Elon Musk picks fight with Apple for slashing advertising spend on Twitter Apple is the new target of billionaire Elon Musk's ire after the Twitter owner and CEO outlined his frustrations with the company in a series of tweets about it stopping advertising on the platform and more. Musk was thrust into the limelight years back due to his other commercial exploits upending space exploration and the …
You have total Freedom of Speech on Twitter as long as the Great Leader agrees with it.
Same on North Korea, mainland China and the CCP, Iran, plus the usual list of despots including Fox News.
Hey, come on! Don't defame the noble muskrat by comparing it to a human-shaped piece of shit like that!
My personal favorites as far as insulting nicknames go are
1) Twitler -- pretty self-explanatory I think
2) Elmer -- reference to both Elmer Fudd and Elmer's glue... glue sometimes being made from dead horse parts, and Musk offering a SpaceX flight attendant a pony to give him a happy ending massage... Elmer Fudd being the feckless "hunter" always being outwitted by Bugs Bunny
Some people use Elmo, after the Sesame Street character, but I find that to be more insulting to the muppet that teaches children valuable skills.
> Elmo
Appropriate, given its also an acronym at my workplace for "Enough, Let's Move On!"
The sooner we start ignoring this train wreck, the sooner we can get on with our lives
(And yes, I recognise the irony of commenting on something I'm suggesting we ignore)
I just refer to the evil little shit as ‘pedo guy in chief’. After all, he convinced a court that it doesn’t mean what we thought it meant but instead “just some random creepy guy” and by his standards it’s perfectly ok to refer to him as pedo guy.
Almost agree with all your sentiments but I watched a BBC documentary on the man and having seen that he is the offspring of Cruella de Ville, I think he deserves some sympathy. A very small 'some' admittedly, but I think he just needs to learn to think before he utters.
Downvoted as I enjoy most of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, apart from Pepe Le Pew and not just because he is French!
I would also say that Elmer is also educational - had a conversation with an opera snob, managed to bluff my way through due to the Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd cartoon where they did Wagner's Ring opera in 8 minutes - "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!"
Quick Google search - it was called "What's Opera doc?"
No need for a third platform. Android is free, he could make a rebranded Android phone, with or without Google Play services, with Play store or an alt store for Android apps. It would probably sell poorly and lose money.
I did that once, my company ordered an white box type tablet from a Chinese manufacturer, with a few changes. They sent us a prototype in 3 weeks, another v2 prototype a month later and were ready for mass production. We put a rebranded Android on it and then our customer had a new EBook reading product.
Although Android is free, Musk is at it with Google as well. While Android is not hard-locked to Google, it depends upon Google for a lot of its advancements and development.
Anyway, so Muskrat develops the MuskPhone. Updates the background apps without asking and locks the doors "advanced" features, like the backlight, unless you pay the added monthly subscription fees. Only fits MuskPhone chargers, available exclusively at MuskPhone retailers located in 20 cities "nationwide".
When iFixit disassembles the device to check design a Cease and Desist order appears across the screen, automatically.
Except it wouldn't be a third platform would it? It would be some Android clone, utterly indistinguishable to all the others, may or may not have the Play Store (probably wouldn't want to pay the 'Google Tax' - so it'll use the 'Musk Store' (only one app at the moment but 'watch this space')).
But meanwhile back in the real world - this won't ever actually happen. This is yet another 'mouth running away before brain has become properly engaged' Because the most important thing is that Elon stays in the public eye and is commented about*. For people like him indifference is equivalent to death!
*Damn it - I've just commented on......
> only one app at the moment
has been announced and is expected to be shipping in the first quarter of next year[1]; this app will be so cheap to run that it would be fiscal mismanagement to buy any other app.
[1] there is obviously no clearly accepted definition of "next year", there is a long tradition in our industry of "next year" changing its meaning historically.
They could start their own service
It would probably be a walled garden like the rest of Apple's offerings. Not a problem if you're into that sort of thing, I recommend Macs to all my non-technical F&F because I got sick of sorting out their Windows problems, but not something I'd be keen on. De gustibus non est disputandum.
However, given the immense cost of simple legal compliance across the world's many legal codes, never mind any other moderation, why would Apple want to do it when most people probably wouldn't want to pay for it.
that Apple would not care if all Twitter users ditched their iPhones. I also suspect that Twitter is not long for the Apple store. And not much longer for the Google Play Store. Say bye, Elon. I won't say that it's been fun, because it hasn't. Don't let the door hit you on the ass as you leave, now, boyo.
