On Monday, Elon Musk, leader of Tesla, SpaceX and X Corp., had a livestream discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. AI, antisemitism, and Musk's plans for X (formerly Twitter) all came up. The tech mogul said X is in the process of becoming a small, monthly subscription service and asserted that the platform now has 550 million monthly users. As for the controversy concerning him and X's alleged spreading of hate speech and antisemitism, Musk commented on his threat to sue the Anti-Defamation League and his negative words regarding George Soros earlier this month. Elon Musk discussed X, his rebranded social network previously known as Twitter, during a livestreamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. He shared plans for it to move towards a model of requiring a small monthly fee from users in order to fight "vast armies of bots." He did not state the cost of this plan, or what features would be included with it.Musk also divulged that X now has 550 million "monthly users," who generate 100 million to 200 million posts daily. However, he did not disclose how many of these users are authentic as opposed to bots, nor did he compare the metrics to Twitter's prior to his takeover.The livestream was primarily intended to address the theoretical risks of artificial intelligence technology and potential regulation of it. Musk also took the opportunity to defend his social network against allegations of containing hate speech and antisemitism.He has threatened to take legal action against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish-led organization, claiming that they sought to "destroy" X (Twitter). Despite this, he averred on Monday that he is against attacking any group.Before meeting with Netanyahu, Musk had publicly accused George Soros's foundation of wanting to "destroy" western civilization. Soros is the founder of Open Society Foundations, which donates to civil society groups, and is the subject of many antisemitic conspiracy theories.Through his Twitter account, Musk has frequently criticized trans people, government regulators, politicians, journalists, whistleblowers, critics of his companies, and short sellers. After purchasing Twitter for $44 billion, he implemented major job cuts and modified the platform. Musk is the firm's major shareholder, chief tech officer and executive chairman, and also serves as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.He gave amnesty to a selection of previously suspended accounts, which was heavily criticized by online safety and hate speech specialists. He also reactivated the accounts of former President Donald Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and neo-Nazi site founder Andrew Anglin, which had all been banned previously.Musk eliminated the 'bluecheck' system of verification that had been in place previously, which helped to identify legitimate accounts from people such as celebrities, politicians, scientists, authors, business and education leaders, journalists, and other public figures. Now, users who pay a fee have a blue, subscriber badge next to their names, and their posts are given priority over those who do not pay. As a result, users who do not pay for the social network are granted less visibility and engagement with their posts.In an effort to become a money transmitter, Twitter has applied for licenses to do so in the United States. Public records indicate it has already obtained permission in 8 states.
Comments