EU Investigates Elon Musk’s X for Spreading Illegal Content

The relationship between Elon Musk and the European Union deteriorated further on Monday, with the bloc launching a formal investigation into the way X has been run since the billionaire took over last year. Senior officials from the European Commission said they were concerned about a range of new features that have been added to … Read more

Elon Musk Just Told Advertisers, ‘Go Fuck Yourself’

Elon Musk says that advertisers fleeing X after his endorsement of an antisemitic post could “kill” the platform formerly known as Twitter. And he has a simple message for those companies, which include Disney, Apple, and IBM: “Go fuck yourself.” Musk, speaking Wednesday night at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit, said that advertisers with … Read more

Elon Musk Trolls His Way Into the OpenAI Drama

Elon Musk needed fewer than 100 characters to add new chaos to the ongoing crisis swirling around OpenAI after the shock firing of CEO Sam Altman last week. In a post on X on Tuesday, Musk drew attention to an anonymous letter accusing Altman of various examples of underhanded behavior as CEO of OpenAI. The … Read more

Elon Musk’s ‘thermonuclear’ lawsuit over hate-adjacent ads on X… actually confirms them

Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, has filed a lawsuit alleging defamation by a news organization over claims that major companies had ads appear next to antisemitic content. But the suit appears to confirm the very thing it claims is defamatory. Media Matters last Thursday published an article with screenshots showing ads from IBM, Apple, Oracle … Read more

Elon Musk May Have Just Signed X’s Death Warrant

But this recent spate of antisemitic content on X, and the juxtaposition of big-brand ads next to it, only underscores to advertisers that X is a risky bet, experts argue. “Even with those tools, if you’re an advertiser right now you’re thinking, there’s quite literally nothing I can do on this platform to improve my … Read more

The New Era of Social Media Looks as Bad for Privacy as the Last One

When Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, experts warned that his proposed changes—including less content moderation and a subscription-based verification system—would lead to an exodus of users and advertisers. A year later, those predictions have largely borne out. Advertising revenue on the platform has declined 55 percent since Musk’s takeover, and the number … Read more

Maine Mass Shooting Disinformation Floods Social Media as Suspect Remains at Large

Following a mass shooting at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, yesterday evening that left at least 16 people dead, state police urgently warned residents to “stay inside your home with the doors locked” as they mounted a manhunt for the suspect. Misinformation about the suspect flooded social media platforms like X (formerly … Read more

Elon Musk Mocked Ukraine, and Russian Trolls Went Wild

The Antibot4Navalny group monitors inauthentic accounts on X, focusing on the Russian language, and it identifies accounts that may not be genuine by analyzing their behavior and the replies they make to media outlets. Data gathered by the researchers shows the accounts replying both to Musk’s original tweet and also those from Russian-language news accounts, … Read more