I suspect Apple would care, but that those who use them already value Apple more than Twitter so won't. Apple's seen lots of people shout angrily that they'll never buy Apple again after doing various things, and it's not been a problem for them in the last couple decades. I expect that most of the Musk fans who use iPhones will forget about their anger in a few weeks, and their iPhone won't have broken during that time, so the next time they go to replace it they'll buy another one.
Likewise, might Musk be much more upset at the thought of Apple taking some of his prospective tick revenue than he is about losing ad income? If he wants subs to cover a serious proportion of Twitter's $5bn a year, and Apple was to take 30% of whatever part of that came in through iPhones and iPads, that $90k a week drop in Apple's advertising would be even smaller change.
According to BBC, Apple spent $48 million on twitter advertising last year. That means he would need 6 million paying blue ticks to get that much money back, if Apple decide to pull their budget. Actually he would need 8.6 million with Apple and Google taking their 30% of the $8.
But I still dont get the logic. Advertising is effectively free money. Run an ad, pass Go and collect your money. Oh I forgot, make up metrics to show that your advertising is effective. That's really all there is to it, once you have a platform like Twitter. So why on Earth would you go out of your way to destroy that revenue? In the hope of replacing it with a paid for service? Where the internet is full of sooooo many examples where that has worked well... (note: that was sarcasm).
Well, I'd say I wish him well. But quite frankly I dont. He's acted like a spoilt child from the start, and it will be interesting to see how reality strikes him with the clue bat...
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I think it's more likely the lack of moderation since Elmer fired all the moderators. Racists are running rampant (though this is as Elmer wanted), China's spamming massive amounts of porn to drown out lockdown protests, and child prawn has to be going crazy again now that there's no moderation. Apple probably just asked him to fix his shit, so he's gone off the rails.
But, but, "But Hate speech impressions down 1/3..."
(Aside from cherry picking the frame, could it be because people who look for hate Speech are down (?)50%...?)
Apple is a WEF partner so obviously they are being used to shut down a service that poses a threat to Klaus Schwab's Great Reset.
Funny how the most obviously self-serving "advocates" of "free speech"- like the increasingly Trump-like Musk- seem to conveniently forget the bits that least suit them.
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from the consequences of that speech.
And nor is Apple- a private business- obliged to subsidise or reward Musk for running what is increasingly a mouthpiece for various obnoxious groups against its will.
Depends on the reason why they ban it from the store. If it doesn't meet the rules other apps have to, then too bad. There is no special right for Twitter as an app to violate the App Store or Play Store rules versus any other apps.
Anyway dropping it from the app store wouldn't prevent people from using it, Twitter works just fine from a browser. That's how almost all casual users interact with it. I don't tweet but I often read tweets in the form of links in articles or posts I read on the web, and I always do that with my browser even on my phone. I fail to see how downloading the app to my iPhone would improve upon that - indeed it is probably a negative as it would require me to login and allow myself to be better tracked.
It will all be moot if Musk makes it a pay for system as he has suggested (but he's suggested pretty much everything so who knows what will actually happen) Regardless of paying if at some point I can no longer read tweets without logging in then I'll just ignore the links I encounter, as will most others - with the result that people will quit linking to Twitter as their website metrics will tell them hardly anyone is clicking on them anymore. And people will quit tweeting and go somewhere else where people are reading what they write, leading to a death spiral for Twitter's userbase.
Banning Twitter from its Store could be an issue, because of the monopolistic behaviour
I think it could be validly claimed as non-compliance with certain basic rules for App store applications such as not carrying hate speech and Covid misinformation (yes, apparently Musk has ditched that restriction too). It would be hard to get this seen as monopolistic behaviour unless maybe by the GOP element of the Supreme Court.
I don't know about the US, but I think in Europe Apple could actually be legally required to remove the app if Musk doesn't get a grip. Given that the latter (Musk getting a grip) is unlikely to happen this side of the century I suspect Apple may soon not even have a choice in Europe, and neitehr will Google for teh same reason.
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Just when you think the madness has reached its zenith, the entertainment continues as Twitter drops its policy aimed at preventing misleading information about Covid-19:
https://news.sky.com/story/twitter-quietly-drops-policy-preventing-sharing-of-covid-19-misinformation-12757898
Seems Musk's notion of Free Speech is just as everyone predicted and he's determined to make Twitter an echo chamber for liars, propagandists, racists, fascists, nazis, supremacists, misogynists, haters and assorted scum.
I really can't fathom what's going on in his head but it seems to me there needs to be an intervention for his own good.
