elon musk
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Elon Musk
Since Elon Musk reluctantly dropped $44 billion on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, he has been giving a masterclass on how to ruin something already good. A new report details how one of his ideas, Twitter Blue, was a disaster from the start.
A New York Times report revealed that employees at X, formerly Twitter, tried to warn Musk about the dangers of his dumb idea, Twitter Blue, which allowed users to purchase verified blue checkmarks along with other features was a “dangerous” idea during a meeting at the company’s San Francisco office on November 9, 2022.
According to the report, Musk dismissed the employee’s concerns, telling them to be “adventurous” while eating the snacks in the office. Twitter Blue would go on to be the disaster his employees tried to warn them about as fake accounts with blue checkmarks began popping up instantaneously, spewing out false information and eroding trust among users.
Per The NYT:
“We’re going to be shooting from the hip in real time,” Mr. Musk said, fashioning his hands into a pair of finger guns.
Previously, Blue had been a small part of the company’s business, which relied on advertising for 90 percent of its revenue. Blue allowed a few thousand die-hard users to pay for premium features, like the ability to edit their tweets and customize the Twitter app on their phones, but it never gained much traction. To Mr. Musk, a Twitter obsessive who had purchased the company for $44 billion, the service represented an untapped financial opportunity.
Mr. Musk’s attempt to rescue a company he saw as a sinking ship was premised on the idea that he could persuade people — millions of them — to pay for Twitter Blue. That scheme, however, was doomed from the start by the haphazard planning and capriciousness of Twitter’s owner, whose nearly two-year stewardship of the company has cratered its finances and sullied his reputation as a generational entrepreneur.
Musk eventually shuttered Twitter Blue following its launch before relaunching it again, but the damage was already done, with the platform’s most famous users vowing not to pay for the service.
Phony Stark would also change the company’s name from Twitter to X, a very bonehead decision, and advertisers have shunned the platform.
The Tesla Chief has also begun pushing our right-wing conspiracies, restored Donald Trump’s account, and has endorsed the Orange Menace for president.
We really need Threads or some other app to give us a reason to kick X to the curb.
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Donald Trump sat down with Elon Musk for an exclusive chat on the X platform’s Spaces section in support of his presidential campaign. In the chat, Donald Trump appeared to display slurred speech with listeners on X reacting to the meandering conversation in kind.
Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk didn’t begin their planned conversation on Monday (August 12) as expected with well over 800,000 attendees having to wait 40 minutes before the conversation started. As some observers on X noted, this was not the first time Musk has been met with a technical glitch using the Spaces feature with a presidential candidate. Musk claimed that there was a cyberattack on his platform leading to the delay.
The environment was certainly friendly to Donald Trump with Elon Musk asking safe questions that allowed the candidate to freely riff as he’s known to do without facing much in the way of pushback. Trump, displaying a familiar campaign talking point of being tough on immigration, promised at one point to enact the largest deportation in U.S. history. Trump is seizing on the fears of voters who have been sold an idea that illegal immigrants are funneling in drugs committing crime, and taking jobs from Americans.
Musk, a former critic of Trump, praised the business mogul at several intervals in the discussion. Trump also gushed over Musk supporting his reelection bid, saying that Musk’s “endorsement meant a lot.”
It was also a moment for Musk to cozy up further to Trump, suggesting at one point that a presidential commission is formed with a focus on government efficiency while boldly asking to be appointed to the commission. Trump seemed pleased by the idea.
Although his campaign heads are denying what others heard, there have been several replies on X noticing that the former president routinely slurred his speech. The same X users are noting that few major news outlets are pointing out the deficiencies in Trump’s speaking, an opposite position those outlets took when discussing President Joe Biden’s speech during the debate he held with Trump.
We did not hear the whole discussion in full as we only heard clips shared by users on X. However, what we did hear does confirm that Trump was struggling to speak clearly at points but the reasons are unknown to us.
