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Elon Musk has repeatedly vowed to increase what he calls the fun levels of Twitter, a platform that is rapidly losing active users, according to industry estimates.

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The CBC says Twitter chief executive Elon Musk is treating journalistic independence as a game, while newsrooms around the world reconsider their use of the social-media platform amid its volatile moves and declining audience.

Mr. Musk has repeatedly vowed to increase what he calls the fun levels of Twitter, a platform that is rapidly losing active users, according to industry estimates, with competitors TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Facebook and Instagram continuing to hold steadier user activity.

While some people use CBCs Twitter feeds as a source of headlines and news alerts, Twitter is among the smallest sources of traffic for news content out of the social-media platforms we use, CBC spokesperson Leon Mar told The Globe and Mail on Wednesday.

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The Canadian public broadcaster paused its use of the social-media platform for the foreseeable future after one of its accounts was labelled as 69% Government-funded Media this week. Industry observers say the CBCs new label on Twitter is part of a spate of trolling attempts by Mr. Musk, as he reshapes what used to be the worlds foremost communications tool.

With regard to the latest from Elon Musk, this is not a serious response. Journalistic independence is not a game, Mr. Mar said, providing a website link to a late Monday night interaction between Mr. Musk and an online blogger.

Shortly before that exchange, Twitter had labelled CBC as 70% Government-funded Media for a few hours after the online blogger @TitterDaily noted inaccurately that CBC was arguing against the label because it funds the other 30% on its own. Later, that same day, Mr. Musk changed it to 69% Government-funded Media after pseudonymous Twitter user @itsALLrisky, who runs a newsletter about dogecoin, which is cryptocurrency that Mr. Musk has heavily invested in, suggested it as a joke.

Twitter first assigned the @CBC account its label as Government-funded Media on April 16. In the United States, similar labels for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service have led the news organizations to stop using the platform, a decision that CBC mirrored.

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ABC (Australia), KBS (South Korea) and RNZ (New Zealand) have also been designated as government-funded media like the CBC, Mr. Mar noted. However, unlike most media organizations new labels on Twitter, the @CBC account is the only one with a percentage of government funding attached to it.

Parliamentary appropriations in Canada accounted for 66 per cent of CBC and Radio-Canadas sources of funds in 2022. But thats not the real point, Mr. Mar said. The real issue is that Twitters definition of Government-funded Media means open to editorial interference by government the government has no zero involvement in our editorial content or journalism.

Its all very arbitrary, said Philip Mai, co-director of the Social Media Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), where he studies how online platforms affect society. These labels are being given and verification checkmarks are being stripped on Twitter on an ad hoc basis.

You cant really reason with a troll like Elon Musk, said Taylor Owen, founding director and professor at McGill Universitys Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy in Montreal. We have to start thinking very seriously whether news organizations even need to use Twitter any more with all of these antics.

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Twitter first began to attach labels to media outlets and government officials in 2020. It was a policy designed predominantly for countries such as China and Russia, where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressure, and control over production or distribution.

Democratic countries such as Canada and the U.S. were mostly spared from the labelling policy. But under Mr. Musks ownership this has shifted.

Mr. Musk finalized his acquisition of Twitter in October, 2022, after abandoning a months-long legal battle to back out of his initial offer. Since then, he has strived to rejuvenate the unprofitable companys mercurial business by establishing subscription options and promising to eliminate verification checkmarks for accounts that do not pay for them. Simultaneously, however, he has slashed Twitters staff, nearly wiping out its entire content moderation team and dissolving its independent Trust and Safety council as a whole.

Were looking at someone who is doing everything on a whim, Prof. Owen said.

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He can do whatever he wants because its this billionaires new toy, and the company is private now with zero accountability, Mr. Mai said.

Trolling has long been a large part of Mr. Musks internet persona. He often mixes quips about April Fools Day, cannabis culture and the number 69 (referring to the oral sex position) with official business matters to elicit a response from his followers. The tycoon brought this aspect of his online identity under his ownership of Twitter, which has seen its revenue plunge over the years, with advertising income further dropping amid Mr. Musks tumultuous takeover.

This week, he interacted with a number of memes and conspiracy theories about the CBC and other Canadian media outlets, allowing the platforms algorithm to push certain inaccurate tweets higher onto its users homepages.

The biggest problem with Twitters ad business is that advertisers dont trust Musk, said Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at market research firm Insider Intelligence, which forecasts a 28-per-cent decline in advertising income for the company and has slashed estimates of overall revenue from US$4.74-billion to US$2.98-billion this year. The takeover saga caused a spike in time spent in 2022 that has now dissipated, Ms. Enberg said.

Mr. Mar declined to say whether the CBC is still paying to advertise on Twitter. He also did not say how long the broadcasters pause on the platform will last.

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Twitter responded to The Globes repeated requests for comment with a poop emoji. It is an auto-response the company initiated for media inquiries last month, which Mr. Musk tweeted about on March 19, then deleted thereafter.

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Elon Musk treating journalistic independence like 'a game,' CBC ... - The Globe and Mail

A single order from Tesla has boosted a family's fortune to over $800 million, according to Bloomberg.

Cathode company L&F won a $2.9 billion order from Tesla this year, sending its stock soaring.

That's generated a large amount of wealth for the Jae-hong family, who owns stock in the battery-material firm.

A single order from Elon Musk's Tesla has boosted a family's fortune to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Shares in L&F, a South Korea-based cathode company, have skyrocketed 82% this year after it secured a $2.9 billion order from the US carmaker. It's meant the Jae-hong family, who owns stock in the battery-material firm, are now worth over $800 million, according to Bloomberg.

Tesla has been a long-time customer of L&F, purchasing the company's cathodes for years through batteries provided by LG Energy Solution but this is the first time Musk's automaker has becomes a direct client, per the outlet.

Following the Tesla deal, L&F expects its dependence on LG Energy Solution will fall to 50% of revenue generated by 2025.

"The fact that its latest client is not any other but the one that's leading the market carries even bigger significance," a Meritz Securities analyst told Bloomberg.

Tesla's dominance of the electric-vehicle industry has seen the company trigger a price war to boost demand for its vehicles - and analysts say it's working. The carmaker recently reported record first-quarter deliveries, up 36% from a year earlier.

The EV maker's stock has bounced about 73% to $187 a share so far this year, making it one of the best-performing companieson the tech-heavyNasdaq Compositeindex.

Meanwhile, shares of companies that supply electric-vehicle components or materials have soared in recent years, and subsequently inflated the wealth of their owners. For example, Ryu Kwang-ji, the chairman of chemical company Kumyang Co, saw his stake in the firm balloon to $1.4 billion after the share price surged more than 1.600% in the past year, per Bloomberg.

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A single order from Elon Musk's Tesla has boosted a family's fortune to over $800 million - Yahoo News

Most billionaires dont get to where they are by earning a salary. And that also means they might pay less income tax than Americans who make a living through wages.

According to a report from ProPublica, some billionaires in the U.S. paid little or no income tax relative to the vast amount of wealth they have accumulated over the years.

The report noted that Amazon.com Inc. Founder Jeff Bezos did not pay a penny in federal income taxes in 2007 and 2011. It also pointed out that Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk paid no federal income tax in 2018 and investing legend George Soros did the same three years in a row.

To be sure, billionaires do pay taxes its just that the amount is rather small compared to how much money they actually make. For instance, ProPublicas report showed that between 2014 and 2018, Bezos paid $972 million in total taxes on $4.22 billion of income. Meanwhile, his wealth grew by $99 billion, meaning the true tax rate was only 0.98% during this period.

