This blog is now closed. You can read our on that interview story here.
In addition to this live blogger, conservative commentator Glenn Beck is among those unable to listen to Donald Trump’s interview with Elon Musk:
The interview was supposed to start five minutes ago, but instead, all we are seeing is a gray box with the words “Details not available”.
Continue reading...Ex-president attacks migrants and denounces Kamala Harris in discussion delayed by technical glitch
Donald Trump sat down with billionaire Elon Musk on Monday for a rambling and vitriolic interview that revisited many of the former president’s most divisive talking points.
The interview on X, which is owned by Musk, got off to an inauspicious start, with technical issues that initially prevented many users from watching the conversation. Musk blamed the delay on a “massive” cyber-attack, but the cause of the glitch was not entirely clear.
Continue reading...Musk blames cyber-attack as conversation is delayed, resembling glitchy launch of Ron DeSantis’s campaign
As a high-profile conversation between Donald Trump and Elon Musk was about to begin, users of X, formerly Twitter, were confronted with the message: “This Space is not available.”
Spaces, X’s livestreaming audio feature, was the chosen forum for the dialogue, but it wasn’t working. Clicking on the link to the broadcast, hosted by Trump’s dormant @RealDonaldTrump account, froze the site and rendered it unusable. Tweeters said they couldn’t dial in; some said their browsers had crashed.
Continue reading...Labour minister says she removed social media platform’s app from her mobile phone when Elon Musk took over
A government minister said she has scaled back her use of social media platform X, arguing it had become “a bit despotic” and was “a place of misery now”.
Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said although she had previously been “massively addicted to Twitter”, referencing the former name of X, she had removed the app from her phone after Elon Musk took over the company in October 2022.
Continue reading...President accuses social network’s owner of using it to ‘incite hatred’ after country’s disputed election
President Nicolás Maduro said he had ordered a 10-day block on access to X in Venezuela, accusing the owner, Elon Musk, of using the social network to promote hatred after the country’s disputed presidential election.
Associated Press (AP) journalists in Caracas found that by Thursday night posts had stopped loading on X on two private telephone services and the state-owned Movilnet.
Continue reading...The Elon Musk-owned platform remains a vital tool for politicians despite misinformation about disorder in Britain
When Keir Starmer was running to be Labour leader in 2020, his aides seriously considered whether they should leave Twitter for good.
A number of those who remain close to Starmer as prime minister were then enthusiastic about moving off the platform. The party was still feeling wounded by the brutal election campaign and by the bitterness of the way it had been conducted on social media.
Continue reading...CEO Linda Yaccarino reportedly said Bay Area employees would be relocated to Silicon Valley in an internal email
X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, will shut down its flagship San Francisco office “over the next few weeks”, the New York Times reported. The internal announcement comes after owner Elon Musk stated last month he would be moving the headquarters out of California.
In an email to employees obtained by the Times, chief executive Linda Yaccarino said Bay Area employees will be relocated to Silicon Valley, distributed between an existing office in San Jose and a new office to be built in Palo Alto.
Continue reading...‘I do believe we are being targeted and they are trying to silence us out of this space,’ ACF spokesperson says
The X account of the Australian Conservation Foundation was suspended for more than 24 hours with the charity saying it believes it is being “report bombed by pro-nuclear groups” seeking to remove negative commentary.
The environment charity’s X account @AusConservation was suspended on Sunday morning, sparking outrage among supporters. The account was reinstated late on Monday, but without the charity’s 32,000 followers.
Continue reading...Social media such as X are fuelling the growth of extremism by allowing its figureheads a platform to direct violence
The resurgence of far-right violence in the UK is in part due to Elon Musk’s decision to allow figures such as Tommy Robinson back on to the social media platform X, researchers say.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and those of his ilk are not leaders in the traditional sense and the far right has no central organisation capable of directing the disorder and violence that has been seen, experts say.
Continue reading...Ex-CNN anchor alleges fraud and breach of contract after X Corp owner abruptly ended video series partnership
The former CNN anchor Don Lemon has sued Elon Musk and X over a cancelled deal with the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
His filing in California superior court in San Francisco includes claims of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of Lemon’s name and likeness and breach of express contract.
Continue reading...Growing number of antisemitic, misogynistic posts reveal far right’s anxieties as Harris’s candidacy solidifies
As Donald Trump’s campaign shifts his focus to presumptive Democratic nominee, Vice-President Kamala Harris, the online ecosystem of the far right has responded in lockstep with racist insults, misogynistic tropes, antisemitic conspiracy theories and viral memes against her. Some of those attacks, common throughout her vice-presidency, are directly targeting her Jewish husband and second gentleman, Doug Emhoff.
