New from me: Elon Musk was irate with federal regulators when they opted to publicly investigate the first fatal crash involving Autopilot, screaming on the phone. It kicked off a whirlwind relationship based on flattery, threats and appeals to his ego
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Faiz Siddiqui
@faizsays
Tech reporter covering Tesla, Elon Musk, Uber and self-driving |
Tips: faiz.siddiqui@washpost.com | DMs open, on Signal at 513-659-9944
Faiz Siddiqui’s Tweets
NEW: Twitter's suspensions of prominent journalists were internally labeled "direction of Ella," referring to Ella Irwin, Twitter's Trust and Safety head who has carried out many of Musk's orders.
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STORY: Twitter abruptly suspends several journalists, including who a day earlier co-authored this piece with me on the suspension of the account
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Tesla has cited this exact problem as a material risk
“We are highly dependent on the services of Elon Musk, Technoking of Tesla and our Chief Executive Officer"
Musk, however, "does not devote his full time and attention to Tesla"
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It's a particuarly vocal few at this point (as opposed to large institutional investors), but the calls from some of Musk's most dedicated fans to ease his political tweeting and get back to Austin signal broader frustration with Tesla's performance
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"We’re in literally the best part of the company’s history and it’s being totally demolished by Twitter"
a group of devoted investors and superfans are suddenly questioning Elon Musk's Twitter focus as it cuts deeply into their Tesla holdings
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Musk bans Twitter account tracking his jet, threatens to sue creator
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Twitter relents. Sort of. can tweet on the location of Musk's plane, but not on the same day. Account effectively becomes an archive of historical data.
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Musk said Sweeney's accounts violated Twitter's policy on doxxing, which Twitter defines as "sharing someone’s private information online without their permission"
The actual policy violation appears to be this, added today, which outlaws some public info washingtonpost.com/technology/202
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Musk cited the jet-tracking account as proof of his commitment to free speech
"My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane"
It's now appended with a community note explaining that the account has been banned
washingtonpost.com/technology/202
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I talked to Jack Sweeney, a Musk fan, right after Musk took over. He didn't think Musk would outright ban him: "I personally think he won’t do it because then the news would be all over it and he would be called a hypocrite."
as it turns out...
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"They’ve basically shut off that entire building and the bridge to it"
The plan, according to a person familiar: remove all the equipment from that office as Twitter ceases payment. The building includes Twitter's main lobby
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Plus new deets on Twitter withholding the rent, as NYT first reported
-Twitter clearing out of one of two Market St. buildings amid downsizing
-Individual workers hauling items such as chairs and commercial kitchen equipment down the industrial elevator
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NEW: Twitter had previously conducted a review of and determined it didn't violate the company's policies on sharing of private info
Despite that, Elon Musk's site permanently suspended it with a new rationale Wednesday
washingtonpost.com/technology/202
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Elon Musk on Nov. 6: “My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk” twitter.com/JxckSweeney/st
This Tweet is unavailable.
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BREAKING: In a big win for labor, the labor board just ruled to expand the fees and penalties companies can face for illegally firing union organizers.
Companies can be held liable for unpaid bills, childcare expenses, credit card fees, lost housing
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Musk can command an audience, but his recent public appearances have been closed to anyone but the most enthusiastic fans, influencers and his own friends & employees
He was genuinely caught off guard by an unfriendly crowd. “Dave, what should I say?”
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It’s been a staggering week of news for Metro , the nation’s 3rd largest transit system. Billion dollar proposals to boost train & bus service. Votes to waive fares altogether. Two station shootings. Busiest week I’ve had at with 8 bylines.
Let’s recount:
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In The Tech Friend:
Your words taught ChatGPT.
Your face trained Clearview AI.
Lensa portraits learned from artists' work.
Bits of us are building AI systems. What are the rules of the road for THIS?
