Elon Musk Buys Twitter

[Nymrohd]

At this point, as a journalist organisation, why even be in twitter. Heck that goes for everyone.

I mean Musk openly attacks journalists that post in media organisations seeing as only Twitter holds the TRUTH

[Breccia]

The BBC also got saddled with the government funded label.

I'm just waiting for someone to point out that Musk will get tax deductions for buying, taking out loans for, and/or operating Twitter. Which will easily be 1% of Twitter's operating budget.

Meaning Twitter is government funded.

Oh wait, someone just did. It was me.

[Breccia]

What? Musk said he was going to create jobs, but they all got Shanghai'd?

Time to read through replies and retweets to see the cope.

Don't forget, it's not really cope if they don't have the...it's still the doge dog, right?

NYTimes, take it from here.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, announced on Twitter on Sunday that his company would build a factory in Shanghai with the aim to assemble 10,000 giant batteries annually for electric producers and distributors.

The batteries, which Tesla calls Megapacks

...how old is Musk, again?

are designed to store large amounts of electricity — a single Megapack can power 3,600 homes for one hour, according to Tesla. The batteries, which are roughly the length and height of an international shipping container, can discharge the electricity to run factories or homes when demand from the local power grid is high, or during a blackout.

The capacity to store electricity when it isn’t in demand is critical as electric utilities...move...to...

Wait a minute...this is the plot to Batman Returns!

For Tesla, Shanghai is the site of its single largest factory for making electric cars. The plant not only supplies China’s domestic vehicle market but also exports large numbers of cars to Europe, where Tesla has found it is harder to build factories as quickly as in Shanghai.

China produces most of the world’s rechargeable batteries, and dominates the chemical processing needed to produce their ingredients. Tesla’s Shanghai facility that will make the Megapacks will be close to the factories that manufacture almost all of the world’s lithium-iron-phosphate compounds for batteries.

These compounds are less expensive to make than the materials previously used in rechargeable batteries, which include cobalt. Human rights advocates have raised alarms about the working conditions at cobalt mines in Africa, the world’s leading source of the mineral.

So the move makes sense, in a purely capitalistic kind of way. But yeah, kind of odd to see such an avid Trump supporter/misinformation broker do this. He's not Trump, people won't forgive him as quickly.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Now that the Twitter Files have not only been proven to be unquestionably biased and cherry picked, but also not even remotely what Taibbi wrote them as such that even Taibbi has distanced himself from the Twitter files for being a giant misinformation hoax, I'm wondering how @tehdang is coping with the news?

After all, it's a pretty big deal to find out that it wasn't even the government that was flagging problematic tweets, but a separate private group that was studying the flow of information across Twitter.

[tehdang]

Now that the Twitter Files have not only been proven to be unquestionably biased and cherry picked, but also not even remotely what Taibbi wrote them as such that even Taibbi has distanced himself from the Twitter files for being a giant misinformation hoax, I'm wondering how @tehdang is coping with the news?

After all, it's a pretty big deal to find out that it wasn't even the government that was flagging problematic tweets, but a separate private group that was studying the flow of information across Twitter.

I don't think anything has changed with what the Twitter Files "prove," or the general weakness of dismissing the useful conclusions from them as resulting from bias or cherry picking. See my previous posts on the matter.

I've only read articles about Taibbi distancing himself from Twitter over the recent substack link controversy, not that he has repudiated any of his reporting on the subject.

[Cthulhu 2020]

I don't think anything has changed with what the Twitter Files "prove," or the general weakness of dismissing the useful conclusions from them as resulting from bias or cherry picking.

Alright, so you don't care about facts, and prefer your alternative reality where you choose to be outraged about something that isn't true and ignore things that are true. Good to know for discussion going forward. Thanks.

[Breccia]

I don't think anything has changed with what the Twitter Files "prove,"

Thank you for using the same sarcastic quotation marks the rest of us have been. The Twitter Files were always useless, and everyone knew it. Even if some were pretending.

[tehdang]

Alright, so you don't care about facts, and prefer your alternative reality where you choose to be outraged about something that isn't true and ignore things that are true. Good to know for discussion going forward. Thanks.

I don't care that you've declared the debate over and the point proven. You can believe that much of me. But aside from that, I see only assertions that Taibbi has distanced himself from his previous journalism (what, only 1 month after defending it on Capitol Hill?) And I'm left to guess that you have a private angle on subsequent reporting on government-funded NGOs/nonprofits that bears on what I previously posted.

If you think my previous posting on the subject in this thread proved I'm in an alternative reality, I don't see how anything further will disabuse you of your mistaken notions.

[Breccia]

I don't care that you've declared the debate over and the point proven.

You should. He is correct. There is nothing in the Twitter files of any use and even its author can't defend them.

- - - Updated - - -

Twitter's ex-CEO cites DOJ probe in lawsuit seeking unpaid legal bills

Twitter's ex-CEO Parag Agrawal and two other former executives accused the social media company in a lawsuit Monday of failing to reimburse them for more than $1 million in legal expenses.

