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Message To Parag Agrawal, CEO Of Twitter

Donald Trump

Elliot Page

Jordan Peterson

Parag Agrawal

Readers Pass

Twitter

“Put a dent in the universe.”
That’s the motto of Peiter &#8220;Mudge&#8221; Zatko, the whistleblower behind an explosive Twitter complaint leaked to The Washington Post and CNN this week. There’s no question he’s living up to it.
Among the lax security standards Twitter&#8217;s ex-security chief <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-twitter-executive-blows-whistle-makes-explosive-claim-central-to-musk-acquisition-deal">details</a> in the report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is the claim that Twitter bowed to pressure from India to hire a government agent. Zatko says the platform then permitted the alleged spy to have “unsupervised access” to sensitive user data. He also says a government source specifically warned the company that at least one employee was simultaneously working as a foreign intelligence agent. It’s worth noting that only two weeks ago, a former Twitter manager was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-twitter-employee-found-guilty-acting-agent-foreign-government-and-unlawfully-sharing">found guilty</a> of being a Saudi mole and “unlawfully sharing Twitter user information.”
As if that level of foreign interference weren’t alarming enough, Zatko contends Twitter execs became dependent on Chinese money, allowing the CCP to gain information that could potentially put dissidents in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in danger. He also alleges that some of the company&#8217;s senior executives were aware that hostile nations like Russia were using the platform to run disinformation campaigns but took few steps to stop it.
The picture Zatko paints of the platform’s domestic security breaches is hardly rosier, with warnings that around half of Twitter staffers had unmonitored access to the platform&#8217;s central controls and user data and could choose at any moment to launch politically motivated sabotage against the company.
When Congress and the company’s board asked about these risks, Zatko claims Twitter’s leadership deliberately misled them. And when he brought his concerns to CEO Parag Agrawal, he says his reward for his candidness was getting fired, after less than two years on the job. All in all, Zatko charges, the company stands guilty of “extreme, egregious deficiencies,” lying to regulators, and violating its agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to uphold sound security practices.
The fallout Twitter faces now has been swift and severe. According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/24/twitter-whistleblower-senate-hearing/">The Washington Post</a>, Zatko has already taken several meetings on Capitol Hill, including a private meeting with staff members on the Judiciary Committee. And he’ll be testifying before Congress next month. Even Europe is taking notice, with EU agencies promising to look into potential data protection violations. Officials in France told <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/24/twitter-whistleblower-security-eu/">TechCrunch</a> that they are “currently investigating the complaint.”
And that’s to say nothing of Zatko’s claim that Twitter deliberately deceived Elon Musk about the number of bots on the platform—something that could have significant impact on the company’s $44 billion legal battle with the richest man in the world.
But just who is the man currently kicking a dent in the tech universe?
Arguably no one is in a better position than Zatko, 51, to know how vulnerable Silicon Valley is to hackers, given that he came to fame as hacker himself. Before Twitter founder Jack Dorsey hired him due, in part, for his reputation as a man willing to tell truth to power, before he led research projects for the Pentagon, before he joined Google’s advanced technology team, he was a cyberpunk legend known only as “Mudge.”
Born in Alabama to scientist parents, Mudge graduated at the top of his college class not with a degree in computer programming, but in music, his coding knowledge largely self-taught. Give his name a google and you’ll find grainy videos of him playing guitar on CNN, looking not unlike a young Ted Nugent. From there, he went on to join underground “hacktivist” collectives like Cult of the Dead Cow, a group famous in the late nineties for tossing CDs with instructions on how to hack Microsoft Windows to the crowd at cyber conferences like DefCon. A password-cracking program he wrote before he turned 30 is still in use today.
Later, Mudge turned his power to good, becoming a “white hat” hacker who used his expertise to help companies protect themselves against wunderkinds like him. His talents should have been tailor-made for Twitter, which hired him in 2020 after some punk not unlike his younger self, hacked the Twitter accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Kanye West.
Zatko told The Washington Post that he took the top security job at Twitter specifically because of its role in shaping public discourse. “All news seems to be either from Twitter or goes to Twitter for the coloring and context and, as such, it not only paints public opinion, it can change governments,” he said. He revealed he felt duty bound to use his role to “improve the health&#8221; of our national conversation.
“There was no way I wasn’t going to step up to the plate and take some swings,” he said.
Twitter has tried to paint Zatko as a disgruntled former employee, saying in a statement that he was fired for poor performance and that his claims are “false, exaggerated or out of date.”
But former colleagues stand by Mudge. &#8220;He&#8217;s not doing this for fun. It doesn&#8217;t get him anything,&#8221; former NSA computer scientist Dave Aitel, told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/tech/peiter-zatko-twitter-whistleblower-profile/index.html">CNN</a>. &#8220;That&#8217;s actually what integrity looks like when you have to see it up close.&#8221;

