Elon Musk reaches deal to buy Twitter for $44B - Bluesky crosses the 25 million user mark
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Robert Downey Jr. Confronts Elon Musk ‘Cosplaying Tony Stark’ By Saying: ‘I Just Wish He Would Control His Behavior a Little More’
Robert Downey Jr. confronts Elon Musk "cosplaying Tony Stark" by sharing his wish for Musk to "control his behavior" a little more.
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On Elon Musk’s X, Republicans go viral as Democrats disappear
A Washington Post analysis found that Republicans are posting more, getting followed more and going viral more now that the world’s richest Trump supporter is running the show.
By Drew Harwell and Jeremy B. Merrill
October 29, 2024 at 6:10 a.m. EDT
The top political accounts on X have seen their audiences crumble in the months before the election, a signal of the platform’s diminishing influence and usefulness to political discourse under billionaire owner Elon Musk, a Washington Post analysis found. ... Politicians on both sides of the aisle have struggled to win the attention they once enjoyed on the platform formerly known as Twitter, according to The Post’s review of months of data for the 100 top-tweeting congressional accounts, including senators, representatives and committees, equal parts Democrat and Republican.
But some of their tweets are still going mega-viral — virtually all of them from Republicans, the analysis shows. The Republicans have also seen huge spikes in follower counts over the Democrats, and their tweets have collectively received billions more views. ... X has seen a dramatic exodus of users since Musk took over in 2022, according to independent analysts such as Edison Research, which said in March that X’s usage in the United States had dropped 30 percent since last year. The investment firm Fidelity this month estimated that X’s value has plunged by about 80 percent since Musk’s takeover.
But the viewers that have stayed on X now largely see posts that skew toward the political bent of Musk himself, an avid booster of former president Donald Trump who has jumped onstage with him at rallies, donated $118 million toward his bid for a second term and launched a daily $1 million giveaway for registered voters in swing states. Musk, the world’s richest man, paid $44 billion to buy X and has since become its biggest user, with 200 million followers.
It’s almost impossible to say whether X is explicitly suppressing Democrats, as some liberals have speculated: The Post’s analysis turned up no evidence of direct manipulation. The shift in attention could reflect changing attitudes among users who have stuck around, given that many left-wing users have said they left the platform of their own accord, annoyed by Musk’s antics and X’s redrawn rules.
< 2 years in, Trump surrogate Elon Musk has remade X as a conservative megaphone
October 25, 20245:00 AM ETListen· 4:544-Minute ListenPlaylist
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JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It has been nearly two years since Elon Musk purchased Twitter. Since then, he's renamed the social media site X and turned many parts of the site upside down. Perhaps the biggest change of all is how the billionaire is using the platform as a megaphone to send former President Donald Trump back to the White House. NPR's Bobby Allyn and Shannon Bond have been covering Musk's remaking of X, and they join us now. Welcome to you both.
BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SHANNON BOND, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
SUMMERS: Shannon, over to you first. Elon Musk used to support Democrats, but recently, he's become one of Trump's most high-profile supporters. Help us understand how that happened.
BOND: Yeah. Well, Musk has been leaning more conservative in his personal politics since the pandemic. Even back in the 2022 midterms, you know, he posted on what was then Twitter that people should vote for Republicans. But this year it's really been an acceleration. He has gone all in on Trump, endorsing him after the July assassination attempt. He's founded America PAC, backing Trump. He's put $75 million into that. And he's funding get-out-the-vote operations, including offering million-dollar prizes to registered voters who sign a petition, which may or may not be legal. Musk is also stumping for Trump, you know, on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania. And as you said, he's using X as a megaphone to boost Trump. I spoke with Eddie Perez, who led Twitter's election integrity work before Musk takeover. Here's how he put it.
EDDIE PEREZ: This is a textbook example of the influence that, I think it's fair to say, an oligarch can have in a way that really is impactful to the entire body politic.
BOND: Perez says, you know, it's really this combination of Musk's money and his control of a major communications platform that really stands out this year.
SUMMERS: Bobby, over to you. Elon Musk himself is the loudest voice on X. He's even tweaked the site in order to amplify his own posts. Give us some examples. How is he using this platform that he owns to boost Trump?
