Twitter board agrees to $44 billion sale to billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk

[Highlord Laan]

Can we please just ignore the house until sane people run it again, please?

The entire gop is nothing but a terrorist organization of fascists and christian nationalists driven by a cult of personality, and none of it's members should even be holding office, let alone be allowed to exercise power in any form.

[bilateralrope]

Can we please just ignore the house until sane people run it again, please?

The entire gop is nothing but a terrorist organization of fascists and christian nationalists driven by a cult of personality, and none of it's members should even be holding office, let alone be allowed to exercise power in any form.

Which is exactly why we need everyone paying attention to them. Otherwise it's easier for the GOP to claim that they are capable of governing.

[Broomstick]

I wonder what Jim Jordan thinks he's going to get out of this.

Power and money. Why else do politicians do anything?

There's that literal dumpster fire of a toxic disaster in Richmond, Indiana that is right on the Ohio border. Can we set up some big fans to blow that shit towards Jim Jordan's house?

[Gandalf]

I wonder what Jim Jordan thinks he's going to get out of this.

Credit for fighting the woke deep state, or whatever they call it all. If the mask off cruelty of the Trump era GOP continues to be more influential in the house, he may want to run for speaker at some point. This is a point in the resume.

[bilateralrope]

Microsoft isn’t paying Twitter’s new API fees, so Xbox to Twitter sharing is gone

Twitter’s new — and expensive — API pricing starts at $42,000 per month

By Nicole Carpenter @sweetpotatoes Apr 21, 2023, 11:02am EDT

Xbox players started to notice this week that Microsoft removed the ability to share screenshots and clips to Twitter straight from consoles or the Xbox Game Bar on Windows. Open up the sharing options window and you’ll see that the option for Twitter has been entirely removed.

Microsoft confirmed Thursday — in a response to a player’s tweet about the removal — that Twitter is no longer a sharing option. “We have had to disable the ability to share game uploads to Twitter directly from the console and Game Bar on Windows,” read a tweet from the Xbox Twitter account. “You can still share your favorite moments to Twitter via the Xbox app for Android and iOS.”

Microsoft didn’t say that this is because of Elon Musk’s new Twitter API (application programing interface) paywall, but it’s quite likely that is the case. Polygon has reached out to Microsoft for confirmation, and will update this story when we hear back.

The Xbox change does coincide Twitter’s rollout of the new API pricing structure, which could cost a company like Microsoft around $42,000 per month, according to The Verge. Free and basic tiers ($100 per month) are available as part of the new Twitter API pricing structure, but are meant for smaller projects.

Both Nintendo and Sony currently still allow players to send clips and screenshots to Twitter from their respective consoles. We’ve reached out to both companies to confirm that continued access.

For players looking to get their screenshots or sick video clips from their console to Twitter, there is another option: the Xbox mobile app. You can access your console captures in the library there, then share to Twitter, Instagram, and elsewhere.

But beyond Twitter sharing from Xbox consoles, Microsoft is also removing support for Twitter through its advertising platform. The company put a note on the top of a support page stating support will end on April 25 — users of the advertising platform won’t be able to manage tweets via the social media management tool it includes.

That seems to have angered Musk, who responded to a tweet about Microsoft’s dropped support with “lawsuit time,” claiming that Microsoft “trained illegally using Twitter data.”

It's going to be interesting to see if Microsoft starts paying for API access or Sony/Nintendo decide to cut off tweeting directly from their consoles.

[bilateralrope]

Twitter descends into chaos as news outlets and brands lose verification

By Brian Fung, CNN
Updated 1:02 PM EDT, Fri April 21, 2023

Twitter users awoke Friday morning to even more chaos on the platform than they had become accustomed to in recent months under CEO Elon Musk after a wide-ranging rollback of blue check marks from celebrities, journalists and government agencies.

The end of traditional verification marked the beginning of a radically different information regime on Twitter, one highlighted by almost immediate impersonations of government accounts; the removal of labels previously used to identify Chinese and Russian propaganda; and a scramble by the company to individually re-verify certain high-profile figures such as Pope Francis.

A broad array of media organizations lost the gold verification badges Musk’s team had developed months earlier as an alternative to traditional brand verification, reflecting those organizations’ apparent refusal to pay for the badges that now cost $1,000 a month.

Several prominent Twitter users including LeBron James, William Shatner and Stephen King also refused to pay to keep their verification badges, prompting Musk to personally intervene. Appearing to sense the problems that might ensue if those users went unverified, Musk said Thursday he would pay out of his own pocket to ensure James, Shatner and King’s profiles continued to be verified.