Huh, this sounds like an Elon Musk problem.

Agrawal, former Twitter chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and ex-chief financial officer Ned Segal, who were fired after Elon Musk took over the platform allege the company "refused to acknowledge its obligations and to remit payment of any invoices," per the filing.

This includes for counsel the executives said they used while at Twitter to respond to investigations by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the suit, filed in the Delaware Chancery Court.

"This action seeks an expedited ruling requiring Defendant to comply with its obligations to advance legal fees and expenses relating to ongoing litigation and investigations," the filing states.

It is an Elon Musk problem. Looks like he's refusing to pay people. Um, again.

[Cthulhu 2020]

I don't care that you've declared the debate over and the point proven. You can believe that much of me. But aside from that, I see only assertions that Taibbi has distanced himself from his previous journalism (what, only 1 month after defending it on Capitol Hill?) And I'm left to guess that you have a private angle on subsequent reporting on government-funded NGOs/nonprofits that bears on what I previously posted.

If you think my previous posting on the subject in this thread proved I'm in an alternative reality, I don't see how anything further will disabuse you of your mistaken notions.

Not only was Taibbi called out for cherry picking tweets to reveal to the public, as we know there were more they chose not to reveal, and it was very specifically admitted that these Tweets were related to Republican politics and Twitter, but we also got a giant expose that blew the entire lid of most of the assertions made in the Twitter files. The claims that the government was "mass reporting" tweets to be taken down has been utterly debunked without question. To believe otherwise at this point is an alternative reality. The entire narrative of the Twitter files has swapped from "OMG DEMOCRATS USING TWITTER TO SILENCE US" to "Oh yeah there was this one private group studying the flow of information and they flagged a lot of tweets as problematic in their study" that Taibbi twisted into the former.

Your views of the world are supposed to take shape as new information comes to light, but you've proven time and again that you'll believe any claims made that are pro right/anti left out of hand, and then either ignore or heavily scrutinize claims to the opposite. It's dishonest, and it's not really that big of a stretch to say you're dishonest if you can't catch up with the new info presented. Your views on the Twitter files are both outdated and heavily partisan biased. If you outright reject the new information bomb on the twitter files, we can't help you man, that's a you problem.

[tehdang]

Not only was Taibbi called out for cherry picking tweets to reveal to the public, as we know there were more they chose not to reveal, and it was very specifically admitted that these Tweets were related to Republican politics and Twitter, but we also got a giant expose that blew the entire lid of most of the assertions made in the Twitter files. The claims that the government was "mass reporting" tweets to be taken down has been utterly debunked without question. To believe otherwise at this point is an alternative reality. The entire narrative of the Twitter files has swapped from "OMG DEMOCRATS USING TWITTER TO SILENCE US" to "Oh yeah there was this one private group studying the flow of information and they flagged a lot of tweets as problematic in their study" that Taibbi twisted into the former.

The FBI emails flagging accounts to Twitter were never contradicted, and even more than that, were defended by the FBI. The same goes for congresspersons. I really did cover this in the previous post. Repeating that the debate is over, it's been debunked, alternative reality, "narrative ... has swapped," means very little besides your belief that repeating these multiple times makes them true. Schellenberger and Taibbi did just fine in congressional hearings, and Americans can better decide if they like their tax-funded law enforcement and intelligence agencies trying to get their social media accounts banned.

Your views of the world are supposed to take shape as new information comes to light, but you've proven time and again that you'll believe any claims made that are pro right/anti left out of hand, and then either ignore or heavily scrutinize claims to the opposite. It's dishonest, and it's not really that big of a stretch to say you're dishonest if you can't catch up with the new info presented. Your views on the Twitter files are both outdated and heavily partisan biased. If you outright reject the new information bomb on the twitter files, we can't help you man, that's a you problem.

The sum total of "new information comes to light" appears to be sketchy government funding of poorly-run nonprofits (The FBI doesn't look better from non-FBI groups eating some criticism), and a group of progressives patting each other on the back for 'owning the cons' or something. You force me to guess at what new information you're talking about ... whether Twitter making bad business decisions under Musk suddenly proves the FBI emails were forged, or whether Musk and Taibbi having a spat over Substack links mean Taibbi no longer has confidence in the comprehensiveness of his reporting on government actors. The only appearance, to me, is you wish to allege that I live in unreality for the second or third time in this past week, and you want me to fill in the blanks on why. Now that you've gone and done that, maybe it is time to return the thread to focusing on Twitter and not a fellow poster? There's more to Twitter under Elon than relitigating the Twitter Files.

[Breccia]

The FBI emails flagging accounts to Twitter were never contradicted, and even more than that, were defended by the FBI.

Because there was nothing wrong with them, thus, defeating the entire point of the Twitter Files.

The end.

