social media

The outspoken Tesla CEO, the world’s wealthiest person, has said he wants to buy Twitter because he thinks it’s not living up to its potential as a platform for “free speech.” He says it needs to be transformed as a private company in order to build trust with users and do better at serving what he calls the “societal imperative” of free speech. Twitter said the transaction was unanimously approved by its board of directors.

Joe Ferullo: “The passionate romance between Twitter and journalism suddenly seems to be on the rocks — and that’s good news for people who care about real news, delivered straight.”

The New York Times, citing people with knowledge of the situation who it did not identify, said the two sides were discussing details including a timeline and fees if an agreement was signed and then fell apart. The people said the situation was fluid and fast-moving.

Tech companies’ power has “turbocharged” political division and requires government scrutiny, former President Barack Obama said at Stanford.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Thursday in documents filed with U.S. securities regulators that the money would come from Morgan Stanley and other banks, some of it secured by his huge stake in the electric car maker. Twitter has yet to formally respond to Musk’s offer, but the company has enacted an anti-takeover measure known as a poison pill that could make a takeover attempt prohibitively expensive.

The Digital Services Act would force Meta, Google and others to combat misinformation and restrict certain online ads. How European officials will wield it remains to be seen.

Apollo Global Management Inc. is considering participating in a bid for Twitter Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, after Elon Musk’s $43 billion bid put the social-media company in play. Apollo, one of the world’s largest buyout firms, has held discussions about backing a possible deal for Twitter and could provide Musk or another bidder like private-equity firm Thoma Bravo LP with equity or debt to support an offer, the people said.

The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Elon Musk’s stake in the company and making it harder for the Tesla CEO to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition. Twitter’s plan would take effect if Musk’s roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Musk, who currently owns slightly more than 9% of its stock and is the company’s biggest shareholder, provided a letter to the company on Wednesday that contained a proposal to buy the remaining shares of Twitter that he doesn’t already own. Musk offered $54.20 per share of Twitter’s stock. He called that price his best and final offer, although the billionaire provided no details on financing.

Musk, Twitter’s biggest shareholder, is free to buy more stock in the company and could use the platform against itself. Some employees are dismayed.

Computer companies are standing up for Twitter in federal court, telling the federal appeals court for the Ninth Circuit that it should reject and rethink a panel decision ruling against Twitter’s challenge to an investigation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted the news, which followed a weekend of Musk tweets suggesting possible changes to Twitter, including making the site ad-free. Nearly 90% of Twitter’s 2021 revenue came from ads. “Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective on 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he would not be joining the board,” Agrawal wrote in a reposted note originally sent to Tesla employees. “I believe this is for the best.”

A Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, a Paralympic swimmer and a self-described “brand king” were among the Instagram and TikTok influencers who were paid by Chinese officials for a discreet campaign that promoted the Beijing Winter Olympics, new Justice Department documents reveal.

The billionaire has criticized Twitter publicly about its commitment to free speech. He’s also run into trouble on the platform as the CEO of Tesla after financial regulators found he had posted inaccurate information about the company. He now owns 9% of the company and is barred from owning more than 14.9% of Twitter’s outstanding stock while he sits on the board, Twitter Inc. said in a Tuesday regulatory filing.

Twitter kicked off pilot tests this week for three new ad formats: Interactive Text Ads, Product Explorer Ads and Collection Ads. Group Product Manager Madeleine Bayer and Product Manager Lauren Nagra said all three formats will be visible to U.S. users on Android, iOS and the web, adding: “As we kick off early experiments, we’ll aim to understand how the new formats resonate with consumers and drive results for advertisers. We’ll test, learn and iterate based on performance and customer feedback.”

The firm, Targeted Victory, pushed local operatives across the country to boost messages calling TikTok a threat to American children. “Dream would be to get stories with headlines like ‘From dances to danger,’ ” one campaign director said.

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk in a response to another user on Twitter said he is giving “serious thought” to starting a rival social media to Twitter. Asked whether he’d consider building a platform with an “open source algorithm” where “free speech and adhering to free speech is given top priority” and “where propaganda is very minimal,” Musk tweeted that he is giving it “serious thought.”

The company, supported by Donald Trump, Peter Thiel and other prominent conservatives, wants to help build a “new internet” independent from Silicon Valley’s titans.

Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter are hastily rewriting their rules on hate, violence and propaganda in Ukraine — and setting precedents they might regret

Google, one of the few American corporate giants still operating in Russia, is poised to lose one of its biggest footholds in the country as tensions with the Kremlin continue to escalate. Alphabet Inc.’s Google shut its advertising business in Russia while maintaining its popular consumer services, such as YouTube. But the video service has become a significant source of tension with the government.

The company is undertaking a far-reaching effort to change how it works. For some, it is an echo of their early idealism and a vision for what the internet could have been.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is forcing big tech companies to decide how to handle state-controlled media outlets that spread propaganda and misinformation on behalf of the invaders.

The former president’s Truth Social app was offered for download beginning Monday from the Apple App Store to a limited number of subscribers who had preordered. Others who were added to a waiting list are to be given access over the next 10 days. The site encountered technical glitches shortly after launch, with reports that subscribers were shut out for hours. Others had trouble signing on. The site is not expected to be open to anyone who wants to download it until next month.

Truth Social, the former president’s hard-right alternative to Twitter, could open its doors next month. But as businesses go, outrage may not be the best moneymaker.

Newsletters, documentaries, citizen journalism and better-quality UGC are driving better-engaged viewers in higher numbers to stations, leaders from Tegna, Graham Media and Sinclair said at a TVNewsCheck webinar last Friday, where they made clear that quality trumped novelty.

Snap Inc. reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2021 and the full year, saying that it exceeded guidance across revenue, daily active users and adjusted EBIDTA, and it posted its first quarter of positive net income ($23 million) and its first full year of positive free cash flow ($223 million).

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company said it earned $10.29 billion, or $3.67 per share, in the final three months of 2021. That’s down 8% from $11.22 billion, or $3.88 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose to 20% to $33.67 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $3.85 per share on revenue of $33.36 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

The Federal Trade Commission reports that in 2021, consumers lost $770 million to social media scams, as part of its latest Consumer Protection Data Spotlight report. This figure — which makes up 25% of the year’s total fraud losses — has increased by 18 times (or $728 million) versus 2017.

A project from Twitter and Social News Desk lets newsrooms upload up to six images and videos into a single tweet, and some are already using it to offer more expansive winter weather coverage on the platform.

The new arrangement comes as a direct result of NBCUniversal’s RFP last year to social media platforms to propose new content, product and monetization approaches for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.