Yinny
I miss LLC Twitter
Can someone explain to me how a South African can own so many American-based companies and receive so many benefits from the American government? Are Tesla and SpaceX and Twitter “corporations”?
General Elon Musk Fukkery Thread
- Thread starter Armchair Militant
- Start date
He became a citizen in 2002.
Yinny
I miss LLC Twitter
I had no idea, thanks.
1. He became a US citizen to avoid mandatory service in the South African military despite his family getting rich through apartheid era exploitation of African labor and mineral resources.
2. He either buys his way into already existing companies like tesla and twitter OR by using state/federal taxpayer money to fund his companies like spacex
SpaceX is simple for a easy reason; it's Private. SpaceX can blow up all the rockets it wants to do, because it's private. If NASA has a rocket explode, even if there are no people on it, things get shut down quickly... the budget is in question of, "Is it worth it?"
Apollo Kid
Veteran
X Purges Prominent Journalists, Leftists With No Explanation
Ken Klippenstein, Steven Monacelli, and Alan MacLeod were all suspended from the platform.
www.vice.com
X Bans and Then Unbans Journalists and Podcasters in Twitter's Latest Free Speech Massacre [Updated]
Elon Musk's "free speech" social media platform banned a number of accounts recently critical of Israel.
gizmodo.com
X Bans and Then Unbans Journalists and Podcasters in Twitter's Latest Free Speech Massacre [Updated]
Elon Musk's "free speech" social media platform banned a number of accounts recently critical of Israel.
By Thomas Germain
Published 6 hours ago
Updated 4 hours ago
Comments (46)
Photo: Antonio Masiello / Contributor (Getty Images)
Update, 1:12 p.m.: Shortly after this article was published, Musk responded to a question about the issue from far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle. Musk promised to investigate, and the accounts went back up soon after. Musk later blamed the “mistake” on X’s spam algorithms. The Hamas account is still suspended.
X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, purged an unknown number of prominent accounts over the last 24 hours with little to no explanation, and then restored the accounts minutes after this article was published. The list includes popular accounts belonging to journalists, writers, and podcasters. Among them are Ken Klippenstein of the Intercept, writer and podcaster Rob Rousseau, Texas Observer correspondent Steven Monacelli, the account for TrueAnon, a left-wing politics and news podcast, and a number of others. One thing the accounts have in common is recent criticisms of the Israeli government.
Elon Musk spent the last few months dealing with blowback after he endorsed the blatantly racist conspiracy theory that Jews encourage “hatred against whites.” The CEO then embarked on a campaign to restore his image, celebrating the Israeli military, denouncing antisemitism, and traveling to Israel for an impromptu meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I can’t think of anything I’ve posted lately that would be worthy of suspension. Although I have written multiple critical reports about Twitter/X and Elon Musk in recent months,” Monacelli told Gizmodo. “Yes, I have made posts critical of Israel’s targeting of civilians and journalists, and have shared news about pro-Palestinian protests, but I have also recently made posts and shared news debunking antisemitism disguised as criticism of Israel.”
Less than half an hour after this article was published, far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle tweeted at Musk, asking him why accounts critical of Israel were being suspended. Musk, who has a history of handling customer service questions for prominent conservative users, responded.
“I will investigate. Obviously, it is ok to be critical of anything, but it is not ok to call for extreme violence, as that is illegal,” Musk wrote. “For the record, I do not personally agree with your views. Nonetheless, the point of freedom of speech is allowing those whose views you disagree with to express those views.” Shortly thereafter, the accounts were restored.
Journalist firebrand Glenn Greenwald, a darling of the Neolibertarian Twitter movement, thanked Musk for looking into the problem. Musk blamed the suspensions on X’s anti-spam algorithms.
“We do sweeps for spam/scam accounts and sometimes real accounts get caught up in them,” Musk tweeted. In another tweet, the billionaire wrote, “There are around 600 million active accounts on this platform. Mistakes are bound to be made at such a scale, but we try to fix them quickly.”
Monacelli shared an email from X apologizing for the issue. “We’re writing to let you know that we’ve unsuspended your account,” X’s support team wrote. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience and hope to see you back on X soon.”
