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Elon Musk’s Twitter bans CNN, NYT, WaPo journalists without explanation
There is no excuse for what he is doing to freedom of speed, so he calls it. Many advertisers have since moved away from Twitters. This hits Musk’s bottom line and he is now seeking now revenue to maintain the business. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. In the meanwhile, many users migrated to Mastodon and other social media app. https://washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/17/how-to-join-mastodon/
No strong opinion on this. Certainly don’t approve of the changes he’s making at Twitter. To the extent he was genuinely concerned about stalking / tracking public figures I’d have to say I also agree with the concern. Hell, the wingnuts were attempting to capture and hang my state’s Governor! So I understand public figures being a bit “gun-shy” and wanting to stay under the radar concerning their physical movement. But he needs to be fair, transparent and even-handed in dealing with that issue. Appears he hasn’t been.
Musk is an enigma if ever there was one. Such an extraordinary visionary in many ways. I’m still awe-struck watching those boosters land tail-first reliably on land or at sea. I doubt it ever crossed NASA’s minds to even attempt that feat. You had to see it to believe it.
To the extent his views are increasingly revealed as far right it’s troubling. Suspect his businesses would be better off if he’d abstain from politics or actions that smack of political gamesmanship. Mixing business and politics can be hazardous from a business standpoint. I tried to convey that to the new barber in town when during a haircut he began ragging on Pelosi and making comments like “All politicians are crooks …” I joked that getting into politics was “a good way to lose half your customers.” But he persisted in his diatribe and so I’m now looking for a different barber.
I used to go to Twitter for the quality of some of the journalism that appeared there. Some first rate information on health that has been beneficial to me. But haven’t been back in several years now. I’d think Musk regrets ever offering to buy Twitter. Possibly has some mental health issues ISTM.
@hank, who said "To the extent he was genuinely concerned about stalking / tracking public figures I’d have to say I also agree with the concern." I might tend to agree if not for the fact that those flights/tracking were publicaly available information. Why then confine the suspension to just those 4 journalists? It needs to be fair, transparent and even-handed as you said. His actions reek of him being censor-in-chief of stuff he doesn't want to see.
You also mentioned mixing business and politics. I recall one party that was slamming businesses who took a stand on abortion, fossil fuels, voting rights and a litany of their other nefarious causes yet they're quite silent on this issue. I wonder why? Just kidding, no I don't.
Have it your way @Mark. If “understanding his concern” rubs you the wrong way, I’m sorry. A lot of things are public knowledge. Doesn’t necessarily mean they bear repeating on Twitter or MFO or anywhere else.
I’m delighted to be posting using Starlink. Allowed me to have broadband 2 years before fiber optic was installed in the area.
@hank- Didn't know that fiber had gotten there. How do the prices compare vs Starlink?
@Old_Joe - Am near the end a dead-end road along Lake Michigan. Very remote area. A local utility started running fiber out here about 3 years ago. I guess the main line has been in for about a year. (Pole mounted / not underground). But very slow going the last leg (from street to homes) for some reason. Some neighbors still don’t have access.
Price-wise they appeared $10 - $20 less monthly for similar service than Starlink when I last looked. (But as you know it’s hard to compare plans.) They were offering free installation to homes that signed up early before they actually brought in the line. But that has ceased. Starlink cost $500 for the equipment which I installed myself and now gets $110 monthly - a $10 increase over the initial monthly cost. No data caps. One nice feature is the dish (on my roof to get over the tree line) is heated, so our heavy snowfall hasn’t interrupted service.
PS - You can read up on the subject and find Starlink compares favorably in most respects to fiber. And they continue to improve the satellite based capabilities. My understanding is it is best suited for rural areas. Heavy bandwidth demand (as in urban areas) may impact its performance.
Musk is now banning others from promoting alternative social media sites. So much for free speech as he claimed. He fired the Twitter team that monitoring the user content (not that they were effective to begin with).
”A few hours after the policy was announced Sunday, Musk appeared to contradict it in a tweet that said, "Casually sharing occasional links is fine, but no more relentless advertising of competitors for free, which is absurd in the extreme."
If Tesla stock is so big and are in mutual funds/ ETFs, is is practical to find funds without (or smaller %) Tesla stock?
@Sven - Might make an interesting topic under the “Other Investing” category. I never cease to be amazed at the extremes to which stocks and markets in general can run. A quick check on Google shows TSLA down 50% over 1 year and 62% YTD. Yikes.