The reality is, billionaires build their wealth from assets like stocks and real estate. Their net worth goes up when these assets increase in value over time. But the U.S. tax system is not designed to capture the gains from such assets: Capital gains are typically taxed at lower rates than wages and salaries.

But of course, you dont need to be in the three-comma club to invest in these assets.

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For many well-known billionaires, the bulk of their wealth is tied to the companies they helped create.

If these companies are publicly traded, retail investors can hop on the bandwagon simply by purchasing shares. For those who want to follow Bezos, check out Amazon (AMZN). If you want to bet on Musk, look into Tesla (TSLA).

Heres the neat part: When stocks go up in value, investors only pay tax on realized gains. In other words, if an investor doesnt sell anything, they dont have to pay capital gains tax even if their stock holdings have skyrocketed in value because the gains are not realized.

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According to ProPublica, thats why some billionaires choose to borrow against their assets instead of selling them. Doing so gives the ultra-wealthy money to spend while deferring taxes on capital gains indefinitely.

That said, when they do sell their shares, they can still get hit with a substantial tax bill. After Musk sold a ton of Tesla shares in 2021, he tweeted that he would pay over $11 billion in taxes that year.

Another popular option for billionaires is real estate, which comes with plenty of tax advantages as well.

When you earn rental income from an investment property, you can claim deductions. These include expenses such as mortgage interest, property taxes, property insurance and ongoing maintenance and repairs.

Theres also depreciation, which refers to the incremental loss of a propertys value as a result of wear and tear. Real estate investors can claim depreciation for many years and accumulate significant tax savings over time.

The best part? The segment is becoming increasingly accessible to retail investors. There are publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) that own income-producing real estate and pay dividends to shareholders. And if you dont like the stock markets volatility, there are also crowdfunding platforms that allow retail investors to invest directly in rental properties through the private market.

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This article How Billionaires Like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and George Soros Pay Less Income Tax Than You And How You Can Replicate The Strategy. It's Legal originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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How Billionaires Like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and George Soros Pay Less Income Tax Than You And How You Can Replicate The Strategy. It's Legal - Yahoo...

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Elon Musk has had a busy few days. This weekend, he ordered the w in the the sign on Twitters San Francisco headquarters painted over, so that it read Titter. Then, on Monday, he changed his Twitter display name to Harry Blz before tweeting, Impersonating others is wrong! He later added: Im just hoping a media org that takes itself way too seriously writes a story about Harry Blz Then, on Tuesday, he announced that the sites unpaid legacy verification checks, formerly scheduled for removal on April Fools Day, would now disappear on April 20, or 4/20, the stoner holiday to which Musk has winkingly referred on many occasions. That evening, he gave an interview with a BBC reporter and, in a couple of tweets afterward, pretended to confuse the news organization with the shorthand for the porn category big black cock. Sharing part of the conversation, he commented, Penetrating deep & hard with BBC.

For anyone whos remained a regular Twitter user since Musks takeover of the platform last year, none of this is remotely surprising: he logs on every day and, aided by an algorithm that forces his posts onto everyones feed, punishes us with a routine of garbled gags, corny jokes, and pilfered memes. (Full disclosure: Musk once re-posted a meme I made, and it still makes me feel unclean.) Yet Musk wasnt always so eager to have the public think him a funnyman, as when he carried a sink into Twitter HQ in October to mark his acquisition of the company, tweeting let that sink in.

Years ago, in fact, Musk was content to appreciate comedy as a mere spectator, and in fairness, he was not without taste. In 2016, he tweeted admiringly of the absurdist humor in Samuel Becketts timeless play Waiting for Godot, and recommended the hilariously awkward reality show Nathan for You. He also trumpeted a Tesla feature that allows you to play scenes from Monty Pythons Flying Circus. He didnt, as he does now, obsess over his philosophy of humor per se. True, he might reply Haha awesome 🙂 when tagged in a flattering meme about himself, and he never quite grasped the vernacular of comedy he once called a Liam Neeson cameo in the sitcom Lifes Too Short a sketch but his engagement was measured, light, unassuming. He had nothing to prove. Editors picks

So how did we get from a Musk who enjoyed a modest chuckle now and then to a Musk who hosts Saturday Night Live and fancies himself Memelord of the Universe? Where did his current sense of humor come from? Hes never quite addressed this in the media, nor did he respond to an email asking him to name his comedic influences, but we can still create something of a forensic picture.

To begin with, Musks cultural background seems to have disposed him to British humor (which he has called the best), a style that can toggle between dry wit and edgy or offensive incitement (Great show! he said of U.K. comic Ricky Gervais 2022 Netflix special SuperNature, which contained jokes mocking trans people). Musk has a long history of crossing lines himself, dating back to childhood: father Errol Musk recalled how he would insult adults by calling them stupid if he disagreed with them, and once got pushed down the stairs by a classmate after he made a mocking comment about the suicide of the boys father.

But beyond provocation, Musk clearly adores anything that can be placed in the category of nerd comedy: if a meme is in some way esoteric, requiring specialized knowledge to understand, he seems to regard it as a proof of intelligence. Because only a smart person would find it funny, right? This helps to explain his stated love of Reddit, where dorkiness and its attendant puns, references and values form a distinct social in-group. As a humor community, its the broad equivalent of where the STEM kids sit in the school cafeteria. Musk seems to have been drawn to it by the Tesla and SpaceX fanboys active there, initially promoting a SpaceX engineers Q&A session on the Ask Me Anything subreddit before giving his own interview about theoretical missions to Mars on r/space. In 2016, he took delight in watching redditors savage a Fortune editor who had written about issues stemming from a Tesla Autopilot crash.Related

So: Musk likes jokes that 1) take his side 2) foster a sense of geek community and pride, and 3) are occasionally spiky, hostile or somehow violate a social taboo this latter principle gives him his trollish quality. In the course of his online life, Musk also appears to have missed much non-Reddit internet comedy in the past decade, from the Dadaist gems of so-called Weird Twitter to the horny, artsy political anarchism of Tumblr. Thus his posting, in 2019, of a meta-meme about the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins whose text font dates it to an earlier generation of Reddit-favored image macros long out of fashion. This isnt a meme you wouldve randomly stumbled across on social media in 2019 its something you might get if you Googled meme about memes.

To truly understand Musks comedic sensibility, however, we have to ask ourselves how and why he started flaunting it in the first place. Remember, he showed no particular interest in this stuff in the early years of his Twitter account he never tweeted lol or weighed in on memes until 2018, when he suddenly couldnt quit yukking it up about them, encouraging followers to send him their dankest. (Dank as a descriptor for memes was itself a bit pass by then, to say nothing of a 47-year-old man typing the word your as ur.) What could possibly account for this sudden shift, the attempt at youthful cool?

The most obvious answer is one that Musk has given himself: he wanted attention. In 2021, during testimony in a shareholder lawsuit over Teslas 2016 acquisition of solar panel company SolarCity, he explained that his humor creates favorable publicity for the automaker: If we are entertaining people, they would write stories about us and we dont have to spend on advertising which would reduce the price of our cars, Musk said. I do have a sense of humor, he also noted. I think Im funny.

Yet the timing of his pivot to would-be Twitter comic also seems significant. While Musk was already a public figure by 2018, this was the year he cemented his place in pop culture: He started dating Grimes, and attended the Met Gala with her. He appeared on Joe Rogans podcast, where he accepted a puff on a cigar of tobacco and cannabis. He launched his own Tesla Roadster into space.

