Tag: Musk

Brazil watchdog moves to block access to Elon Musk’s X after court order

By Lisandra Paraguassu, Luana Maria Benedito and Ricardo Brito SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s telecommunications regulator said on Friday it was suspending access to Elon Musk’s X social network in the country to comply with an order from a judge who has been locked in a months-long feud with the billionaire investor. The popular social media platform missed a court-imposed deadline on Thursday evening to name a legal representative in Brazil, triggering the suspension. Musk has […]

Biden isolates with Covid: implications for 2024 campaign

By Paula Ramon with Danny Kemp in Washington LAS VEGAS, July 18, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid with mild symptoms Wednesday, shortly after conceding he would consider dropping his reelection bid if doctors diagnosed him with a serious medical condition. The 81-year-old Democrat gave reporters the thumbs up and said “I feel good” as he cut short a campaign trip to Las Vegas and flew to his beach home […]

Musk’s X ‘deceives’ users with blue checks, EU charges

By Raziye AKKOC BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 12, 2024 (AFP) – Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s X platform is misleading users with its blue checkmarks for certified accounts, and is also violating EU content rules, Brussels said Friday, in a finding that could lead to hefty fines. EU regulators are unhappy with the blue badge system under Musk’s ownership since anyone can now obtain it with a premium subscription, whereas before it was reserved for verified accounts […]

Tycoon Musk touches down in Bali for Starlink launch

DENPASAR, Indonesia, May 19, 2024 (AFP) – Tech billionaire Elon Musk launched Sunday his Starlink service on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali as the country aims to extend internet to its remote areas. Millions of people in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, are not currently hooked up to reliable internet services. Musk, making his first visit to the Southeast Asian nation, inaugurated the satellite unit services at a clinic in Bali’s […]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk in China for talks

By Peter CATTERALL BEIJING, April 28, 2024 (AFP) – Tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk was in China for talks on Sunday, making his second trip in less than a year to the world’s biggest market for electric vehicles. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Musk — one of the world’s richest people — held a meeting with a top trade official, publishing a photograph of the X owner at Beijing’s grand Diaoyutai state guesthouse. […]

Musk sues OpenAI over ‘betrayal’ of mission

By Glenn CHAPMAN with Joseph BOYLE in Paris SAN FRANCISCO, March 1, 2024 (AFP) – Elon Musk has launched a legal case against OpenAI, the AI firm he helped to set up in 2015, accusing its leaders of a “betrayal” of its founding mission. The tycoon, who left OpenAI in 2018, argued in documents filed in a San Francisco court late Thursday that the firm was always intended as a nonprofit entity. But he said […]

Kremlin, Musk deny Russian army using Starlink

KYIV, Ukraine, Feb 13, 2024 (AFP) – The Kremlin on Monday rejected Ukraine’s claims that Russian troops fighting on the frontline were using Starlink internet terminals. Kyiv’s GUR military intelligence agency said it had evidence that the terminals were being used on a “systematic” basis by Russian troops, accusing Moscow of “smuggling” them into the country. Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a network of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide internet […]

US judge voids Elon Musk’s $56 billion Tesla compensation

NEW YORK, Jan 31, 2024 (AFP) – A judge in the US state of Delaware voided the $56 billion compensation package of Tesla chief executive Elon Musk on Tuesday, siding with a shareholder who claimed the entrepreneur was overpaid. The judge in Delaware Chancery Court ruled that the plaintiff, a Tesla shareholder named Richard Tornetta, was “entitled to rescission,” approving the annulment of Musk’s 2018 humongous compensation agreement worth as much as $55.8 billion. Judge […]

Elon Musk’s X tells watchdog it has shed 1,000 ‘safety’ staff

SYDNEY, Jan 10, 2024 (AFP) – Elon Musk’s X has shed more than 1,000 staff globally from teams responsible for stopping abusive content online, according to new figures released Thursday by Australia’s online watchdog. Australia’s eSafety Commission said these “deep cuts” and the reinstatement of thousands of banned accounts had created a “perfect storm” for the spread of harmful content. The regulator has in recent months zeroed in on X — formerly known as Twitter […]

EU launches ‘illegal content’ probe into Elon Musk’s X

BRUSSELS, Dec 18, 2023 (AFP) – The EU on Monday announced “formal infringement proceedings” against Elon Musk’s X platform under a law cracking down on illegal online content, after identifying disinformation related to Hamas’s October 7 attack in Israel. The action against the company formerly known as Twitter is the first against a major online platform since Brussels implemented the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping piece of European Union legislation that strengthens online companies’ […]

Elon Musk’s Cybertruck dream becomes a reality

By John BIERS NEW YORK, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Tesla began customer deliveries of the Cybertruck on Thursday, bringing to fruition an Elon Musk passion project that the billionaire boasts is stronger than bullets and faster than a Porsche. “It’s very rare that a product comes along that is seemingly impossible… that experts said would never be made,” a giddy Musk told a crowd at Tesla’s Austin, Texas headquarters. “And this is one of […]

Musk teases AI chatbot ‘Grok,’ with real-time access to X

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 4, 2023 (AFP) – Elon Musk on Saturday unveiled details of his new AI tool called “Grok,” which can access X in real time and will be initially available to the social media platform’s top tier of subscribers. Musk, the tycoon behind Tesla and SpaceX, said the link-up with X, formerly known as Twitter, is “a massive advantage over other models” of generative AI. Grok “loves sarcasm. I have no idea who […]