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An army of political propaganda accounts powered by artificial intelligence posed as real people on X to argue in favor of Republican candidates and causes, according to a research report out of Clemson University. The network identified by the Clemson researchers included at least 686 identified X accounts that have posted more than 130,000 times since January. Many of the accounts were removed from X after NBC News emailed the platform for comment. In Arizona’s Republican congressional primary, the accounts supported Blake Masters over Abraham Hamadeh. A search on X for that hashtag shows only one other tweet, from 2018, has used it.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Pepe, Darren Linvill, They’re, Frank LaRose, Bernie Moreno, Blake Masters, Abraham Hamadeh, didn’t, —, Sen, Sherrod Brown, ” OpenAI, Kai, Cheng Yang, ”, Yang, ChatGPT, Elon Musk, Musk, ” Linvill, Larry Norden, “ There’s, ” Norden, “, Norden, Clemson’s, Eric Hartford, Hartford Organizations: Republican, Clemson University, Clemson, NBC, NBC News, Democratic, Clemson’s Media, “, Ohio Republican Senate, Trump, GOP, Hamadeh, Northeastern University, Ohio Republican, Center for Justice, United, Social Locations: American, Montana , Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio, ”, China, Taiwan, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, United States, U.S

☆ A Digital Coin Based on Baby Trump? Yup.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-27 | by ( David Yaffe-Bellany | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The dog was cute, he thought, but more important, its name evoked something every crypto trader covets — billionaire status. “I started hearing people say ‘Billy’ to a billy,” Mr. Bailey said. “Kind of has that ring to it.”Mr. Bailey bought about $900 of $BILLY on Pump.fun, a leading vendor for memecoins, volatile cryptocurrencies based on the fluctuating popularity of internet memes. Many of the tokens have names like Bread (yes, the meme is a loaf of bread) or Baby Trump (the former president in a diaper). One of the most popular memecoins is based on Pepe the Frog, an alt-right mascot that is sometimes used as a hate symbol.

Persons: Josh Bailey, Billy, covets, “, Billy ’, billy, ” Mr, Bailey, Mr, BILLY, Pump.fun, Baby Trump, Pepe Locations: Austin , Texas

☆ This type of coin is 'among the riskiest of cryptocurrencies,' investing expert says—here's what to know
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Cheyenne Devon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In this photo illustration, a visual representation of the digital Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is on display on March 5, 2024 in Paris, France. As meme stocks like GameStop temporarily surged this month, it appears meme coins are having a moment as well. But before you consider investing in cryptocurrency, it's important to understand the difference between meme coins, altcoins and bitcoin. And although every meme coin is an altcoin, every altcoin isn't necessarily a meme coin. "Meme coins are among the riskiest of cryptocurrencies because they seem to emerge from nowhere and information about them can be sparse," he says.

Persons: shiba, Pepe, Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, Nakamoto, Altcoins Altcoins, James Royal, you'll Organizations: GameStop, U.S ., CNBC, Federal Trade Commission Locations: Paris, France, cryptocurrency, stablecoins

☆ Opinion | Why on Earth Are Jewish Leaders Praising Elon Musk?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Michelle Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

(In response, Musk threatened a “thermonuclear” lawsuit, but as of this writing does not appear to have filed one.) Abhorrence of the Jewish state slips easily into abhorrence of Jews. On the right, though, there’s a mirror image of this slippage, with some defenders of the Jewish state willing to make excuses for antisemites so long as they champion Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has regularly embraced nationalist leaders who deploy antisemitic tropes, Donald Trump chief among them. It’s hard to figure out who is behaving more cynically, Musk or the Jewish leaders who are koshering him.

Persons: Charles Weber, ‘ Hitler, ’ ” Weber, Elon Musk, ”, George Soros, Magneto —, Soros’s, Musk, Pepe, Kanye, Ye, Israel, I’ve, Los Angeles —, John Hagee, Adolf Hitler, Karl Marx, “, Hagee, Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, Jonathan Greenblatt, Amichai Organizations: Twitter, West, Anti, Defamation League, Media, America, ADL Locations: America, Israel, Palestine, Gaza, France, Montreal, Los Angeles, Washington, ”, Pittsburgh

Nearly two million posts with the hashtag #IsraeliNewNazism appeared on X in that period, and another 40,000 posts featured the hashtag #ZionistsAreEvil or #ZionistsAreNazis. In previous months, the hashtag appeared fewer than 5,000 times a month. Other sites, including TikTok and Facebook, have also experienced surges in hate speech but have removed the content that was flagged to them, researchers said. The hate speech that remained was often more veiled, such as a TikTok trend of using “Austrian painter” as code for Adolf Hitler. From Oct. 7 to Oct. 13, she added, TikTok took down 730,000 videos for violating hate speech rules.

