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☆ The not-quite-redemption of South Africa's infamous ultra-marathon cheats
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Ryan Brown | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +35 min

"A runner can always recognize another runner," Eugene tells me. Ryan Brown for insiderIn those days, they didn't run for South Africa, but for QwaQwa – one of ten "homelands" established for Black South Africans. Tiny, non-contiguous territories – supposedly, the original territory of different Black South African ethnic groups – dotted across the country. It didn't turn out like that, but it didn't turn out like that for most Black South Africans either. As I sat speaking to Sergio, South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, was fighting for his political life after revelations that wads of cash, potentially ill-gotten, had been stolen from inside his sofa.

☆ Tesla's stock is headed for its worst month, quarter and year on record
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk's electric car company is days away from closing out its worst month, quarter and year on record and has moved past Meta to become the worst-performing stock in 2022 among the most valuable tech companies. For the month of December, Tesla has plunged 43%, by far its worst month ever, as it had never fallen more than 25% in a single month. And in the fourth quarter, the stock is down 58%, worse than its 38% drop in the second quarter of this year, which had been its worst period on record. Those discounts came after the automaker offered incentives in mainland China for December auto sales earlier this month. Twitter is bleeding cash, and Musk is selling Tesla stock in big chunks.

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with Roth Capital's Craig Irwin on Tesla
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with Roth Capital's Craig Irwin on TeslaCraig Irwin, Roth Capital senior research analyst, joins CNBC's 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss why he thinks shares of Tesla are overvalued.

☆ Elon Musk needs to focus on operations at Tesla, says Roth Capital's Craig Irwin
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailElon Musk needs to focus on operations at Tesla, says Roth Capital's Craig IrwinCraig Irwin, Roth Capital senior research analyst, joins CNBC's 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss why he thinks shares of Tesla are overvalued.

☆ Twitter restores suicide prevention feature after Reuters report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Kenneth Li | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc restored a feature that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking up certain content, after coming under pressure from some users and consumer safety groups over its removal. After publication of the story, Twitter head of trust and safety Ella Irwin confirmed the removal and called it temporary. In response to criticism by Twitter users, he also tweeted "Twitter doesn't prevent suicide." loadingloadingThe feature, known as #ThereIsHelp, placed a banner at the top of search results for certain topics. Its elimination had led some consumer safety groups and Twitter users to express concerns about the well-being of vulnerable users of the platform.

Its elimination had led to increased concerns about the well-being of vulnerable users on Twitter. Eirliani Abdul Rahman, who had been on a recently dissolved Twitter content advisory group, said the disappearance of #ThereIsHelp was "extremely disconcerting and profoundly disturbing." AIDS United said a webpage that the Twitter feature linked to attracted about 70 views a day until Dec. 18. In one of its blog posts about the feature, Twitter had said it had responsibility to ensure users could "access and receive support on our service when they need it most." Musk has said he wants to combat child sexual abuse content on Twitter and has criticized the previous ownership's handling of the issue.

☆ Elon Musk quietly ordered the removal of Twitter's #ThereIsHelp suicide prevention feature, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk quietly ordered the removal of a Twitter suicide prevention feature, sources told Reuters. But Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, said a replacement should go live next week. The news agency reported the #ThereIsHelp feature, which appeared when users viewed certain content, had disappeared from Twitter this week. It sought to give users credible information related to topics including HIV, mental health and suicide prevention, vaccines, and gender-based violence. But Eirliani A Rahman, who recently left Twitter's trust and safety council, told Reuters the move was "extremely disconcerting and profoundly disturbing."

☆ Remote Workers Are Blowing the Whistle, Employees Exposing Companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Britta Lokting | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The Securities and Exchange Commission — which implemented a whistleblower program in 2011 and where Haugen and others have sent documents — has received a historic jump in complaints over the past few years. How remote work sparked a flood of whistleblowersAs the pandemic spread and workers retreated to their makeshift home offices, employees began to reconsider their relationship with work. MacGann, the Uber whistleblower, told Politico that it wasn't until the pandemic that he "had time on his hands" to really ponder his decision to come forward about the ride-hailing company's treatment of workers. Remote work, she explained, helps to remove some of those barriers to whistleblowing. In addition to the record-breaking number of tips, the SEC whistleblowing program awarded $229 million in 103 cases this year.

☆ Elon Musk restores Twitter accounts of journalists but concerns persist
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Dec 17 (Reuters) - Elon Musk reinstated the Twitter accounts of several journalists that were suspended for a day over a controversy on publishing public data about the billionaire's plane. A Twitter poll that Musk conducted later also showed that a majority of the respondents wanted the accounts restored immediately. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now," Musk said in a tweet on Saturday. A Reuters check showed the suspended accounts, which included journalists from the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post, have been reinstated. Musk accused the journalists of posting his real-time location, saying it amounted to providing "basically assassination coordinates" for his family.