Twitter tests several new features for its mobile app

Twitter Under Fire From A Man Named Mudge: Former ‘Hactivist’ From The Cult Of The Dead Cow

China

Hackers

Jack Dorsey

Saudi Arabia

Tesla and SpaceX CEO <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> floated the idea of starting his own <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/social-media">social media</a> platform Wednesday if he ends up no longer purchasing <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/twitter">Twitter</a>.
Musk, who formerly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-purge-is-coming-twitter-explodes-after-elon-musk-tanks-44-billion-deal">made a proposal</a> to buy the social media company at $44 billion, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-the-latest-in-the-elon-musk-twitter-legal-feud">argues</a> that Twitter’s disclosed number of false or spam accounts is inaccurate — possibly numbering as high as 33% rather than Twitter’s reported 5%. The multibillionaire is therefore locked in a legal battle, with the company trying to force the completion of the deal.
In an exchange on Twitter about his recent sale of $6.9 billion in Tesla stock, Musk explained that he is avoiding an “emergency sale” of shares in the “hopefully unlikely” event Twitter forces the deal to close.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Yes.
In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1557198421206769664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2022</a></blockquote>
When asked whether he would start his own social media platform if the deal is terminated, Musk simply replied with a link to “X.com.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://t.co/bOUOejO16Y">https://t.co/bOUOejO16Y</a>
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1557199404301307904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2022</a></blockquote>
Musk co-founded X.com as an online bank in 1999, which merged with Confinity in the following year to become PayPal. In 2017, Musk purchased the domain name from PayPal while citing “sentimental value,” according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-teases-xcom-website-possible-twitter-competitor-social-network-2022-8#">Business Insider</a>. The site currently shows nothing more than a small black “X” in the corner of the page.
The outlet noted that Musk referenced X.com at a recent shareholder meeting for Tesla. &#8220;I do sort of have a grander vision for what I thought X Corporation could have been back in the day,&#8221; Musk said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a pretty grand vision and of course that could be started from scratch but I think Twitter would accelerate that by three to five years.&#8221;
Musk, the world’s richest man, has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-twitter-files-lawsuit-against-elon-musk-for-refusing-to-honor-his-obligations">said</a> that he does not “care about the economics” of the potential Twitter acquisition “at all,” repeatedly citing the need to address the lack of free expression on the platform.
“It’s important to the function of democracy, it’s important to the function of the United States as a free country and many other countries, and to help freedom in the world more broadly than in the U.S.,” Musk said. “Civilizational risk is decreased the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform, and so I do think this will be somewhat painful.”
The trial to determine the outcome of the acquisition deal is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/its-happening-five-day-trial-date-set-for-elon-musk-twitter-dispute">scheduled</a> for October.
“Adoption of the merger agreement by our stockholders is the only remaining approval or regulatory condition to completing the merger under the merger agreement,” Twitter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twitter-misses-earnings-forecast-blames-elon-musk">argued</a> in a recent earnings report, which pinned a loss of $0.08 per share on the proceedings with Musk. “The exact timing of completion of the merger, if at all, cannot be predicted because the merger is subject to ongoing litigation, adoption of the merger agreement by our stockholders and the satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions.”
Meanwhile, Musk’s attorneys said in a July 8 letter that Twitter has neglected to provide accurate information about its user base.
“Mr. Musk and his financial advisors at Morgan Stanley have been requesting critical information from Twitter as far back as May 9, 2022 — and repeatedly since then — on the relationship between Twitter’s disclosed mDAU figures and the prevalence of false or spam accounts on the platform,” the letter said. “Notwithstanding these repeated requests over the past two months, Twitter has still failed to provide much of the data and information responsive to Mr. Musk’s repeated requests.”