Persons: IsraeliNewNazism, HitlerWasRight, —, LevelGaza, Memetica, ”, Adolf Hitler, TikTok, Pepe the, Noam Schwartz, “, Adi Cohen Organizations: Defamation League, Defamation, Facebook, Times, Palestinian, Nova, 4chan Locations: Austrian, Palestine, Israel, Florida, Gaza

☆ U.S. political violence driven by new breed of ‘grab-bag’ extremists
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +25 min

The incidents involve violence emanating from across the political spectrum, including dozens of cases of substantial property damage by leftists at political demonstrations. Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, didn’t respond to questions from Reuters about the former president’s remarks and the impact of his rhetoric. But those who study extremism say psychiatric problems alone rarely induce political violence. “How could I take care of a brother in arms if I couldn’t even take care of myself?” Aldrich told the court. In the summer of 2022, Aldrich told the group he wanted to build a website to “promote freedom of speech,” Arroyo said.

Persons: Anderson Lee Aldrich, ” Gilbert Arroyo, Aldrich, Arroyo, ” Arroyo, “, ” Aldrich, Ted Kaczynski, ”, Brian Hughes, Donald Trump, Michael Jensen, Trump, Mark Milley, Steven Cheung, Milley, Rory Banks, Banks, Jacob Ware, Jensen, Stephanie Clark, Ashley Paugh, Barack Obama wasn’t, Republican Sen, Ted Cruz, John F, Kennedy, Matt Kriner, Troy Burke, Elwell, Burke, Jessica, Joe Biden, Sarah Huyser, John D, Cohen, Nathan Allen, Allen, Terence Delehanty, Audrey Mazzola, Allen texted Mazzola, Mazzola, Ramona Cooper, David Green, Green, “ Saint Nathan Allen, Aaron Brink, Brink, Aldrich’s, Laura Voepel, Carrie Thompson, Voepel, John Redgrave, Discord’s, ” Redgrave, “ Andy, ” Luke Simpson, Jonathan, Pamela Pullen, didn’t, Nick Brooks, Brooks, Pepe, Blacks, Simpson, ” Simpson, Michael Bowman, Joseph Archambault, Aldrich texted, Ned Parker, Peter Eisler, Joseph Tanfani, John Emerson, Paulo Prada Organizations: Reuters, Q, American University, Washington , D.C, ” Reuters, U.S, Capitol, Jan, Trump, University of Maryland’s, U.S . Joint Chiefs of Staff, ., Council, Foreign Relations, Republican, Middlebury College’s Center, Terrorism, Counterterrorism, Public Religion Research Institute, REUTERS, Central Intelligence Agency, U.S . Constitution, Department of Homeland Security, Facebook, ” Winthrop Police, Smith, Wesson, Air Force, SWAT, Prosecutors Locations: Colorado, Colorado Springs, Washington ,, United States, Nevada, Wheaton , California, Washington, Maryland, Vietnam, Mexico, mainstreaming, Monterey , California, Michigan, Gratiot County, U.S ., Winthrop , Massachusetts, California, Texas, San Diego, Ohio, Illinois, Australia, Florida, Buffalo , New York

“Getting information from social media is likely to lead to you being severely disinformed,” said Ahmed. Everyone from US foreign adversaries to domestic extremists to internet trolls and “engagement farmers” has been exploiting the war on social media for their own personal or political gain, he added. “Bad actors surrounding us have been manipulating, confusing and trying to create deception on social media platforms,” Dan Brahmy, CEO of the Israeli social media threat intelligence firm Cyabra, said Thursday in a video posted to LinkedIn. The dynamic simultaneously highlights the business models of social media and the role the companies play in carefully calibrating their users’ experiences. ‘Be very cautious about sharing’Despite giving the impression of reality and truthfulness, Brookie said, individual stories and combat footage conveyed through social media often lack the broader perspective and context that journalists, research organizations and even social media moderation teams apply to a situation to help achieve a fuller understanding of it.

Persons: ”, Gazans, Pepe, Imran Ahmed, Ahmed, “, Dan Brahmy, ‘, ’ Graham Brookie, Islamophobic, Elon Musk, it’s, ” Imran Ahmed, ” Brian Fishman, ” Linda Yaccarino, “ We’ve, Andy Stone, Snapchat, TikTok, ” Ahmed, ” Brookie, Brookie Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN, —, Twitter, European Union, Facebook, YouTube, Center, LinkedIn, Digital Forensic Research, Atlantic Council, European Commission, European, Digital Services Locations: New York, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, London, Egypt, Islamophobic, Washington ,, United Kingdom, United States

They also shared their findings with X Corp. days ahead of publication. Musk has claimed, without providing data, that bot activity has fallen since he acquired Twitter. In recent weeks, X Corp. sued Bright Data and the Center for Countering Digital Hate, for example, raising the ire of House Democrats. NCRI partners with Bright Data for pro-bono access to social media data, Goldenberg noted. X Corp. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Persons: Sam Bankman, NCRI, Elon Musk, Pepe, altcoin PEPE, Musk, Alex Goldenberg, Goldenberg Organizations: Twitter, Alameda Research, Network, Research, New Jersey GovSTEM, X Corp, Tesla, SpaceX, NCRI, Bright Data, Center, Democrats, Bright Locations: Hong Kong, China, New Jersey

