Today, X released the company’s first transparency report since Elon Musk bought the company, formerly Twitter, in 2022. Before Musk’s takeover, Twitter would release transparency reports every six months.These largely covered the same ground as the new X report, giving specific numbers for takedowns, government requests for information, and content …
Read More »Why Threads Is All the Rage Bait
One surefire way to go viral on Threads—the Meta-owned Instagram-spinoff social network with more than 200 million users—is to ask a ridiculous question that enrages your followers so much, they just have to chime in to answer you, mock you, or berate you. When it first launched last summer, Threads …
Read More »Barron Trump Is Finally Taking the Stage
Donald Trump’s youngest son, and his only child shared with Melania Trump, has largely remained out of the public eye to the degree any former president’s child could. Well, until recently. Newly 18, Barron Trump is now a freshman at NYU and a burgeoning political adviser to his father. For …
Read More »Elon Musk Is a National Security Risk
Shortly following reports of an apparent second assassination attempt against former US president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Elon Musk decided to speak up. “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala 🤔,” Musk, X’s owner, wrote in a now deleted post, in response to another person …
Read More »Trump Fans Spread Debate Conspiracy About Microphone Earrings
In the wake of a debate performance that has been widely panned as disastrous, former president Donald Trump and his supporters have tried to explain the evening away by posting conspiracies about a “rigged” event, deeply misogynistic attacks on vice president Kamala Harris, and wild claims about the vice president’s …
Read More »What You Need to Know About Grok AI and Your Privacy
In 2015, Elon Musk and Sam Altman cofounded OpenAI based on a seemingly ethical ethos: to develop AI technology that benefits humanity, rather than systems controlled by big-money corporations. Fast-forward a decade that included a spectacular falling out between Musk and Altman, things look very different. Amid legal battles with …
Read More »X Is Working With a GOP Consulting Firm
X appears to be working with a well-known Republican consulting group, seemingly to handle the messaging around the social media platform’s suspension in Brazil. When WIRED emailed X for comment about the rapidly evolving situation in Brazil, a reply came from Michael Abboud, the managing director of the conservative consulting …
Read More »Why It's So Hard to Fully Block X in Brazil
The social network X has been largely inaccessible in Brazil since Saturday, after the country's Supreme Court ordered all mobile and internet service providers to block the platform. The court order followed a months-long dispute between Judge Alexandre de Moraes and X CEO Elon Musk over the company's misinformation, hate …
Read More »A Judge Has Banned Elon Musk's X in Brazil
Brazil’s top court has ordered that access to X be suspended in the country of more than 200 million people, as a prominent judge continued to lock horns with site owner Elon Musk. Musk has been engaged in a months-long feud with Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes over X’s …
Read More »‘Unprecedented Times’ Is the New Normal
The afternoon Joe Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, eight days after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and well into a year of axis-tilting events, @DifficultPatty posted a question on X, thirsty for an answer: “Which wine pairs best with unprecedented times?” “All of …
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