Twitter board agrees to $44 billion sale to billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk

[Lord Revan]

He also doesn't seem to understand that the rest of the planet are not his servants or, outside of his companies, in any way subject to his whims and will.

It always blows my mind how much people - like Elon Musk and Donald Trump and similar - seem to feel that the world _owes_ them success.

Well that mindset seems fairly common with those who are second or third generation (or later) rich, the idea "my daddy was successful so I'm owed success", it's probably that they can't really grasp not living in luxury but know that they need success to do that.

[Ralin]

There's something Wong posted once that always stuck with me. We all know Mike is a really engaged father and he said he was active in his kids' school PTA. And his kids went to public school, but it was a really good public school so some of the other parents were pretty affluent. And he said that one thing he's always noticed is that the affluent parents always thought they should have more of a say in deciding things like events and activities. And he said he wouldn't even really mind it that much if they were kicking in more money to the school to pay for it. But they weren't. They just seemed to believe that sort of thing was there due for being rich.

[bilateralrope]

App That Creates Fake Nudes For Blackmail Allowed to Advertise on X

Disturbing invasion of privacy apps are totally fine to advertise in Elon Musk's world
Troy MatthewsUpdated:Dec 14, 2023Original:Dec 14, 2023

An app called DeepNudeAI, which allows users to upload real photos of women and then creates a fake AI generated image of them nude is currently advertising on X, formerly known as Twitter. The service is being promoted by an X user who goes by Марина and the handle @Marina247016199.

The app is part of new series of privacy invasion AI apps called "undressing apps" that create deep-faked nudes. In the new reality of AI, anything from speech to body can be faked in a strikingly realistic way, capable of fooling everyone but the most savvy or trained eyes.

Undressing apps allow users to customize the nude they receive, including changing the age of the victim in the image to make them look underaged.

The potential use of deep-faked nudes for blackmail and reputation destruction represents a new disturbing trend in an AI world that is already a new frontier of antisocial behavior. It represents a disturbing invasion of privacy without legal precedent. And this particular advertisement appears to view blackmailing women as the number one use case of the application.

In a mock text message conversation depicted on the ad, an individual texts a woman a picture of an AI generated nude photo. The woman replies, "how did you get it? please don't show her picture to Stan, I'll do anything."

The DeepNudeAI ad is appearing in X feeds organically, meaning users are seeing this advertising without requesting it or engaging in related content. In other words, these types of ads are being algorithmically promoted by X.

As of the writing of this article, the advertisement has been viewed 42.8K times.

Users of X appeared utterly appalled by the ad. One user replied, "Whoever made that needs to be locked up."

Another wrote, "This is the most terrifying fucking thing I’ve ever seen."

One individual chimed in, "Promoting blackmail is wild ngl."

While legitimate advertisers flee the social media platform, seedy underworld apps are now creeping their way into X, which is used for discourse and news all over the world.

Update 7:30PM PT:

An account on X called @MattTalksBall apparently reported the original account posting the DeepNudeAI ad and received a note that the ad hadn't broken X's safety policies. Confirming that invasion of privacy apps used for blackmailing women are not a violation of X standards and apparently completely free to advertise on X.

That's a new low for Musk.

Sadly it's not a surprise.

[Ralin]

That's a new low for Musk.

Sadly it's not a surprise.

Has he commented on it? He may be responsible for it being allowed, but that doesn't mean he made a decision to let them advertise or even knew they existed.

[Solauren]

Yeah, no matter how much he wants it, or is trying to make it look, I doubt ever single decision goes through Musk now.

Given some of the stuff I've seen with AI, this happening is not a surprise. It could already be done with the right combination of apps and filters. This is just an faster then current methods.

[PainRack]

Yeah, no matter how much he wants it, or is trying to make it look, I doubt ever single decision goes through Musk now.

Given some of the stuff I've seen with AI, this happening is not a surprise. It could already be done with the right combination of apps and filters. This is just an faster then current methods.

The problem is the ad content which promotes blackmail......

[Solauren]

Yeah, no matter how much he wants it, or is trying to make it look, I doubt ever single decision goes through Musk now.

Given some of the stuff I've seen with AI, this happening is not a surprise. It could already be done with the right combination of apps and filters. This is just an faster then current methods.

The problem is the ad content which promotes blackmail......

...

Ah.

[bilateralrope]

That's a new low for Musk.

Sadly it's not a surprise.

Has he commented on it? He may be responsible for it being allowed, but that doesn't mean he made a decision to let them advertise or even knew they existed.

If Musk disagrees, he can overrule whoever said that the ad can stay. Otherwise he does not get any benefit of the doubt for the things his company does.

[PainRack]

That's a new low for Musk.

Sadly it's not a surprise.

Has he commented on it? He may be responsible for it being allowed, but that doesn't mean he made a decision to let them advertise or even knew they existed.

