Is this it for Twitter?

[nysister]

Elon Musk apologizes after mocking laid-off Twitter employee​

BARBARA ORTUTAY
Tue, March 7, 2023 at 5:53 PM EST


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — If you're not told you are fired, are you really fired? At Twitter, probably. And then, sometimes, you get your job back — if you want it. Haraldur Thorleifsson, who until recently was employed at Twitter, logged in to his computer last Sunday to do some work — only to find himself locked out, along with 200 others.

He might have figured, as others before him have in the chaotic months of layoffs and firings since Elon Musk took over the company, that he was out of a job. Instead, after nine days of no answer from Twitter as to whether or not he was still employed, Thorleifsson decided to tweet at Musk to see if he could catch the billionaire's attention and get an answer to his Schrödinger’s job situation.

“Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?” he wrote on Monday.

Eventually, he got his answer after a surreal Twitter exchange with Musk, who proceeded to quiz him about his work, question his disability and need for accommodations (Thorleifsson, who goes by “Halli,” has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair) and tweet that Thorleifsson has a “prominent, active Twitter account and is wealthy" and the “reason he confronted me in public was to get a big payout.” While the exchange was going on, Thorleifsson said he received an email that he was no longer employed.

Late Tuesday afternoon, however, Musk had a change of heart.

“I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful,” he tweeted. “He is considering remaining at Twitter.”

Thorleifsson did not immediately respond to a message for comment following Musk's tweet. In an earlier email, he called the experience “surreal.”

“You had every right to lay me off. But it would have been nice to let me know!” he tweeted to Musk.

Thorleifsson, who lives in Iceland, has about 151,000 Twitter followers (Musk has over 130 million). He joined Twitter in 2021, when the company, under the prior management, acquired his startup Ueno.

He was lauded in Icelandic media for choosing to receive the purchase price in wages rather than a lump sum payout. That's because this way, he would pay higher taxes to Iceland in support of its social services and safety net.

Thorleifsson's next move: “I’m opening a restaurant in downtown Reykjavik very soon,” he tweeted. “It’s named after my mom.”

Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

Link: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/musk-taunts-wheelchair-bound-twitter-225342629.html

He's mad I tell you, MAD.

He could have just let people assume that, but there he goes confirming it, day after day.

Note to self: If I become very rich and well known. Keep my mouth shut on all platforms.

 

[PatDM'T]

Is this a rumor? I’ve never heard this before.

If I recall, his family is from South Africa. imho, he's probably very Boer White (but he's never identified as such).

I watch you tube sometimes and a black group had a list of the world's richest black billionaires and he was on the list and they referred to him as black.

I wonder whether
it all stems from
semantics where some
folks insist that
Charlize Theron is
African American
which to normal ppl
means "black" but
to semantic idiots
she is that cuz
she was born
in Africa and is
now American.

Nothing about Elon
is worthy of
called being black.
I even take
offense with those
who would play
semantics and call
him African American.

An article about
the fam gives
an all-clear image.

 

[charmingt]

I wonder whether
it all stems from
semantics where some
folks insist that
Charlize Theron is
African American
which to normal ppl
means "black" but
to semantic idiots
she is that cuz
she was born
in Africa and is
now American.

Nothing about Elon
is worthy of
called being black.
I even take
offense with those
who would play
semantics and call
him African American.

An article about
the fam gives
an all-clear image.

They're all sneaky-looking.

 

[awhyley]

He's mad I tell you, MAD.
He could have just let people assume that, but there he goes confirming it, day after day.
Note to self: If I become very rich and well known. Keep my mouth shut on all platforms.

Yep, and it's probably gonna cost him too.

 

[nysister]

Yep, and it's probably gonna cost him too.


View attachment 487891

I sure hope so, because that was insane.

 

[nysister]

I wonder whether
it all stems from
semantics where some
folks insist that
Charlize Theron is
African American
which to normal ppl
means "black" but
to semantic idiots
she is that cuz
she was born
in Africa and is
now American.

