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Elon Musk reaches deal to buy Twitter for $44B - Bluesky crosses the 25 million user mark

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After a year of carefully limiting sign-ups to those with invites, the Twitter-style social app Bluesky this week threw open the doors for anyone to join.

It’s a make-or-break moment. Remember when the live-audio app Clubhouse went from the most hyped-up social startup when it was hard to snag an invite, to a big old bust when anyone could join? Bluesky has managed to maintain a steady buzz so far, outlasting other up-and-coming microblogging platforms like Pebble and Parler. This week it scored 1.2 million new sign-ups in just two days after opening to all. But although Bluesky has won over some extremely-online communities, in part through a decentralized design that allows others to build on it, sustainability requires appealing to the masses. It’s something similar platforms, like Mastodon, haven’t been able to master.

WIRED spoke with Bluesky CEO Jay Graber the day after Bluesky opened up to all comers. She seemed alternately exhausted and exhilarated, but focused on trying to prove that a platform with a “federated” structure can attract users who don’t care about the tech but just want to have fun. The conversation has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.


Kate Knibbs: How did Bluesky prepare for this moment?

Jay Graber: We weren't using invites to try to be exclusive. We were using them to manage growth while we built out what is essentially a foundation, the rails for this new kind of distributed network.

We had to build the app protocol beneath Bluesky, the AT Protocol, that lets different developers, companies, or people come in and modify their experiences. Some of it is going to be rolling out soon. One example of this is your feeds: When you join, we give you the default following and algorithmic feeds. But then there's over 25,000 custom feeds to choose from, most built by independent developers. One is a moss feed, which I find very calming and fun—it just shows pictures of moss and green things.

What do you think distinguishes Bluesky from other platforms, culturally?



It's very playful and chaotic. Especially over the past year, we've had a very high poster-to-lurker ratio. On most social apps, people are just looking at content. Here, there's a lot of people posting and talking.

Not all those posts will be playful, though. What’s your vision for moderation?
We have community guidelines to prevent harassment and hate speech, and we use moderation to try to create a baseline of a healthy, welcoming social space on the default Bluesky app. Then because it's built on this open protocol, anyone can set up and run their own infrastructure and start labeling or annotating content and accounts in the network. That's something that users can directly install to piece together their own community norms.
Moderation has proven to be a weak spot of just about every social network, even those that are very profitable. Do you think you’ll ever reach a point where you’re unable to moderate efficiently?


Our goal is to combine both approaches—to run a moderation service that tries to provide a baseline and to also have an open ecosystem where anyone who wants to innovate can come in and start building. I think this is particularly useful around cases where information is really fast moving and there's specialized knowledge. There are organizations out there already in the business of fact-checking, or figuring out if a verified account is actually a politician or not. They can start annotating and putting that information into the network, and we can build off that collective intelligence.

Recently there was a very high-profile incident on X where deepfake porn of Taylor Swift started spreading and the platform was not super prompt at clamping down. What’s your approach to moderating deepfakes?
From the start we've been using some AI-detection services—image labeling services—but this is an area where there's a lot of innovation and we've been looking at other alternatives.

This is also where a third-party labeling system could really come into use. We can move faster as an open collective of people—she has lots of fans who could help identify content like this very proactively.

What are the benefits of federation—where a social network is decentralized, consisting of a bunch of independent servers instead of one central hub—for the casual internet user?

The goals here are to give developers the freedom to build, and users the right to leave. The ability for people to host their own data means that users always have other alternatives, and that their experience doesn't have to just come from us. For example, if a user wants to try a wholly different app, or a whole different experience, or they want to move to a parallel social network.
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Tesla placed a $16K bakery order for Black History Month — then suddenly canceled it, the bakers say, costing them thousands​


  • A Black-owned bakery was angered by Tesla over a large Black History Month pie order.
  • The owner said she scrambled to meet the request, incurring costs before the invoice was paid.
  • But then a Tesla employee abruptly canceled the order by text message, she said.
A San Jose, California, bakery has slammed Tesla after a company employee placed a massive pie order for Black History Month, only to cancel it after the Black-owned business scrambled to meet the request, according to multiple reports.

