State Champ Radio Page: 2
P!nk is 44 years old and loving it! The superstar took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday (Dec. 11) to respond to a troll who wrote that she “got old” under a video of the “So What” singer promoting her upcoming 2024 North American tour dates. “Yes, although I don’t feel old, and […]
BERLIN — SUISA Digital Licensing is suing Twitter International in Munich District Court for copyright infringement on X, the online platform formerly known as Twitter. The suit alleges that music compositions controlled by SUISA Digital are found on the platform, and that the company has made no effort to license them or act promptly to remove the infringing content.
“SUISA Digital is using all of the resources at its disposal to defend the interests of authors and publishers it represents,” said SUISA Digital CEO Fabian Niggemeier in a press release about the lawsuit. “This is the only way we can effectively represent the interests of authors and publishers and ensure that they are compensated fairly by Twitter International.”
Rights to the songs in question, many of which were found in full videos on X, are represented by SUISA Digital, a subsidiary of SUISA, the Swiss collecting society. (SUISA Digital represents both public performance rights and mechanical rights for the works in question.) SUISA Digital says that it has tried to get in touch with X/Twitter in order to negotiate licensing arrangements, but it has yet to receive a serious response.
SUISA Digital also works closely with the U.S. performing rights society SESAC, as partners in their joint venture MINT. “SUISA Digital has our full backing in its lawsuit against Twitter International,” said SESAC International president Alexander Wolf in the press release.
Although SUISA Digital is officially based in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the organization filed the lawsuit in Munich, since it’s part of a larger market, as well as one that has traditionally been friendly to copyright.
This isn’t the only music infringement lawsuit against X/Twitter. In June, dozens of music publishers sued the company for similar behavior. But there are several important differences between the two cases. In the U.S., X operates under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which offers online platforms “safe harbor” for infringement committed by their users, as long as they act to remove unauthorized content. (The publishers’ suit alleges that the company didn’t do that, or have a policy to ban repeat infringers.)
In Germany, the equivalent law falls under the European Copyright Directive, which is broadly similar but requires platforms to make efforts to license content – which the SESAC lawsuit alleges that Twitter did not do.
The other difference is damages. While the music publishers’ suit could be worth as much as $255 million, although that’s a maximum based on statutory damages, in Germany the case would have to establish damages based on the value of the licenses Twitter needed but did not get. Presumably, the idea behind this lawsuit is to force the Elon Musk-led company to enter into serious licensing negotiations.
Fans have been having a field day with Travis Kelce‘s X page, digging up dozens of decade-old tweets amid his romance with Taylor Swift — and brands such as Chipotle, Taco Bell and Olive Garden are throwing their own jokes into the ring.
Kelce’s hilarious and often misspelled tweets date back to the late 2000s, when the Kansas City Chiefs tight end was still an early twenties college student at the University of Cincinnati. In one from 2011, for example, he wrote, “Went from class to therapy, now I need some #chipolte and then I’m off to check out my new apt!!”
Chipotle’s official account retweeted Kelce’s resurfaced post with a reference to his superstar girlfriend’s “Anti-Hero” lyrics. “it’s me, hi,” the company wrote Wednesday (Nov. 15).
Other restaurants that were shouted out by Kelce over a decade ago also followed suit, with Olive Garden retweeting his post about “#shmackin” fettuccini chicken alfredo with a custom take on Swift prose: “It’s a love story, baby just say ‘when’ ❤️🧀.”
Taco Bell, retweeting a 2009 update from Kelce that he was “Bout to get some Taco Bell!!!,” added that “karma is a crunchwrap coming straight home to me.”
Swifties have also been cracking their own jokes about Kelce’s tweets, expressing particular fondness for one in which he recalled giving “a squirle a peice of bread and it straight smashed all of it!!!!”
“taylor swift in 2011: from when your brooklyn broke my skin and bones i’m a soldier who’s returning half her weight, and did the twin flame bruise paint you blue? just between us, did the love affair maim you too?… travis kelce in 2011: i just gave a squirle a peice of bread,” quipped one fan, receiving nearly 100,000 likes at press time.