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Elon Musk Floats Potential Competitor To Twitter

Elon Musk May Resurrect An Old Company Of His To Compete With Twitter

Elon Musk

Social Media

Social Media Bias

Elon Musk publicly challenged Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a debate over the weekend over Twitter&#8217;s claims that less than 5% of the accounts on the platform are spam accounts.
The challenge comes as Twitter and Musk engage in a legal battle over the company as Musk attempts to back out of his $44 billion purchase of the company. He alleges that the company withheld key information on how many accounts are spam accounts, which Musk&#8217;s team argues has created a &#8220;material adverse effect.&#8221;
Musk&#8217;s team conducted an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/05/tech/elon-musk-twitter-suit-answer/index.html">analysis</a> of the accounts on Twitter using a publicly available tool called &#8220;Botometer,&#8221; which was created by researchers at the University of Indiana.
Musk&#8217;s team alleges that spam accounts make up approximately one-third of the accounts on the platform and comprise roughly 10% of the platform&#8217;s monetizable daily active users (mDAU).
Musk issued the debate challenge in response to a Twitter thread from cybersecurity researcher Andrea Stroppa.
&#8220;Clearly, from Twitter SEC filings, mDAU is the key metric. It is the key metric for its business rev. And its market value; mDAU is an ad hoc metric, created to protect Twitter&#8217;s interests. No competitor uses something similar,&#8221; Stroppa <a href="https://twitter.com/Andst7/status/1555612797844717569?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">tweeted</a>. &#8220;When @elonmusk requested more information about spam and fake accounts, Twitter provided a vague response. Then provided outdated data; Then offered a fake data set (not real &#8220;firehose&#8221;); Then provided a cleaned data set where they already suspended the malicious accounts.&#8221;
&#8220;Furthermore, Twitter, refused to say to @elonmusk and his team, who reviews for spam, how those reviewers are trained, the criteria it uses, the process it follows, the standards it applies, or how Twitter verifies the accuracy of the reviewers&#8217; results,&#8221; Stroppa added. &#8220;Why does a multi-billion company invest little in these analyses? Why most of the things related to this topic are vague and incomplete? Why is that hard to provide data, criteria, and methods to the public? Many of you hated FB for little transparency, but Twitter is worse.&#8221;
&#8220;Good summary of the problem,&#8221; Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1555823555161604099?cxt=HHwWhoC-qfjRspcrAAAA">tweeted</a>. &#8220;If Twitter simply provides their method of sampling 100 accounts and how they’re confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms. However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not.&#8221;
&#8220;I hereby challenge @paraga to a public debate about the Twitter bot percentage,&#8221; Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1555950698252181507?cxt=HHwWhoC9ldK67JcrAAAA">added</a>. &#8220;Let him prove to the public that Twitter has &lt;5% fake or spam daily users!&#8221;

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Musk Publicly Challenges Twitter’s CEO To A Debate