☆ Elon Musk pulled Twitter from the EU's anti-disinformation agreement and continues to troll with alt-right memes and dogwhistles. It could be a sign he'll close the site to Europe completely.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

European Commissioner Thierry Breton said Twitter pulled out of the EU's disinformation agreement. The law, which establishes requirements for monitoring and flagging disinformation, would make the now voluntary agreement mandatory for large social media sites. "Twitter leaves EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation. Politico reported Breton had previously warned Musk that Twitter could be banned from the EU if it fails to abide by the rules. While Musk has withdrawn Twitter from the EU disinformation agreement, he continues to troll by posting content that skirts the lines of potentially being flagged under the DSA and another EU content policy regarding hate speech.

Pepe, a coin inspired by an anthropomorphized frog popular in internet memes, leapt nearly 7,000% in the 17 days after its April 16 launch, hitting a market value of $1.8 billion by May 5, according to data tracker CoinGecko. "It's almost like, if the market is not moving up fast enough, traders find these smaller tokens to trade with." Since its launch in April, the token linked to Pepe the frog has raced up the list of meme coins in terms of market value. Binance says on its website that pepe has "no utility" or "value support mechanism". The centralized listings also opened the door for derivative trading for pepe, with leveraged exposures and volatility pushing Ethereum transaction fees higher, Devens said.

☆ Ether rallies more than 6% as meme mania tries to reenter the crypto market
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Market participants put the move on attempts to bring meme mania back to the crypto market. Pepecoin (PEPE), based on the Pepe the Frog internet meme, is up more than 120% over the past 24 hours, CoinMarketCap said. Ethereum gas fees have been revived by the return of memecoins, just today hitting 1-year highs." "As gas fees increase, more ETH is burned, and at current activity levels ETH is a deflationary asset, which should help boost ETH's price," Ryder added. "In the last 24 hours, trading volumes for PEPE on Uniswap have surpassed the volumes of Tether and Wrapped Bitcoin, some of the highest volume tokens on the exchange."

Bored Ape Yacht Club was not the biggest crypto phenomenon, but it was one of the top beneficiaries of celebrity hype. The Bored Apes — a computer-generated collection of 10,000 cartoons — were being presented as a status symbol, membership in an exclusive club. Yuga sued Ripps for trademark infringement, and argues that his maligning of the Yuga apes is nothing more than a profiteering tactic. Hickman, who is Black, thought the Bored Apes looked like stereotypical portrayals of Black people as stupid or lazy. He said he thought this would be obvious to most people the second they saw an image of a Bored Ape.

But Mr. Musk’s Twitter feed is often an echo chamber. 48 hours of Elon Musk’s tweets Circles representing Musk’s tweets are sized by the total retweets, likes, replies and quote tweets in response to what he posted. A chart of Mr. Musk’s original tweets, replies and quote tweets over a two-day period in November. A website tracking Mr. Musk’s private jet movement suggested that he traveled away from San Francisco around that time. Shareholders are now also seeking billions of dollars in damages in a lawsuit after Mr. Musk’s takeover proposal never materialized.

☆ Tesla investors tell Elon Musk to stop wasting time on Twitter as his erratic tweets prompt them to sell shares
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk's tweets about politics and memes have dented some investors' confidence in him. The business analyst from Kansas City, Missouri told Bloomberg that he recently sold Tesla shares worth $30,000. He now says that Musk's erratic behavior is too much to deal with, and only kept a handful of Tesla shares. "It's almost like he's abandoned us in favor of his new mission," Goodwin told Bloomberg. He told Bloomberg that he's defended Musk online like many of the billionaire's acolytes, but the latest episode "has lost a lot of us."

☆ Cristiano Ronaldo dropped to bench as Portugal thrashes Switzerland to reach World Cup quarterfinals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Ben Church | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —No Cristiano Ronaldo, no problem for Portugal as it produced a dynamic display to thrash Switzerland 6-1 and reach the quarterfinals at Qatar 2022. The superstar striker was dropped from the starting lineup on Tuesday by Fernando Santos but the bold decision paid off for the Portugal manager. Either way, the news of his absence from the starting lineup was the major talking point ahead of the crunch game. The decision to drop him from the starting lineup was truly vindicated with Portugal looking far more threatening in attack. With all his experience, though, Ronaldo can still have a role to play in Portugal’s World Cup campaign but it’s yet to be seen whether that’s from the bench or in the starting lineup.

☆ Elon Musk is the head of 5 companies that need strong leadership. Instead, he's starting Twitter wars.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk has made headlines for his recent tweets, which include posts about guns and Apple. Critics say the Twitter CEO's use of the platform could further endanger the struggling company. There's also been discord at SpaceX, the rocket company Musk operates. In a story for New York Magazine, Kevin Dugan wrote that Musk is unlikely to change his ways anytime soon. "It's now been a week since Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, and one thing that's clear about his reign is that he will never, ever touch grass."

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