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BREAKING NEWS

JACK DORSEY

Twitter jumps after Musk increases commitment in takeover bid to $33.5 billion, in talks for other funding

Elon Musk, during an event at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. A new filing reveals that Elon Musk plans to front $33.5 billion in his bid to take over Twitter. Musk is in talks with Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey and others to help finance, or roll their shares over, to complete the deal. As CNBC's David Faber previously reported, Elon Musk is expected to serve as a temporary CEO of Twitter for a few months after he completes the $44 billion acquisition. Shares of Twitter rose 7% on the news.

cnbc.com

The Latest: Twitter grilled about blocking a NY Post article

Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – The latest news from a House committee questioning the CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter. ___2:30 p.m.Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, raised the long-running conservative talking point that Twitter, Facebook and Google are biased against conservative viewpoints and censor material based on political or religious viewpoints. Scalise highlighted Twitter’s blocking of a New York Post article on Hunter Biden, which CEO Jack Dorsey said was a mistake that the company corrected within 24 hours. AdThis would include product vice presidents of integrity, trust and safety and vice presidents of platform policy — at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (rather than Google, which owns YouTube) and perhaps an upstart like TikTok. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai, CEO of YouTube parent Google, are facing questioning at a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Lawmakers press Big Tech CEOs on speech responsibility

Republicans raised long-running conservative grievances, unproven, that the platforms are biased against conservative viewpoints and censor material based on political or religious viewpoints. There is increasing support in Congress for legislation to rein in Big Tech companies. The tech CEOs defended the legal shield under Section 230, saying it has helped make the internet the forum of free expression that it is today. Trump enjoyed special treatment on Facebook and Twitter until January, despite spreading misinformation, pushing false claims of voting fraud, and promulgating hate. The tech blog Gizmodo eventually revealed the device was a “BlockClock” that shows the latest prices of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.

Report: Extremist groups thrive on Facebook despite bans

More than two-thirds of the groups and pages had names that aligned with several domestic extremist movements, the report found. Facebook acknowledged that its policy enforcement “isn't perfect,” but said the report distorts its work against violent extremism and misinformation. In October, it banned QAnon groups across its platform. It has also banned extremist and militia movements and boogaloo groups with varying degrees of success. ___This story has been corrected to show that the groups were still active on the platform as of Feb. 24, not March 18.

Stripe continues cash haul, now valued at $95 billion

The online payment company continues to attract investors, raising $600 million in funding to reach a company valuation of $95 billion, making it the most valuable private fintech company in the world. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)The online payment company Stripe continues to attract investors, raising $600 million in funding to reach a whopping company valuation of $95 billion. Stripe is by far the most valuable private fintech company in the world. Robinhood, the trading platform recently making headlines, just raised $3 billion to reach a valuation of around $11.2 billion. Companies that enable online payments have thrived in the pandemic.

Square, Inc. to buy majority of Tidal and put Jay-Z on board

FILE - In this July 23, 2019, file photo, Jay-Z makes an announcement of the launch of Dream Chasers record label in joint venture with Roc Nation, at the Roc Nation headquarters in New York.Financial technology company Square, Inc. says it has reached an agreement to acquire majority ownership of Tidal, the music streaming service partly owned by Jay-Z. (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File)SAN FRANCISCO – Financial technology company Square, Inc. said Thursday that it has reached an agreement to acquire majority ownership of Tidal, the music streaming service partly owned by Jay-Z. Under the deal, Square will pay $297 million in cash and stock for Tidal, Jay-Z will be named to Square's board of directors, and he and other artists who currently own shares in Tidal will remain stakeholders. Tidal has presented itself as the artist-friendly alternative to other music streamers, and Square says it will take that phenomenon further for musicians just as it has for businesses with its financial systems. AdJay-Z said in the statement that the “partnership will be a game-changer for many.” I look forward to all this new chapter has to offer!"

English soccer at breaking point over abuse on social media

Racist abuse. And social media accounts allowed to stay active even after spreading bile. English football has reached breaking point with players, coaches, referees and officials aghast at the ongoing proliferation of hate aimed at them on Instagram and Twitter. The police appear more determined to intervene and prosecute offenders who have used social media to hurl hatred. The government is also introducing legislation — the online safety bill — that could see social media companies fined for failing to protect their users.

English soccer heads ask Zuckerberg, Dorsey to act on racism

The leaders of English soccer have asked the heads of Facebook and Instagram to show basic human decency by taking more robust action to eradicate racism and for users identities to be verified. There has been growing outrage that players from the Premier League to the Womens Super League have been targeted with abuse on Twitter and Facebook-owned Instagram. “The language used is debasing, often threatening and illegal,” the eight English soccer leaders, including from the Football Association and Premier League, wrote to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg. The letter was signed by the CEOs of the English Football Association (Mark Bullingham), Premier League (Richard Masters), English Football League (Trevor Birch), Professional Footballers’ Association (Gordon Taylor) and League Managers’ Association (Richard Bevan). Threats of violence on social media have also alarmed English soccer this week.