Musk Publicly Challenges Twitter's CEO To A Debate

Will he or won&#8217;t he?
Billionaire Elon Musk turned the social media world upside when he swept in and scooped up millions of Twitter shares, then made a shocking move to buy the whole kit and caboodle for $44 billion. But first he wants to clear up a couple of things: fake and spam accounts on the platform.
&#8220;20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher,&#8221; he wrote on Twitter. &#8220;My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate. Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of &lt;5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.
My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.
Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of &lt;5%.
This deal cannot move forward until he does.
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526465624326782976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 17, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Later, Musk told attendees at a Miami conference that buying the social media giant for a lower price wasn’t “out of the question,&#8221; <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-16/musk-says-twitter-bots-likely-account-for-at-least-20-of-users?srnd=premium&amp;sref=10lNAhZ9" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ylk="elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="15" data-v9y="1">reported</a> Bloomberg.
“Currently what I’m being told is that there’s just no way to know the number of bots,” Musk said at the conference. “It’s like, as unknowable as the human soul.&#8221;
But Musk did quantify what he thinks, estimating that at least 20% of Twitter’s 229 million accounts are spam bots &#8212; and he said the number could be much higher.
Musk had initially agreed to pay a 38% premium on shares when he negotiated a deal with the company&#8217;s board in April. But on Friday, Musk suddenly announced the deal was &#8220;temporarily on hold&#8221; because he said the number of bots on Twitter was far higher than the company claimed. The Tesla and SpaceX founder said a team of analysts would do their own research to find out the real number of fake and spam accounts.
After Musk&#8217;s tweets, Twitter said it hoped to complete the sale at the agreed-upon price “as promptly as practicable.&#8221;
All the turmoil is pushing the price of Twitter stock down; shares fell by more than 8% after Musk&#8217;s comments. Twitter was trading at $37.38 a share, far below what Musk agreed to pay &#8212; $54.20 a share.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on Monday tweeted that spam “harms the experience for real people on Twitter” and that the company is “strongly incentivized to detect and remove as much spam as we possibly can, every single day.”
“Anyone who suggests otherwise is just wrong,” Agrawal tweeted. He also denied claims that Twitter wasn’t doing all it could do to get rid of automated accounts.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

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Musk: Doubt About Spam Accounts Could Kill Twitter Deal

Elon Musk: Doubt About Number Of Spam Accounts Could Kill His Twitter Purchase

Elon Musk called out Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on Monday over claims that Agrawal made about spam accounts on the social media platform.
The remarks from Agrawal, which were featured in a lengthy Twitter thread, come after Musk said last week that his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter was &#8220;on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.&#8221;
Musk said at the time that he was still committed to buying the company and that his team would do their own audits to gauge what percentage of accounts might be fake.
Agrawal said that spam harms the experience that real users have on the platform and thus negatively affects the business. He said that the company was &#8220;strongly incentivized to detect and remove as much spam as we possibly can&#8221; and that the company removed roughly 500,000 accounts per day.
Agrawal said that spam campaigns can be difficult to detect and that many accounts that people assume are spam are actually real and some accounts that look very real are fake.
Agrawal talked about internal reviews that the company does to determine how many spam accounts slip through efforts to weed them out. He claimed those reviews indicate that fewer than 5% of the accounts are spam.
&#8220;Unfortunately, we don’t believe that this specific estimation can be performed externally, given the critical need to use both public and private information (which we can’t share),&#8221; he concluded. &#8220;Externally, it’s not even possible to know which accounts are counted as mDAUs on any given day.&#8221;
Musk responded with the &#8220;pile of poo&#8221; emoji and later added, &#8220;So how do advertisers know what they’re getting for their money? This is fundamental to the financial health of Twitter.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
So how do advertisers know what they’re getting for their money? This is fundamental to the financial health of Twitter.
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526250477456965634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Elon Musk Publicly Calls Out Twitter’s CEO For Claims About Spam Accounts

Elon Musk Calls Out Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Over Spam Accounts

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal suggested that the company is making staffing changes in anticipation that the $44 billion deal to be acquired by Elon Musk may fall through.
Agrawal&#8217;s statement comes after the company <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/it-begins-heads-start-to-roll-at-twitter-as-two-top-leaders-at-company-out">parted ways</a> yesterday with Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s general manager, and Bruce Falck, Twitter’s general manager for revenue.
&#8220;Some have been asking why a &#8216;lame-duck&#8217; CEO would make these changes if we’re getting acquired anyway,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s right for Twitter. I’m accountable for leading and operating Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day.&#8221;
Agrawal&#8217;s remark about being a &#8220;lame duck&#8221; CEO comes as Musk is expected to be the company&#8217;s CEO for a period of time if and when the sale is finalized.
&#8220;No one at Twitter is working just to keep the lights on. We take pride in our work. Regardless of the company’s future ownership, we’re here improving Twitter as a product and business for customers, partners, shareholders, and all of you,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;People have also asked: why manage costs now vs after close? Our industry is in a very challenging macro environment – right now. I won’t use the deal as an excuse to avoid making important decisions for the health of the company, nor will any leader at Twitter.&#8221;
Musk tweeted earlier in the day that the Twitter deal was &#8220;temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.&#8221;
&#8220;Still committed to acquisition,&#8221; he added.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-warns-he-may-die-under-mysterious-circumstances-after-threat-from-russian-official">Elon Musk Warns He May ‘Die Under Mysterious Circumstances’ After Threat From Russian Official</a>
This is a developing news story; refresh the page for updates.