![Image for article titled X Bans and Then Unbans Journalists and Podcasters in Twitter's Latest Free Speech Massacre [Updated]](https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/c_fit,q_60,w_645/e0482fb74177d8687bbb854e869de3ea.jpg "Image for article titled X Bans and Then Unbans Journalists and Podcasters in Twitter's Latest Free Speech Massacre [Updated]")
Screenshot: Gizmodo / X
Like the other accounts, the TrueAnon podcast has a history of criticizing the Israeli government, and recently concluded a two-part series delving into the country’s nuclear weapons program. “Why did Elon ban my podcast account what about free speech,” Liz Franczak, co-host of TrueAnon, wrote on her personal X account. “Why is the woke mob coming after hard working American small businesses?”
We’ve reached out to other affected users and will update this article if we hear back. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“As a journalist I’ve been matrix dodging layoffs my entire career, Elon isn’t even on the top 10 of threats to my survival,” Klippenstein wrote on X. “Had the ban stuck - and I imagine it will eventually - I would’ve just migrated to my newsletter.”
Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist” has previously said no one should be banned from X unless they break the law. “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk tweeted in 2022, in the lead-up to buying the platform. In reality, Musk has a long history of silencing his critics and censoring views he finds disagreeable.
Screenshot: Gizmodo / X
The world’s richest man hasn’t blamed the majority of the account suspensions on automated mistakes. However, @qassam2024, an account tied to Hamas’s military, was banned the just one day prior. This was an intentional policy decision, according to Musk, unlike the other “mistakes.”
“This was a tough call,” Musk wrote on X. “While many government leaders, including in the USA, do call for killing people, we have a ‘UN exemption rule’; if a government is recognized by the UN, we will not suspend their accounts. Hamas is not recognized as a government by the UN, so was suspended.”
Unlike the other users, the Hamas account is still suspended. Musk tweeted that the “UN exemption” still applies.
Other banned accounts, however, have no history of calling for killing people, but they’ve all criticized the Israeli government. Klippenstein, for example, recently posted an article on his Substack newsletter noting that Musk discussed AI during his November meeting with Netanyahu as the Israeli government used AI to bomb Gaza. Klippenstein has also posted critiques of the Israeli government and military on X.
This isn’t the first time Musk kicked journalists off the platform and then welcomed them back after public criticism. In 2022, Musk rewrote Twitter’s rules in order to ban @ElonJet, an account that tracked his private jet, and then suspended the accounts of a number of journalists who wrote about @ElonJet, including some that had never actually discussed it on X. It sparked widespread condemnation, and soon after, the accounts were restored, despite the fact that Musk continued to claim they violated X’s rules.
Don Lemon and Other Controversial Hosts Score Exclusive Shows on X
Elon Musk is hosting three new series on X to beef up the platform's video content.
gizmodo.com
Don Lemon and Other Controversial Hosts Score Exclusive Shows on X
Elon Musk is hosting three new series on X to beef up the platform's video content.
By Maxwell Zeff
Published 2 hours ago
Comments (6)
Photo: Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan (Getty Images)
Elon Musk is trying his hand as a TV network executive, and he’s slated three shows with controversial hosts to lead X’s new venture into streaming. Former CNN anchor, Don Lemon, is partnering with X to create a new show covering politics, culture, sports, and entertainment that will exclusively stream on Musk’s platform, the company posted Tuesday. Lemon is joined by former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and sports commentator Jim Rome, who will also host shows on X.
The common thread is that these figures have all sparked some sort of controversy in their respective fields, and the partnerships are in line with Musk’s vision of X as a “free speech” platform. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was the first to host a show on X shortly after his release from the news network, but went on to launch his own streaming service, the Tucker Carlson Network. Musk’s platform reportedly couldn’t develop the necessary technology for a streaming service fast enough. Now, Musk has figured it out, and he found three other hosts who are known for speaking their minds to lead X’s streaming push.
Don Lemon was fired from CNN after a series of contentious comments that didn’t sit well with the network’s upper management, including saying Nikki Haley was “ past her prime,” and a tense on-air disagreement with Vivek Ramaswamy on race. He was fired shortly after, marking the end of a 17-year career as one of CNN’s most beloved hosts, where he was known for his brutal honesty that occasionally offended viewers. He told the LA Times in June he was “ waiting for the right opportunity” and, apparently, that’s X.