Check out the reactions to Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s chat below,
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Photo: Getty
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Source: Ethan Miller / Getty / Plies
Nobody had on their bingo cards that Hip-Hop star Plies would be one of the biggest political voices on X. The rapper is now sharing his opinion on the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, and his real reasoning behind purchasing the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The always outspoken Plies sees the jig regarding Elon Musk and the real reason he reluctantly dropped $44 billion on Twitter.
Musk bought the platform because he believes in protecting free speech, allegedly. According to the “Buss It Baby” crafter, Musk’s reasons are all political.
Plies Spotting Elon Musk’s Jig
In an August 6 post on Musk’s janky platform, Plies accused the Tesla chief of purchasing it for political reasons and even believes he will shut it down as Donald Trump continues to fall behind in the polls because he is a staunch supporter of the orange menace.
“I Can See Elon Shutting Down Twitter When Trump Continues To Fall Behind In The Polls. He Brought Twitter To Influence The Election. An Before He Accepts A Trump Loss I Believe He’ll Shut It All Down!!!!,” the rapper wrote.
Plies commentary on the matter as Trump prepares to sit down with Musk for what he describes will be the “interview of the century.” Still, we all know nothing of substance will come from it, and we can look back to his sitdown at NABJ and recent “press conference” as evidence of that.
“Elon called me, as you know he endorsed me full throated, a great endorsement,” Trump rambled to reporters. “I respect Elon a lot, he respects me. He told me he is going to have a show Monday, I think Monday night, and he invited me so it’ll be very interesting. A lot of people are talking about it. I look forward to it.”
Riggghhhtttt.
Plies The Political Star
Plies disdain for Donald Trump and unwavering support for the Biden/Harris campaign, and now the Harris/Waltz ticket, has made him one of the few Hip-Hop artists and celebs not out here “Trumpin” around.
His political takes have also made him very popular among Democrats. He is so popular that DNC Chair Jaime Harrison has reached out to him in hopes of getting him to attend the upcoming Democrat National Convention in Chicago.
You can see more reactions to Plies’ observation about Phony Stark in the gallery below.
1. Mmhhhmmmm
2. A better option
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Source: Craig T Fruchtman / Getty
Elon Musk is bad at a lot of things. He’s been bad at running the platform formerly known as Twitter. He’s terrible at holding on to his net worth. He’s deplorable at not allowing Don Lemon to make him look stupid. He’s abysmal at not being blatantly racist in his war on wokeness. He’s utterly incompetent at not proving he’s a hypocrite by suppressing the free speech of progressive groups while purporting to be a warrior for free speech.
And, apparently, he’s not so great at being a loving father. Just ask his 20-year-old trans daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson. Last month, Musk said in an interview with the Daily Wire that the daughter he used to call “son” was “killed by the woke-mind virus.”
“I was essentially tricked into signing documents for one of my older boys, Xavier,” Musk said, deadnaming Vivian. “This is before I had any understanding of what was going on. COVID was going on, so there was a lot of confusion, and I was told Xavier might commit suicide if he doesn’t [make the change].”
Musk went on to argue that the concept of allowing children to transition is “incredibly evil.”
On Monday, Wilson decided to hit back at her estranged father, calling him everything from a racist to a “serial adulterer,” along with a list of other allegations zero people should be surprised Musk is capable of.
From Page Six:
“You are not a family man, you are a serial adulterer who won’t stop f–king lying about your own children,” the 20-year-old wrote via Threads Monday, referencing her dad’s many cheating scandals and kids.
Musk, 53, has 12 children with three different women, including Wilson’s twin, Griffin, with whom the X founder shares with first wife Justine Wilson.
He has also been accused of having affairs with Amber Heard and Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s ex-wife Nicole Shanahan — which he has denied.
Vivian then continued in the heated message to her dad, “You are not a christian, as far as I’m aware you’ve never stepped foot in a church. You are not some ‘bastion for equality/progress.’”
She then implied that Musk is a racist, alleging, “You called arabic the ‘language of the enemy’ when I was 6, have been sued for discrimation [sic] multiple times, and are from Apartheid South Africa.”
Vivian continued to blast the SpaceX founder, claiming he is not “saving the planet” because he allegedly does not “give a f–k about climate change.”