Behind this glitz, however, his life was going sideways. He told the New York Times that August that the past year had been excruciating, as well as the most difficult and painful year of my career. Teslas Model 3 had been stuck in production hell, and Musk said he was working unreasonably long hours, camping out at the factory and nearly missing his brothers wedding. He also claimed the work was taking a toll on his health. With the compounding pressures, he became more erratic on Twitter, with some board members reportedly concerned that he was taking the powerful, fast-acting insomnia drug Ambien but, instead of going to sleep, binging on the social app.

Two infamous Musk tweets define this phase. That June, he offered a submersible craft to rescuers trying to extract a youth soccer team trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand. When a British cave diver involved in the effort dismissed it on Twitter as a PR stunt, Musk replied angrily, calling him pedo guy in a tweet that sparked a defamation suit. (Musk eventually won the case, with his lawyers arguing the comment was a generic joke he had quickly retracted.) Then, in August, Musk tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share. Though many interpreted that figure as an allusion to weed, the tweet caused Teslas stock to jump. Only weeks later, Musk changed his mind about the company going private, but he had to settle fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the original tweet was misleading and led to significant market disruption. The SEC deal also stipulated that he would step down as Teslas chairman, with he and the company each paying a $20 million penalty.

Musk this year won a subsequent shareholder lawsuit over the matter, in this case testifying that the $420 price was not a joke. But he has prolifically posted 420 comments and cited the number 69 also a sexual position ever since. Tesla lowered the price of the Model S to $69,420 in 2020, and Musk is particularly fond of reminding everyone that his birthday, June 28, falls 69 days after 4/20.

Taken altogether, Musks recklessness through the summer and fall of 2018 has the air of a midlife crisis: two years after his third divorce, he was dating a celebrity 16 years his junior while pushing himself to physical exhaustion as his company lost hundreds of millions of dollars. He apparently found refuge in memes while indulging a newfound impulse to shitpost, whether that meant firing off brazen insults, slapping unfunny captions on content hed seen elsewhere, or racking up engagement by mentioning the weed and sex numbers. This telegraphed a growing need to be a man of the people, a desperation to be liked.

His failure to develop a more amusing perspective from there can be chalked up to the sycophants who praise his every word, plus an unshakeable nostalgia for an era when he was widely characterized as a visionary and criticized far less. Consider his affection for Doge, a meme he temporarily added to the Twitter interface this month though its heyday was 2013, the first year Fortune named him Businessperson of the Year. Or his recent botching of the innuendo Thats what she said, popularized by the sitcom The Office (2005-2013).

Meanwhile, Musk has continued to develop an explicitly ideological concept of humor that ensures only his allies will ever laugh with him. In 2018, he declared that socialists are usually depressing and have no sense of humor. (He then proclaimed himself a socialist.) By 2022, when he got in a fight with the satirical website Hard Drive over not crediting them for a headline he posted, he was basically arguing that leftists cant have comedy at all. The reason youre not that funny is because youre woke, he tweeted. Humor relies on an intuitive & often awkward truth being recognized by the audience, but wokism is a lie, which is why nobody laughs. Instead, Musk has preferred the satirical news from the right-leaning Babylon Bee, which he reinstated on Twitter weeks after his takeover; it had been banned in early 2022 for sharing a transphobic article.

This means that on top of all the other reasons Musk struggles to craft a solid or relatable joke, he is now bound by the conceit that comedy must usually target his enemies. Because he is ridiculed by online leftists, chided by Democratic leadership, and unfavorably depicted in the liberal press, he has fallen in with culture warriors whose humor is built around trolling these factions. And how do they accomplish that? By daring the other side to censor or cancel them for repeating the same tired shit about Hunter Bidens laptop or pronouns or soy lattes. Theres no organic or dynamic potential here; its just manufactured grievance about how they want to silence free speech. No wonder Musk said that with his arrival CEO, Comedy is now legal on Twitter.

How far hes fallen from Waiting for Godot: these days, hes replying lmao to tweets calling Bill Gates and George Soros the Vax Street Boys. And that trajectory is sadly irreversible. It didnt have to be this way, but when youre as high-profile and thin-skinned as Musk, its all too easy to turn what impoverished sense of humor you had into both a defensive posture and a way to needle others. If someone makes a joke at your expense, it inflicts real damage that must be answered for. If you, as one of the most powerful people on the planet, take a swipe at them well, you can always say you were kidding.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk leans Republican, and hes no friend of Joe Biden. But President Biden and his fellow Democrats have done Musk and his company a favor no Republican would likely consider.

Bidens new rules for tailpipe emissions, which the Environmental Protection Agency proposed on April 12, would sharply limit the pollution cars are allowed to emit for model years 2027 through 2032. If ultimately adopted, in whole or in part, the new rules would effectively force automakers to build far more electric vehicles and far fewer gasoline-powered ones.

That could cause upheaval at many automakers trying to shift from gas-powered cars to electrics at a measured pace that doesnt wreck their profitability. For Tesla, (TSLA) however, it will be business as usualexcept that the competition could end up hobbled by massive new costs, plus the stumbles that often attend large corporate transformations. That makes Tesla the single-biggest beneficiary of the EPAs new effort to slash auto-related emissions.

Ironies abound. Musk and Biden have feuded over labor unions, which Biden considers a key constituency and Musk loathes. When highlighting the rollout of EVs, Biden typically touts new efforts at Ford (F) and General Motors, (GM) which are unionized, while ignoring Tesla, which is not. Yet Tesla is the undisputed leader in EV sales in the United States, with 65% of the US EV market and vastly more sales in the category than Ford, GM or any other automaker.

Musk got so irritated by Bidens dismissiveness that in January 2022 he called Biden a damp sock puppet on Twitter. Later that year, Musk said he had a super bad feeling about the economy, and at a Biden press conference a reporter asked Biden for his response. Lots of luck on his trip to the moon, Biden quipped, referring to Musks hopes for space travel on one of his Space X rockets. Musk continued to tweak Biden on Twitter, and right before the midterm elections last year, Musk advised his 134 million Twitter followers to vote Republican.

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Biden's gift to Tesla? A Model 3 at a showroom in the U.S. REUTERS/Florence Lo

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Democrats, however, are better for his car company. Musk and Tesla deserve credit for foreseeing the electrified future and persevering through near-death experiences. But theyve had some help. The electric-vehicle tax credit that helps subsidize the cost of an EV originated in a 2009 law passed by Democrats and signed by President Obama. That tax break helped goose Teslas sales during difficult years when it lost money and needed every penny. President Trump wanted to kill that tax credit, but wasnt able to.

Tesla has also benefited from regulatory credits in California, largely governed by Democrats. California gives Tesla credits for producing zero-emission vehicles that it can sell to other companies who use them as a pollution offset. Such sales have netted Tesla hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Biden administrations new pollution rules could force the biggest transformation of the auto industry in its history. The EPA estimates that if the rules go into effect as proposed, EVs as a portion of new-car sales would rise from less than 6% now to around 67% by 2032. That would be a remarkable shift for just a 10-year period.

All of Teslas assembly lines produce EVs. At other automakers, EVs are a tiny share of production, even with sizeable new commitments to electrics. It costs billions of dollars to build an automotive assembly line, and more to retire old ones no longer in use. Legacy automakers face massive transformation costs. Tesla doesnt.