After Joe Biden’s stunning decision to step down as the Democratic candidate in this year’s presidential election to then endorse Harris, Republicans as high ranking as Trump were quick to decry the switch as tantamount to a “coup” attempt – a dangerous allegation with no factual basis.
Continue reading...Sebastian Hotz, aka El Hotzo, was dropped from his radio show and provoked anger from Elon Musk after now-deleted posts on X
A 28-year-old German comedian has got into trouble with Donald Trump supporters and then Elon Musk after sending a series of tweets appearing to welcome the assassination attempt on the former US president.
Sebastian Hotz, who posts and performs as El Hotzo, lost his job with a public broadcaster this week for a series of tweets on X, Musk’s social media platform, after Trump narrowly escaped death, saying that the attempt had been like the last bus – “unfortunately, just missed”.
Continue reading...For some it was harmless banter but others say Mary Lou McDonald’s post on X was an example of obnoxious trolling
It’s a venerable football equation: English defeat = Irish glee.
Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin leader, reflected this tradition when she posted “Olé, Olé, Olé” and celebrated Spain’s victory over England in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin on Sunday. “Felicidades! Comhghairdeas to the champions of Europe,” she added, using the Irish word for congratulations.
Continue reading...Analysis by Dutch researchers shows coordinated activity in France, Germany and Italy in run-up to ballot
Coordinated networks of accounts spreading disinformation “flooded” social media in France, Germany and Italy before the elections to the European parliament, Dutch researchers have found.
After an in-depth analysis of disinformation on the platform X in four EU countries, the researchers concluded that many of the accounts had been set up after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but were cranked up in the weeks and days before the vote, with growth in their numbers of followers rocketing.
Continue reading...The Guardian used public records and open source materials to identify Daniel Linden of the Shirion Collective
A prime mover behind the Shirion Collective, a conspiracy-minded, pro-Israel disinformation network seeking to shape public opinion about the Gaza conflict in the US, Australia and the UK, is a tech entrepreneur named Daniel Linden living in Florida who co-wrote a guidebook for OnlyFans users, the Guardian can reveal.
Shirion has harassed pro-Palestinian activists, including many Jews, offered bounties for the identity of pro-Palestinian protesters, spread conspiracy narratives centered on figures like George Soros, and boasted of an AI-surveillance platform but offered few concrete details of how the technology functions.
Continue reading...The opposition leader’s announcement that age-verification would be a Coalition government priority is a big promise that technology may not be able to fulfil
Both the federal government and opposition say they are on board with the idea to ban teens under 16 from using social media, but the prime minister set an important qualifier on Thursday when he said he would support such a ban “if it can be effective”.
Guardian Essential poll last week found two-thirds of voters were in favour of raising the age teens can access social media from the 13 that the companies have set themselves up to 16.
Continue reading...EU commissioner Vera Jourová says tech firms must hire staff versed in legal and historical context of free speech in Europe
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, lacks understanding of European concerns over the hatred and division that can result from the spread of disinformation, a senior EU commissioner has said.
Speaking just days before the European parliamentary elections, in which disinformation, particularly Russian-backed propaganda, has been a key issue, Věra Jourová criticised what she said was a clear deterioration in content moderation on X since Musk bought the platform in 2022.
Continue reading...Commissioner says companies have ‘huge disincentive’ to abide by their own policies on adult content amid discussions of age assurance technology
Australia’s online safety regulator has accused Apple and Google of financial motives in deciding not to remove Reddit and Elon Musk’s X from their app stores for hosting pornography in violation of their own policies.
Research cited in the eSafety commissioner’s online roadmap for age verification technology for adult sites last year reported that 41% of teens aged between 16 and 18 reported seeing pornography on X – more than the 37% who viewed pornography on dedicated adult sites.
Continue reading...Lawyer for Elon Musk’s company tells federal court notice from watchdog was ‘manifestly inadequate’
Elon Musk’s X Corp has argued notices ordering the companyto remove tweets showing video of a stabbing attack at a Sydney church were invalid, and told a court it was not reasonable for Australia’s eSafety commissioner to expect the 65 posts to be taken down globally.
Last month, X was ordered to hide the posts of the stabbing attack on bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel while he was giving a livestreamed service at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in the suburb of Wakeley.
Continue reading...The opposition leader says Australia ‘can’t be the internet police of the world’ amid dispute between the eSafety commissioner and X over Wakeley stabbing content removal
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has labelled the eSafety commissioner’s demands for the global removal of footage of the alleged Wakeley stabbing as “silly”, a comment that appears to put him at odds with his deputy, Sussan Ley.
In an interview on Thursday, Dutton appeared to side with Elon Musk on a key part of the government’s dispute with X over online video of the incident, saying Australia “can’t be the internet police of the world” and that federal law should not influence what content can be seen overseas.
Continue reading...