She concluded, “You single-handedly disillusioned me with how gullible we are as a species because somehow people keep believing you for reasons that continue to evade me.”
So, basically, Elon Musk is the Brian McKnight of Donald Trumps.
Of course, the fine folks on X—you know, that platform Musk has been running into the ground the last couple of years—are having a field day dragging Phony Stark while showing support for his daughter.
Check out the reactions below.
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Source: Slaven Vlasic / Getty
Elon Musk & X have filed a lawsuit against advertisers he claimed colluded to boycott the social media platform.
According to reports, tech billionaire Elon Musk and the parent company of the social media platform X, formerly Twitter filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal court against the World Federation of Advertisers claiming these companies colluded to boycott the platform. The suit also names other companies such as Mars, Unilever, CVS, and Dutch clean energy firm Orsted. “This is an antitrust action relating to a group boycott by competing advertisers of one of the most popular social media platforms in the United States,” the suit reads.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino informed subscribers of the lawsuit in a video and letter posted to X, formerly Twitter, stating that the advertisers were harming “the marketplace of ideas” with their actions. The suit also named the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, or GARM as a defendant claiming they were “discontinuing entirely or substantially reducing their previously substantial advertising purchases.” The company seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages, alleging the boycott is still ongoing. “By sharply curtailing its revenues, the boycott has reduced X’s ability to invest in new or improved functionality, thus harming the consumers who use X’s platform.”
The lawsuit comes after an investigation was initiated by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee last month, which heard testimony from those companies involved. “The extent to which GARM has organized its trade association and coordinates actions that rob consumers of choices is likely illegal under the antitrust laws and threatens fundamental American freedoms,” its report read. Musk infamously told advertisers at the DealBook Summit last November who had begun to withdraw after his acquisition of X in 2022 to leave, saying: “Somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising?! Blackmail me with money? Go f–k yourself. Go. F–k. Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.” Companies cited the rise of racist and anti-Semitic content on the platform as a major reason for their exit.
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Source: Arturo Holmes / Getty
Former CNN host Don Lemon is suing Elon Musk and his social media platform X for a breach of contract after their content partnership deal was nixed by the tech mogul.
According to reports, the former CNN host Don Lemon has officially filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. The suit, filed in a San Francisco county court on Thursday (Aug. 1), alleges that Musk committed a breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of Lemon’s name and likeness, and fraud. It comes five months after his partnership deal with Musk to provide exclusive journalistic content was nixed when Musk backed out of the deal after an interview with Lemon in March via text message. Lemon is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages, claiming he wasn’t paid by Musk.
“This case is straightforward. X executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud,” said Don Lemon’s attorney Carney R. Shergerian in a statement. The lawsuit alleges that Musk agreed to pay Lemon $1.5 million under the partnership, with $200,000 paid up-front and incentives including bonus payments for reaching performance thresholds and an option to renew the one-year deal twice with the same terms.
However, there was no signed agreement paperwork. In the filing, Lemon stated that he had reservations about entering into the partnership but “Musk represented to Lemon that he would have full authority and control over the work he produced even if disliked by Defendants, and that there would be no need for a formal written agreement or to ‘fill out paperwork.’” After the split, Lemon spoke out about the interview: “Throughout our conversation, I kept reiterating to him that although it was tense at times, I thought it was good for people to see and hear our exchange, and that they would learn from our conversation. … But apparently, free speech absolutism doesn’t apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me.”
Lemon also claims that Musk “tweeted negatively about Lemon repeatedly” after the deal’s cancellation to his more than 192 million followers on X. Musk said in a post in March that Lemon “is welcome to monetize on this platform, just like everyone else. What we aren’t going to do is guarantee minimum payments to him, as he was demanding, which would be going beyond everyone else!”
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Source: Tom Williams / Getty / Elon Musk
Elon Musk continues to prove he is the biggest OP of them all.
