Twitter was never the largest social network, but it remained one of the most influential as a home to celebrities, journalists, and influencers of all sorts and the go-to network for breaking news. Since Elon Musk purchased it, Twitter’s employee count has dropped by more than half, advertisers have tightened budgets, and it’s charging money for access to verified checkmarks and Tweetdeck. Oh, and now it’s called X instead of Twitter.
“The investigation will focus on the platform’s compliance with federal privacy law with respect to its collection, use, and disclosure of Canadians’ personal information to train artificial intelligence models,” according to a statement from The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada published by Reuters.
Though it might be a short-lived visit — after slamming Donald Trump and Elon Musk (perhaps attempting to bait the latter into banning him), the author swiftly returned to posting on his Threads account.
“After a brief check-in with Twitter, I can confirm it’s worse than ever—no longer a social gathering place but a propaganda organ, George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth,” King said.
This Wall Street Journal reports that beyond suing an ad group for an “illegal” boycott, X lawyers and executives have indicated that brands need to spend more on the Elon Musk-owned platform “or else.”
Ruben Schreurs, the CEO of an ad consulting firm, Ebiquity, is quoted saying the reason brands are choosing the route of spending a minimum viable amount on X is “Not because they want to advertise there and run their ads adjacent to the content on X, but because they are afraid of legal and political ramifications of not doing so.”
That’s just one line in this Wall Street Journal article detailing money flowing to the presidential family via crypto or other means. Another section highlights Melania Trump’s documentary pitch to Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez during their December visit preceding Amazon’s $40 million deal that reportedly nearly tripled the next-closest offer.
But if you wondered how that January 6th Twitter lawsuit got settled, we have an answer:
The settlement talks with X began after the election and were more informal, with both Trump and Musk personally involved in hammering out the $10 million number, people familiar with the matter said.
Lawyers representing President Trump, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and what is now X moved to dismiss Trump’s pending case before the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, reports Bloomberg.
He was appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit that accused Twitter, which is now owned by DOGE head Elon Musk, of violating the First Amendment when it banned his account in 2021.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was “involved in the decision,” The Wall Street Journal reports. Apple, which pulled ads from X after Elon Musk made antisemitic posts, is has also apparently “had discussions about testing out ads on the platform.”
Law professor Kate Klonick explains what Big Tech’s Trump appeasement is really about.
Communities including r/hockey, r/NFL, r/NBA, r/MLB, and r/MLS are discussing the possibility, as reported by Awful Announcing.
Part of the reason is that X posts sometimes aren’t accessible if you’re logged out or don’t have an account. But I’ve also seen users bring up X owner Elon Musk.
[Awful Announcing]
Our tech overlords all have problems, and they want to buy the solutions.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino commended Mark Zuckerberg’s move to ditch third-party fact-checking in favor of a Community Notes-style moderation (inspired by X) onstage at CES. “It couldn’t be more validating,” Yaccarino said. “Mark and Meta realized that it’s the most effective, fastest fact checking, without bias.”
“Mark, Meta — welcome to the party,” she added.
X now includes AI-powered suggestions on certain posts. These appear as pre-written questions that users can click on. When selected, these questions are processed by xAI’s Grok chatbot, which analyzes the post and provides answers.
It’s really odd, and quite an eyesore. I also don’t think the questions are ... all that relevant for shitposts?
After a report by The Spectator that “Adrian Dittmann” is not an Elon Musk alt account, X has suspended the reporter’s account and two researchers who say they found the information and blocked linking to either article.
This, even after Musk replied to the original tweet, saying “I am Adrian Dittmann. It’s time the world knew.”
The Spectator argues that its analysis of Dittmann’s online presence shows that rather than being an invention of Elon Musk’s, Dittmann is part of a family that has been living and investing in Fiji since 2012.
You can see the Dittmann family in a YouTube video in which they’re greeted by Fiji’s President.
[The Spectator World]
Musk posted last night that the platform’s algorithm will soon “promote more informational/entertaining content” in order to “maximize unregretted user-seconds.”
He added in a separate post that X is working on ways to “adjust the content feed dynamically.”
X doesn’t let you see content unless you’re logged in, and that means many people couldn’t view an Amber Alert notification sent by the California Highway Patrol, as reported by Wired.
It appears X CEO Linda Yaccarino made an account with her competitor, Threads, within the last few days. She hasn’t posted anything or followed anyone, though.
This new account comes just a few days before she’s slated to take the stage at CES.
The iOS app is now listed on Apple’s App Store, and is currently available in beta in “Australia and a few countries” according to TechCrunch.
This confirms rumors that started circulating in November regarding X developing a standalone app for its Grok chatbot. There’s no word yet on when a version will be made available to Android users.
[App Store]