Since 2019, North American automakers have announced roughly $80 billion worth of new investments in electric vehicles. The EPA argues that a rapid transition to EVs will happen no matter what, given the industrys own large investments in that direction.

The new EPA rules, however, would still impose new costs on top of investments automakers already have planned. The new rules would raise industry-wide costs by somewhere between $180 and $280 billion during the seven-year period, according to the EPA. There would be savings, too, such as better fuel economy for drivers and reduced maintenance for EVs, compared with gas-powered models. But manufacturers largely bear the costs up front, then pass on to consumers what they can recoup through higher prices. Thats the tricky part for legacy automakers: financing the transition to electrics without racking up losses or too many sell recommendations on their stock.

Ford and GM stock has been largely range-bound for years, with the exception of a modest run-up during the Covid rally, when monetary stimulus goosed the whole market. Those flattish stock trends reflect Wall Street worry about massive transformation costs. Tesla, of course, is a high-flier thats still worth six times as much as GM and Ford combined, even with its stock down by more than half from its 2021 peak. Investors think Tesla is poised to dominate an industry driven by EVs, and that dominance could come sooner if the Biden rules stick.

They may not.

Automakers seem sure to challenge the new proposal, saying they cant shift to EVs that fast. So the final rule could be weaker than the proposal. There will probably also be litigation challenging the Biden administrations authority to make such a big changewithout Congressional legislation. The current Supreme Court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, has been much more skeptical of executive-branch authority than in the past, and theres a chance they could block such dramatic changes. A final risk to the new rules is a possible change in administration in 2024, with a future Republican president likely to roll back the Biden standards.

All of those risks add up to a lot of uncertainty for legacy automakers already unloved by the market. CEOs of those companies have to plan for a future where the pace of transformation could range from challenging to ruinous. Tesla has challenges, too, but the burden of stringent pollution regulation isnt one of them.

Maybe Biden and Musk should be a little friendlier toward each other.

Rick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @rickjnewman

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SAN FRANCISCO In the hours after a tech executive was stabbed to death on a street in San Francisco with no clear suspect, billionaire Elon Musk led a charge on Twitter, where fellow tech executives and wealthy investors said they were fed up with violent repeat offenders getting away with crime in the biggest U.S. tech hub.

On Thursday, it became clear that their interpretation of the killing had been wrong.

City officials said at a news conference that the tech executive, Bob Lee, was murdered not randomly but by a man he knew, and San Franciscos chief prosecutor called out Musk by name for having jumped to conclusions.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Musk was reckless when he suggested within hours of the killing that repeat violent offenders were involved.

Reckless and irresponsible statements like those contained in Mr. Musks tweet that assumed incorrect circumstances about Mr. Lees death served to mislead the world in its perceptions of San Francisco, Jenkins said.

The statements, she continued, also negatively impact the pursuit of justice for victims of crime, as it spreads misinformation at a time when the police are trying to solve a very difficult case.

Musk, the countrys wealthiest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to Twitter, where he is the CEO and majority owner.

Musk responded to Lees killing with a tweet April 5 replying to another user who said Lee had been a friend.

Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately, Musk wrote.

He added that the city should take stronger action to incarcerate repeated violent offenders, and he tagged Jenkins Twitter account.

Lees death and Musks tweet added fuel to what has become a particularly contentious topic in San Francisco. Debates about crime, drugs and homelessness and the citys response to them have become flashpoints, with some in the tech and startup community rallying to push for change. That community helped recall the previous district attorney, Chesa Boudin, who was attacked for seeking alternatives to incarceration.

San Francisco has logged 13 homicides this year, matching last years tally in the same time frame, according to police department data. Robberies and assaults have also stayed relatively consistent over the past year.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said in an interview with NBC News on Thursday that every homicide is important, but that Lee was a notable person, which elevated media coverage of the case.

Some of the things that were said because of this case, I think were a little bit unfair, Scott said. Its one case. And I believe this would have happened anywhere.

Musk was not alone in rushing to offer an opinion about Lees killing and its broader significance for San Francisco. Matt Ocko, a venture capitalist, called San Francisco lawless and said the criminal-loving city council had literal blood on their hands.

Michelle Tandler, a startup founder who often tweets about crime, said the killing was part of a disturbing crime wave that justified calling in the National Guard. Michael Arrington, the founder of the news site TechCrunch, tweeted that he hated what San Francisco has become.

And investor Jason Calacanis, rejecting a call to wait for the facts, said the city was run by evil incompetent fools & grifters who accomplish nothing except enabling rampant violence.

Calacanis tweeted Thursday that he stood by his earlier view, independent of any one of the thousands of violent crimes that occur every month. Arrington, Ocko and Tandler did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Rival interpretations of the killing had also played out in the news media, with the San Francisco Chronicle cautioning that violent crime was relatively low in the city, while The New York Times put the lawless quotation in a headline.

Mayor London Breed noted at Thursdays news conference how the case had received wide attention.

There has been a lot of speculation and a lot of things said about our city and crime in the city, Breed said, praising the patient work of prosecutors and police.

Jenkins said people would have been better off waiting for more facts before they weighed in with broad declarations.

We all should and must do better about not contributing to the spread of such misinformation without having actual facts to underlie the statements that we make. Victims deserve that, and the residents of San Francisco deserve that, Jenkins said.

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San Francisco DA blasts Elon Musk over reaction to stabbing death - NBC News

Rare earths had been considered irreplaceable for building the powerful magnets needed for these vehicles, and Tesla cited the move as removing a crucial production and cost constraint on its operations.

Elon Musks Tesla must cut the use of costly rare earths to meet its goals of making cheaper cars and grow its sales. Bloomberg

Lynas has made it clear that the growing demand for e-vehicles has underpinned demand, and prices, for rare earths. It drove the share price from $1.30 at the start of 2020 to a high of $11 last year, valuing the group at more than $10 billion at its peak.

Since then, Lynas has shredded as much as $2 billion of its market valuation, trading as low as $6. Has Musks declaration shaken the company, or can it keep on trucking?

Industry: Minerals and resources.

Main products: Rare earth ores 17 elements crucial to the manufacture of many hi-tech products such as mobile phones, electric cars and wind turbines. Neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) are the two elements that have been in particularly high demand due to electric vehicles.

Key figures: Amanda Lacaze has been chief executive since 2014 and the main driver of its success. Kathleen Conlon was appointed chair in 2020 and has been on the board since 2011.

How it started: Lynas, as we know it, was the brainchild of business veteran Nick Curtis who came up with the idea to build a processing plant in Malaysia and set the company up as the only processor of rare earths outside of China. Japanese commercial interests stung by Chinas blocking of rare earth exports in 2010 helped finance the plant.

Operations commenced in 2012, but have been dogged by local controversy over the low-level radioactive material produced by the cracking and leaching process in Malaysia which must now be moved offshore by July this year. A new processing operation in Western Australia will pick up the slack.

How its going: With Lynas setting up the processing plant in Kalgoorlie, it has solved the Malaysia issue. The companys main problem now has been keeping up with demand forecasts which have been sky-high on the back of increased EV production which need rare earths for the powerful and lightweight magnets they need.

Lynas boss Amanda Lacaze. Carla Gottgens

The company has also been in the fortunate position of receiving US government money to fund its plans to set up a processing plant in Texas as governments around the world grow worried about how much they rely on Chinas stranglehold on the supply of crucial elements.

The bear case: When Elon Musk talks, people listen. So, when Musk, and other Tesla executives, unveiled plans to wean the car group off rare earths last month it had a major impact.