Nothing about Elon
is worthy of
called being black.
I even take
offense with those
who would play
semantics and call
him African American.

An article about
the fam gives
an all-clear image.

Exactly. He's as White as they get. Ugh, we don't want that fool.

 

[awhyley]

 

[awhyley]

Gary Lineker challenges Elon Musk over death threat received by his son after BBC row​

Lineker has started posting on the social media platform again following his reinstatement to host of Match of the Day

ByWill Bolton14 March 2023 • 11:24am

Gary Lineker has challenged Twitter and Elon Musk over a death threat sent to his son, George, in the wake of his impartiality row with the BBC.
The presenter, who was reinstated as host of Match Of The Day on Monday, re-shared the private message sent from a user, which described his son as a "mug" and said he needed to be "burned at the stake".

Lineker was mostly absent from Twitter during the row but now, following the u-turn from the BBC, he has begun posting on the social media platform once again.

Lineker wrote: "Is this acceptable @Twitter @elonmusk? And I don't mean the grammar."
Musk has not yet responded to the Tweet.

Lineker, 62, had been suspended by the BBC for his tweets comparing rhetoric around the Government’s illegal immigration policy to 1930’s Nazi Germany. George spoke out in support of his father amid the controversy and said he shouldn't apologise for “being a good person” and he was “proud of the old man”.

Describing the abuse he had received during the row, George said: “Social media’s mad isn’t it. Over the last few days, on Insta - never had so many nice messages. On Twitter - never had so much abuse.

“It’s not even anything to do with me.”

Tim Davie, director general at the BBC, said the row had been caused by "grey areas" in the corporation's social media guidance adding that an independent review into the guidelines would now take place.
Speaking on Monday, he said: "What we've agreed - and I've spent time talking to Gary, we've had lots of discussions - is between now and when the review reports, Gary will abide by the editorial guidelines. And that’s where we are."

Speaking in November last year after Musk’s takeover of the site, Lineker said he would continue to use the platform.
He said: “Obviously there are things going on but I’ve not really noticed it’s had an effect on my Twitter at the moment. We’ll have to wait and see what it is and where it’s going.

“He (Mr Musk) seems to be throwing ideas out every five minutes and we’re all waiting to see what it will be like and what’s going to happen. It’s interesting times.

“I’m not going to stand here and say I’m going to come off Twitter because I’m not."

“It’s a big platform and I try to use it for what I think are important issues as well as having a bit of fun and promoting things in my job and talking about football.”

Link: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...allenges-elon-musk-death-threat-received-son/

 

[awhyley]

You have any right to complain, but personally, if you say that you're not leaving the platform, is this criticism really going anywhere?

 

[awhyley]

More ire for Musk.

Texans sound off against Elon Musk's 'horrifying' plans for dumping The Boring Company wastewater into Colorado River​

Grace Kay
Thu, March 23, 2023 at 11:00 AM EDT

• The Boring Company is facing criticism from Texans over its plans to dump treated wastewater.
• The company applied for a permit to dump 142,500 gallons per day last year.
• One resident said about 400 people showed up at the public meeting on The Boring Company's plans.

Elon Musk's tunnel-building venture, The Boring Company, is facing blowback from Texans who are speaking out against its plans to dump treated wastewater into the local water supply.

The Boring Company applied for a state permit last year under an affiliate name, Gapped Bass LLC, to dispose of about 142,500 gallons of treated wastewater per day from its facility in Bastrop, Texas into the Colorado River. Earlier that year, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said it had opened investigations into The Boring Company after receiving three complaints regarding the Bastrop site's handling of wastewater and concrete production.

On Tuesday night, several local Bastrop residents gathered at a meeting with TCEQ and The Boring Company to give public comment on the company's wastewater disposal permit after local citizen Chap Ambrose launched a campaign to "Keep Bastrop Boring."