It’s not entirely clear exactly when or why fans and chain restaurants started combing through the Ohio native’s long forgotten posts, making them go viral this week. The ongoing phenomenon does, however, come shortly after Swift changed her “Karma” lyrics at her Saturday (Nov. 11) Eras Tour show to give her new boyfriend a shoutout — “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me” — before running into his arms for a kiss backstage.
Swift had much to celebrate last week, having picked up six Grammy nominations — including nods for album, song and record of the year — on Friday (Nov. 10). She’s also the lead finalist for the 2023 Billboard Music Awards, with nods in 20 categories. (Stream the BBMAs Sunday, Nov. 19, at BBMAs.watch, or via Billboard and the BBMAs’ social channels.)
See how Chipotle, Olive Garden, Taco Bell and more are reacting to Kelce’s old tweets below:
https://twitter.com/ChipotleTweets/status/1724867902120313111
taylor swift in 2011: from when your brooklyn broke my skin and bones i’m a soldier who’s returning half her weight, and did the twin flame bruise paint you blue? just between us, did the love affair maim you too?travis kelce in 2011: i just gave a squirle a peice of bread pic.twitter.com/VSqRoG2TcY— veronica 19/11 (@folklorexcvi) November 15, 2023
Every old Travis Kelce tweet I read is better than the last. I hope we never stop discovering new ones.— Alex Goldschmidt (@alexandergold) November 16, 2023
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / PlayStation
You can now add Sony as the latest company that will no longer play nice with Elon Musk’s mess of a social media platform X.
PlayStation is killing off its X (formerly known as Twitter) integration. So what does that mean? Well, PS4 and PS5 owners used to enjoy being able to share screenshots and clips directly to their Twitter accounts from those two consoles.
Now, that will no longer be the case.
Spotted on The Verge, Sony announced the significant change to social sharing via a message on its website.
“As of November 13, 2023, integration with X (formerly known as Twitter) will no longer function on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles, Sony said.
“This includes the ability to view any content published on X on PS5/PS4 and the ability to post and view content, trophies, and other gameplay-related activities on X directly from PS5/PS4 (or link an X account to do so)” the message continues.
Notable gaming news source Wario64 shared a screenshot of the message PS5 owners are receiving about the change on X’s biggest competitor, Threads.
As to why Sony is making this decision, the company didn’t give an exact reason for its decision, but many believe it has something to do with X’s ridiculous API pricing the company introduced earlier this year.
Sony did share how gamers could still share their screenshots and clips on X through other means, specifically through the PlayStation app, where you can download your content to your phone and directly post it to your social media accounts.
Xbox Also Made A Similar Move
Sony’s decision to no longer support Twitter’s API is not unheard of. Xbox also announced earlier this year that it was removing the feature.
Threads, it’s your time to shine.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / X / Twitter / Elon Musk
This news should surprise NO ONE. X (formerly known as Twitter) is a hot a** mess; users have bounced, and it is not bringing in any ad revenue.
Spotted on Variety, Elon Musk’s plan to make Twitter, oops, we mean X, and make it the most worthless social media platform on the planet seems to be working.
In only a year after he reluctantly took over the debt-burdened platform that was known as Twitter and made such stupid moves like the 80% reduction in staff, stupidly renaming it to X and making the blue check useless, and turned the platform into a haven for misinformation, it should come as no surprise X is not doing good.
Per Variety:
Millions of users, including several celebrities, have quit in the wake of Musk’s takeover and dramatic refashioning of Twitter. In September 2023, monthly active users for X/Twitter had dropped 15% worldwide (and 18% in the U.S.) year-over-year, according to web analytics provider SimilarWeb. Other third-party measures indicate a roughly similar decline; mobile daily active users dropped 16% on an annual basis in September 2023, to 183 million, according to Sensor Tower. Musk last month claimed that X has 550 million monthly active users, who share up to 200 million posts daily, but it’s unclear how that might compare to past measures.
