All posts tagged: Twitter

Marco Rubio Kills State Department Anti-Propaganda Shop, Promises ‘Twitter Files’ Sequel

Marco Rubio Kills State Department Anti-Propaganda Shop, Promises ‘Twitter Files’ Sequel

Published by skeptic

Rubio, until recently, was hawkish about fighting foreign influence campaigns. In 2023, a second diplomatic source with direct knowledge said, he supported reauthorizing funding the GEC into the 2030s. “It’s not just Russia—Iran, China, North Korea, and even Cuba are pushing disinformation into America,” he posted last September. But after being confirmed as secretary of state, Rubio appeared to do something of a 180. While the department would continue to counter “enemy propaganda,” he wrote in a cable, any State Department programs that “lead or in any way open the door to censorship of the American people will be terminated.” “The secretary believes shutting down GEC was long overdue,” a State spokesperson tells WIRED. “It cost taxpayers $50 million a year, and the Biden administration used that money to silence and censor Americans. What started out years ago as an effort to counter terrorist organizations was exploited by partisan bureaucrats who used the office to go after Americans’ free speech. Even career employees acknowledged GEC’s ambiguous mission was always problematic. Thanks to Secretary Rubio, the …

Elon Musk and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day for SpaceX, DOGE, and Musk Himself

Elon Musk and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day for SpaceX, DOGE, and Musk Himself

Published by Sam

“Move fast and break things” was an early Facebook motto that has become ingrained as a basic mindset in the tech world. Looking at the work of Elon Musk’s DOGE and Donald Trump’s quick tanking of the economy, perhaps it’s one that should be rethought. Musk, whose directive with his made-up federal agency was to cut spending, largely by eliminating federal jobs, seems to be doing a pretty crappy job at both his own federal work and his private sector gigs too. Time for a PIP, maybe? In private meetings with Republican lawmakers, Musk has reportedly been employing the Shaggy defense when confronted about the firings, rehirings, and generally destructively chaotic shenanigans of DOGE: It wasn’t me. The Guardian reported Thursday that Musk had been making the Capitol rounds, and had a little pizza chat-n-chew with GOP Rep. Richard Hudson in a basement cafeteria, after which Hudson joined in to sing backup. “Elon doesn’t fire people,” Hudson told the outlet. “He doesn’t have hiring and firing authority. The president’s empowered him to go uncover this …

DOGE Staff Had Questions About the ‘Resign’ Email. Their New HR Chief Dodged Them

DOGE Staff Had Questions About the ‘Resign’ Email. Their New HR Chief Dodged Them

Published by skeptic

On Friday, staff at what was formerly the United States Digital Service and is now part of Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative met with Stephanie Holmes, who identified herself as a part of the DOGE team and as the staff’s new HR representative. Throughout the meeting, which started at noon ET, dozens of USDS employees lobbed questions at Holmes related to last week’s “Fork in the Road” email offering federal workers “deferred resignations,” according to documents detailing the meeting obtained by WIRED and corroborated by sources in attendance. The questions covered issues ranging from the future of staff projects to whether the return-to-office mandates would apply to fully remote workers, as well as the exact nature of the offer the federal government was making employees. Holmes—who did not immediately respond to a request for comment—could fully answer only a few of the questions. She said, when asked, that the offer was “lawful,” and later said, “We believe the offer is lawful,” and could provide little additional guidance beyond that. At one point, she was asked if …

Meta Settles a Million Trump Lawsuit Because It Had More to Lose by Winning

Meta Settles a $25 Million Trump Lawsuit Because It Had More to Lose by Winning

Published by Sam

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta will pay roughly $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump, who accused the platform of unlawfully suspending his accounts after the Capitol insurrection. The Wall Street Journal reported that most of the money will fund Trump’s presidential library, with the rest covering legal fees and other plaintiffs. Meta won’t admit wrongdoing, and experts widely agree Trump was unlikely to win: the judge in this case, like the one in a similar failed suit against Twitter, appeared openly skeptical of his arguments. But Meta arguably had more to lose by winning this one. Tech and media companies, eager to avoid conflict with the new administration, have recently settled a string of Trump lawsuits they probably would have won in court. According to the Journal, this settlement, in particular, grew out of Zuckerberg’s efforts to cozy up to Trump last November. The paper’s sources said the then-president-elect signaled during a Mar-a-Lago dinner that the Meta boss would need to resolve the suit before he could ever be allowed “into …