You cant run an automotive industry without rare earths, Lacaze told the Melbourne Mining Club just last year. What if you can?

The companys plans to increase rare earths output by 50 per cent by 2025 were deemed to be inadequate precisely due to the boom in car demand.

So, Musks edict to replace rare earth elements from his cars went to the heart of what has made this market a magnet for investors looking to ride the burgeoning demand for e-vehicles of all kinds.

The bull case: Musk might actually be able to pull this rabbit out of the hat and reduce Teslas reliance on rare earths, but not everyone is buying what he is selling.

Especially since Teslas comments say more about the companys aggressive growth targets, and what it needs to do to get there than it does about the attractiveness of rare earths for the electrification of the auto industry.

According to Adamas Intelligence, there is a reason why automakers have not used cheap and accessible alternatives like iron oxide: getting the same performance comes at the price of significantly higher weight.

In one case it cited, the iron oxide magnets were 30 per cent heavier a massive weight penalty, it said.

Tesla might find a cheaper alternative to power its low price cars of the future, but it wont be easy.

Rare earth magnets have been the breakthrough technology that lifted electric vehicles into the same league as conventional cars, Fat Tail Investments James Cooper says.

JP Morgan remains a Lynas fan, it put an Overweight recommendation on the stock this month and an $8.50 price target.

Also this month, UBS analyst Levi Spry upgraded Lynas to a Buy despite lowering its price target to $8.50 due to the 33 per cent slide in the companys share price since January. Tesla was not of any concern.

We remain positive on long-term fundamentals. To this extent, we do not think Teslas intentions to thrift rare earths from its supply chain has a significant impact within our forecast horizon, he said.

UBS is forecasting that Tesla will account for around 7 per cent of demand for NdPr by 2030.

While not insignificant, we still see deficits forming and that inelastic demand (from other OEMs and industries) should keep fundamentals for NdPr strong.

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion.

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Has Elon Musk pricked Lynas rare earths bubble? - Sydney Morning Herald

Elon Musk has made a bizarre statement in which he appears to complain about his smaller stake in Tesla and said that he prefers building products elsewhere unless he gets a bigger stake in the company.

The statement is particularly bizarre when you consider the fact that he himself recently sold tens of billions of dollars worth of Tesla stock to buy a grossly overpriced Twitter.

Theres currently some talk, mainly from Musk fans, about Tesla putting together a new CEO compensation package for him.

Musk completed his last CEO compensation plan, which awarded him millions of Tesla shares worth billions of dollars and made him the richest man in the world.

Ironically, the talks about a new CEO compensation package came just as Tesla slashed its own employee stock option plan.

While most commentators dont seem opposed to Musk having a new reasonable compensation package, the consensus is that since Musk owns 411 million shares in Tesla, representing about 13% of the outstanding shares, thats plenty of incentives for him to perform as CEO.

However, Musk responded to this argument with the following:

Musk claims that he wants more shares in Tesla to have more influence on the companys AI and robotics endeavors:

I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I cant be overturned. Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla.

The CEO of Tesla is claiming here that he prefers to build products outside of the company because he doesnt have a big enough stake in it.

Its important to note that Musk used to have a much bigger stake in Tesla before his botched acquisition of Twitter.

For those who dont remember the whole debacle, 2021-2022 were an interesting few years for Musks Tesla ownership.

It all started whenMusk said he would sell 10% of his stake in Teslaif a Twitter poll would agree, which it unsurprisingly did.

The CEO framed the idea as pressure from the media and politicians about the rich not paying taxes on unrealized gains. He said that he would voluntarily set himself up to have the biggest tax bill in US history.

However, Musk wasnt as vocal about the fact that he was facing a giant tax bill regardless of his sale of shares, due to a large number of stock options he needed to exercise from his previously mentioned massive CEO compensation plan.

The CEO then used the proceeds from selling his Tesla shares to invest a few billions into Twitter.

He later agreed to buy Twitter and take it private for $44 billion. Musk quickly backed out of the deal despite it being signed. Twitter sued him to force him to go through with the deal, which he ultimately did.

But to pay for the acquisition, he had to sell tens of billions of dollars worth of Tesla stock, which resulted in a significant crash in the stock price.

He even told Tesla shareholders that he would stop selling shares, but then sold more anyway.

Update: Musk added that the only reason he doesnt have a new compensation plan is due to Tesla waiting for the decision in a court case brought on by shareholders over his prior compensation plan being too excessive, according to the complaint.

Following a separate lawsuit, Musk and Teslas board agreed to return over $700 million to the company over excessive board compensation.

This is Elon setting the stage for another wild compensation package. I bet that the board is already discussing it.

But honestly, I dont get how he can even be CEO of Tesla at this point.

Theres a clear conflict of interest. He has repeatedly claimed recently that Tesla is an AI/robotics company and he started a separate new AI startup.

Now, he is straight up saying that he prefers building new AI products at that startup rather than Tesla because he has more control (larger ownership stake) over that startup.

Is this a clear conflict of interest, or am I missing something?

And regardless of that, are we to believe that Elon wants a bigger stake in Tesla to have more influence over AI or because he wasted his Tesla shares on an overpriced Twitter?

Only he knows the truth and we all know that the truth is only on X:

I have my doubts. But I have more than doubts and complaints this time. I have a solution.

Tesla shareholders should give Elon a new CEO compensation plan. 1 million TSLA shares per year, but theres a catch. Every time he tweets something dumb, you take away 10,000 shares. There you go. The most efficient CEO compensation to create shareholder value. You are welcome.

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Elon Musk complains about his smaller stake in Tesla after wasting it on buying Twitter - Electrek

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says a portable version of Starlink is set to arrive in the coming months.

Well be introducing the Starlink mini later this year, which can fit in a backpack, he said in a speech to SpaceX employees.

On Friday, SpaceX took to Twitter/X to post Musks speech, which provided an update on the companys businesses, including the progress in expanding Starlink, its satellite internet service.

Back in September, the FCC approved SpaceXs application to operate the Starlink mini dish, which is supposed to be the size of a MacBook. But the company had been quiet about the product until now.

No pricing, specs, or image were provided. But Musk said the model will be "pretty cool for anyone who wants a very portable Starlink.

In his speech, Musk also talked about the companys next-generation standard Starlink dish, which the company began inviting users to order in November. The hardware itself costs $599, the same price as the current second-generation dish. However, Musk signaled that the new Standard dish costs less for SpaceX to manufacture.

Weve now shipped our next-gen hardware. Thats version four of the user terminal. So that allows us to lower the cost of Starlink, he said.(Meanwhile, users have told PCMag the next-generation dish seems to excel at delivering more consistent higher download speeds and better upload rates.)

(Credit: SpaceX)

Previously, a single Starlink dish cost $3,000 to produce, but the company has been steadily driving down the manufacturing costs. This has involved opening a new Starlink factory in Texas, which Musk referred to in his speech.

The companys other major goal is to operate a cellular version of Starlink that can beam data to phones on the ground, giving a way for consumers to digitally communicate even in the most remote regions. On Thursday, SpaceX demonstrated that the technology works, successfully relaying text messages from a batch of newly launched Direct to Cell Starlink satellites to unmodified phones on the ground.

(Credit: SpaceX)

In his speech, Musk said the cellular Starlink system is designed to supply about 7Mbps per cell. And the cells are hundreds of square miles, kilometers in size. So its good for text messages, he said. You could technically do video if youre the only one, or if theres only a few people in that cell, like if youre in the middle of the Pacific.