☆ Twitter suspends accounts of several journalists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dec 15 (Reuters) - Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who recently wrote about its new owner Elon Musk, with the billionaire tweeting that rules banning the publishing of personal information applied to all, including journalists. On Wednesday, Twitter suspended @elonjet, an account tracking Musk's private jet in real time using data available in the public domain. Twitter on Thursday showed "account suspended" notices for a clutch of journalists' accounts. A spokesperson for The New York Times said: "Tonight's suspension of the Twitter accounts of a number of prominent journalists, including The New York Times's Ryan Mac, is questionable and unfortunate. We hope that all of the journalists' accounts are reinstated and that Twitter provides a satisfying explanation for this action."

☆ Elon Musk's Twitter suspension of journalists draws global backlash
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

loadingRoland Lescure, the French Minister of Industry, tweeted on Friday that following Musk's suspension of journalists, he would suspend his own activity on Twitter. loadingThe German Foreign Office warned Twitter that the ministry had a problem with moves that jeopardized press freedom. The suspensions stemmed from a disagreement over a Twitter account called ElonJet, which tracked Musk's private plane using publicly available information. On Wednesday, Twitter suspended the account and others that tracked private jets, despite Musk's previous tweet saying he would not suspend ElonJet in the name of free speech. Then on Thursday evening, several journalists including from the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post were suspended from Twitter with no notice.

☆ Twitter manually reviewed all accounts that posted links to ElonJet -exec
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Elon Musk's Twitter profile is seen on a smartphone placed on printed Twitter logos in this picture illustration taken April 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoDec 16 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc's head of trust and safety told Reuters the company manually reviewed "any and all accounts" that violated its new privacy policy by posting links to a Twitter account called ElonJet that tracked Elon Musk's private jet using information in the public domain. Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of several journalists, including from the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post. "I understand that the focus seems to be mainly on journalist accounts but we applied the policy equally to journalists and non-journalist accounts today," said Ella Irwin, head of trust and safety, in an email to Reuters. Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fact Check-‘Catastrophic Contagion’ video is fictional and does not support claims about pandemic preparedness exercises
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Baseless claims that pandemic preparedness exercises are proof that disease outbreaks are “planned” by authorities have been a recurring narrative since the coronavirus pandemic broke out. These fictional scenarios go beyond infectious diseases, as such exercises also exist for natural disasters or nuclear events, for example. These rules, that are binding for WHO members, set out countries’ obligations when handling public health events and emergencies that could potentially cross borders (here) (here). Otherwise, we will be unprepared for the next infectious disease event. Experts told Reuters that preparedness exercises like “Catastrophic Contagion” have been a part of pandemic preparedness for at least the last two decades.

☆ Twitter suspends account tracking Elon Musk's jet
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dec 14 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc suspended an account tracking its owner Elon Musk's private jet in real-time, with the billionaire threatening legal action against the account's operator after saying his son had been mistakenly followed by a "crazy stalker". ElonJet, operated by 20-year-old university student Jack Sweeney, had tracked the movements of Musk's private jet using data available in the public domain before the suspension. The billionaire also tweeted that one of his sons, lil X, had been harassed, and linked it to the tracking accounts. Sweeney, a student at the University of Central Florida, who also operates similar bot accounts tracking Musk's jet on Facebook, Instagram and Telegram, told BuzzFeed the suspension is "a surprise to many people after he publicly said he wouldn't do it." Separately, Twitter accounts tracking the jets of billionaire tech entrepreneurs Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates were also suspended.

☆ Roth Capital's Irwin: Tesla egregiously overvalued based on hype
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailRoth Capital's Irwin: Tesla egregiously overvalued based on hypeCraig Irwin of Roth Capital discusses the big decline in Tesla's stock price over the past year, Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition and where Tesla should reasonably be valued.

☆ Twitter suspends account that tracked Elon Musk's private jet, despite billionaire's 'free speech' pledge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The move comes after Musk has reinstated previous Twitter rule-breakers and stopped enforcing the platform’s policies prohibiting Covid-19 misinformation. Sweeney woke up Wednesday morning to a message from Twitter informing him @ElonJet had been permanently suspended. Later in the day his personal account and other jet-tracking accounts he ran were also shut down by the company. According to screenshots Sweeney shared with CNN, Musk reached out to him last December through a Twitter private message asking, “Can you take this down? “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation.

☆ A Twitter account which tracked Elon Musk's private jet has been suspended, despite Musk saying he wouldn't ban it for 'free speech' reasons
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Twitter account tracking Elon Musk's private jet was suspended from the platform on Wednesday. The account @elonjet has been suspended today with a message on its profile saying: "Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules." The billionaire CEO tweeted in November that he wouldn't remove the account for "free speech" reasons saying: "My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk." Elon originally offered Sweeney $5,000 to take down the tracking account saying it's a "security risk" and he doesn't "love the idea of being shot by a nutcase." Musk has claimed to be a "free speech absolutist," and recently published his Twitter Files which aims to expose free speech suppression on the platform prior to his takeover.