Voahangy Rasetarinera, the owner of The Giving Pies, wrote on Instagram that Tesla "hurt my small Black women-owned business" through the last-minute cancellation.

Rasetarinera said that on February 14 a Tesla company representative called her and asked for 2,000 minipies to be delivered by the following week.

She said she got worried when the payment for her invoice didn't come through by the next day.

Rasetarinera told ABC7: "I'm like, 'OK, I'm going to wait, you know, and they are professional. They are a big company. So once it's approved, it's approved.'"

But that evening, the representative called back and doubled the order — setting the bakery rushing to ensure it could meet the demand, Rasetarinera wrote.

The order was worth $16,000, she told NBC Bay Area.

"To fulfill the order, I had turned down other Black History Month catering inquiries, purchased supplies, and prepared for a demanding production schedule," she wrote in her post.

After chasing the representative on Friday, she said, she got a text message "CASUALLY informing me" that Tesla had changed its mind.

"This abrupt reversal left me reeling, realizing the extent of the impact on my small business," she wrote. "I had invested time, resources, and effort based on assurances from Tesla, only to be left high and dry."

Tesla did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment, sent outside business hours.

The change cost The Giving Pies $2,000, ABC7 reported.

While the bakery has a cancellation policy, it could not recoup its costs because Tesla had not paid the invoice, NBC Bay Area reported.

The Giving Pies' website says it frequently caters to major corporates, listing Google, Apple, and Adobe among its clients.

After Rasetarinera spoke with ABC7, she said a Tesla employee reached out to her to say that there had been a miscommunication and the original representative had not been authorized to promise any payment.

Rasetarinera said she'd expressed her disappointment at the situation directly with Tesla.

"As I reflect on this ordeal, I am reminded of the resilience and determination that have propelled me forward as a black woman entrepreneur," she wrote.

Rasetarinera said in a February 2 post celebrating Black History Month that she's of Madagascan heritage. The company says it donates a portion of its annual profits to Esports, a charity supporting inclusion in children's sports.

www.businessinsider.com

Tesla placed a $16K bakery order for Black History Month — then suddenly canceled it, the bakers say, costing them thousands

A Black-owned bakery says Tesla placed a massive Black History Month pie order, causing a scramble — only to cancel after it had spent a lot of money.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
 
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Tesla placed a $16K bakery order for Black History Month — then suddenly canceled it, the bakers say, costing them thousands​


  • A Black-owned bakery was angered by Tesla over a large Black History Month pie order.
  • The owner said she scrambled to meet the request, incurring costs before the invoice was paid.
  • But then a Tesla employee abruptly canceled the order by text message, she said.
A San Jose, California, bakery has slammed Tesla after a company employee placed a massive pie order for Black History Month, only to cancel it after the Black-owned business scrambled to meet the request, according to multiple reports.

Voahangy Rasetarinera, the owner of The Giving Pies, wrote on Instagram that Tesla "hurt my small Black women-owned business" through the last-minute cancellation.

Rasetarinera said that on February 14 a Tesla company representative called her and asked for 2,000 minipies to be delivered by the following week.

She said she got worried when the payment for her invoice didn't come through by the next day.

Rasetarinera told ABC7: "I'm like, 'OK, I'm going to wait, you know, and they are professional. They are a big company. So once it's approved, it's approved.'"

But that evening, the representative called back and doubled the order — setting the bakery rushing to ensure it could meet the demand, Rasetarinera wrote.

The order was worth $16,000, she told NBC Bay Area.

"To fulfill the order, I had turned down other Black History Month catering inquiries, purchased supplies, and prepared for a demanding production schedule," she wrote in her post.

After chasing the representative on Friday, she said, she got a text message "CASUALLY informing me" that Tesla had changed its mind.

"This abrupt reversal left me reeling, realizing the extent of the impact on my small business," she wrote. "I had invested time, resources, and effort based on assurances from Tesla, only to be left high and dry."