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Musk said the company won't make money from hateful tweets. But ads from more than three dozen big brands were on accounts of white nationalists including the editor of the neo-nazi Daily Stormer
Twitter neglected to flag them as ineligible for ads
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In a particularly egregious example: Voices of the Civil Rights Movement, a Comcast-NBC led racial justice initiative, was inadertantly advertising on the page of the one-time leader of the Identity Evropa movement
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NEW: Ads from roughly 40 brands, including Amazon, Uber and Snap, are appearing on white nationalist pages after Elon Musk granted amnesty to previously suspended Twitter accounts. The inadvertant placement of brand ads is fallout from new amnesty policy.
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Fanboys wondered aloud about Elon Musk's security after the release of the Twitter Files. Meanwhile Twitter staff feared for those in the rank-and-file who were named.
“We’re furious. It’s absolutely abhorrent ... It can get someone killed.”
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In The Tech Friend:
Buying digital stuff in apps like Netflix, Spotify, Kindle, Audible, Bumble, Tinder and (maybe soon?) Twitter is impossible or costs you more.
Try my personal app rebellion: When possible, buy in a web browser, not in an app.
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NEW: Documents show why Apple pulling its Twitter ads is devastating for Elon Musk: In the first quarter of 2022, Apple was Twitter's top advertiser, accounting for nearly $50M in revenue
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Wrote about this problem in February. There was a big surge in reports of Teslas phantom braking for imagined hazards, "cars seemed overly sensitive to trucks in the opposite lane." After we pointed out the surge in reports the feds opened an investigation washingtonpost.com/technology/202
Quote Tweet
amazing product sir but i'm slightly concerned about my car randomly slamming the brakes on the highway
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SCOOP: My first piece from Brazil! Shortly after his dad’s election loss, Eduardo Bolsonaro came to the US to meet w/Trumpworld.
With their leader ousted, Brazil’s right debates whether to contest the election or take on a global fight over free speech.
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Executives gathered inside a war room to map out the platform’s future. There was a steady supply of catered food, snacks and Voss water. The war room “was strewn with toys and two-year-old X Æ A-Xii … was running around.”
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On the first full day after his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, Musk wanted to execute on a key priority: restoring the account of the Babylon Bee.
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The suspension of Musk’s favorite satire site played a central role in his eventual Twitter acquisition. The Babylon Bee’s CEO told one outlet, The Washington Times, tht Musk contacted them after it was suspended, then launched his poll on whether Twitter adheres to “free speech”
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Within hours of arriving at Twitter, Elon Musk issued an urgent directive: bring back the Babylon Bee. It led to a fierce debate on Musk’s ad-hoc approach to content moderation, which docs show plans to heavily automate
via & me
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Spoke w/ Twitter folks familiar with account suspensions — while Trump may be adding new followers, what people are seeing isn’t his follower count ballooning, it’s just repopulating w/ his existing followers. Takes a while to get back to the original 88M washingtonpost.com/technology/202
This Tweet is unavailable.
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Trump's account was already back on Twitter on Saturday night. Musk acted immediately after a user poll, rather than the process he laid out for restoring accounts when he took over washingtonpost.com/technology/202
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NEW: Elon Musk says he will reinstate the Twitter account of former President Donald Trump, who was banned after Jan. 6, 2021 attack on U.S. Capitol. Trump said in remarks earlier Saturday he appreciated the poll but was focused on Truth Social
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Musk has hollowed out Twitter, leaving some critical engineering teams down to 0 or 1 remaining staff
“Every mistake in code and operations is now deadly”
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Twitter workers who refused to sign Musk’s pledge still had access to the company’s systems “because they are not sure who is gone, because most of human resources left,” according to one of the employees
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“The team that runs the service Gizmoduck, which powers and stores all information in user profiles across the site, was entirely gone”
half the trust & safety policy team — majority of those who work on misinfo, spam, fake accts, impersonation gone too
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-Workers offered varying estimates of how many people remained employed at Twitter, ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 — down from 7,500
-Entire teams hollowed out, including some that run core functions such as…user profiles
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