In this photo illustration, Twitter account of Elon Musk is

Twitter CEO Releases Statement Suggesting Company Preparing If Musk Takeover Falls Through

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Releases Statement Suggesting Company Preparing If Musk Takeover Falls Through

Big Tech

Two of the top leaders at Twitter are no longer with the company as the social media platform begins to make changes ahead of Elon Musk&#8217;s expected arrival at the company as its new CEO after his $44 billion purchase of the company is finalized.
&#8220;Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s general manager, is leaving and will be replaced by Jay Sullivan,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/technology/twitter-elon-musk.html">reported</a>. &#8220;Mr. Sullivan is currently the interim general manager of the consumer product. Bruce Falck, Twitter’s general manager for revenue, is also departing the company.&#8221;
An internal company memo from CEO Parag Agrawal obtained by The New York Times said it was &#8220;critical to have the right leaders at the right time.&#8221;
&#8220;The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision,&#8221; Beykpour said in a statement on Twitter. &#8220;Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision. Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.
&mdash; Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) <a href="https://twitter.com/kayvz/status/1524787801757126656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The memo also reportedly said Twitter was halting most new hiring and was cutting back on spending in-part due to the company not achieving key growth metrics.
The New York Times previously <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/06/technology/elon-musk-twitter-pitch-deck.html">reported</a> that Musk plans to hire approximately 3,600 employees over a period of time but not before dismissing up to 1,000 current employees.
&#8220;Musk anticipates Twitter’s total number of users will grow from 217 million at the end of last year to nearly 600 million in 2025 and 931 million six years from now,&#8221; the report said. &#8220;Most of that growth will come from Twitter’s ad-supported business, including Twitter Blue, for which users pay $3 a month to customize their experience on the app. According to the pitch deck, Mr. Musk expects 69 million users of Twitter Blue by 2025 and 159 million in 2028.&#8221;
The news comes after the U.S. government reportedly opened an investigation into Musk’s business dealings surrounding his purchase of Twitter.
“The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing Mr. Musk’s tardy submission of a public form that investors must file when they buy more than 5% of a company’s shares,” The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-belated-disclosure-of-twitter-stake-triggers-regulators-probes-11652303894?reflink=desktopwebshare_twitter">reported</a>. “The disclosure functions as an early sign to shareholders and companies that a significant investor could seek to control or influence a company.”
The report said that Musk’s April 4 disclosure filing was at least 10 days late, a move that is believed to have saved him more than $140 million because share prices could have been higher if the public knew about his ownership of 5% of the company.