☆ Twitter took down the account that tracks Elon Musk's jet, but the ones tracking Mark Zuckerberg and other celebrities are still up and running
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Grace Kay | Taylor Rains | Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Twitter suspended an account that tracks Elon Musk's jet, but left dozens of accounts tracking other celebrities. On Wednesday, Sweeney's @elonjet account on Twitter had a notice on it saying it had been suspended because "Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules." But, as of Wednesday afternoon, @ZuccJet and @CelebJets, as well as his other jet-tracking accounts were still posting travel updates. Sweeney, Musk, and a Twitter spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication. When Musk first offered to buy Twitter, Sweeney said he thought it was likely that Musk would try to shut down the account.

☆ Twitter suspends bot account tracking Elon Musk's jet
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 14 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc suspended a bot account tracking its owner Elon Musk's private jet, the account's operator Jack Sweeney said in a tweet on Wednesday. The Twitter account tracked movements of Musk's private jet using data available in the public domain. Later in the day, Sweeney's Twitter account was also suspended. In previous media interviews, Sweeney said he turned down a $5,000 offer from Musk in 2021 to shut down the bot account. Separately, Twitter accounts tracking the jets of billionaire tech entrepreneurs Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates have also been suspended.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s resources to fight child sexual exploitation content online (and what is sometimes called child pornography or child sexual abuse materials) are thin, following layoffs, mass-firings and resignations from the company. Child sexual exploitation content has remained a problem for Twitter, though most major social media platforms continue to deal with it in some form or another. Moderation of this content usually relies on a combination of automated detection systems and specialized internal teams and external contractors to identify child abuse content and remove it. “So, I mean, that is disheartening.”It’s unclear how many Twitter employees remain to work on child safety issues. A search on LinkedIn for current Twitter employees who say they work on child safety turned up only a few accounts.

Less than a month after taking control of Twitter , Elon Musk said addressing child sexual exploitation content on the social media platform was "Priority #1." "It is a crime that they refused to take action on child exploitation for years!" Meanwhile, Twitter's resources to fight child sexual exploitation content online (and what is sometimes called child pornography or child sexual abuse materials) are thin, following layoffs, mass-firings and resignations from the company. Twitter's imperfect efforts fighting child sexual exploitation content were well documented. Stroppa said he felt Twitter's previous efforts were lacking and that it now moves quickly to find and suspend accounts that post child sexual exploitation content.

☆ Twitter’s New Head of Trust and Safety Says Platform Wants to Move Quickly
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Alexa Corse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter Inc.’s new head of trust and safety said the platform is emphasizing moving swiftly to address problematic content, even if it means figuring out some specifics later. “For now, I think we are biasing towards moving quickly and figuring out the details in some of these areas after,” said Ella Irwin , who joined Twitter in June and took the top job overseeing user content and safety policies in November.

☆ Twitter hasn't decided if Ye's exile from the platform is permanent, new safety chief says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter's new safety chief told The Wall Street Journal that Ye's return to the platform is uncertain. Since Elon Musk's takeover, it's been unclear how content moderation decisions are made at Twitter. At the time, Musk said that he decided to kick Ye off the site and shared text messages in which he told Ye, "you have gone too far. The notion of policing speech on the platform has vexed Musk, who at one point indicated plans to enlist a "content moderation council" to advise on decisions. Despite that proclamation, Musk brought back former President Donald Trump onto the platform after conducting a Twitter poll, rather than consulting such a council.

☆ The Twitter account that tracks Elon Musk's private jet has been shadowbanned, its owner says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Twitter user that tracks Elon Musk's private jet says the account has been shadowbanned. Jack Sweeney, the person behind the jet tracking account, ElonJet, took to Twitter on Sunday to accuse the social media platform of suppressing the automated account. Some users had already claimed that they couldn't search or tag the jet tracking account through suggested usernames. Such accounts have become so much of a concern to LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault that he recently sold his private jet and moved to using rental planes to avoid tracking. Musk had previously said he wouldn't ban the Twitter account because of his free-speech commitments.

☆ Storm blowing through California dumps snow in Sierra
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Heavy snow fell in the Sierra Nevada as a winter storm packing powerful winds sent ski lift chairs swinging and closed mountain highways while downpours at lower elevations triggered flood watches Sunday across large swaths of California into Nevada. More than 250 miles (400 km) of the Sierra from north of Reno south to Yosemite National Park remained under winter storm warnings either until late Sunday or early Monday. The Heavenly ski resort at Lake Tahoe shut down some operations on Saturday when the brunt of the storm hit. The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab reported Sunday morning that more than 43 inches (110 cm) had fallen in a 48-hour span. A stretch of California Highway 89 also was closed due to heavy snow between Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe, the highway patrol said.

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