Tulsi Gabbard will also appear on Musk’s new slate of shows. The former Hawaii Congresswoman quit the Democratic party in 2022 after an unsuccessful 2020 presidential run. She posted a video announcement on Twitter at the time calling Democratic leaders “warmongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism.” She should fit in great on X.
The host of “The Jim Rome Show” is not a coincidental pick either. The sports commentator is notorious for getting into a physical altercation with NFL quarterback Jim Everett live on his radio show in 1994. Rome made a series of jokes intentionally confusing Everett’s name with a popular woman tennis player at the time, Chris Evert. Rome invited Mr. Everett on the show, a table was flipped, and the rest was history.
In the midst of the video launch, Musk has claimed that X is now a “ video-first platform” as a means to claw back advertising dollars. The company is expanding access to a pilot on Feb. 1st with media metrics company Integral Ad Science, and it’s supposed to increase “brand safety” for advertisers on the platform, according to a blog post.
The three new shows mark X’s first venture into something of a streaming service. Don Lemon’s show will appear three days a week, Rome will appear five days a week, and Gabbard will do less frequent, documentary-style videos. Currently, it appears all of these shows are free, but X has been toying with subscriptions for the last few months, so watch while you can.
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ADevilYouKhow
Rhyme Reason
Tulsi story arc alert 
Maybe Musk can knock her up
Maybe Musk can knock her up
Jim Rome??
The Jungle is moving to X??
Rack em!!
The Jungle is moving to X??
Rack em!!
Elon Musk’s X Suspends Prominent Journalists and Influencers
One of the people whose account was suspended said they believe they were banned due to their criticism of Israel's war in Gaza.
themessenger.com
Elon Musk’s X Suspends Prominent Journalists and Influencers
The affected users include Ken Klippenstein, an investigative journalist who is on staff at The Intercept, and Texas Observer reporter, Steven Monacelli
Published 01/09/24 11:21 AM ET|Updated 5 hr ago
Adam Kovac
Elon Musk’s X Suspends Prominent Journalists and Influencers
The accounts of several prominent journalists and progressive-leaning influencers were suspended by Elon Musk’s X platform on Tuesday for apparently violating X's rules.
The accounts appeared to be being reinstated hours later, as of 12:15 p.m. Eastern.
The affected users include Ken Klippenstein, an investigative journalist who is on staff at The Intercept, and Texas Observer reporter, Steven Monacelli.
Monacelli told The Messenger that he did not receive an explanation for the suspension.
"I woke up and had missed a call from a journalist who wanted to talk to me about my suspension," he said. "So I was informed via other journalists who had called and emailed me this morning about it."
Podcast host Rob Rousseau's account and that of the podcast TrueAnon were also temporarily suspended.
It is unclear what rule the journalists' accounts broke that led to their suspension and X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter)The Messenger; ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images; Getty Images
X is a private company, and that means user accounts can be suspended at the company's discretion — but Musk has decried such moves in the past as censorship. Yet the move also echoes of Musk's initial weeks in charge of what was then called Twitter, when he came under fire for suspending the accounts of several high-profile journalists, including Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post, over allegations of doxxing. The accounts were later reinstated after Musk polled Twitter users on the matter.
Aside from the journalists, some influencers also reported having their accounts suspended. One X user that goes by the handle @Zei_squirrel, posted on Instagram about the ban and said they didn't know why they were suspended, but the user speculated their posts critical of Israel and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman may be the cause.
Ackman has recently made headlines for pressuring Harvard to clamp down on pro-Palestinian protests and for his role in the resignation of the school’s former president, Claudine Gay.
Monacelli pointed out that one of his posts making a joke at Ackman's expense had gone viral in the days leading up to the suspension and noted that he had also often been critical of Musk and his reign at X.
He also observed that Texas, where he lives, has a law on the books that prohibits social media companies from banning users based on their political viewpoints.
"I would certainly be interested in hearing from people who are First Amendment lawyers about how that might apply in a situation if they don't provide some legitimate and well documented reason for my suspension," he said.
Twitter is the Koch Records of the News industry. It’s the grave yard where anchors go to die.
He just basically got here now he's poking his chest out and fighting against any dark skinned immigrants coming here and acting like he grew up on Rush Limbaugh
He's the child of apartheid.