EXPLAINER: What is Clubhouse, the buzzy new audio chat app?

The icon for the social media app Clubhouse is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. You can also download the app and get on a waiting list to be let into Clubhouse. Although Clubhouse hasn't divulged how many people are using its service, its app has been downloaded 5.3 million times, according to analytics firm App Annie. Thousands of Chinese users have flocked to the app in recent months, lured by the unfettered discussions it allowed with people abroad — particularly about democracy, Taiwan and other sensitive topics. Users still could download it if they had access to an Apple app store abroad.

Twitter posts strong Q4 results as user base, revenue jumps

Twitter posted solid results for the last three months of 2020, capping what CEO Jack Dorsey called an extraordinary year for the platform. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 29 cents per share and revenue of $1.18 billion, according to a poll by FactSet. Twitter had 192 million daily users, on average, in the third quarter, up 27% year-over-year. By comparison, Facebook had 1.84 billion daily users on average in December 2020, an increase of 11% year-over-year. But he added that advertising revenue should remain strong as the company continues to invest in ad infrastructure.

Bezos and Bloomberg among top 50 US charity donors for 2020

Bezos is one of the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity in 2020, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropys annual rankings. “There has been change building among private donors.”All told, the 50 biggest donors contributed $24.7 billion in 2020, compared with $15.8 billion in 2019. The $1 billion-plus of giving by each of the top five on the Philanthropy 50 matches last year’s record. No more than three donors gave $1 billion or more in any of the previous years. Colleges and universities received $2.2 billion from Philanthropy 50 donors in 2020.

Facebook's oversight board to rule on Trump ban

But it said it's referring the matter to the oversight board for what it called an “independent judgment” on upholding the decision. The board does not set Facebook policies or decide if the company is doing enough to enforce them in the first place. The first four board members were directly chosen by Facebook. Facebook also pays the board members’ salaries. CEO Jack Dorsey defended his company’s Trump ban in a philosophical Twitter thread last week, saying that resulting risk to public safety created an “extraordinary and untenable circumstance” for the company.

President Trump to leave Washington on morning of Biden’s inauguration

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, file photo, President Donald Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, after returning from Texas. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump will leave Washington next Wednesday morning just before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration to begin his post-presidential life in Florida. He has not invited the Bidens to the White House for the traditional bread-breaking, nor has he spoken with Biden by phone. Stewart D. McLaurin, the president of the White House Historical Association, said he had reached out to the White House chief usher, who manages the building's artifacts with the White House curator, because of questions raised by the images. That includes White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

Twitter CEO defends Trump ban, warns of dangerous precedent

Dorsey broke his silence to defend his companys ban of President Donald Trump as the right decision, but warned that it could set a dangerous precedent. The ban, he said, revealed Twitters failure to create an open and healthy space for what Dorsey calls the global public conversation. (Michael Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP, File)SAN FRANCISCO – Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended his company’s ban of President Donald Trump in a philosophical Twitter thread that is his first public statement on the subject. “I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter,“ Dorsey wrote. The Twitter co-founder, however, had little specific to say about how his platform or other Big Tech companies could avoid such choices in the future.

Twitter bans Trump, citing risk of violent incitement

This Friday, Jan. 8, 2021 image shows the suspended Twitter account of President Donald Trump. On Friday, the social media company permanently suspended Trump from its platform, citing "risk of further incitement of violence." (AP Photo/Tali Arbel)Twitter banned President Donald Trump's account Friday, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence" following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. On Thursday, Facebook suspended Trump's account through Jan. 20 and possibly indefinitely. Twitter merely suspended Trump's account for 12 hours after he posted a video that repeated false claims about election fraud and praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol.

Timeline: After years of slow steps, Facebook muzzles Trump

Nov. 10, 2016: Days after Trump's election, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls the idea that “fake news” on Facebook had influenced the election “a pretty crazy idea." Jan. 4, 2018: Zuckerberg declares his 2018 resolution is to “fix” Facebook. October-November 2018: Ahead of the 2018 U.S. midterm election, Facebook removes hundreds of accounts, pages and groups for suspected links to foreign election interference. May-June 2020: Facebook declines to remove Trump posts that suggest protesters in Minneapolis could be shot. Facebook also declines to take action on two Trump posts spreading misinformation about voting by mail.

Amazon's Bezos tops list of richest charitable gifts in 2020

– The world's richest person made the single-largest charitable contribution in 2020, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of top donations, a $10 billion gift that is intended to help fight climate change. Amazon's founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, whose “real-time” worth Forbes magazine estimates at roughly $188 billion, used the contribution to launch his Bezos Earth Fund. According to the left-leaning Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies, from March 18 through Dec. 7, 2020, Bezos' wealth surged by 63%, from $113 billion to $184 billion. Bezos and the Zuckerbergs made up the next spots on last year's top 10 list, with $100 million donations — Bezos for Feeding America to aid food banks across the country and the Zuckerbergs to the same election security group. In February, the Chronicle will publish its list of the 50 biggest donors, which counts cumulative donations, not individual gifts.