It Begins: Heads Start To Roll At Twitter As Two Top Leaders At Company Out

Two Top Leaders At Twitter Depart Company As Elon Musk Era Looms

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk may be set to include (temporary) Twitter CEO to his list of titles once his deal goes through and he becomes the owner of the social media platform.
According to a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/05/elon-musk-expected-to-serve-as-temporary-twitter-ceo-after-deal-closes.html">report</a> from CNBC, &#8220;Elon Musk is expected to serve as a temporary CEO of Twitter for a few months after he completes his $44 billion takeover of the social media company, sources told CNBC’s David Faber.&#8221;
&#8220;Elon Musk is planning to take over as temporary CEO of Twitter after he finalizes the acquisition. Legend,&#8221; @APompliano <a href="https://twitter.com/APompliano/status/1522240024145768448">tweeted</a>.
Radio host Clay Travis added, &#8220;Elon Musk will be Twitter’s acting CEO when he takes over in a few months. The stock is up nearly $2 in an awful market today on the news of this and additional funding partners.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Elon Musk will be Twitter’s acting CEO when he takes over in a few months. The stock is up nearly $2 in an awful market today on the news of this and additional funding partners. <a href="https://t.co/QJ9SSHXUnq">https://t.co/QJ9SSHXUnq</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1522228713504612354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Following the news that Musk had secured a deal to purchase Twitter, the future of the platform was <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/twitter-ceo-tells-employees-company-is-in-the-dark-over-future-under-musk.html">called into question</a> by a number of people — including relatively new CEO Parag Agrawal.
According to Reuters, Musk already has a new CEO in mind once the deal is closed.
&#8220;Musk has also lined a up a new chief executive for Twitter, one of the sources added, declining to reveal the identity of that person. He told Twitter&#8217;s chairman Bret Taylor earlier this month that he does not have confidence in the San Francisco-based company&#8217;s management,&#8221; Reuters reported in late April. &#8220;Parag Agrawal, who was named Twitter&#8217;s chief executive in November, is expected to remain in his role until the sale of the company to Musk is completed.&#8221;
Also according to CNBC, Musk has secured another $7.14 billion in commitments from a number of hand-picked investors — &#8220;Commitments range from $1 billion from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison to $5 million from Honeycomb Asset Management, which invested in SpaceX&#8221; — and Musk is talking to former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about investing as well.
&#8220;Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey may back it, and Musk is talking to him about the possibility of contributing shares immediately or before the closing of the merger,&#8221; CNBC reported.
Musk has been very vocal about his <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/im-on-the-warpath-elon-musk-reveals-big-plans-for-twitter/">plans for Twitter</a>, saying that he wanted the platform to first and foremost be committed to supporting free speech and the most &#8220;broadly inclusive&#8221; forum possible.
Speaking from the Met Gala red carpet on Monday, Musk also noted his commitment to ridding the site of &#8220;bots.&#8221;
&#8220;I’ve also vowed this publicly that we have to get rid of the bots, trolls, scams, and everything. That’s obviously diminishing the user experience and we don’t want people to get tricked out of their money and that kind of thing,” Musk said. “I’m on the warpath! If somebody is operating a bot and troll army then I’m definitely their enemy!&#8221;