Though some of the most visible issues with the rollout could be ironed out in the coming days, the broader impact of the change has been to make it more difficult for users to determine an account’s authenticity and potentially to undermine Twitter’s central role as a hub for news. Twitter verification is no longer an indicator that an account represents who it claims to represent; instead, it reflects that a user – or, apparently, the owner of Twitter – paid for Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription service.

Earlier experiments with changes to verification had led to similar chaos, prompting Twitter to postpone the rollout multiple times. Twitter continued to move forward with its paid verification strategy, however, with the hope of bolstering subscription revenue after seeing a sharp decline in its core ad sales business.

After Thursday’s change removed verification from New York City’s official government account, the account tweeted Thursday evening: “This is an authentic Twitter account representing the New York City Government.”

Later, another Twitter account bearing the same profile image and a slight variation on the official account’s username replied to that tweet.

“No, you’re not,” the impostor account said. “THIS account is the only authentic Twitter account representing and run by the New York City Government.”

By Friday morning, the city’s verification had been restored with a gray check mark indicating it was a “government or multilateral organization account.” The same had occurred with Pope Francis, who had also lost his blue check mark Thursday.

In a seemingly unrelated and coincidental change, Twitter also stripped the “government-funded media” label from accounts belonging to Canada’s CBC and NPR, the latter of which had quit Twitter over the labeling because NPR said the label misrepresented the news organization’s editorial independence from the US government.

Twitter also removed the “state-affiliated media” labels from accounts belonging to China’s Xinhua News and Russia’s RT.

According to NPR, Musk dropped all media labeling on Twitter following a suggestion from the author Walter Isaacson, who is writing a biography of Musk. Isaacson, who is verified on Twitter as a subscriber to Twitter Blue, tweeted a photo of Musk on Thursday from SpaceX’s Starship launch site. The rocket exploded in midair.

Looks like Musk finally managed to get the verified checkmarks removed. To predictable results.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Microsoft isn’t paying Twitter’s new API fees, so Xbox to Twitter sharing is gone

Twitter’s new — and expensive — API pricing starts at $42,000 per month

By Nicole Carpenter @sweetpotatoes Apr 21, 2023, 11:02am EDT

Xbox players started to notice this week that Microsoft removed the ability to share screenshots and clips to Twitter straight from consoles or the Xbox Game Bar on Windows. Open up the sharing options window and you’ll see that the option for Twitter has been entirely removed.

Microsoft confirmed Thursday — in a response to a player’s tweet about the removal — that Twitter is no longer a sharing option. “We have had to disable the ability to share game uploads to Twitter directly from the console and Game Bar on Windows,” read a tweet from the Xbox Twitter account. “You can still share your favorite moments to Twitter via the Xbox app for Android and iOS.”

Microsoft didn’t say that this is because of Elon Musk’s new Twitter API (application programing interface) paywall, but it’s quite likely that is the case. Polygon has reached out to Microsoft for confirmation, and will update this story when we hear back.

The Xbox change does coincide Twitter’s rollout of the new API pricing structure, which could cost a company like Microsoft around $42,000 per month, according to The Verge. Free and basic tiers ($100 per month) are available as part of the new Twitter API pricing structure, but are meant for smaller projects.

Both Nintendo and Sony currently still allow players to send clips and screenshots to Twitter from their respective consoles. We’ve reached out to both companies to confirm that continued access.

For players looking to get their screenshots or sick video clips from their console to Twitter, there is another option: the Xbox mobile app. You can access your console captures in the library there, then share to Twitter, Instagram, and elsewhere.

But beyond Twitter sharing from Xbox consoles, Microsoft is also removing support for Twitter through its advertising platform. The company put a note on the top of a support page stating support will end on April 25 — users of the advertising platform won’t be able to manage tweets via the social media management tool it includes.

That seems to have angered Musk, who responded to a tweet about Microsoft’s dropped support with “lawsuit time,” claiming that Microsoft “trained illegally using Twitter data.”

It's going to be interesting to see if Microsoft starts paying for API access or Sony/Nintendo decide to cut off tweeting directly from their consoles.

Is that $42,000 per user? I can see why Microsoft would say "Fuck that".

[Solauren]

Not only that, but I can see Microsoft making their own version of Twitter as well.