Elon Musk’s pro-Trump critics claim they’re being censored on X

Elon Musk’s pro-Trump critics claim they’re being censored on X

Published by skeptic

Conservatives critical of Elon Musk are accusing the platform he owns of censoring them, CNN reports. Political activist Laura Loomer sparked an online debate within the Right about work visas known as H-1Bs, which Musk supports. Loomer now claims her account has been unverified and demonetized, accusing Musk of being a “free speech fraud.” Meanwhile, another conservative activist, Charles C. Johnson, claims X banned his account because he “embarrassed” Musk by writing about his father’s alleged involvement with an emerald mine, something Musk has long denied. (Neither this nor Loomer’s accusations have been substantiated.) Elon has long publicly supported free speech, posting that it’s “the bedrock of democracy.” But Musk has also been accused of silencing people on the platform, notably in 2022 when X temporarily suspended journalists covering the suspension of an account tracking his jet. X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Source link

How Elon Musk became ‘prophet-in-chief’ of tech’s Trump-leaning conservatism

How Elon Musk became ‘prophet-in-chief’ of tech’s Trump-leaning conservatism

Published by skeptic

(RNS) — In the waning days of October, several hundred people gathered at the Life Center, a megachurch in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for a town hall organized by the Trump campaign. Attendees chatted excitedly as they filed into the church’s cavernous sanctuary. But when the event began, the speaker who strutted onstage wasn’t former President Donald Trump, or one of his evangelical Christian promoters. Instead, it was Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX rocket company, Tesla electric cars and the social media platform once known as Twitter. Musk, the richest man in the world, has long approached religion with suspicion, and some in the audience were skeptical: One asked what was “keeping” him from believing in God. “I believe in the teachings of Christ,” replied Musk, whose jacket was adorned with a NASA logo and a mission patch of one of his rocket projects. “I believe in the Christian principles: Love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek — which is very important to have forgiveness. Because if you don’t have forgiveness, then you have an …

Change to Twitter Suggests Elon Musk Is Panicking Over Users Leaving for Bluesky

Change to Twitter Suggests Elon Musk Is Panicking Over Users Leaving for Bluesky

Published by José

He’s scared. Nothing to See X owner Elon Musk appears to be spooked by the continuous flow of users leaving the social media platform in favor of alternatives like BlueSky and Meta’s Threads. In a surprising move last week, Musk announced that the platform would start allowing users to hide likes, shares, and reposts — a suspicious decision that feels like a bid to conceal the platform’s waning energy. “You can now hide engagement buttons and numbers below each post and interact with posts through custom swipe gestures!” X app developer May Ly tweeted last week. Musk himself resorted to an odd excuse for the new feature. “It’s much cleaner with engagement numbers turned off,” he wrote. “You can still see view count if you care.” Grass Greener Why Musk would suddenly care about a “cleaner” user interface is a bit of a mystery. Ever since taking over the social media platform in 2022, the company has littered the network with a confusing array of colored checkmarks, unnecessary info, and a barrage of disruptive ads. …

Taylor Swift Fans Are Leaving X for Bluesky After Trump’s Election

Taylor Swift Fans Are Leaving X for Bluesky After Trump’s Election

Published by skeptic

Following the US presidential election, Swifties, the name for Taylor Swift’s fans, are fleeing X for Bluesky. X’s owner, billionaire Elon Musk, was one of Donald Trump’s biggest backers, funneling over $100 million into the Trump-supporting America PAC; stumping for the candidate on the campaign trail; and boosting Trump’s messaging on X. Musk also helped Trump tap into a distinctly right-wing male audience. Swifties, who have built a robust community on the platform formerly known as Twitter, took notice. By Thursday, less than 48 hours after Trump won the presidency, they were starting to flock from the platform for good. “I love the idea of building a new community here and would love not to have to support Elon in any way,” says Justin, who goes by @justin-the-baron.swifties.social on Bluesky and asked to use only his first name for fear of harassment. “Elon is of course a big Trump supporter, which doesn’t align with Taylor’s values or the values of Swifties.” Though there are Swifties on all sides of the political spectrum, the community prides …

Half a Million Users Flooded to Twitter Competitor After Elon Musk Handed Creeps the Keys

Half a Million Users Flooded to Twitter Competitor After Elon Musk Handed Creeps the Keys

Published by José

Surprise, surprise. X-formerly-Twitter owner Elon Musk is implementing yet another brain-meltingly dumb change to his social media platform by rendering the block function completely pointless and opening the floodgates for even more harassment. In its new form, “blocking” someone still allows them to view your posts and your profile, tearing down an important way for some users to protect themselves against abuse on the site. And it appears that for many users on the fence about staying on the site, this was the last straw. Right after the changes were announced, BlueSky, a competing platform founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, proclaimed that it had received more than 100,000 new users. Barely twelve hours later, that tally climbed to half a million, the company said Thursday — and it’s not showing signs of slowing down. In fact, the influx of signups grew so feverish that the website temporarily experienced an outage. Bluesky, for its part, is relishing in rubbing in Musk’s blunder. “At Bluesky, we take online safety seriously,” the social media platform’s official …