‘Legend’: Elon Musk May Step In As Temporary CEO After Sealing Twitter Deal

Elon Musk Expected To BE Temporary CEO After Twitter Deal Goes Through

CNBC

On Wednesday, two days after Elon Musk purchased Twitter, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal boasted that he had taken his job to “change Twitter for the better, course correct where we need to, and strengthen the service.”
That prompted Abigail Shrier, the author of the culture-changing book “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” to fire back at Agrawal, snapping, “When my home address was doxxed by an antifa account, Twitter Support informed us that this did not violate its ‘terms of service.’ Presumably because the person doxxed was me. So perhaps you could have tried a little harder.”
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When my home address was doxxed by an antifa account, Twitter Support informed us that this did not violate its “terms of service.” Presumably because the person doxxed was me.
So perhaps you could have tried a little harder. <a href="https://t.co/ADoi5CN3QQ">https://t.co/ADoi5CN3QQ</a>
&mdash; Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) <a href="https://twitter.com/AbigailShrier/status/1519434186230140931?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
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In November 2020, Target stated they had removed Shrier’s book after a customer complained about the book being “transphobic.”
“Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention,” Target’s online help desk responded to the complaint. “We have removed this book from our assortment.”
Shrier fired back on Twitter, “Target.com just made my book disappear, Does it bother anyone that Woke activists and spineless corporations now determine what Americans are allowed to read?”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://t.co/NRY9T9nAfA">https://t.co/NRY9T9nAfA</a> just made my book disappear.
Does it bother anyone that Woke activists and spineless corporations now determine what Americans are allowed to read? <a href="https://t.co/dbIbjm96Ll">https://t.co/dbIbjm96Ll</a>
&mdash; Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) <a href="https://twitter.com/AbigailShrier/status/1327056407598809088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The day after Target removed the book, they issued a statement saying, “Yesterday, we removed a book from Target.com based on feedback we received. We want to offer a broad assortment for our guests and are adding this book back to Target.com. We apologize for any confusion.”
Shrier explained in an<a href="https://quillette.com/2020/11/07/gender-activists-are-trying-to-cancel-my-book-why-is-silicon-valley-helping-them/"> essay</a> on Quillette titled, “Gender Activists Are Trying To Cancel My Book. Why is Silicon Valley Helping Them?”:
<blockquote>What I aim to do, as a journalist, is to investigate cultural phenomena, and here was one worth investigating: Between 2016 and 2017, the number of females seeking gender surgery <a href="https://www.plasticsurgery.org/documents/News/Statistics/2017/body-contouring-gender-confirmation-2017.pdf">quadrupled</a> in the United States. Thousands of teen girls across the Western world are not only self-diagnosing with a real dysphoric condition they likely do not have; in many cases, they are obtaining hormones and surgeries following the most cursory diagnostic processes.
Schoolteachers, therapists, doctors, surgeons, and medical-accreditation organizations are all rubber-stamping these transitions, often out of fear that doing otherwise will be reported as a sign of “transphobia” —despite growing evidence that most young people who present as trans will eventually desist, and so these interventions will do more harm than good.</blockquote>
In July 2021, The Daily Wire <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/american-booksellers-association-begs-forgiveness-for-including-anti-trans-book-in-promotional-mailer/">reported</a> that the American Bookseller’s Association apologized  for including Shrier’s best-selling book in its promotional mailing to approximately 750 retail outlets.
The association issued a <a href="https://twitter.com/ABAbook/status/1415399389615595520?s=20">statement</a>, saying, “An anti-trans book was included in our July mailing to members. This is a serious, violent incident that goes against ABA’s ends policies, values, and everything we believe and support. It is inexcusable.”
Shrier <a href="https://twitter.com/AbigailShrier/status/1415705777130541057?s=20">blasted</a> the ABA’s response on Twitter, saying, “If there were a Hall of Fame for capitulations to Woke bullies, the American Booksellers Association is hereby inducted. The ‘serious, violent incident’ they perpetrated? Including my book in a large box of new book samples sent out to independent booksellers.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
If there were a Hall of Fame for capitulations to Woke bullies, the American Booksellers Association is hereby inducted. 
The &quot;serious, violent incident&quot; they perpetrated? Including my book in a large box of new book samples sent out to independent booksellers. <a href="https://t.co/SgnKvPy4AU">https://t.co/SgnKvPy4AU</a>
&mdash; Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) <a href="https://twitter.com/AbigailShrier/status/1415705777130541057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2021</a></blockquote>
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She later added, “The book-banning Left is a totalitarian movement. It has no use for an open, liberal society with a broad diversity of viewpoints, and it will use shame, fear, and coercion to win. It can&#8217;t be harmonized with Liberalism.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The book-banning Left is a totalitarian movement. 
It has no use for an open, liberal society with a broad diversity of viewpoints, and it will use shame, fear, and coercion to win. 
It can&#39;t be harmonized with Liberalism. <a href="https://t.co/rQMdPcZDFC">https://t.co/rQMdPcZDFC</a>
&mdash; Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) <a href="https://twitter.com/AbigailShrier/status/1415737946016129024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Abigail Shrier

Twitter CEO Boasts He Took Job To ‘Change Twitter For The Better.’ Culture Warrior Abigail Shrier, Who Was ‘Doxxed’ On Twitter, Blasts Him.

Abigail Shrier Blasts Twitter Saying It Did Little To Help Her When She Was 'Doxxed'

