Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[OttoVonBismarck]

Some of the Times reporting also seems a little inaccurate to me. They are saying that November 1st is a stock date for employees and that it is a significant portion of their income--but most companies in tech do restricted stock unit (RSU) grants quarterly, so while losing out on an RSU quarterly grant would be significant, it's not as massive as the article is suggesting (the article is suggesting it is a majority of their annual income, at least vaguely), on top of that most tech industry RSUs actually have an "accelerated vesting" clause if there is a "change in control" at a company. In that scenario it does not matter when Musk lays them off, they would get that RSU grant in any case.

And again, this is in California with some of the strictest employee protection laws in the country--and many such laws were crafted specifically for the software industry. I just don't really believe Musk, who just paid $44bn to avoid civil litigation in Delaware, would immediately saddle his newly acquired company with civil litigation involving (supposedly) 50% of his workforce, litigation that would likely drag the firm's name through the mud and make hiring extraordinarily difficult. All of that for what is like hundreds of millions of dollars for a guy who again, spent tens of billions to avoid civil litigation and who has taken out tens of billions in debt financing for the deal along with his minority investors.

[celedhring]

I see the WaPo is running similar news (50% people fired before they can claim stock), independently sourced (although sources might be the same as NYT).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/29/elon-musk-twitter-takeover/

[OttoVonBismarck]

Doing a little cursory research--California law basically has an explicit notice requirement for layoffs--its own version of the Federal WARN Act, which would very likely apply to these employees. Under the terms of that law, if an employer lays people off without observing the notice period (which is 60 days), the employer is liable for all pay and benefits the employee would have received during that 60 day window. So announcing layoffs one day before some stock vesting date seems like it just literally has no legal legs to stand on in California.

I'm not saying I doubt Musk is trying it, just saying it seems nonsensical for someone who ran California companies for years and knows how the California courts treat such matters.

[DGuller]

So, what is up with Musk?  Did he get snagged in a honeytrap by FSB?  Or does he just get his dick hard from influencing the world events, regardless of in which direction?

[Tonitrus]

How would a honeytrap work on a guy who is already well known for spewing honey all over the place?

[The Larch]

It seems that the usual suspects are already testing if Twitter will take a new moderation policy under Musk...

Twitter trolls bombard platform after Elon Musk takeover
Platform says 300 accounts carried out 50,000-plus tweets in 'organised effort to make users think firm has changed content policy'

Twitter has been hit by a coordinated trolling campaign in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover, with more than 50,000 tweets from 300 accounts bombarding the platform with hateful content.

The social media platform said it has been targeted with an attempt to make users think Twitter has dropped or weakened its content policies after the world's richest man bought the company for $44bn (£38bn) last week.

Twitter's head of safety and integrity said those running the site had not changed content policies but had been subject to "an organised effort to make people think we have".

In a Twitter thread posted on Sunday, Yoel Roth said the company had seen a "ton" of tweets posted by a small number of accounts featuring slurs and other derogatory terms. To illustrate the scale of the attack, he said more than 50,000 tweets that repeatedly used one unspecified slur came from just 300 accounts.

Roth said most of those accounts were "inauthentic" and the users involved had been banned.

"We've taken action to ban the users involved in this trolling campaign – and are going to continue working to address this in the days to come to make Twitter safe and welcoming for everyone," he wrote.

Roth's thread also linked to a post from Musk, who bought the platform last week, in which the Tesla chief executive said: "We have not yet made any changes to Twitter's content moderation policies."

Musk's takeover has led to widespread expressions of concern that the multibillionaire, a self-confessed "free speech absolutist", will relax content policies and reinstate banned accounts such as those controlled by the former US president Donald Trump and Katie Hopkins, the rightwing British political commentator.
(...)
As well as stressing that there had been no change to Twitter's content policies, Musk has announced the formation of a "content moderation council". He said the new body would bring together "widely diverse viewpoints" and no decisions on content policy or account reinstatements will be taken until the council has convened.