"Just when you think the madness has reached its zenith, the entertainment continues as Twitter drops its policy aimed at preventing misleading information about Covid-19:
https://news.sky.com/story/twitter-quietly-drops-policy-preventing-sharing-of-covid-19-misinformation-12757898"
Absolutely incredible, seeing how much COVID attracted all sorts of lunatics stating incredible theories !
Part of me can understand un-banning some personalities, even complete jokes, but lifting those rules, seriously ?
For sure, popcorn will be in short stock soon, as Chief Twat looses the plot entirely and drives Twitter to the ground, in probably les than 6 months from now ...
"...ASKS IF DEVICE MAKER HATES FREE SPEECH"
No, you f**king dumb shit. It's because they hate YOU !!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is always amusing, and completely transparent, when an individual uses personal feelings as an attack mechanism.
"You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you."--Eric Hoffer
When Musk finally drives Twitter into the ground, I'm sure another platform or two will fill it's place, or maybe someone could introduce a better, decentralised system with a civility ethic. Life will go on and (with a little luck) people will pay less attention to their smartphones while driving in heavy traffic, and much less attention to rich head-cases behaving badly in public.
Now I've said it before, but there was no chance that Musky ever, ever wanted to own Twitter, his mouth just ran away while his brain was otherwise engaged with something else - unfortunately for him, it turned out that the law actually does apply to billionaires as well (well sometimes) - who'd have thought it?
So maybe, plan B is to bring Twitter down, effectively make it worthless and bankrupt (anyone happen to know what the law is regarding his financial responsibilities if that happens?), tear it all down and start up something new, 'Twatter', 'S'Matter', 'Swatter'; 'Squatter'*, and hope (yeh right) that it'll get any sort of traction.
* Other bad puns are available.
That could give fun arguments and lawsuits with the orange owner of Trash which wants that demographic all for himself as he's milting them for all they have left (so he'd rather have that Musk $8 for himself).
No, wait, it's called "Truth". If ever something was misnamed it's that.
"Now I've said it before, but there was no chance that Musky ever, ever wanted to own Twitter, his mouth just ran away while his brain was otherwise engaged with something else"
His hand ran away without consulting the gray mush either as he signed a contract for the purchase. Before that he bought a significant amount of stock. For much less money he could have bought more stock and taken effective control of the company just like he did with Tesla and not be burdened with ownership.
It's funny that isn't it? He already owned a fair chunk (9%?) of Twitter before his $44B "offer". It couldn't be that he was trying to manipulate the stock price could it? And it backfired badly when he was forced to actually follow through and buy the thing.
From his comments, Elon doesn't know how the advertising world works. He seems to think they are led around by their noses when the big ad agencies are extremely savvy. No activist group is going to force them to do something; they can figure out the best moves to make on their own, TYVM.
On one hand Elon is quick to bash companies he relies on to promote and support his product in public, but has so far refrained from making any disparaging comments with regards to China. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when they had a talk with him and his lawyers about the conditions that would apply to allowing a Tesla factory to operate independently within the country. Something China said has kept him in line, but he hasn't translated any of that to doing business elsewhere.
For Elon to threaten the two monsters of phone OS's in the world with him coming out with his own phone must have had execs at both companies doubled up with laughter for an hour or more. If there were any hope of making a go of it, Facebook would have long ago been a serious competitor with their own phone.
Yes, but it's better when the hypocrite actually feels some meaningful repercussions from their buffoonery.
Seems like elom is likely to lose some wealth, maybe drop a few spots on the richest prat in the world list, but he's unlikely to ever have to wonder where his next meal is coming from, or if he can make rent next month.
He might have a little more compassion or empathy for people, including those he's put out of work, if he'd ever had to ask those things.
"but he's unlikely to ever have to wonder where his next meal is coming from, or if he can make rent next month."
It might be strange to think, but there have been times when he's needed to borrow a briefcase full of living expenses from friends. Most of what makes up Elon's net worth is stock. The electric bill is hard to pay with stock certificates and the State doesn't accept them when property taxes are due. I'm guessing that he sold off the herd of mansions he owned as they were costing him cash on a monthly basis to keep fed and watered. If he's going to claim he draws no salary from Tesla (he did have to in California due to minimum wage laws), how would he explain the cash for security, gardeners and utilities for those homes he didn't live in? Does he get a royalty for flamethrower sales? Maybe the company that sold the tequila for him gave him a cut of the massive profits. Getting a hard liquor license in the US takes a long time and costs big money. Generally it can't be sold via mail order, but I expect there are loopholes for that.
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