Doxxing

Transgender

Twitter&#8217;s attempts to stop entrepreneur Elon Musk, the world&#8217;s richest man, from buying the company by adopting a so-called &#8220;poison pill&#8221; defense may not be enough to stop Musk from succeeding in his quest to take over the company.
A &#8220;poison pill&#8221; effectively allows all shareholders, except those trying to buy out the company, to purchase newly offered shares at a discounted price. Musk would have to purchase the new shares at a higher price, which could end up being too much for him to afford, if he wanted to takeover the company.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/15/twitter-poison-pill/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>As a result, Musk’s chances at a clean takeover of Twitter have been severely reduced. He will now have to negotiate with the board, revise his offer or be prepared to pony up significantly more cash — something corporate governance experts said is highly unlikely. There are other, more extreme options, such as waging a fight to unseat the board, but they would represent an even more complicated path for Musk.</blockquote>
Despite throwing a massive roadblock in Musk&#8217;s way, the adoption of the poison pill would not bar Musk from being able to buy the company, it would only make it harder.
“A poison pill is a way to stave off someone until you can get a higher price. It makes it outrageously expensive for the person to buy it,” said Charles Elson, the founding director of the University of Delaware’s Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. “It’s a doomsday machine, it’s the atomic bomb, everyone gets wiped out — that’s the key.”
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twitter-uses-poison-pill-to-stop-musk-heres-how-that-works-and-what-could-happen-next">reported</a> on Friday:
<blockquote>There are three possible outcomes now, none of which are ideal for Twitter’s current board: Musk could win by successfully initiating a proxy contest to remove the directors and nix the poison pill; Musk forces the company to find a “white knight,” or alternative buyer, potentially at a higher price, thus making his shares more valuable; Musk walks away and leaves the company and the board facing a pile of lawsuits as shareholders blame them for hurting the value of their stock.</blockquote>
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/15/elon-musk-considers-bringing-in-partners-on-twitter-bid-sources/">reported</a> on Friday that Musk was speaking with other investors who may align with his vision for the company in an effort to get more financial backing so that he can take over the company.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban suggested this week that Musk should team up with right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel to buy the company.
&#8220;Want to see the whole world lose their s***?&#8221; Cuban tweeted. &#8220;Get Peter Thiel to partner with Elon and raise the bid for Twitter.&#8221;
https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1514617987206066182

GERMANY-MEDIA-TESLA-AWARD

Twitter’s ‘Poison Pill’ Plan To Block Elon Musk From Buying The Company May Not Be Enough To Stop Him

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tried to calm the company&#8217;s employees during an emergency all-hands meeting today as they panicked over the possibility that Elon Musk will buy the company outright.
Agrawal reportedly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/elon-musk-twitter">told</a> nervous employees that Musk could not change the company&#8217;s culture because &#8220;no one man can change that.&#8221; While he is legally limited to what he can disclose about the situation, it is an interesting choice of words as it appears to leave open the possibility that Musk really may takeover the company and turn it private.
One Twitter employee tried to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/14/business/elon-musk-twitter">claim</a> what Musk was doing by trying to buy the company for far above market value was like a “hostage situation.”
“I don’t believe we are being held hostage,” Agrawal said to employees.
“This provides all of us with this moment where we feel distracted, where we feel a loss of control,” Agrawal said. “I am personally going to spend my time focusing on things I can control, and I believe it will matter.”
Musk <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/musk-reveals-during-ted-talk-that-there-is-a-plan-b-if-twitter-rejects-his-offer-to-buy-the-company">revealed</a> during a TED Talk on Thursday afternoon that he has a backup plan if Twitter rejects his bid to buy the company.
“If in this case you are not successful in that the board does not accept your offer, you’ve said you won’t go higher, is there a plan B?” Musk was asked.
“There is,” Musk responded while smiling.
When asked what his backup plan is, Musk said he would discuss that at another time.
“I think it’s very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech,” Musk said during the event. “Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it’s really important that people have both the reality and perception that they’re able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.”
Musk said that Twitter needed to make its algorithm open sourced and that any action the company takes against tweets needs to be thoroughly explained to the public to stop “behind the scenes manipulation” on the platform by the company.
“It’s important to the function of democracy, it’s important to the function of the United States as a free country and many other countries, and to help freedom in the world more broadly than in the U.S.,” Musk said. “Civilizational risk is decreased the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform, and so I do think this will be somewhat painful.”
“My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization,” Musk said. “I don’t care about the economics at all.”
According to Musk, Twitter’s secret algorithms, which he said promote some tweets while not promoting others, can be “quite dangerous.”
This report has been updated to include additional information.

GERMANY-AUTOMOBILE-TESLA-MUSK

Twitter CEO Makes Eyebrow Raising Remark As Employees Panic Over Potential Musk Takeover: Report

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