[Jub]

Yeah, I could see [Insert Social Media Site Name] powered by Bing launching if Microsoft feels there's enough value in it.

[Batman]

Yeah, I can't see see Microsoft balking at a mere 42K a month 'total' (or any company-not even normal ones not totally ruined by Elon Musk-of that size settling for that),but Microsoft Is more likely to build their own ( and much more successful) alternative.

[bilateralrope]

Here's an article that I skipped posting, but might add some context to the Xbox decision:

Musk vows to sue as Microsoft drops Twitter from its ad platform

It would open a new front in Musk's feud with OpenAI, a company he helped start.
ANDREW CUNNINGHAM - 4/21/2023, 4:45 AM

The Microsoft Advertising platform will drop support for its Twitter integration starting on April 25, according to a recently updated support page. Microsoft allows advertisers to manage their campaigns, create posts, and view engagement data on multiple social sites via one centralized interface, and they'll still be able to do so for posts on Facebook, Instagram Business, and LinkedIn. But Twitter is no longer on that list.

The change comes a few days before Twitter plans to deprecate the old API tiers that allowed third-party apps and services to post to Twitter and access its data. The new Enterprise tier, which Microsoft would need to use to continue providing the same level of service to advertisers as before, can cost between $42,000 and $210,000 a month, depending on how many tweets per month you need to be able to access.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk apparently isn't happy about Microsoft's decision. Responding to a post about the news, Musk asserted that Microsoft has "illegally" used Twitter data to train AI models and that he plans to take legal action.

"Lawsuit time," Musk wrote.

Musk's legal threat conflates three of his current projects. One is to push more Twitter users—be they companies or individuals—to pay subscription fees to use the service. The second is to keep advertisers on Twitter, preserving a major revenue stream while subscription revenues are still relatively low. The third is an ongoing pushback against recent advancements in generative AI models, particularly those developed by Microsoft partner OpenAI (Musk served as a co-chair when OpenAI was founded in 2015 but resigned from its board in 2018, citing a "conflict of interest" with Tesla's self-driving AI efforts).

A few weeks ago, Musk signed a letter calling for a "pause" in AI development. Two weeks later, he said he was purchasing 10,000 GPUs to provide the compute power needed to develop a "maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe" because he believes "politically correct" and "woke" chatbots with content filters and other safeguards "lie" to their users. On April 18, Musk tweeted, "wait for it..." in response to a tweet suggesting Musk "sue OpenAI for defrauding him."

It should be noted that Musk regularly tweets about plans that don't happen, whether he's talking about proposed Twitter features, self-imposed deadlines like the one for removing legacy verification checkmarks, or potential business deals.

There are lower-cost versions of Twitter's API, but they're extremely limited. The free tier allows write-only access to Twitter but can't read tweets and is limited to sending 1,500 tweets per month. A $100-per-month tier for "hobbyists" allows reading up to 10,000 tweets per month and writing up to 3,000 tweets per user or 50,000 tweets per app, limits seemingly meant in part to discourage the creation of third-party Twitter clients.

When contacted by Ars about Musk's tweet, a Microsoft representative had no comment.

I skipped posting this before because MS dropping Twitter from its ad platform wasn't interesting and a lawsuit threat is just Musk running his mouth unless he files something.

But it looks like the sequence of events is:
- Twitter starts charging for API access
- Microsoft decides that having Twitter accessed through its ad platform isn't worth the price Musk is asking. Sure, it's not much money compared to the size of MS. But it probably is significant when compared to the revenue it gives them.
- Musk threatens a lawsuit.
- Microsoft removes Xbox > Twitter sharing

It's probably the lawsuit threat that upset MS. Or it might be that they calculated that the price wasn't worth what keeping it on Xbox would give them. I don't have any data on how often that feature was used, but MS probably does.

[Ralin]

I mean, I've been wondering for awhile why Microsoft or Google hasn't been gearing up to push a new, better Twitter during all this. So presumably there must be reasons why they've decided in private that they either can't or don't want to.

Yes I'm aware Google tried that once and that Microsoft is notorious for abandoning projects and leaving users holding the bag. Point stands.

[bilateralrope]

One bit problem with building a new social media platform is the Network effect. Replacing an established platform isn't going to happen unless something drives enough people away from the established platform first. That's unlikely to happen to Twitter until there is something like Musk blocking the EU to avoid their moderation laws or Twitter goes down for long enough that people start thinking that it's not going to come back.