If Musk disagrees, he can overrule whoever said that the ad can stay. Otherwise he does not get any benefit of the doubt for the things his company does.

Musk fired the human moderators.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk- ... oderators/

The argument was Musk genius & algorithms could do their job and it definitely can't.

[bilateralrope]

Musk fired the human moderators.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk- ... oderators/

The argument was Musk genius & algorithms could do their job and it definitely can't.

Maybe he hired some human moderators since then. Maybe not. I don't think it matters in this case.

What matters is that He's in charge of the company. He doesn't have the luxury of neutrality over anything X/Twitter does, especially when it appears consistent with other moderation decisions he's made.

[bilateralrope]

EU takes action against Elon Musk's X over disinformation

3 hours ago

By Tom Singleton
Technology reporter, BBC News

The European Union has formally announced it suspects X, previously known as Twitter, of breaching its rules in areas including countering illegal content and disinformation.

Digital commissioner Thierry Breton set out the alleged infringements in a post on the social media platform.

He said X, which is owned by Elon Musk, was also suspected of breaching its obligations on transparency.

X said it was "co-operating with the regulatory process".

In a statement the firm said it was "important that this process remains free of political influence and follows the law".

"X is focused on creating a safe and inclusive environment for all users on our platform, while protecting freedom of expression, and we will continue to work tirelessly towards this goal," it added.

These are the first formal proceedings launched under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the tough new rules for big tech firms the EU has introduced.

The DSA places extra obligations on major companies to protect users against extreme content. If they fail to do so they can face enormous fines or be suspended.

"Today, we opened formal proceedings against X based on several suspected infringements of the Digital Services Act," EU Commission spokesman Johannes Bahrke said.

"The opening of proceedings means that the Commission will now investigate X's systems and policies related to certain suspected infringements. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation."

In October the EU said it was investigating X over the possible spread of terrorist and violent content, and hate speech, after Hamas' attack on Israel.

X said then that it had removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts from the platform.

Explaining the latest steps in its investigation into X on Monday, the EU said its probe would also consider the effectiveness of X's so-called Community Notes system.

It allows contributors to comment on the accuracy of posts, with the company considering it a bulwark against disinformation.

However, concerns about the nature of the content appearing on X have intensified since it was bought by Elon Musk - in part because he laid off many of its moderators - with the European Commission previously warning it had the biggest disinformation problem of any major platform.

In the US, controversy over extremist material appearing on the site has led to an advertising boycott, a bitter row between Mr Musk and a campaign group, and even questions about whether X could end up going bankrupt.

Lets see if this gets anywhere before X/Twitter runs out of money.

[Solauren]

I'm actually wondering how long until Musks stunts and the various lawsuits cause the US federal government to seize the data servers Twitter/X is on, declaring it a crime scene or something.

[Zaune]

That'll be a long time coming. There's likely to be stuff on those servers that would be highly embarrassing or worse to numerous high-level government officials, and I wouldn't put it past Dilbert Stark to accidentally-on-purpose leak the whole lot in a fit of pique when he received the subpoena.

[bilateralrope]

That'll be a long time coming. There's likely to be stuff on those servers that would be highly embarrassing or worse to numerous high-level government officials, and I wouldn't put it past Dilbert Stark to accidentally-on-purpose leak the whole lot in a fit of pique when he received the subpoena.

Wouldn't that be a GDPR violation ?

Not that it would stop him.

Or maybe he might try blackmail. If he can find something that he thinks is damaging enough to use.

[bilateralrope]

Pettiness Personified: Tesla Removes Disney+ From Vehicles Because Elon’s Mad At Disney

from the touch-grass-man dept
Wed, Dec 20th 2023 12:02pm - Mike Masnick

One of the big, usually misleading, complaints about content moderation is that it’s done out of personal animus or whims, rather than a focus on actually making it so people stop being jackasses on platforms. Indeed over and over again you hear stories about some content moderation decision that people assert way too much thought into why it happened, when the answer is often some overworked content moderator (possibly halfway around the world) with a giant stack of posts to review made a decision in five seconds and moved onto the next one.

This was some of the impetus behind Elon Musk purchasing Twitter — that false belief that Twitter moderation had been “infected by the woke mind virus” or some stupid nonsense like that. The reality was that Musk has never understood content moderation or how it works. And, yet, since taking over Twitter, which is now ExTwitter, he’s regularly done exactly what he claimed he was taking over the company to stop.

This isn’t quite the same thing, as it’s not ExTwitter we’re talking about, but earlier this week reports came out that Disney+ had magically disappeared from Tesla’s screen UI.

Electrek heard from a source that Tesla informed Disney+ last week that it would remove its native app from the Tesla Theatre in its vehicles without giving a reason as to why.

A few days later, Tesla told Disney that it would only remove the app for Tesla owners who never used the app before.

The automaker now appears to have acted on the threat, as many Tesla owners are reporting not seeing the Disney+ app in Tesla Theatre anymore. Others, presumably those who have used the app before, are still seeing the app available in their cars.