Bootleg Tony Stark, aka Elon Musk, already got called broke on his platform, X, formerly Twitter, after walking back his $45 million a month donation pledge to the Orange Menace, Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
Now, he is under more scrutiny from not just users on the X platform but the Kamala Harris campaign and prominent Democrats for reposting a manipulated video of VP Harris saying, “selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire,” the GOP’s latest way being racist, without outright saying racist sh*t.
In his post sharing the video, the Tesla chief wrote in the caption, “This is amazing” followed with the crying laughing emoji.
In the deepfake video, which is still on Musk’s timeline, Harris says, “I, Kamala Harris, am your Democratic candidate because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility in the debate.”
The fake VP Harris continues by calling herself the “ultimate diversity hire” because “I’m both a woman and a person of color, so if you criticize anything I say you’re both sexist and racist.” The fake Harris goes on to brand herself a “deep fake puppet” who learned from another “puppet,” Joe Biden.”
The Harris Campaign Responds
Speaking with the AP, the Harris campaign responded to Musk, “The American people want the real freedom, opportunity, and security Vice President Harris is offering, not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”
Biden/Harris surrogate and California Governor Gavin Newsom also criticized Musk, saying that “manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar suggests that Musk’s post breaks his platform’s “synthetic and manipulated media policy.”
Musk doubled down on the post, replying, “Not to mention Pullitsir Prize winner Dr Head, first name Dick” and “Newsom should create an endowed 😉 chair at Univ of California for Prof Deeznuts.”
Social media continues to drag Musk; you can see those reactions in the gallery below.
1. Basically
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Source: Marc Piasecki / Getty / Elon Musk
The Donald Trump of technology, Elon Musk, is out here making babies like his company drops poorly designed electric vehicles.
Elon Musk is one of the few clowns who believe in the made-up theory that the world is suffering from a depopulation crisis, and apparently, he is out here trying to fix the problem.
According to a Bloomberg report, Musk has another secret child with an executive at his brain implant company, Neuralink.
The woman’s name is Shivon Zilis. According to the report, she is a Neuralink director who reportedly gave birth to the child earlier this year.
This is even more interesting because, according to a court document dug up by Business Insider in 2022, Zilis already has twins with Musk.
If you happen to be keeping count on Elon Musk’s children, the world’s phoniest genius has three children with singer Grimes and six other children from previous relationships. Add the latest three to the bunch, and Musk will have a total of 12 children.
Bruh.
Musk out here acting like he’s the biblical figure Adam or N’Credible seed spreader Nick Canon isn’t because he doesn’t know how to use contraception; according to The Verge, he truly believes that making all of these kids is his attempt at keeping the human population up.
Per The Verge:
On Thursday, Musk reposted a chart that claims Europe is suffering from a “fertility crisis,” saying “civilization may end with a bang or with a whimper (in adult diapers).”
As noted by Bloomberg, Musk has repeated that line several times in the past, including during a 2022 interview with Tucker Carlson and again during an interview at the Milken Institute conference in May. He told Carlson “a collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces, by far.” In 2021, Musk’s nonprofit organization donated $10 million to the University of Austin to fund the Population Wellbeing Initiative, a research group that studies the human population.
Elon Musk’s History of Being A Horny Sh*tty Boss
This latest news comes on the heels of Musk being put on blast for his behavior. Multiple reports have accused the Tesla chief of inappropriate conduct at the workplace and with his subordinates.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, a SpaceX Intern later became one of the company’s executives after having a sexual relationship with Musk.
Another employee told Musk nah after he asked her several times to have his children, according to a scathing Wall Street Journal report on his behavior with women.
There’s also that time he propositioned a flight attendant for sex.
Just last week, six former SpaceX employees hit Musk with a lawsuit claiming he “knowingly and purposefully created an unwelcome hostile work environment based upon his conduct of interjecting into the workplace vile sexual photographs, memes, and commentary that demeaned women and/or the LGBTQ+ community.”
Yeah, he’s never beating the he’s more Donald Trump than Tony Stark allegations.
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Source: Timbaland, Elon Musk, Swizz Beatz / Verzuz
Swizz Beatz took to social media to respond to backlash after announcing the Verzuz partnership with Elon Musk and X, formerly Twitter.
