Elon Musk news latest: Twitter CEO says suspending accounts for Mastodon links was ‘a mistake’

ICYMI: The billionaire asked the lawmaker from California if he had approved “hidden state censorship in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States.”

Mr Schiff was quick to turn the tables on Twitter’s owner.

“I don’t support censorship. Or hate speech. As the (outgoing) CEO of Twitter, how about you? Why not do more to stop slurs against Black people, LGBTQ+ people, Jewish people, and others? Do you commit to providing the public with actual answers and data, not just tweets?” he wrote.

ICYMI: Tesla investors are reportedly fuming over what they see as a major distraction for Musk. The electric car maker is currently experiencing the biggest stock sell-off since going public 12 years ago (see chart below), and the CEO’s antics on Twitter are seen as a significant factor in this $600 billion slide.

We’ve heard from Antoine Argouges the founder of ethical investment group Tulipshare:

ICYMI: Elon Musk is reportedly “actively searching” for a new CEO of Twitter, according to sources cited by CNBC.

There’s no word on who might be a potential successor, despite several figures putting their name forward – including the rapper Snoop Dogg and computer scientist Lex Fridman.

“The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive,” Musk tweeted on Sunday night.

Mastodon has seen millions of users flock in since Twitter’s takeover by Elon Musk in October, growing eight times in monthly users.

According to a blog post by the platform’s founder, Eugen Rochko, the website saw 2.5 million users between the months of October and November, a big jump from 300,000 users earlier.

In the post addressing Twitter’s now rolled-back rules limiting posting links to other social media sites and suspension of journalists, Mr Rochko wrote “more and more journalists, political figures, writers, actors and organisations” were moving over.

“Understanding that freedom of the press is absolutely essential to a functional democracy, we are excited to see Mastodon grow and become a household name in newsrooms across the world, and we are committed to continuing to improve our software to face up to new challenges that come with rapid growth and increasing demand,” he wrote.

Mastodon is a free, open-source and self-hosted platform which has soared in popularity off late. However, its user base still remains a fraction of Twitter’s over 238 million users.

ICYMI: Member of congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned billionaire Elon Musk after the new Twitter chief suspended the accounts of half a dozen journalists who routinely reported on him and the social media platform.

Responding to the billionaire’s abrupt ban on journalists, Ms Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that he should take a “beat and lay off the proto-fascism”.

She pointed out that Mr. Musk was an extremely controversial and powerful public figure. “I get feeling unsafe, but descending into abuse of power + erratically banning journalists only increases the intensity around you,” the Democratic lawmaker said.

As someone who has been subject to real and dangerous plots, I do get it. I didn’t have security and experienced many scary incidents,” she added.

“In fact, many of the right-wing outlets you now elevate have published photos of my home, car, etc. At a certain point you gotta disconnect. Maybe try putting down your phone,” she suggested.

Mr Musk swiftly replied: “You first lol.”

ICYMI: Mr Musk on Monday night appeared to fuel a theory that bots were to blame for his defeat in the poll asking whether he should remain Twitter CEO.

Earlier on Monday, an account with the username Wall Street Silver quote-tweeted a side-by-side comparison of the poll on the question of reinstating the account of former President Donald Trump with the poll on the question of Mr Musk’s ongoing Twitter leadership.

The former poll had roughly 15m votes and 836,000 likes, while the later poll had nearly 15m votes and just 312,000 likes. This led Wall Street Silver to wonder “Did bots brigade the Elon poll yesterday?”

Mr Musk replied, “Interesting.” It is not clear why there would be any relationship between voting in a poll on Twitter and liking a tweet, two different actions that do not seem to have any direct relationship.

Elon Musk has admitted taking down accounts for posting links to rival Mastodon was “a mistake” as he looks for a replacement after announcing he is stepping down.

While speaking in a Twitter space on Wednesday, Mr Musk was questioned about the suspension of accounts, like that of venture capitalist Paul Graham, for posting links to Mastodon.

“Yeah, that one was a mistake,” Mr Musk said when asked about users getting banned for mentioning Mastodon.

“I agree, it was a mistake,” the Tesla billionaire again said after being told that arguments can be made for suspending Kanye West and ElonJet.

He was then asked to clarify whether people can post the link to Mastodon now.

“Yeah f***ing post Mastodon all goddamn day long, I don’t care,” he added.

Read the full story here:

ICYMI: Even if Elon Musk steps down as the head of Twitter, picking out a successor may not be so simple.

“No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive,” he tweeted overnight. “There is no successor.”

One of those stepping forward to offer their services is Lex Fridman, an AI researcher, computer scientist and popular podcast host.

“Let me run Twitter for a bit,” he tweeted to Musk. “No salary. All in. Focus on great engineering and increasing the amount of love in the world. Just offering my help in the unlikely case it’s useful.”

Musk replied: “You must like pain a lot. One catch: you have to invest your life savings on Twitter and it has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May. Still want the job?

ICYMI: Officials in Brussels have warned Elon Musk that Twitter could face “sanctions, soon” after booting a series of journalists from its platform.

European commissioner Vera Jourova said that the suspensions were “worrying” and that EU law protects media freedom. “News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” Ms Jourova said.

The commissioner, who is the European Commission’s vice president for values ​​and transparency, said: “EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct.

Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”

ICYMI: John Besey has a rundown of Mr Musk’s Monday night announcement that only paying Twitter subscribers will be able to vote on future policy-related issues.

The announcement came shortly after a majority of Twitter users voted for Mr Musk to step back from his role at the company in an open poll on Sunday.