Ambrose told Insider ahead of the public meeting that while he's always considered himself a fan of Musk, he feels The Boring Company is breaking the law.

"I'm very invested here, my family lives here, and I have environmental concerns on what I see," Ambrose said.

He said in a post on Twitter that about 400 people showed up to attend the public meeting on Tuesday night. An estimated half of the people that came out to the meeting were turned away at the door due to capacity constraints, he said.

"The thought of this happening is horrifying," Erin, who runs an organic farm near the Boring Company facility, told Fox News. "This stuff — and we don't even know what it is — going into the river that we depend on for food production."

Ambrose told the publication he has concerns about Musk's propensity to "value speed over everything."

"I don't know if ya'll heard it as clearly as I did, but the reason they want to discharge treated wastewater into the river, is because they can't wait 24 months for that pipe to be run and the permanent infrastructure setup," Ambrose said during his public comment, according to a video from the event that was viewed by Insider.

Bastrop Mayor Connie Schroder said she would prefer The Boring Company waited to treat its wastewater at the city's plant, which is currently under construction, local news reported. Bastrop broke ground on its $32.6 million wastewater treatment plant in 2021, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

"This is just a short-term solution, and ultimately we hope to not even utilize the full capacity of what's being authorized," a Gapped Bass representative, Rajit Patel, said at the hearing, according to Fox News.

Patel explained the company's water treatment process for the wastewater before it would enter the water supply and said the company plans to eventually use the city's treatment plant, The Wall Street Journal reported.

He noted the wastewater will come from The Boring Company facilities, as well as SpaceX, per the Journal, though SpaceX is not listed on the permit application. Neither Musk or the company's president, Steve Davis, attended the meeting.

TCEQ is expected to decide in the coming months whether it will approve the permit, the Journal said.

A spokesperson for The Boring Company did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Musk's space venture has faced similar blowback from residents in Boca Chica, Texas where local citizens sued SpaceX in 2021 over claims its rocket tests have caused public beaches to be continually closed.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/texans-sound-off-against-elon-150001827.html

 

[awhyley]

Twitter is officially ending its old verification process on April 1.​

- To get a blue check mark, you'll have to pay.​

BY CAITLIN O'KANE
MARCH 24, 2023 / 11:37 AM / CBS NEWS

Twitter will phase out its old verification program starting in April, the company announced Thursday. Followers used to get Twitter's signature blue check mark if they met certain criteria. Now, they will have to pay at least $8 a month to keep that verified status.

Twitter users used to have to request verification. Their accounts had to be "authentic, notable, and active," and they had to meet the criteria of being a government figure or entity, entertainer, athlete, company, activist, content creator, news organization or journalist.

Spam or parody accounts would not be approved, nor would Twitter users who violated Twitter's policies that ban hateful comments, harassment or harmful activity. Verification could be taken away if policies were violated or if a person changed their handle, was not active or if their account was misleading.

Now, however, those rules are being thrown out the window. Twitter said starting April 1, it would "begin winding down our legacy verification program," and only accounts that actively subscribe to Twitter Blue — its new verification program — will keep their blue checks. People who received a blue check mark under the old program will lose it unless they subscribe.

Accounts must be complete, meaning they have a display name and profile photo, and they must have active use in the past 30 days to subscribe.

Accounts must be older than 90 days, have made no recent changes to the profile, and cannot be deceptive. The account must not show any signs of engaging in manipulation and span.

When Elon Musk took over the company and announced plans for a blue check mark subscription, many critics raised questions about impersonators and parody accounts paying for a blue check mark, which can deceive other users into thinking they are real people — not fake accounts pretending to be real people.

To try and prevent that, accounts that alter their profiles will temporarily lose their check mark until the Twitter Blue team can review their subscription and deem them verified again.

Accounts that don't follow Twitter policies are also at risk of losing the check mark under the subscription program.

More here >>> Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/twitte...on-ending-new-subscription-april-1-elon-musk/

 

[charmingt]