[Endus]

The FBI emails flagging accounts to Twitter were never contradicted, and even more than that, were defended by the FBI. The same goes for congresspersons.

Because said actions were trivially benign and in no way an infringement on any legal limits, up to and including anyone's right to free speech.

You and those like you have never had an argument that actually explained what was remotely worrisome about this. Well, you tried, but they were semantically empty whines, not arguments.

It's like pointing to evidence that FBI officials went to a McDonalds and ordered a Big Mac with fries, and acting aghast that they used their positions to order food from an innocent restauranteur who did nothing wrong, even though they went through the same drive-through as everyone else and paid for their meals like everyone else. It's entirely manufactured nontroversy.

[Cthulhu 2020]

The FBI emails

Blah blah we've been over this song and dance before, and the two posts above me explain it perfectly succinctly. You're welcome to your objectively wrong opinions, and we're welcome to treat you as such in future discussions, because you've never once been even remotely critical of anything you actually agree with politically and it's oh so amusing to chuckle at the cognitive dissonance when you blame others of blind political loyalties.

[postman1782]

The FBI emails flagging accounts to Twitter were never contradicted, and even more than that, were defended by the FBI. The same goes for congresspersons. I really did cover this in the previous post. Repeating that the debate is over, it's been debunked, alternative reality, "narrative ... has swapped," means very little besides your belief that repeating these multiple times makes them true. Schellenberger and Taibbi did just fine in congressional hearings, and Americans can better decide if they like their tax-funded law enforcement and intelligence agencies trying to get their social media accounts banned.

The sum total of "new information comes to light" appears to be sketchy government funding of poorly-run nonprofits (The FBI doesn't look better from non-FBI groups eating some criticism), and a group of progressives patting each other on the back for 'owning the cons' or something. You force me to guess at what new information you're talking about ... whether Twitter making bad business decisions under Musk suddenly proves the FBI emails were forged, or whether Musk and Taibbi having a spat over Substack links mean Taibbi no longer has confidence in the comprehensiveness of his reporting on government actors. The only appearance, to me, is you wish to allege that I live in unreality for the second or third time in this past week, and you want me to fill in the blanks on why. Now that you've gone and done that, maybe it is time to return the thread to focusing on Twitter and not a fellow poster? There's more to Twitter under Elon than relitigating the Twitter Files.

Wrong. In fact the FBI emails directly told us why they were paying Twitter. They paid them to find terrorists and people committing crimes. Thats it, there was nothing else. Even Taibbi said this. There was nothing else with the FBI.

[Edge-]

Wrong. In fact the FBI emails directly told us why they were paying Twitter. They paid them to find terrorists and people committing crimes. Thats it, there was nothing else. Even Taibbi said this. There was nothing else with the FBI.

They paid them for the time Twitter employees spent compiling information in response to lawful subpoenas*

A routine practice the FBI engages in with any private business that might incur significant administrative expenses in complying with lawful requests for information.

[postman1782]

They paid them for the time Twitter employees spent compiling information in response to lawful subpoenas*

A routine practice the FBI engages in with any private business that might incur significant administrative expenses in complying with lawful requests for information.

Yep. I can guarantee every social media company including Truth Social, GAB, Parlor, Facebook, Telegram, Snapchat, all of em, do it to not be sued or shut down.

[Edge-]

Yep. I can guarantee every social media company including Truth Social, GAB, Parlor, Facebook, Telegram, Snapchat, all of em, do it to not be sued or shut down.

That doesn't have much to do with it.

Federal law allows companies to request compensation for administrative costs incurred responding for government requests for information. Obviously at larger companies dealing with a lot of personal data this means requests take more time to process and fulfill, and rather than fight each request the FBI and other agencies largely simply compensate companies as a matter of course.

They can absolutely, and have, reject government requests for information. Any private entity can. Until the government comes with a lawful court order for said information, which companies may still want to fight out in the courts depending on the context. In this case, and most instances, companies will either comply voluntarily or once a lawful order is presented and that's that.

It's really a lot of super boring shit, paperwork stuff. But a not insignificant part of the internet genuinely seems to want to see grand schemes and dark patterns behind everything, nothing "should be" as simple as it really is, because that's boring!

[Breccia]

Yep. I can guarantee every social media company including Truth Social, GAB, Parlor, Facebook, Telegram, Snapchat, all of em, do it to not be sued or shut down.

It's not that I doubt you -- except maybe that bolded one.

One, I don't think it's being maintained by people who care about their job anymore.

Two, Trump might fight any such "request" out of spite and then campaign on it.

Three, I would love to see the FBI request their help to arrest the violent terrorists who use that app, see them get publicly subpoena'd, and see the DWAC deal dry up faster than a Trump property.

Like I said, maybe. Trump is a horrible businessman, but that doesn't make him fiscally suicidal.

[Huehuecoyotl]

So Musk is now trying to claim that Twitter is "breaking even"?

Is that because he broke it, and even the employees hate him now?