ALLYN: Yeah. Well, Musk gave Trump a friendly two-hour interview on X that millions of people watched. That was back in August. Now, just two weeks away from the election, I think anyone who uses X, Juana, will tell you that Musk's posts and many about Trump are just unavoidable, right? Even if you don't follow Musk, you're likely to see his pro-Trump content filling up your timeline. And part of this is because X's feed includes a mix of people you follow and stuff from people you don't follow that is trending on the site. And since Musk's 200-plus million followers make him the most popular user on the site, his posts are often going viral. I called up Erik Berlin about this. He left X last year, but he used to manage a group of software engineers at X. And he said it is true that Musk's pro-Trump politics are just inundating everyone's feeds.
ERIK BERLIN: I mean, I think there's no doubt that Elon has a political bent. I don't know if that's sort of encoded into the algorithm. You know, largely, I think it's just a reflection of the user base - Elon fans, Trump fans.
ALLYN: Yeah. Berlin is saying that since Musk is the biggest user on the site, his views are just shaping the entire platform, and as I've mentioned these days, Musk is tweeting a lot about Donald Trump.
SUMMERS: Right. Shannon, tell us. What have these changes meant for the site as a place where people come to gather information?
BOND: Well, as Bobby says, you know, he's tweeting about Trump. He's setting the tone here. But in addition to that, he's also trafficking in unverified rumors, misleading claims, sometimes outright falsehoods and conspiracy theories, both through what he is posting himself and then also what he is resharing or replying to from other users. And Musk has really emerged recently as a leading booster of these baseless claims that Democrats are bringing in immigrants to illegally vote for them. You know, and many people are saying that may be one way Trump could challenge election results.
Musk has also amplified debunked rumors about Haitian immigrants and made false claims about the government not aiding victims of the recent hurricanes. He shared anti-Ukraine memes that actually turned out to be Russian propaganda. And, Juana, this is all turned off people. You know, there are many users who have left X. Advertisers have pulled out. Overall, the site is just seen as a much less reliable source of information these days.
SUMMERS: Right. And this raises a question about what this has done to hurt X's bottom line. When Musk bought the site for $44 billion, didn't he have really big plans, like, to boost its business?
ALLYN: He did. Musk had all sorts of grandiose plans when he bought the site back then. You know, he was talking about turning the platform into a so-called everything app - so, like, ride-sharing, online shopping, money transfers all in one. That never happened. He also hoped, you know, people would buy his paid subscription, but most users did not sign up. The brokerage firm Fidelity was a major investor when Musk took over Twitter, and it recently estimated, Juana, that the value of its stake in the site has dropped nearly 80%. And look. Advertisers just aren't rushing back to the site that is effectively a partisan platform whose CEO is cheering loudly for one presidential candidate.
SUMMERS: NPR's Bobby Allyn and Shannon Bond. Thanks to both of you.
ALLYN: Thanks, Juana.
BOND: Thank you.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is making an all-out push to reelect Donald Trump
Elon Musk has donated more than $70 million to the pro-Trump political action committee he created in order to help reelect Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
www.cbsnews.com
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite business is set to boom if Trump wins
Elon Musk’s fast-growing satellite business Starlink could be poised to gain billions of dollars more in federal contracts and subsidies under a Donald Trump presidency, industry experts say, in a reflection of the world’s richest individual’s deepening financial stake in Washington politics...
www.benton.org
Elon Musk’s fast-growing satellite business Starlink could be poised to gain billions of dollars more in federal contracts and subsidies under a Donald Trump presidency, industry experts say, in a reflection of the world’s richest individual’s deepening financial stake in Washington politics. Trump has cast himself as a space patron, pledging to unleash funds for national-security installations in orbit and slash red tape for Musk. Other Republicans have also telegraphed business upsides for Starlink, including pushing for the company to get a slice of a $42 billion pot of federal internet subsidies. A presidential vote of confidence could help the standing of Starlink and its parent company, SpaceX, as they vie for billions of dollars in national security contracts against rivals like Amazon in the coming years. Musk has struggled to reassure parts of the defense community that he is a trustworthy partner, even as industry experts say Starlink is rapidly building out an advanced satellite surveillance system on track to be the most powerful one in history.
If that orange faggot wins, musk will become America's first oligarch. EVERYTHING will be even more rigged towards rich, white repubs. We will become russia.
But niggas are more concerned about a few trannies...SMMFH
But niggas are more concerned about a few trannies...SMMFH
Why did Elon Musk go all in on Trump? by Front Burner
Why did Elon Musk go all in on Trump? from Front Burner on Podchaser, aired Thursday, 31st October 2024.As recently as 2022, billionaire Elon Musk was saying that Donald Trump should "hang up his hat & sail into the sunset." But in recent months, Musk has become one of the most influential support…
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