’s axe Twitter budget – how many brands will follow?

Twitter’s “content moderation has become all but non-existent” stated Ben & Jerry’s. Improper regulation puts the platform at risk of becoming a “toxic cesspit” of hate speech, sinking Twitter further into dangerous waters if more brands leave the platform.

www.performancemarketingworld.com

In a statement the ice cream brand said: "We’ve watched with great concern the developments at Twitter following Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media platform. Hate speech is up dramatically while content moderation has become all but non-existent.

“Musk himself has doubled down on dangerous anti-democratic lies and white nationalist hate speech. The platform has become a threatening and even dangerous space for people from so many backgrounds, including people who are Black, Brown, trans, gay, women, people with disabilities, Jewish, Muslim and the list goes on. This is unconscionable in addition to being plain bad business.”

Musk still sticking with "most advertisers have returned" lie?

 

[MT15]

Musk still sticking with "most advertisers have returned" lie?

The last thing I saw was that he finally acknowledged that he’s having a problem but put the blame squarely on some sort of conspiracy to stop free speech, lol.

 

[MT15]

Good lord- he’s a toddler. A complete baby.

 

[MT15]

Another sign that Twitter is broken:

Deepfake porn of TikTok stars thrives on Twitter even though it breaks the platform's rules — NBC News

Young TikTok stars have become a focus of nonconsensual pornographic deepfake creators.

apple.news

 

[UriUT]

Mark Cuban attacks Joe Rogan and Elon Musk in vaccines brawl on Twitter: ‘Way to talk in generalities Joe’

The owner of Cost Plus Drugs waded into a chaotic debate about vaccines this weekend.

finance.yahoo.com

This infuriates me. Dr. Peter Hotez is a prominent pediatrician and researcher at Baylor Medical Center. He has an autistic child, and wrote a book discrediting the conspiracy theory that vaccines causes autism. He is also a vocal critic of the anti COVID vaccine conspiracy theorists. Well apparently, this weekend, Joe Rogan and musk tried to harass and bully Dr Hotez into a debate with RFK jr.

There are links to the tweets from Rogan and Musk in the article.

But here is Mark Cuban defending Dr. Hotez.

“Way to talk in generalities Joe. Not saying there aren't a lot of f***ed up things about pharma. That’s why we created Cost Plus Drugs. But to ignore that the same industry has saved who knows how many lives is bullshirt and you know it. It's also disrespectful to all the doctors, researchers and medical professionals that dedicate their lives to saving lives, like Dr Hotez and the 800k plus doctors in the country that believe vaccines save lives.”

Tom Nichols also posted a defense as well.

“No medical professional should ever agree to do this. Never. It elevates the conspiracy guy, demeans the medical professional, and will only convince the kooks out there that RFK is right because a real doctor took the time to debate him.”

The idiocy is real here. We have a peer reviewed scientist and he is being bullied by conspiracy theorists. As we have found on this board, it's nearly impossible to fight disinformation in that type of forum when the goal post will continually be moved. Even if facts are on his side.

Ps, Twitter has changed. If you don't have an account, you can still view a thread as long as you want as I found here. The reason why I signed up was because Twitter used to ask you to create an account if you scroll down just one reply. It was quite annoying when I was keeping track of Ukrainian news. And, the number of insane people replying to these tweets is ridiculous.

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

Mark Cuban attacks Joe Rogan and Elon Musk in vaccines brawl on Twitter: ‘Way to talk in generalities Joe’

The owner of Cost Plus Drugs waded into a chaotic debate about vaccines this weekend.

finance.yahoo.com

This infuriates me. Dr. Peter Hotez is a prominent pediatrician and researcher at Baylor Medical Center. He has an autistic child, and wrote a book discrediting the conspiracy theory that vaccines causes autism. He is also a vocal critic of the anti COVID vaccine conspiracy theorists. Well apparently, this weekend, Joe Rogan and musk tried to harass and bully Dr Hotez into a debate with RFK jr.

There are links to the tweets from Rogan and Musk in the article.

But here is Mark Cuban defending Dr. Hotez.


Tom Nichols also posted a defense as well.


The idiocy is real here. We have a peer reviewed scientist and he is being bullied by conspiracy theorists. As we have found on this board, it's nearly impossible to fight disinformation in that type of forum when the goal post will continually be moved. Even if facts are on his side.

Ps, Twitter has changed. If you don't have an account, you can still view a thread as long as you want as I found here. The reason why I signed up was because Twitter used to ask you to create an account if you scroll down just one reply. It was quite annoying when I was keeping track of Ukrainian news. And, the number of insane people replying to these tweets is ridiculous.

Twitter is becoming Tiger Droppings.. lord help us...

 

[MT15]

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Cis is a technical term. Elon is a pathetic, unloved troll.

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

Cis is a technical term. Elon is a pathetic, unloved troll.

Just out of curiosity, are words like f-word about gays (that can't be used in this forum) and other words like that considered slurs on Twitter?

 

[el caliente]

Just out of curiosity, are words like f-word about gays (that can't be used in this forum) and other words like that considered slurs on Twitter?

F-word as in the word used to describe a cigarette in England?

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Just out of curiosity, are words like f-word about gays (that can't be used in this forum) and other words like that considered slurs on Twitter?

At this point, I think Twitter is a lawless place where the only thing you can't get away with is pointing out legit bigotry, lest we make the bigots sad.