Musk tries to avoid testifying, asks court to block FTC’s Twitter probe
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I'm surprised republicans just haven't come out straight and said that the law and constitution shouldn't apply to them.
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Have we passed the point where it would have been 100x cheaper for Musk to just shut the fuck up and follow the rules? Or is he not paying his lawyers either?
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This seems purely performative. He obviously has no grounds to win the case, so in that sense it's just throwing away money on lawyers (money that supposedly Twitter doesn't have to throw away), but he might win more political points. What good those points will do him, I have no idea.
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I guess Musk having the "the government is out to get me specifically and has a vendetta against me" line of thinking shouldn't really surprise me, given his general political leanings stupidity
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There was a story from like...last week about how his lawyers from the TWTR purchase are suing him for not paying.
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Tl;dr: Old management totally needed to have an overseer, but now under new management we are totally going to behave. Trust us, and pay no attention to the horrendous blatant disregard we have put on display.
Got it.
Got it.
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It's unfair that we are expected to respond to these regulatory demands after we fired all the people whose job it was to respond to regulatory demands.
If you want to do libertarian shit, don't own a corporation. Those aren't compatible. Like, as soon as you incorporate, you've abandoned any libertarian principles and you don't get to start selectively throwing them out at judges. Just file a criminal complaint for non-compliance against Musk. Christ we treat these rich fuckers with such kid gloves.
If you want to do libertarian shit, don't own a corporation. Those aren't compatible. Like, as soon as you incorporate, you've abandoned any libertarian principles and you don't get to start selectively throwing them out at judges. Just file a criminal complaint for non-compliance against Musk. Christ we treat these rich fuckers with such kid gloves.
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The Trumpian line of thinking that "any investigation is, itself, unlawful harassment" is becoming really problematic. The FTC turned up the heat after multiple heads of Trust and Safety left, including at least one that did so, publicly stating that they were leaving because they could no longer comply with the requirements of the consent agreement.
So you have staffers heading out the door saying the company is violating the FTC agreement, and you're supposed to NOT investigate whether that is true? There is increased scrutiny, because Twitter began acting impulsively and carelessly, potentially in violation of that agreement.
Also, it's just terribly ironic that the exact same people wanting to burn down Section 230 and hold all of the tech companies accountable, are now like "Heyyy guy. Why all the fuss about Twitter? They're ok... just back off."
I'm rolling my eyes so hard my retinas are going to detach...
So you have staffers heading out the door saying the company is violating the FTC agreement, and you're supposed to NOT investigate whether that is true? There is increased scrutiny, because Twitter began acting impulsively and carelessly, potentially in violation of that agreement.
Also, it's just terribly ironic that the exact same people wanting to burn down Section 230 and hold all of the tech companies accountable, are now like "Heyyy guy. Why all the fuss about Twitter? They're ok... just back off."
I'm rolling my eyes so hard my retinas are going to detach...
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AmanoJyaku
Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
Florida and Texas have been tripping over themselves to get his businesses in their states. Who knows which other states are courting him.
Now that I think about it, maybe his purchase of Twitter was purely about boosting the businesses of SpaceX and Tesla...
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Other way around -- he's suing Twitter's lawyers to try to claw back what they were paid.
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Does that sill apply when all the battles are ones he's creating for himself?
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Snarky Robot
Ars Legatus Legionis
This is preposterous.
Am I honestly supposed to believe that Jim Jordan is physically capable of seeing when someone in power is using that power to coerce someone into doing something they otherwise wouldn't do? His entire history suggests otherwise.
Am I honestly supposed to believe that Jim Jordan is physically capable of seeing when someone in power is using that power to coerce someone into doing something they otherwise wouldn't do? His entire history suggests otherwise.
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I don't care what the ramifications are. If I had a monkey's paw I'd put a stop to Musk.
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Maybe I'm getting confused by which party he isn't paying now (who can blame me, there are so many), but I thought he wasn't paying Twitter's lawyers who forced him to buy Twitter. I guess technically they kinda became his lawyers.
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Elon Musk: "I'm going to sue half of America over various Twitter-related allegations!"