Musk has also indicated that Twitter could be split into different sections where users give their posts content ratings and take part in online rows in a specially created space on the platform.

His suggested changes emerged in interactions with Twitter users after the deal. He also supported a user's suggestion that the service splits into different video game-style modes, including a "player v player" version where verified accounts can engage in Twitter spats.

The billionaire, who has more than 100 million followers on the platform, said users could select a version of Twitter like they were choosing a film based on its content rating.

He wrote: "Being able to select which version of Twitter you want is probably better, much as it would be for a movie maturity rating."

Musk added that the rating of a user's tweet could be self-selected and then "modified by user feedback".

Banned British far-right figures return to Twitter within hours of takeover
Extreme group Britain First publishes series of anti-immigrant videos in first 24 hours after getting its new account

Key figures on Britain's far right who were previously banned from Twitter have been able to open new accounts, apparently without restrictions, after the platform's takeover by Elon Musk.

Britain First, an extreme group whose leader has spent time in jail for hate crimes against Muslims, rejoined the social media network on Friday. It had been banned in 2017 under Twitter's hate speech rules after posting inflammatory anti-Muslim videos. Some videos posted by its then deputy leader were retweeted by US president Donald Trump.

Twitter has mechanisms to detect when banned users set up accounts, and the new Britain First account quickly had its features limited after being found to violate rules. But it was later restored to full functionality, according to screenshots shared with members in a group for Britain First supporters. The account was still live on Saturday evening.
(...)
It is unclear whether the decision to allow Britain First on the platform is a conscious one by moderators or an oversight, and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment. But the Center for Countering Digital Hate said the move would allow the group to "restart [its] campaign of spreading divisive hate and racism" and sent a message that extremists could "operate with impunity".
(...)
The apparent return of far-right figures raises questions about where Twitter's new owner will draw the line on content moderation and who will be permitted on the app. Musk, the Tesla billionaire who bought Twitter for $44bn, has been critical of its moderation decisions in the past and called for a greater emphasis on what he says is "free speech". In the hours after his takeover of the platform, some users flooded it with racist, antisemitic and homophobic slurs in an apparent attempt to test the response.

In a statement on Friday, the world's richest man moved to assuage concerns about a rise in harmful content under his ownership by announcing the creation of a content moderation council that would bring together "diverse views", adding that "no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before the council convenes".
(...)
He also indicated he would examine the case of Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist and author, who was suspended from Twitter after violating the platform's policies with a tweet about transgender actor Elliot Page. "Anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail," Musk wrote.

Britain First, which describes itself as a "patriotic" group that is "taking our country back", said the fact it had been able to rejoin was a sign Twitter's new owner valued freedom of speech. Golding said: "Britain First was first banned by woke bigots back in 2017 after being retweeted by President Donald Trump. We are glad to be back on the platform as a registered, full UK political party that contests democratic elections." Twitter did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I think Twitter has not changed anything in its content moderation, and has said they will not until their new content moderation board is created. The current spike in bad behavior is largely just taking advantage of what was already pretty week content moderation at Twitter.

[Jacob]

I expect the response from twitter is possibly weakened by doubt among employees - "in this grey area should I err on cracking down on bigots or err on the side of not intervening? And will management back me up?" - and chosing to not intervene where they had before.

Not that I'm arguing thay Twitter's content moderation policies aren't fairly weak - but there could still be a shift in enforcement nonetheless.

[The Brain]

So, what is up with Musk?  Did he get snagged in a honeytrap by FSB?  Or does he just get his dick hard from influencing the world events, regardless of in which direction?

He's an attention whore. This gives him attention.

[Darth Wagtaros]

So, what is up with Musk?  Did he get snagged in a honeytrap by FSB?  Or does he just get his dick hard from influencing the world events, regardless of in which direction?

He's an attention whore. This gives him attention.