Tesla did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment, sent outside business hours.

The change cost The Giving Pies $2,000, ABC7 reported.

While the bakery has a cancellation policy, it could not recoup its costs because Tesla had not paid the invoice, NBC Bay Area reported.

The Giving Pies' website says it frequently caters to major corporates, listing Google, Apple, and Adobe among its clients.

After Rasetarinera spoke with ABC7, she said a Tesla employee reached out to her to say that there had been a miscommunication and the original representative had not been authorized to promise any payment.

Rasetarinera said she'd expressed her disappointment at the situation directly with Tesla.

"As I reflect on this ordeal, I am reminded of the resilience and determination that have propelled me forward as a black woman entrepreneur," she wrote.

Rasetarinera said in a February 2 post celebrating Black History Month that she's of Madagascan heritage. The company says it donates a portion of its annual profits to Esports, a charity supporting inclusion in children's sports.

www.businessinsider.com

Tesla placed a $16K bakery order for Black History Month — then suddenly canceled it, the bakers say, costing them thousands

A Black-owned bakery says Tesla placed a massive Black History Month pie order, causing a scramble — only to cancel after it had spent a lot of money.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
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This should be a much bigger story
 
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Elon Musk Sued By Former Twitter Executives for $128M in Latest Lawsuit Over Alleged Nonpayment

The lawsuit, filed by former chief executive Parag Agrawal and other ousted executives, is one of several complaints against X for refusal to pay.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com

Elon Musk Sued By Former Twitter Executives For $128M In Latest Lawsuit Over Alleged Nonpayment​

The lawsuit, filed by former chief executive Para Agrawal and other ousted executives, is one of several complaints against X for refusal to pay.

BY WINSTON CHO
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MARCH 4, 2024 5:09PM
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The list of former Twitter employees, landlords and vendors suing the social media platform and Elon Musk is growing, with four ex-executives filing a lawsuit collectively seeking more than $128 million in unpaid severance.
The executives, including former chief executive Para Agrawal and other top officers who engineered a lawsuit against Musk after he tried to back out of the $44 billion deal, allege in a complaint filed on Monday in California federal court that they were fired for gross negligence or willful misconduct in a bid to deprive them of benefits. They accuse Musk of holding a “special ire” against them for forcing him to follow through with the acquisition.





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The lawsuit is believed to be at least the 30th against X, formerly known as Twitter, over refusal to pay. After taking the helm, Musk proceeded to clean house by ousting several executives and roughly half of its employees. Several ex-employees have sued, claiming that they were not paid severance on their way out, as well as vendors for nonpayment.
“This is the Musk playbook: to keep the money he owes other people, and force them to sue him,” states the complaint from Agrawal, which also names former company executives Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett as plaintiffs. “Even in defeat, Musk can impose delay, hassle, and expense on others less able to afford it.”
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According to the complaint, Musk devised a scheme to stiff the officers of severance by accelerating the deal’s close and manufacturing fake “cause” terminations before they could resign and collect their benefits. Their termination letters asserted that they were being fired for failure to cooperate with a government or internal investigation but did not identify specific claims.
But unknown to Musk, the executives’ contracts contained standard “good reason” provisions that triggered their rights to benefits, the suit says. One of those conditions included Twitter becoming a privately-held company.
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Last year, the company denied the executives’ claims for severance, according to the complaint. They were told that they were fired for gross negligence and willful misconduct, primarily for paying retention bonuses and success fees to an unidentified and redacted party in the complaint for “their work in negotiating, litigating and closing the acquisition.” The party is likely to be Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, which represented the company in forcing Musk to follow through with his acquisition of the platform. Last year, Twitter sued the firm for allegedly taking advantage of a client “left unprotected by lame duck fiduciaries who had lost their motivation to act in Twitter’s best interest pending its imminent sale.” It seeks restitution for a $90 million bill.


The complaint brings claims for violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The executives are represented by Dave Anderson, who served as the top prosecutor for the Northern District of California form 2019 to 2021.
 

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