Even sites that are strongly pro-Tesla seem to think this pettiness is stupid, explaining to people how to get Disney+ back.

This whole thing seems to stem from Elon being ridiculously thin-skinned and immature. He remains mad that Disney stopped advertising on ExTwitter, and famously told Disney’s Bob Iger to go fuck himself, before insisting that Disney’s board should fire Iger (and I thought Elon was against cancel culture? tsk tsk)

Anyway, this is the kind of childish behavior that too many people think is behind content moderation decisions, but almost never is. Except when Elon’s in charge. Which is only slightly ironic, given that he keeps insisting that he’s trying to stop that kind of moderation as being “anti-free speech” or whatever

I post this here because all the evidence is that this is Musk throwing a tantrum over Disney refusing to advertise on Twitter.

Also, aren't Tesla and Twitter meant to be separate companies ?
Back when he took over Twitter, there were reports of Tesla engineers being made to work on Twitter's code. Now we have this.

What happens if Musk mingles so much of the companies together that the courts decide that he's not running them as separate companies ?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Elon Musk’s Grok keeps making up fake news based on X users’ jokes

X's chatbot Grok is supposed to be an AI engine crunching the platform's posts to surface and summarize breaking news, but this week, Grok's flaws were once again exposed when the chatbot got confused and falsely accused an NBA star of criminal vandalism.

"Klay Thompson Accused in Bizarre Brick-Vandalism Spree," Grok's headline read in an AI-powered trending-tab post that has remained on X (formerly Twitter) for days. Beneath the headline, Grok went into even more detail to support its fake reporting:

In a bizarre turn of events, NBA star Klay Thompson has been accused of vandalizing multiple houses with bricks in Sacramento. Authorities are investigating the claims after several individuals reported their houses being damaged, with windows shattered by bricks. Klay Thompson has not yet issued a statement regarding the accusations. The incidents have left the community shaken, but no injuries were reported. The motive behind the alleged vandalism remains unclear.

Grok appears to be confusing a common basketball term, where players are said to be throwing "bricks" when they take an airball shot that doesn't hit the rim. According to SF Gate, which was one of the first outlets to report the Grok error, Thompson had an "all-time rough shooting" night, hitting none of his shots on what was his emotional last game with the Golden State Warriors before becoming an unrestricted free agent.

In small type under Grok's report, X includes a disclaimer saying, "Grok is an early feature and can make mistakes. Verify its outputs."

But instead of verifying Grok's outputs, it appeared that X users—in the service's famously joke-y spirit—decided to fuel Grok's misinformation. Under the post, X users, some NBA fans, commented with fake victim reports, using the same joke format to seemingly convince Grok that "several individuals reported their houses being damaged." Some of these joking comments were viewed by millions.

[Broomstick]

Or maybe he might try blackmail. If he can find something that he thinks is damaging enough to use.

There's this app that can make deepfake nudes....

[bilateralrope]

Elon Musk’s Grok keeps making up fake news based on X users’ jokes

You didn't quote the really fun part of that article:

Experts told Ars that it remains unclear if disclaimers like X's will spare companies from liability should more people decide to sue over fake AI outputs. Defamation claims might depend on proving that platforms "knowingly" publish false statements, which disclaimers suggest they do. Last July, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into OpenAI, demanding that the company address the FTC's fears of "false, misleading, or disparaging" AI outputs.

We are past the days of Glorbo where people manipulated news writing AI for their amusement. People can, and will, manipulate Grok into spitting out whatever they want it to say. If the disclaimer makes the resulting lawsuit worse for X/Twitter, that just drains their money faster.

[Zaune]

What really funges my tokens about Grok is that Musk has apparently read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxyand come to the conclusion that what his company's digital assistant project really needs to stand out from the crowd is Genuine People Personalities(TM).

The only person I've ever heard of who missed the point of a work of fiction so badly was someone who got mentioned in a Reddit thread years ago who read Trainspotting and decided to score some heroin to seewhat the fuss was all about.

And if we hear about Musk buying a vending machine company as his next venture then I'm going to see if Wonko the Sane can be persuaded to let out his guestroom.

[bilateralrope]

What really funges my tokens about Grok is that Musk has apparently read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxyand come to the conclusion that what his company's digital assistant project really needs to stand out from the crowd is Genuine People Personalities(TM).

The only person I've ever heard of who missed the point of a work of fiction so badly was someone who got mentioned in a Reddit thread years ago who read Trainspotting and decided to score some heroin to seewhat the fuss was all about.

And if we hear about Musk buying a vending machine company as his next venture then I'm going to see if Wonko the Sane can be persuaded to let out his guestroom.

Strangely, I've run into several people who completely missed the point of parts of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in discussions on what Musk is doing to Twitter. Even when the idea went badly in the novel. Specifically, the Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B and the idea that nobody who wants power should be allowed to have it.