The company plans on launching the cellular Starlink service through T-Mobile later this year to support text messages. Voice and data support are scheduled to arrive later in 2025. However, SpaceX is still waiting for FCC approval to operate the service commercially in the US.

As for the regular Starlink service, Musk said a major goal is to reduce the systems latency to under 20 milliseconds. To do so, the company is building more gateway stations connected to fiber networks on the ground. These ground stations can then beam the high-speed internet to Starlink satellites in orbit.

(Credit: SpaceX)

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Starlink Mini Dish Coming Later This Year, Elon Musk Says - PCMag

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Casey is taking his newsletter Platformer off Substack, as criticism over the companys handling of pro-Nazi content grows. Then, The Wall Street Journal spoke with witnesses who said that Elon Musk had used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, worrying some directors and board members of his companies. And finally, how researchers found a new class of antibiotics with the help of an artificial intelligence algorithm used to win the board game Go.

Todays guests:

Kirsten Grind, enterprise reporter for The Wall Street Journal

Felix Wong, postdoctoral fellow at M.I.T. and co-founder of Integrated Biosciences

Additional Reading:

Hard Fork is hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton and produced by Davis Land and Rachel Cohn . The show is edited by Jen Poyant. Engineering by Alyssa Moxley and original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Diane Wong and Pat McCusker . Fact-checking by Mary Mathis.

Special thanks to Paula Szuchman, Pui-Wing Tam, Nell Gallogly, Kate LoPresti and Jeffrey Miranda.

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Why Casey Left Substack, Elon Musk and Drugs, and an A.I. Antibiotic Discovery - The New York Times

Enlarge / Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, recently held an all-hands meeting with employees at the company's Starbase facility in South Texas.

SpaceX

Last year was unquestionably the best year in SpaceX's history, CEO Elon Musk told his employees during an all-hands meeting in South Texas last week.

There were 96 flights of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, plus the first two test flights of the enormous new Starship rocket. In 2024, SpaceX said it aims for more than 140 launches of the Falcon rocket family. There may be up to 10 Starship test flights this year, according to the NASA official who manages the agency's contract with SpaceX to develop Starship into a human-rated Moon lander.

SpaceX posted a video late Friday on the social media platform X of Musk's all-hands meeting at the Starbase launch facility near Brownsville, Texas. The hour-long video includes Musk's comments on SpaceX's recent accomplishments and plans, but the video ends before employees ask questions of their boss.

While it would be nice to see space reporters get more opportunities to question Musk about SpaceX, it's good to see the company sharing these kinds of videos. Musk has presented several formal updates on Starship in the pastin person and virtualand taken questions from reporters and space enthusiasts.

Nevertheless, the recent all-hands meeting included significant updates on Starship and other SpaceX programs. We now know a little more about what happened at the end of an otherwise successful Starship test flight from South Texas in November, preventing the rocket from achieving its planned trajectory. And Musk talked about what we can expect in upcoming Starship test flights.

He also touched on the records set by SpaceX's workhorse Falcon rocket family this year. Until Starship is fully operational, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy will keep flying. SpaceX has launch contracts for both rockets into the late 2020s.

Musk said SpaceX is working on extending the life of Falcon 9's reusable first-stage boosters. Originally, SpaceX said each Falcon 9 booster could fly up to 10 times without a major overhaul. Some Falcon 9s have now flown almost twice that number of missions.

Weve done a 19th re-flight," Musk said. "Were now qualifying Falcon 9 to be able to do 40 flights, and were aiming for maybe as much as 150 flights this year."

Ramping up the launch cadence will require SpaceX to increase factory throughout to produce more Falcon 9 second stages, which are only used once. And SpaceX will need to get even better at turning around its Falcon 9 launch pads between missions

"Were aiming to hopefully, I think, get under 24 hours pad turnaround by the end of this year," Musk said.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Musk's presentation centered on Starship.

Starship's second full-scale test flight on November 18 surpassed SpaceX's goals going into the launch. Musk said the primary objective was to get the rocket past staging, a milestone just shy of three minutes into the flight when Starship's upper stage separated from its Super Heavy booster.

Getting to that point, the Super Heavy booster's 33 Raptor engines all worked, apparently flawlessly, then Starship's upper stage lit its six Raptor engines to continue the climb into space.

The Super Heavy booster exploded moments later as it began a boost-back burn to guide itself toward a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. This was a secondary objective, but SpaceX engineers will have to correct this issue before it can recover and reuse a Super Heavy booster.

Starshipthe rocket's upper stagecontinued flying until around eight minutes into the flight, when it broke apart in space over the Gulf of Mexico. This happened less than 30 seconds before Starship's engines were supposed to cut off, when the vehicle would have accumulated enough velocity to reach its planned trajectory, taking it most of the way around the world. If everything went perfectly, the ship would have reentered the atmosphere and splashed down near Hawaii.

Musk didn't discuss what happened with the Super Heavy booster on the November flight, but he said Starship disintegratedduring a liquid oxygen vent late in its burn. The Raptor engines consume liquid oxygen and methane as propellants.

Flight 2 actually almost made it to orbit," Musk said. "The reason that it actually didnt quite make it to orbit was we vented the liquid oxygen, and the liquid oxygen ultimately led to a fire and an explosion.We wanted to vent the liquid oxygen because we normally wouldnt have that liquid oxygen if we had a payload. Ironically, if it had a payload, it would have reached orbit.

SpaceX

Musk didn't offer any more details about the liquid oxygen vent but said he thinks SpaceX has a "really good shot of reaching orbit" on the next Starship test flight. This third full-size Starship test flight is likely weeks away. Jessica Jensen, SpaceX's vice president of customer operations and integration, said in a NASA teleconference last week that SpaceX aims to have hardware for the next Starship launch ready this month.

She said SpaceX anticipates getting a commercial launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration in February. SpaceX launched its first two Starship test flights within a few days of receiving its FAA license.

SpaceX introduced numerous changes to the Starship design between its first and second flights last year, including a water deluge system at the launch pad, a redesigned stage separation technique, and replacing hydraulic thrust vector controls with an electrically driven engine steering system.

"With Flight 1, the goal was not to blow the pad up and ideally get some distance, which we did," Musk said. "With Flight 2, it was to get past staging, so we achieved the goal of getting past staging and almost to orbit."

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Elon Musk's recent all-hands meeting at SpaceX was full of interesting news - Ars Technica

Elon Musks comments on efforts by United Airlines and Boeing to diversify their workforces have drawn swift criticism from major civil rights organizations.

Musk claimed, without evidence, that the efforts of those airlines to hire nonwhite pilots and factory workers have made air travel less safe.

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, called Musks statements abhorrent and pathetic. Morial pointed out that Tesla, where Musk is CEO, is facing a lawsuit from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for alleged abuse of Black employees, including racial slurs and nooses found in the workplace.

Musks company not only refused to investigate complaints or take any steps to end the abuse, it viciously retaliated against employees who complained or opposed the abuse, Morial told NBC News, citing allegations from the suit. The only thing anyone needs to hear from Musk about diversity in the workplace is an apology, he said.

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson responded to Musk on X, stating that the real danger comes from Musks own social media site, accusing it of providing a platform for hate speech and white supremacist conspiracy theories. Johnson emphasized the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (commonly referred to as DEI) for cultivating a more inclusive society.

Reminder to @elonmusk: providing a home for the proliferation of hate speech and white supremacist conspiracy theories kills people. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion cultivate a more inclusive society, Johnsonwrote.