Also Elon Musk: "Gosh, the FTC was just so combative!"
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I've worked at a large company that was regularly under FCC consent decrees. Yes... not FTC. These were usually something between inconvenient and onerous. During my employment twice we were bought by private equity firms. At no point did anyone think it'd be a good idea to ask the FCC to get off our backs. Our own actions (or inactions) got them there in the first place and the new owners didn't change any of those circumstances. Not sure why Mr. Musk think he's due some sort of special treatment from regulators.
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ALL of this could have been avoided if he had just kept his mouth (and Twitter account) shut. But as usual he thinks he's the smartest person in the room. He also thinks he's hilarious, but he's like Bruno Kirby's character Lieutenant Steve in Good Morning, Vietnam.
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SpaceX is most certainly placing a whole lot of "buy Starlink today" ads on Twitter. And I have to assume they're paying Twitter for that ad space.
Indeed, it seems like SpaceX is just about the only genuine real company still advertising on twitter. 6 years ago, there were Twitter ads from $10+bn companies like Pratt & Whitney or General Motors; recognized global brands like Coca-Cola or Adidas; etc. But for the last 6 months, every time I give it a quick poke to see if twitter is still alive, the ads are all either from SpaceX or from sketchy online-flea-market shops that are buying bulk trash from Aliexpress, making marketing videos about it, and then reselling it through their own look-mom-i-just-bought-an-ecommerce-site packages.
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I don't think having a laundry list of reasons to suspect that the existing consent decree was going to be ignored and therefore Twitter should get extra scrutiny, especially since the people they worked with on those topics either were fired or conspicuously quit just before specific deadlines counts as "bullying".
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When you act that way, it pretty much says it all.
As for Musk, entitlement has not been his friend.
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The US regulatory apparatus is almost craven in its business-friendliness and in the slowness, presumption of good faith, appetite for compromise, and aversion to genuine consequences of its regulatory actions.
If a regulatory agency is actually biased against you, you have fucked up so badly and for so long that you best just take your deserved lumps.
If a regulatory agency is actually biased against you, you have fucked up so badly and for so long that you best just take your deserved lumps.
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Which is true as far as goes, but that "if" is doing incredible amounts of heavy lifting.
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Given the source of the allegations, I'd bet against that allegation being true.
Musk LIES.
He may think it's the truth, but claiming bias or interference is on HIM to prove. Unfortunately for him, "I don't like what they did" isn't proof in any court in any part of the world except the more repressive ones and among the more extreme right-wing conservatives in this neck of that world.
Musk probably believes it. But like relying only on faith in religion instead of facts, that doesn't make what one says factual or true.
What you said is basically true, so I wouldn't down-vote you for truth. But assuming Musk's allegations are true at all without a LOT of proof to support them, is not a good look for anyone.
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Musk is fast on his way to his "It was like the time I hired that Bangkok prostitute to do my taxes while I fucked my accountant." moment.
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It depends. If what is stated in the lawsuit is 100% accurate and complete, then you're absolutely right that this would be stunning misconduct and overreach on the part of the government.
If, on the other hand, the FTC presented E&Y with a mountainous pile of whistleblower, news and internal reports showing potential misconduct (remember, at the time, there were piles of reports that internal memos were telling Engineers that they were responsible for their own compliance, controls on data usage and access were being disabled, bypassed, or there was simply nobody left who knew how to use them, etc...). As an independent auditor, E&Y may very well have determined that assessing and addressing the FTC's inquiries were outside of their scope-of-work, and short of the FTC subpoenaing E&Y for that info, some auditor may certainly have felt that their independence was being compromised. But that would not, necessarily, be either interference or overreach.
Context is going to matter here. Presuming it's not dismissed out of hand, what details the FTC files in response could be pretty darned interesting.
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Your post is the perfect vehicle for me to announce, yet again, how cringe worthy I find it when Musk stans refer to him as "Elon," as if he's their pal and they go to grab some drinks with him every couple of evenings or so
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"tainted by bias" should be on every tee-shirt Mush wears, even when picturing him in a tuxedo that doesn't fit well is an amusing lead photo.
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