Yep.  If Twitter had banned Biden then he'd have been all about restoring freedom of speech for democrats.

[Berkut]

Musk strikes me as a classic shallow Libertarian. Rabidly all about "freedom" while not having given it enough thought to understand and assess the practical realities of what it means in practice.

I don't think he is any kind of right winger, except insofar as his views and interests might align with theirs at times.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Musk strikes me as a classic shallow Libertarian. Rabidly all about "freedom" while not having given it enough thought to understand and assess the practical realities of what it means in practice.

I don't think he is any kind of right winger, except insofar as his views and interests might align with theirs at times.

No, I don't think so either. But the right-wingers are saying nice htings about him today, so today he is all about making them happy.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I'll note that it's basically November 1st now, and newer reporting at the New York Times confirms there have been no mass layoffs of yet. The theory that Musk was going to hit them prior to 11/1 to avoid some internal stock payout schemes awarding the laid off workers appears to be untrue, in that case.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/technology/elon-musk-twitter-control.html?unlocked_article_code=R_I7vAZXUDPdafzJOZfPR9QSIPT5_D071omqY7vkWAVZRQEWzay9GJBmJBfoRhChUYTCF37RkjonMTdQOM8hARzwbPAG1Cy_rpllkYB3Sm_CLeEJYrglZqRSN4J7kFbQqgZ9LEk3S24rykcUE5InkgQ6n2EFSuwexpkH-Yo7qvr-qM1zyhcaMpb4xoir_yns-3Zc_ia1FneQls21Lk1cGhMd65_kGfSwVQb9WLlQjwVDB8gPlaLer7Ak074hJTyEQLuV22a56uTXZ9nGSSI1vwnOBO-c6GaJh0ORpTprYUL6x8jLw55Oc5Axx-n9cwYYRzz44mj73Fx_iYig5HfAmZ1UQu_0EA&smid=share-url

Obviously he did fire the executive team but it's also not being reported any longer he was trying to screw them out of their compensation that was agreed upon in the merger documents. Seems like all this talk of him trying to do shady stuff on outgoing compensation was manufactured.

Bigger question now is as per this article Twitter will have to service $1bn in annual debt payments to pay off the $13bn in debt Musk saddled the company with to partially finance his takeover.

FY2021 Twitter's revenue was around $5bn with a net loss of $220m on that revenue.

FY2020 it had a $1.14bn net loss.
FY2019 $1.46bn net profit.
FY2018 $1.20bn net profit.
FY2017 $108m net loss.
FY2016 $456m net loss.
FY2015 $521m net loss.
FY2014 $578m net loss.

Twitter went public in 2013.

Prior to going public the company opened in 2006, and at the time of its 2013 IPO it had never turned a net profit, with accumulated losses during its previous period as a private company of $419m.

All told since 2006 Twitter has had two profitable years--2018 and 2019. It is set to be unprofitable in 2022 at current clip.

I guess the question is, what was going on in '18 and '19 that saw it turn its first profits--profits which would at least allow it to service its debt obligations, and how feasible is it to get back to them.

What seems concerning if I'm Musk or a co-investor, getting back to those numbers will mean you're just barely clearly the debt servicing cost per year. That doesn't seem like a great setup for the future IPO. Anyone who is investing in Twitter with Musk is either hoping for a future IPO or significant profit payouts down the line in the form of dividends or etc. For any of that to happen Twitter is going to need significant growth of MAU and ad revenue, both of which seem difficult in this climate. There is a reason Twitter's user growth has been stale for years, and the global social media advertising market is in decline with signs that those declines may represent a structural shift away from such advertising and to companies valuing such advertising less than it had previously.

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/31/1132906782/elon-musk-twitter-pelosi-conspiracy

Musk suggests Pelosi attack might have been homosexualist love spat, quickly deletes post.

[Valmy]

Musk becomes harder to defend everyday. FFS dude.

At least he was self-aware enough to delete it.