Then all those platforms that are trying to position themselves as the next Twitter are going to get a surge of users and all the scaling issues that come with them. With only one of those platforms being able to replace Twitter and the rest limited to niche platforms at best.

If Microsoft or Google want to own the Twitter replacement, the smarter option might be to buy whoever looks like they might become the winner.

[Jub]

The other option is that the buy and rehab Twitter's corpse once Elon is done stabbing it.

[bilateralrope]

The other option is that the buy and rehab Twitter's corpse once Elon is done stabbing it.

From memory, the deadline for Twitter to comply with EU moderation laws is June or July. I doubt anyone can complete due diligence by then, nor do I see anyone wanting the liability risk that comes with buying Twitter after the EU starts taking action.

[Jub]

From memory, the deadline for Twitter to comply with EU moderation laws is June or July. I doubt anyone can complete due diligence by then, nor do I see anyone wanting the liability risk that comes with buying Twitter after the EU starts taking action.

It depends on what the action by the EU accomplishes and if companies see enough brand value in the Twitter name to be willing to take it, for pennies on the dollar, and try to run a crash fix on the damage Musk has done. Said buyer might also be able to request a stay from the EU after taking over and presenting a plan to follow EU guidelines.

Of course, this could as easily not happen if companies think a fresh brand serves them better.

[Solauren]

If anyone has an idea on the scale of the operations needed to run Twitter, it's going to be Microsoft and Google. (Facebook as well).

Also, I can see Microsoft keeping development of something like a Twitter replacement quiet, while they let Musk rampage around. They could spend money developing it, and then decide it's not worth it, and just leave it as 'mothballed code'.

Also, it probably wouldn't take much to update Microsoft Teams to include Twitter features.

[Ralin]

On reflection, yeah waiting for Musk to kill it and then buying it from his creditors is probably a smarter bet on Microsoft/Google/etc's part than trying to build their own Twitter-killer from scratch.

[bobalot]

Musk honestly doesn't believe the rules apply to him.

The chances of compliance with EU laws even if Twitter had the people and resources is zero.

[bilateralrope]

Twitter verified fake Disney account, claims dead celebs subscribe to Twitter Blue

Living celebs want everyone to know they didn't pay Elon for those checkmarks.
JON BRODKIN - 4/25/2023, 7:00 AM

Twitter's big checkmark transition brought more of the chaos that has typified Elon Musk's run as owner and CEO of the social network. Over the weekend, Twitter applied checkmarks to the accounts of many well-known people who didn't pay for them—including some dead celebrities—along with a message that the accounts subscribed to the $8-per-month Twitter Blue service.

"This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number," states the message attached to accounts with blue badges, including those of Kobe Bryant and Chadwick Boseman. Meanwhile, living celebrities who got the same checkmark made sure to tell followers that they hadn't actually paid for a Twitter Blue monthly subscription or verified their phone number. It would be more accurate to say that Twitter gave free subscriptions to people with a large number of followers, whether they wanted the checkmarks or not.

A blue checkmark on Twitter used to indicate that an account was notable and that Twitter had verified that the person running the account was who they said they were. Now, some famous people who got the checkmark want to make sure that no one mistakenly believes they're giving Musk's company $8 a month. As Slate writes, Musk's decision to remove "legacy" checkmarks and make them a premium feature "turned the blue checkmark into a scarlet letter."

Twitter also made a notable mistake last night in awarding its gold verification badge to a fake Disney account that had posted racist slurs. The gold badges come with the message, "This account is verified because it's an official organization on Twitter."

The fake "DisneyJuniorUK" account got the gold checkmark despite having barely more than 1,000 followers, an Internet Archive capture shows. It gained a few thousand more followers before being suspended.

"We understand Disney reps in the UK became aware of the fake account this morning and contacted counterparts at Twitter immediately," Deadline wrote today. Though Twitter is charging businesses $1,000 a month for gold checkmarks, it reportedly waived the fee for its top 500 advertisers and for the 10,000 most-followed organizations that were verified.

Dead celebrities “verified their phone number”

The unpaid-for blue checkmarks (technically, white or black checkmarks on a blue background) are generally appearing on accounts with at least 1 million followers. Programmer Travis Brown, who has been tracking Twitter Blue subscriber IDs, wrote yesterday that he "found 110 accounts with more than a million followers that are not marked as Blue subscribers, out of a total of 9,884."

"Almost all accounts with more than 1 million followers were 'gifted' a Twitter Blue subscription yesterday against their will," analyst Oliver Alexander wrote.