Advertising On X Is Also On A Downward Spiral
Twitter, damn, we mean X, relied heavily on advertising dollars, but if you have been on there lately, the ads have been lacking, except for numerous Cheech and Chong gummy ads up and down our timelines.
The website reports, via the Wall Street Journal’s reporting, that ad spending from major ad agencies on the platform has dropped to 54%. That’s a significant dip.
Instead of blaming himself, Musk blames groups like ADL for pointing out that his platform has become a haven for hate speech under his ownership, and that is what is keeping advertisers from coming to the platform.
“Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!” Bootleg Tony Stark wrote on Sept. 4.
Musk even said he would sue the ADL, but whatever issues between Musk and the ADL seem to have been resolved.
“We appreciate X’s stated intent over the last few weeks to address antisemitism and hate on the platform,” the ADL wrote in a statement released on Oct.4.
X also slapped activist research group, the Center For Countering Digital Hate, with a lawsuit for claiming there is a rise in hate speech on X, which Musk says is false.
Instagram Threads is looking better and better.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
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Source: Anadolu Agency / Getty / X / Twitter
Elon Musk continues to give people all the reasons to take their business and mess to Threads or any other social platform.
X, formerly known as Twitter, continues its quick descent into social media platform obscurity thanks primarily to Elon Musk’s dumb a** decisions.
Delivering on a promise, X is no longer showing headlines from articles when shared on the platform. The reasoning, of course, is as stupid as ever. Musk believes it will “enhance the esthetics” on the platform he boneheadedly renamed to X.
“This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics,” Musk said on his personal X account back in August.
The decision to remove headlines could also result from Musk’s disdain for links driving people from the service while revealing that his platform’s content algorithm deprioritizes links.
Musk was not shy in sharing that information in response to a user who shared data revealing the drastic decline in referrals from X and Facebook to websites that deliver news over the last two years.
“Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don’t get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away.” Musk said, adding, “Best thing is to post content in long form on this platform.”
WHAT?
X Users Point Out How Dumb This Latest Change Is
As you can imagine, no one wants to read an entire news story in an X post, and this will also not help Musk and his X platform beat those allegations of aiding in the spread of misinformation.
“Along with pushing misinformation, removing the headline posts from articles makes it seem like someone is just making a caption with a photo and not an actual link to a story, which will cause less engagement for certain journalists/news orgs,” one X user wrote.
Matt Eason pointed out on the doomed platform that removing headlines from link previews has “completely broken” accessibility to the stories and could further deter users from clicking on the stories.
We’re just going to continue to pour one out for our former favorite social media platform cause the casket continues to lower into the ground.
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Photos: Anadolu Agency / Getty
It was the outing heard ’round the world when Taylor Swift and Sophie Turner stepped out for a girls night at New York City’s Via Carota, just weeks after news broke that the Game of Thrones actress has split from husband Joe Jonas. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts […]
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Source: Anadolu Agency / Getty / Elon Musk
Elon Musk is not done making X (formerly known as Twitter) one of the worst social media experiences ever.
“I can’t believe this app is free” is starting to look like a phrase that has run its course on X.
Spotted on Variety, the Tesla Chief and current owner of X, Elon Musk, claims he wants to charge X/Twitter users a fee to use the platform.
His excuse is that it’s the only way to combat the bots plaguing the platform.
Per Variety:
Musk brought up the idea of charging all users of X/Twitter during a wide-ranging conversation focused on AI that featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. “We’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system,” Musk told Netanyahu, claiming that “it’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots.” His comments were initially reported by Bloomberg’s Dave Lee.
As for the price, Musk did not share an exact dollar amount, noting that “a few dollars or something” would stop the creation of bot accounts. Musk also claims X has 550 million monthly active users, and they are sharing between 100-200 million posts daily on the social network, the website also reports.