They are not the same. We are not the same, he added.

Musks comments on airline safety came after a panel blew off a Boeing jet while in flight. Musk began discussing the topic on X in response to a user who speculated that the IQ scores of United Airlines pilots from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were somehow lower than the average IQ of Air Force pilots.

He criticized programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, suggesting that it would take a plane crash with hundreds of casualties to change such policies.

Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety? That is actually happening, Musk wrote.

Its important to note that commercial aviation is the safest it has ever been, with a record low number of accidents and fatalities in 2023, according to Dutch air-safety groupTo70. However, near-collisions at US airports remain a source of concern,reports NBC News.

According to the news outlet, neither United nor Boeing have commented on Musks claims.

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Civil Rights Groups Slam Comments By Elon Musk Claiming Diversity Efforts Make Flying Less Safe - Essence

Parag Agrawal spent 11 months at the helm of Twitter, now known as X. Photo: Brendan McDermid ( Reuters )

Parag Agrawal, who was briefly CEO of Twitter before Elon Musk took over the social media platform, has reportedly raised about $30 million in funding for an AI startup.

Is the Apple Heart the next great innovation? | Whats next for Apple?

His company is building software for developers of large language models (LLMs), according to The Information, which cites unnamed sources. LLMs power generative AI tools like ChatGPT.

Agrawals AI venture marks the start of a new journey for him. After joining Twitter in 2011, he served as a software engineer before being promoted to chief technology officer and replacing Jack Dorsey as CEO. He then spent 11 tumultuous months at the helm before being ousted after Elon Musk closed the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, now known as X, in April 2022.

Agrawal is yet another tech executive to jump on the bandwagon of pivoting to AI as venture capital keeps flowing into the space. For example, former Twitter board chair Bret Taylor was named chairman of the new OpenAI board late last year. Even X boss Musk has launched his own AI startup, xAI.

This rush by tech execs comes as global funding for AI startups hit nearly $50 billion in 2023, up 9% from the previous year, according to market research firm Crunchbase. Leading players OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection collectively raised $18 billion last year. AI is still a bright spot for launching a new company, even as overall startup funding remains lackluster.

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The Twitter CEO ousted by Elon Musk has resurfaced with an AI startup - Quartz

Billionaire Elon Musk has directed his attention to the Federal Aviation Administrations focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, stating Monday morning that he could not believe this is happening.

Musk, who has spoken out against the DEI movement recently, shared a story on social media that revealed the FAA is seeking to hire people withsevere intellectual disabilities. Among these disabilities defined by the FAA include those involving hearing, sight, partial or complete paralysis, and epilepsy.

Just had a conversation with some smart people could not believe this is happening, Musk wrote on X, his social media platform once known as Twitter.

Musks concerns about the FAAs use of DEI in its hiring comes about a week after a Boeing 737 Max 9, operated byAlaska Airlines, had a piece of it blown off during its takeoff. The government is currently investigating what caused the piece to blow off from the plane.

A social media user responding to Musk suggested how catastrophic DEI could be when hiring people in the medical industry, with the user suggesting people could DIE due to DEI. Musk agreed, responding yes to the hypothetical scenario.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Musk has made himself a vocal critic of DEI over the past few weeks, stating Monday that discrimination based on anything other than merit is wrong. He also argued last week thatDEI discriminatesagainstpeople based on their race and that DEI itself is both immoral and illegal.

Other billionaires who have recently voiced their opinions against DEI include hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, Lululemon founder Chip Wilson, and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

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Elon Musk expresses concern over FAA's focus on DEI - Washington Examiner

Progressivism is one long fit of rage, constantly pushing toward the most absurd reaction to any given situation, and Elon Musk is currently its top target.

And because progressivism is one escalation after another, it was just a matter of time before Musk was connected to QAnon. It all started with a fairly innocuous tweet encouraging people to follow a rabbit emoji (i.e. the white rabbit). Then Caroline Orr Bueno, who studies disinformation and has half a million followers, showed up with this banger.

Apparently, they just give out doctorates like candy these days. The surest sign you are dealing with a deranged individual, though, is the fact that Bueno is a behavioral scientist living off the teat of academia. Thats an environment ripe for smelling ones own farts to the point of conspiratorial delusion.

Does anyone see an explicit call to follow QAnon in Musk posting a bunny emoji? If you dont, thats because one doesnt exist. Still, Beuno soldiered on into the bowels of QAnon trolling to find a few posts that confirm her priors.

That seems like a few less than 120 million people, but I dont have a doctorate in mathematics to know for sure. So are the above posts indicative of anything but a tiny number of people who like to troll left-wing academics? Nah, but Beuno thinks shes cracked the case, and thats the real entertainment value here. Over-educated individuals who have convinced themselves that their brilliance reveals a monster under every bed. You are just too much of a rube to see them.

In actuality, the opposite is true. Bueno isnt smart. Rather, shes so vapid as to have no possible argument outside of the most extreme, baseless interpretation. It couldnt possibly be that Musk has seen the Matrix or that hes a fan of Jefferson Airplane. No, its got to be that hes secretly QAnon, pushing his followers to join a domestic terrorist group.

Thats the same dynamic that leads the left to accuse those on the right of being nazis. Its beyond their mental capacity to argue for their policies in an affirmative manner. Instead, they fall on the lazy trope of comparing their opponents to genocidal maniacs because thats all they can come up with. They dont want to bear any scrutiny of their own positions so they attempt to simply disqualify the other side from consideration.

As to what Musk was actually talking about? Far from promoting QAnon, he was making a cryptic reference to a Twitter account that provided some stats on lockdowns and COVID-19 deaths. Reality is so much more boring than the leftwing mind.

I dont know what Musk will end up making off Twitter monetarily in the long run, but whatever it is, it will have been worth it. No man since Donald Trump has managed to cause the left more consternation, and that feels like a pretty good value.

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Elon Musk Accused of Promoting QAnon in Latest Leftwing Fit of Rage ...

Twitters former head of trust and safety claimed Friday night that Twitter CEO Elon Musk was putting peoples lives in danger by revealing internal company documents showing how employees censored conservatives and a negative news story about then-presidential candidate Joe Bidens son.

Yoel Roth, Twitters former Sr. Director, Head of Trust & Safety, complained about Musks decision to release internal company communications through journalist Matt Taibbi about the companys censorship of the New York Posts Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 presidential election.

Taibbi tweeted out screenshots showing that company officialswere in regular contact with Democrats and censored content that Democrats wanted removed.

Publicly posting the names and identities of front-line employees involved in content moderation puts them in harms way and is a fundamentally unacceptable thing to do, Roth posted on Mastodon.

Musk said that he decided to release the information because it was necessary to restore public trust in the platform after it censored the Hunter Biden story.

One of the tweets published by Taibbi showed that Democrats flagged content from conservative actor James Woods to Twitters content moderation team for removal.

Woods joined Fox News host Tucker Carlson as Taibbi was releasing the internal information from Twitter.

Ive been a target of these people for six years. They have destroyed my career, Woods said. They have destroyed my livelihood. Theyve destroyed my faith in this country that my family has defended in the military since the Revolutionary War.

I can guarantee you one thing, more than anything else youll ever hear in your life, I will be getting a lawyer. I will be suing the Democratic National Committee. No matter what, whether I win or lose, I am going to stand up for the rights of every American, he said. Im not a celebrity, Im hardly recognizable anymore because my career has been destroyed by these very people.

