Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[Sheilbh]

X may not be the worst offender but my guess is they are the least concerned with even maintaining the premise of compliance, which makes them the easiest target.

Yeah - and the one that is most likely to deliver PR of a new regulatory competence and some enforcement activity (which will take years).

Although I think given that it's been revealed that ByteDance has lied to parliaments in Europe about user data being transferred to/accessible in China I think they should be a higher priority.

[Jacob]

I expect that a (relatively) quick and popular smackdown of X would provide momentum for taking on ByteDance and Meta.

[Josquius]

Byte dance is definitely priority.
Facebook are horrid and all that, but a lot of their shit is from just being willing to take anyone's money.
There's something outright fundamentally sinister about tiktok on the other hand.

[Sheilbh]

I expect that a (relatively) quick and popular smackdown of X would provide momentum for taking on ByteDance and Meta.

It won't be quick

Meta's enforcement for breaching GDPR started in 2018 and has partially wrapped up this year with a fine. And it's not finished yet because their regulator isn't really investigating everything and whether or not they're required to is now being taken to the courts.

This is easier because the Commission is the regulator. But it'll be like the Commissions fights with Microsoft (especially if they end up with a friendly White House), that the Commission eventually won but took a long time. I'd expect at least five years. There'll be an investigation that will take time, then a decision and it will be challenged to the CJEU.

Edit: Incidentally this is the biggest issue with regulating tech - there's vast amounts to investigate meaningfully, it requires expertise and they have deep enough pockets to challenge every point. I've heard the UK data regulator (one of the best resourced in Europe) say litigation costs has been the biggest surprise, which it shouldn't have been.

Personally I think we need a little bit less regulatory process and a bit more of a snap of state sovereignty - like the oil producing countries asserting their rights and power.

[Jacob]

Looks like Tesla has found a way to get around the Postal worker action - instead of getting the license plates sent to Tesla (covered by the strike), the license plates are being sent directly to the individual Tesla customers (who are not covered by the strike).

[Syt]

https://www.businesspost.ie/news/exclusive-the-x-files-how-elon-musks-new-rules-allow-hate-to-flourish/

Exclusive: the X Files – how Elon Musk's new rules allow hate to flourish
Leaked documents reveal how staff of the social media channel were stripped of powers to remove toxic content from its platform

Elon Musk's X has instructed staff not to suspend users that post explicitly racist, sexist and homophobic content, or who send sexual material to another person, as part of a new policy that has radically stripped back the company's moderation of abusive material.

Confidential documents obtained by the Business Post reveal in detail how X, formerly Twitter, has significantly watered down its trust and safety rules over recent months, and how its policies allow abusive and hateful accounts to remain on the platform.

Musk, a self-described free-speech absolutist, has spoken openly about the changes he has made to content moderation on X since he purchased the company for $44 billion in October 2022.

The documents, dating from June to October of this year, show how content moderators have been told not to suspend the users behind certain hateful material, including content promoting physical harm against an individual, references to mass murders "with the intent to harass", and content that "incites fear about a protected category" of people.

The documents give several examples of posts that would once have been removed – a process that used to include their authors being suspended, or warned about their conduct – but which are now allowed to remain with visibility reduced.

Now a trove of leaked documents – including a detailed training manual, and a guidance document on how to deal with abusive content – shows how Musk's approach has watered down X's policies and allowed hate-filled accounts to proliferate.

X did not respond to a list of detailed queries from the Business Post this weekend, or to multiple requests for comment.

Among the examples of a post that is no longer subject to the same level of enforcement action is: "The next stop on our Poland tour is Auschwitz. Jews this is your last top. Please get off here and take all your luggage with you."

Another example is a slur against black people that reads: "That guy is such a c**n", while a third shows a post, which tags another user and features a photo of Hitler.

Among the categories of material that are no longer subject to the same level of enforcement are:

• unsolicited sexual posts sent to another user

• posts that deny violent events such as the Holocaust

• posts that refer to specific slurs for black, white and gay people

• posts that harass another user by sending a picture of Adolf Hitler

• posts that reference mass murder

• posts that call for the denial of support to the business of a protected category

• posts that remove human characteristics or deprives groups or individuals of human qualities.

The changes have been made as part of X's "Freedom of Speech, Not Reach" policy, which was announced by the company in April.

Training documents show how moderators are told not to take action to get these posts removed from X, but instead to make them "less discoverable" for users.

"Users will have to intentionally seek out content for which we've restricted reach, just like anywhere else on the internet," the document says.

Posts that misgender or "deadname" individuals – meaning referring to a trans person by a name they used before transitioning – are no longer subject to action by contracted content moderators, though "outing" an LGBTQ person for their sexual orientation or gender is still a violation and will lead to a post being removed. Many posts that would have been removed under the platform's previous ownership are now merely labelled as violating X's policies.

These posts are not removed from the platform but their reach is restricted, allowing users to seek them out and meaning authors of these posts are not subject to enforcement action.

The files shed light on exactly how content moderators are told to deal with hateful and abusive content – and show they have been instructed not to be as stringent in taking action against these types of posts.

Musk's free-speech approach has grown into a significant financial problem for X, with a string of advertisers – including Apple, Disney and IBM – suspending their activity on the platform.

Bloomberg reported last week that X's advertising revenues in 2023 are expected to be $1.5 billion lower than last year.

[Jacob]

I wonder how that interacts with hate speech type legislation in various jurisdictions.

[crazy canuck]

I wonder how that interacts with hate speech type legislation in various jurisdictions.

In Canada X's greatest jeopardy would likely be proceedings before a human right tribunal.  X would try to argue that the content of the expression does not cross the line into hate speech.  But based on that article, it would be a difficult defense to maintain. 

[Syt]

[Josquius]

I've been getting a fair few youtube suggestions lately talking about how chat gpt has certain biases, these videos inevitably are rants on teh woke and reality not aligning with the loony right.

It's a shame as previously I was seeing a lot of interesting stuff on how minority languages were suffering due to it.

[Zanza]

An investment company that joined Musk's 44bn takeover of Twitter has written down their share indicating an overall 12.5bn valuation of X.

[Jacob]

The real reckoning is going to be if/ when Tesla gets re-evaluated as a car-maker rather than a meme-stock.

[Jacob]

Xitter appear to be dealying Tsunami alerts by up to 3 hours in Japan: https://mashable.com/article/twitter-japan-earthquake-tsunami-alert-restricted

To be fair, the problem appears to have been fixed now.

[Zanza]

The real reckoning is going to be if/ when Tesla gets re-evaluated as a car-maker rather than a meme-stock.

They were a clear leader in battery tech, manufacturing process, software, infrastructure, sales model etc. pioneering many innovations. But competition, especially from China, is catching up fast. Last quarter BYD sold more BEV cars than Tesla for example. Doubtful that Tesla can deliver on Musks more boisterous claims any time soon. So there is indeed a significant risk that they will soon just be another car company.

[Jacob]

Elon apparently claims that Tesla is not a car company but an AI company. I came across a thing that said that Tesla stocks is being evaluated as such.

So perhaps his strategy is to continually pivot Tesla onto new bubbles as they appear? Bubbleriding, as it were.