X Is Still Bleeding Cash
According to Platformer, charging users to use X is not new, and he has been toying with it for some time. Before he begrudgingly bought it, Twitter was not a profitable business, and since his check cleared, ad sales, something the platform depended on tremendously, have plunged 50%.
We guess those Cheech and Chong gummy ads won’t be enough to keep X alive.
As you can imagine, X users are not feeling the news and are once again looking for another app where they take dating debates, sports hot takes, and any other forms of entertainment they came to X/Twitter exclusively for.
You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
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Photo: Anadolu Agency / Getty
1. Exactly
4. Heard you
6. Here’s a thought
Source: NurPhoto / Getty
Early this year, after Elon Musk had finalized his purchase of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the Tesla CEO announced that it would relax its ban on political ads, which had been implemented in 2019. Well, now, it appears that Musk has made good on that promise and has announced that X will not only allow the ads but is promising transparency and “robust screening processes.”
From Deadline:
“Building on our commitment to free expression, we are also going to allow political advertising,” said a blog post today by X Safety called ‘Supporting people’s right to accurate and safe political discourse on X’ that outlined its plans.
“Starting in the U.S., we’ll continue to apply specific policies to paid-for promoted political posts. This will include prohibiting the promotion of false or misleading content, including false or misleading information intended to undermine public confidence in an election, while seeking to preserve free and open political discourse. We’ll also provide a global advertising transparency center so that everyone can review political posts being promoted on X, in addition to robust screening processes to ensure only eligible groups and campaigns are able to advertise,” the post read.
It noted that “more than half a billion people from around the world gather on X to talk about their interests in real-time, and that includes elections. X enables people to directly engage on important topics with elected representatives, local or national leaders and fellow citizens.”
And it said that during elections, “X works to get in front of a range of tactics that people use to target the process. To do this we hire the right people, update our policies and evolve our product.”
So what it seems like is that Musk’n’nem are allowing political ads again just in time for the 2024 presidential race. Musk, who is more of a political and social right-winger than he likes to admit, could be trying to use X to bolster political support for Donald Trump, or whatever other Republican looks like they might be next in line if Trump’s legal issues get in the way of him getting his orangey-rust dust all over the Oval Office furniture once again.
But at least he’s promising not to allow X to become the cesspool of election fraud propaganda and political misinformation Twitter was when Trump and Trump acolytes like Marjorie Taylor Green were allowed to run wild on the platform and lie all they wanted.
Although come to think of it, all of that was going on while Twitter was still banning political ads, so who knows?
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Elon Musk
Just when you thought there was no way Elon Musk could possibly ruin Twitter, oops, we mean X any further; he is now deciding to remove the one tool users love to keep themselves sane.
Last week bootleg Tony Stark, aka Elon Musk, claimed his trash a** platform X, formerly known as Twitter, was getting rid of the beloved block button claiming it “makes no sense.”
“Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature’, except for DMs,” the so-called tech genius said in a tweet on a Friday.
Hilariously, Musk’s X post was slapped with a further content notice by an X user pointing out that if he removed the ability to block people, his app would violate Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store guidelines.
“If the ability to block users was to be removed, X would be in violation of the policies of the App Store as well as the Google Play Store. Potentially, this could lead to X being removed from these platforms,” the further content notice read.
Musk then suggested that X users instead utilize the mute feature that doesn’t block users from trolling your account but removes their posts from your timelines.
Elon Musk Is Very Unserious
In pure case of irony, right-wing trolls James Woods and Catturd decided to confront the Tesla chief about removing the block button and hilariously were blocked by Musk.
Another X user made a keen observation, pointing out that “Elon Musk probably wants to remove the block feature after he found out how many of us block him.”
Other users add they will leave X altogether; one X post read, “If this happens I’ll be leaving the app. Sorry friends.”
We shall see if Musk will follow through on removing the block feature, but it’s clear the devil works hard, but Elon Musk works harder to ruin his app.
You can see more reactions to Elon Musk possibly removing the block button and getting slam dunked by his community notes feature in the gallery below.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