If I have to be the flag-bearer for this, then so be it. Ill be proud to do it, Woods added.The government of the United States conspired to take my free speech and throw it in the gutter. And theres something that they should fear more than anything they have ever imagined in their wildest dreams. The most dangerous man, these corrupt, vile vermin is an American, whos not afraid of him, and Joe Biden, and all those rats who work with you at the DNC, to close down my speech, I am not afraid of you. And Im coming for you.

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Ex-Twitter Executive: Elon Musk Is Putting Us In Harms Way By ...

Did Elon Musk's first actions at Twitter lose the social media platform users to Mastodon and Hive Social?  Sky News

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Did Elon Musk's first actions at Twitter lose the social media platform users to Mastodon and Hive Social? - Sky News

Serena Williams Husband Alexis Ohanian Targets Elon Musk as He Dishes Out Physics-Based Advice to the Controversial CEO  EssentiallySports

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Serena Williams Husband Alexis Ohanian Targets Elon Musk as He Dishes Out Physics-Based Advice to the Controversial CEO - EssentiallySports

A provocative manslaughter case is about to kick off in Los Angeles later this month, involving a fatal crash caused by a Tesla vehicle that had the company's controversial Autopilot feature turned on.

It's the first case of its kind, and one that could set a precedent for future crashes involving cars and driver-assistance software, Reuters reports.

We won't know the exact defense until the case gets under way, but the crux is that the man who was behind the wheel of the Tesla is facing manslaughter charges — but has pleaded not guilty, setting up potentially novel legal arguments about culpability in a deadly collision when, technically speaking, it wasn't a human driving the car.

"Who's at fault, man or machine?" asked Edward Walters, an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University, in an interview with Reuters. "The state will have a hard time proving the guilt of the human driver because some parts of the task are being handled by Tesla."

The upcoming trial is about a fatal collision that took place in 2019. The crash involved Kevin George Aziz Riad, who ran a red light in his Tesla Model S, and collided with a Honda Civic, killing a couple who were reportedly on their first date.

According to vehicle data, Riad did not apply the brakes but had a hand on the steering wheel. Perhaps most critically, though, the Tesla's Autopilot feature was turned on in the moments leading up to the crash.

Riad is facing manslaughter charges, with prosecutors arguing his actions were reckless.

Meanwhile, Riad's lawyers have argued that he shouldn't be charged with a crime, but have so far stopped short of publicly placing blame on Tesla's Autopilot software.

Tesla is not directly implicated in the upcoming trial and isn't facing charges in the case, according to Reuters.

A separate trial, however, involving the family of one of the deceased is already scheduled for next year — but this time, Tesla is the defendant.

"I can't say that the driver was not at fault, but the Tesla system, Autopilot, and Tesla spokespeople encourage drivers to be less attentive," the family's attorney Donald Slavik told Reuters.

"Tesla knows people are going to use Autopilot and use it in dangerous situations," he added.

Tesla is already under heavy scrutiny over its Autopilot and so-called Full Self-Driving software, despite conceding that the features "do not make the vehicle autonomous" and that drivers must remain attentive of the road at all times.

Critics argue that Tesla's marketing is misleading and that it's only leading to more accidents — not making the roads safer, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has argued in the past.

In fact, a recent survey found that 42 percent of Tesla Autopilot said they feel "comfortable treating their vehicles as fully self-driving."

Regulators are certainly already paying attention. The news comes a week after Reuters revealed that the Department of Justice is investigating Tesla over Autopilot.

Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced an investigation of accidents in which Teslas have smashed into emergency response vehicles that were pulled over with sirens or flares.

This month's trial certainly stands the chance of setting a precedent. Was Riad fully at fault or was Tesla's Autopilot at least partially to blame as well?

The answer now lies in the hands of a jury.

READ MORE: Tesla crash trial in California hinges on question of 'man vs machine' [Reuters]

More on Autopilot: Survey: 42% of Tesla Autopilot Drivers Think Their Cars Can Drive Themselves

The post Manslaughter Case Has a Strange Twist: Tesla That Killed Couple Was on Autopilot appeared first on Futurism.

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Manslaughter Case Has a Strange Twist: Tesla That Killed Couple Was on Autopilot

Advertisers are fleeing Twitter in droves now that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has taken over control.

Ever since officially closing the $44 billion deal, Musk has been busy gutting the company's executive suite and dissolving its board. Senior executives, as well as Twitter's advertising chief Sarah Personette, have departed as well.

After all, Musk has been very clear about his disdain for advertising for years now.

The resulting uncertainty has advertisers spooked — major advertising holding company IPG has already advised clients to pull out temporarily — and the billionaire CEO is in serious damage mode.

Now, Reuters reports, Musk is spending most of this week meeting with advertisers in New York, trying to reassure them that Twitter won't turn into a "free-for-all hellscape."

According to one of Reuters' sources, the meetings have been "very productive" — but plenty of other marketers are far from satisfied.

Advertisers are reportedly grilling Musk over his plans to address the rampant misinformation being spread on the platform, a trend that Musk himself has been actively contributing to since the acquisition.

And if he's succeeding in ameliorating advertisers in private, he's antagonizing them publicly. On Wednesday, Musk posted a poll asking users whether advertisers should support either "freedom of speech," or "political 'correctness'" — a type of false dichotomy that echoes the rhetoric of far-right conspiracy theorists and conservative pundits.

"Those type of provocations are not helping to calm the waters," an unnamed media buyer told Reuters.

Some are going public with the same sentiment.

"Unless Elon hires new leaders committed to keeping this 'free' platform safe from hate speech, it's not a platform brands can/should advertise on," Allie Wassum, global media director for the Nike-owned shoe brand Jordan, wrote in a LinkedIn post.

So far, Musk's plans for the social media platform remain strikingly muddy. In addition to the behind-the-scenes advertising plays, he's also announced that users will have to pay to retain their verification badge, though he's engaged in a comically public negotiation as to what the cost might be.

He's also hinted that previously banned users — former US president Donald Trump chief among them — might eventually get a chance to return, but only once "we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks."

The move was seen by many as a way to wait out the impending midterm elections. After all, Twitter has played a huge role in disseminating misinformation and swaying elections in the past.

While advertisers are running for the hills, to Musk advertising is clearly only a small part of the picture — even though historically, social giants like Twitter have struggled to diversify their revenue sources much beyond display ads.

Musk nodded to that reality in a vague open letter posted last week.

"Low relevancy ads are spam, but highly relevant ads are actually content!" he wrote in the note, addressed to "Twitter advertisers."

Big picture, Twitter's operations are in free fall right now and Musk has yet to provide advertisers with a cohesive plan to pick up the pieces.

While he's hinted at the creation of a new content moderation council made up of both "people from all viewpoints" and "wildly divergent views," advertisers are clearly going to be thinking twice about continuing their business with Twitter.

With or without advertising, Twitter's finances are reportedly in a very deep hole. The billions of dollars Musk had to borrow to finance his mega acquisition will cost Twitter around $1 billion a year in interest alone.

The company also wasn't anywhere near profitable before Musk took over, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in a single quarter.

Whether that picture will change any time soon is as unclear as ever, especially in the face of a wintry economy.

But, of course, Musk has proved his critics wrong before. So anything's possible.

READ MORE: Advertisers begin to grill Elon Musk over Twitter 'free-for-all' [Reuters]

More on the saga: Elon Musk Pulling Engineers From Tesla Autopilot to Work on Twitter

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Elon Musk Meeting With Advertisers, Begging Them Not to Leave Twitter