Applying checkmarks to notable accounts isn't so different from the pre-Musk system. But a big difference now is the message attached to the checkmark suggests that the account holder paid for the badge and verified their identities.

Dead celebrities who are claimed to be subscribed to Twitter Blue include Kobe Bryant, actor Chadwick Boseman, comedian Norm Macdonald, rapper Mac Miller, and chef Anthony Bourdain. Abe Shinzo, the Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in July 2022, also has the label claiming he "subscribed to Twitter Blue" and verified his phone number.

While it's possible that whoever manages a deceased person's account paid for Twitter Blue, that doesn't appear to be the case here. The most recent tweet on the Bryant account is dated January 25, 2020, one day before the Basketball Hall of Famer's death. While Boseman's account continues to make posts after his death, the Macdonald, Miller, Bourdain, and Abe accounts all have zero posts since shortly before their deaths.

“I’ve paid nothing. I gave no number.”

Meanwhile, living celebrities are a bit miffed at the suggestion that they paid Musk for a checkmark. "Friends told me my blue verified check was restored. Dont know why. I've paid nothing. I gave no number," Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander wrote on Saturday.

Actor Ian McKellen wrote, "Despite the implication when you click the blue badge that has mysteriously re-appeared beside my name, I am not paying for the 'honour.'"

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum also told followers that it has "never subscribed and paid for the Twitter Blue as it might be implied." When columnist Paul Krugman wrote that he "had nothing to do" with the reappearance of his checkmark, Musk tweeted a picture of a crying baby at him. Chrissy Teigen complained when her checkmark came back—and celebrated when it went away again.

Dril, a humorous account that was on Twitter's secret list of 35 power users whose tweets get amplified, has been rallying people to block accounts that subscribe to Twitter Blue. Twitter added what Mashable called a "spite checkmark" to Dril's profile in response. Paul Dochney, who runs the Dril account, changed the account's display name several times, and the checkmark is now gone.

In some cases, Musk confirmed that he took action to apply the checkmark to celebrities who are not paying for the subscription—specifically William Shatner, LeBron James, and Stephen King. Many people on Twitter have claimed over the past couple of days that Twitter violated US law by implying that celebrities intentionally subscribed to Twitter Blue. But Northeastern University law professor Alexandra Roberts, an expert on the laws around false advertising, wrote in a long thread that there isn't a clear answer on whether it's a violation.

To violate the US Lanham Act prohibition on false advertising, the false representation must be in commercial advertising or a promotion, she wrote. In this case, "giving some accounts a blue check on a microblogging platform might well fail to qualify as making a false representation in commercial ad/promotion," she wrote.

Media checkmarks inconsistent

NPR, which quit posting on Twitter in response to Musk labeling it "state-affiliated media," now has the blue checkmark and message that it "subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number." PBS, which also stopped posting on Twitter in protest of a "government-funded media" label, now has the same blue checkmark and description.

Application of checkmarks to media organizations has been inconsistent. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation got a gold checkmark despite announcing that it would stop tweeting because it was labeled "government-funded media." The BBC also has a gold checkmark.

When Twitter removed legacy checkmarks, it also got rid of the "government-funded" and "state-affiliated" media labels. The state-affiliated labels previously added context to the accounts of state-controlled news organizations such as Russia's RT and China's Xinhua. RT and Xinhua haven't received gold checkmarks for organizations, but they do have the blue checkmark that comes with the claim that they "subscribed to Twitter Blue."

Looks like Musk found a way to make the checkmark subscription into even more of a shitstorm. Possibly one that will get Twitter sued.

[Lord Revan]

So either he's total idiot or is trying to intentionally destroy twitter as platform as it didn't have an obvious right wing bias.

[Formless]

It might not qualify as false advertising, but I wonder if it qualifies as a form of mass libel?

[bobalot]

So either he's total idiot or is trying to intentionally destroy twitter as platform as it didn't have an obvious right wing bias.

Why not both?

[Broomstick]

So either he's total idiot or is trying to intentionally destroy twitter as platform as it didn't have an obvious right wing bias.

I have believed that Musk is trying to destroy Twitter ever since he was forced to go through with buying it.

[bilateralrope]

I'm not convinced that Musk is following a plan. Maybe he has a plan of trying to turn Twitter into a bigot filled platform, ignoring how all the previous attempts have failed when customers go "we don't want to associate our brand with that". But he keeps interrupting that plan by following whatever urges he has in the moment.