Never owned TSLA. Played with ARKK (which holds TSLA) off and on. Finally got tired of messing around with such volatile type investments. But I do remember when TSLA was widely acclaimed as an investment, including by some posters here.
Per your question, I’m confident many funds own little or no TSLA. But index funds do own a big chunk. I’d have to check which indexes, but it is certainly in the S&P. So avoiding index funds might be a first step if one wants to avoid TSLA.
Relatively easy to tell which funds own most of its shares and which have the most concentrated positions, two very different things, as a small fund can have a 10% position while a large index fund can own a lot of shares and not have a big position: https://morningstar.com/stocks/xnas/tsla/ownership I think the managers who have concentrated TSLA positions have read Atlas Shrugged one too many times, believing that "genius" executives solve the world's problems while pesky employees and the government just get in the way.
I think some of this erratic CEO behavior of late would be an immediate sale sign, but then if you read enough it's easy to see the erratic behavior and disregard for human beings was there even in the beginning. But then why does John Galt need people?
Comments
Musk suspends journalists from Twitter, claims ‘assassination’ danger
https://washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/17/how-to-join-mastodon/
Musk is an enigma if ever there was one. Such an extraordinary visionary in many ways. I’m still awe-struck watching those boosters land tail-first reliably on land or at sea. I doubt it ever crossed NASA’s minds to even attempt that feat. You had to see it to believe it.
To the extent his views are increasingly revealed as far right it’s troubling. Suspect his businesses would be better off if he’d abstain from politics or actions that smack of political gamesmanship. Mixing business and politics can be hazardous from a business standpoint. I tried to convey that to the new barber in town when during a haircut he began ragging on Pelosi and making comments like “All politicians are crooks …” I joked that getting into politics was “a good way to lose half your customers.” But he persisted in his diatribe and so I’m now looking for a different barber.
I used to go to Twitter for the quality of some of the journalism that appeared there. Some first rate information on health that has been beneficial to me. But haven’t been back in several years now. I’d think Musk regrets ever offering to buy Twitter. Possibly has some mental health issues ISTM.
You also mentioned mixing business and politics. I recall one party that was slamming businesses who took a stand on abortion, fossil fuels, voting rights and a litany of their other nefarious causes yet they're quite silent on this issue. I wonder why? Just kidding, no I don't.
I’m delighted to be posting using Starlink. Allowed me to have broadband 2 years before fiber optic was installed in the area.
Price-wise they appeared $10 - $20 less monthly for similar service than Starlink when I last looked. (But as you know it’s hard to compare plans.) They were offering free installation to homes that signed up early before they actually brought in the line. But that has ceased. Starlink cost $500 for the equipment which I installed myself and now gets $110 monthly - a $10 increase over the initial monthly cost. No data caps. One nice feature is the dish (on my roof to get over the tree line) is heated, so our heavy snowfall hasn’t interrupted service.
PS - You can read up on the subject and find Starlink compares favorably in most respects to fiber. And they continue to improve the satellite based capabilities. My understanding is it is best suited for rural areas. Heavy bandwidth demand (as in urban areas) may impact its performance.
https://nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/twitter-bans-promotion-social-media-sites-facebook-instagram-truth-soc-rcna62305
If Tesla stock is so big and are in mutual funds/ ETFs, is is practical to find funds without (or smaller %) Tesla stock?
@Sven - Might make an interesting topic under the “Other Investing” category. I never cease to be amazed at the extremes to which stocks and markets in general can run. A quick check on Google shows TSLA down 50% over 1 year and 62% YTD. Yikes.
Never owned TSLA. Played with ARKK (which holds TSLA) off and on. Finally got tired of messing around with such volatile type investments. But I do remember when TSLA was widely acclaimed as an investment, including by some posters here.
Per your question, I’m confident many funds own little or no TSLA. But index funds do own a big chunk. I’d have to check which indexes, but it is certainly in the S&P. So avoiding index funds might be a first step if one wants to avoid TSLA.
Regards
https://morningstar.com/stocks/xnas/tsla/ownership
I think the managers who have concentrated TSLA positions have read Atlas Shrugged one too many times, believing that "genius" executives solve the world's problems while pesky employees and the government just get in the way.
I think some of this erratic CEO behavior of late would be an immediate sale sign, but then if you read enough it's easy to see the erratic behavior and disregard for human beings was there even in the beginning. But then why does John Galt need people?