On Friday (June 21), Swizz Beatz shared a set of photos in a post on his Instagram account showing himself attending the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with fellow star producer and artist Timbaland. It was at the festival on Wednesday where he and Timbaland made the surprise announcement of a deal with Elon Musk to release all future content through X, formerly Twitter. The first photo shows the two in t-shirts highlighting the move, with a phrase by Swizz emblazoned on it in cursive, saying, “We will show you better than tell you.” That was repeated in the caption of the post, with Swizz Beatz adding, “Blessings to all” with emojis.
The comments on the Instagram post weren’t as cheerful, as individuals called out the two mega-producers for striking a deal with a polarizing figure such as Musk and announcing the news on Juneteenth. “It’s cool to ‘show us’ but don’t play in our faces and act like folks don’t have a valid reason to question this partnership,” one commenter wrote. “But nobody said anything before we been on that platform since Verzuz started,” Swizz Beatz wrote in response.
Another commenter wasn’t as civil, writing: “It’s crazy how we always have to go and get the oppressor to help us. What did you need #verzuz to do, broadcast from the moon??? Y’all didn’t need that man. Owning something 100% & then having your oppressor have a say in your business is working backward.” Others also pointed out how Swizz needed to be more understanding since returning from the hajj with his family prior to the Cannes Lions Festival.
The post comes after the joint announcement with Timbaland, where the Ruff Ryders CEO spoke effusively about the partnership. “We are beyond thrilled to have found the best partner for Verzuz,” he said in the statement. “Not only are we excited to have Verzuz on X, we’re excited to help X build the biggest entertainment company in the world. I would like to thank Elon Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Brett Weitz, Mitchell Smith and the entire X team for believing in the Verzuz vision. We can’t wait to get to work.”
They both also promised to build “Entertainment Businesses” on X in the future.
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Source: Linda Yaccarino, Timbaland, Elon Musk, Swizz Beatz / Verzuz
VERZUZ, the friendly but competitive music battle series created by Swizz Beat and Timbaland, announced that the platform has teamed with X. While the musicians touted that it remains Black-owned, the fact that it has essentially teamed with Phony Stark aka Elon Musk—with the announcement made on Juneteenth, no less—meant many people took to social media to comment on the move.
On Wednesday, June 19, VERZUZ announced it had entered into an “exclusive partnership” with X, formerly known as Twitter, for distribution. Swizz and Timbo broke the news themselves while in Cannes, France. Reportedly, the pair had reacquired VERZUZ from their previous partner, Triller. With full control, and touting they’re Black-owned along with equity from artists who participated, their desire for independent distribution has apparently put them in league with Musk.
Source: Timbaland, Elon Musk, Swizz Beatz / Verzuz
“We are beyond thrilled to have found the best partner for Verzuz,” said Swizz in a statement. “Not only are we excited to have Verzuz on X, we’re excited to help X build the biggest entertainment company in the world. I would like to thank Elon Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Brett Weitz, Mitchell Smith and the entire X team for believing in the Verzuz vision. We can’t wait to get to work.”
Added Timbaland, :We are thrilled to partner with X, the most innovative platform globally. Our goal has always been to bring Verzuz to the world which we can now do bigger than ever.”
Swizz and Timbaland say they retain full ownership and creative control of VERZUZ while X will retain the exclusive distribution rights. The plan is that X will only expand VERZUZ’s viewership—touting an audience of over “550 million active users,” allegedly. Viewers will be able to watch the next VERZUZ, an announcement is forthcoming, for the price of Free.99 while being able to chat about the battle all in one location, X.
VERZUZ was beloved as it came to fruition during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had the world indoors looking for ways to interact with each other despite the circumstances. So the platform teaming with X, which is owned by Musk, is getting the side eye. The South African billionaire is known for spouting anit-woke conspiracy theories and allowing racists to run rampant on his platform, which is blatantly the antithesis of what VERZUZ is about.
Don’t take our word for it, check out some of the assorted reactions to VERZUZ partnering with Phony Stark in the gallery.