Twitter launches disappearing tweets that vanish in a day

Twitter is launching tweets that disappear in 24 hours called “Fleets” globally, echoing social media sites like Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram that already have disappearing posts. Twitter tested the feature in Brazil, Italy, India, and South Korea, before rolling it out globally. Fleets are a “lower pressure” way to communicate “fleeting thoughts” as opposed to permanent tweets, Twitter executives Joshua Harris, design director, and Sam Haveson, product manager, said in a blog post. The news comes the same day Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced questions from a Senate Judiciary Committee about how they handled disinformation surrounding the presidential election. Such features are increasingly popular with social media users looking for smaller groups and and more private chats.

Twitter, Facebook CEOs vow election action; GOP touts curbs

Republican senators, including Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, revived complaints of censorship and anti-conservative bias against the social media platforms. The actions that Twitter and Facebook took to quell the spread of disinformation angered Trump and his supporters. They have focused their concern on hate speech and incitement on social media platforms that can spawn violence. Twitter and Facebook have both slapped a misinformation label on some content from Trump, most notably his assertions linking voting by mail to fraud. For days after the election as the vote counting went on, copycat “Stop the Steal” groups were easily found on Facebook.

Facebook, Twitter CEOs to be pressed on election handling

The committee summoned the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google to testify during the hearing. (Michael Reynolds/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – The CEOs of Facebook and Twitter are being summoned before Congress to defend their handling of disinformation in the 2020 presidential election, even as lawmakers questioning them are deeply divided over the election's integrity and results. Twitter and Facebook have both slapped a misinformation label on some content from Trump, most notably his assertions linking voting by mail to fraud. Facebook insists that it has learned its lesson from the 2016 election and is no longer a conduit for misinformation, voter suppression and election disruption. The organization had pressed Facebook to take down the “Stop the Steal” group.

Social media CEOs rebuff bias claims, vow to defend election

The committee summoned the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google to testify during the hearing. Dorsey said Twitter was working closely with state election officials. Dorsey told Cruz that he does not believe that Twitter can influence elections because it's only one source of information. GOP senators raised with the executives an array of allegations of other bias on the platforms regarding Iran, China and Holocaust denial. “We approach our work without political bias, full stop," Pichai said.

Social media CEOs to face grilling from Republican senators

WASHINGTON – Less than a week before Election Day, the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google are set to face a grilling by Republican senators who accuse the tech giants of anti-conservative bias. With the election looming, Republicans led by President Donald Trump have thrown a barrage of grievances at Big Tech’s social media platforms, which they accuse without evidence of deliberately suppressing conservative, religious and anti-abortion views. The tech platforms are gateways to news online. It proposes that Congress enact rules preventing tech platforms from taking local news content without fair payment. “For too long, social media platforms have hidden behind Section 230 protections to censor content that deviates from their beliefs,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the committee chairman, said recently.

Facebook, Twitter CEOs ordered to testify by GOP senators

FILE - This combination of photos shows logos for social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. (AP Photo/File)WASHINGTON – The GOP push against Facebook and Twitter accelerated Thursday after Republican senators threatened the CEOs of the social media companies with subpoenas to force them to address accusations of censorship in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign. Russia backed President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign through hacking of Democratic emails and a covert social media campaign. It was the first time in recent memory that the two social media platforms enforced rules against misinformation on a story from a mainstream media publication. With Trump leading the way, conservatives have stepped up their claims that Facebook, Twitter and Google, which owns YouTube, are biased, charging without evidence Silicon Valley’s social media platforms are deliberately suppressing conservative views.

Nigeria's anti-police brutality protests block major roads

Nigerian protests against police brutality continued Friday for the ninth day, with demonstrators fending off attacks from gangs suspected to be backed by the police, warnings from the Nigerian military, and a government order to stop because of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)LAGOS – Nigerian protests against police brutality continued Friday for the ninth day, with demonstrators fending off attacks from gangs suspected to be backed by the police, warnings from the Nigerian military, and a government order to stop because of COVID-19. In Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, protesters blocked the road to the international airport and the main highway into the city. The Lagos-Ibadan highway, one of Nigeria's busiest, is the main road linking the port city to the rest of Nigeria. The protests erupted last week after a video circulated online showing a man being beaten, apparently by police from the SARS unit.

Twitter CEO says it was wrong to block links to Biden story

Twitter was wrong to block weblinks to an unverified political story, CEO Jack Dorsey said on Friday, as the company responded to criticism over its handling of the story that had prompted cries of censorship from the right. “Straight blocking of URLs was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement to fix,” he tweeted. Dorsey was weighing in after an executive at the social media company announced changes late Thursday to its policy on hacked content following an onslaught of criticism. And instead of blocking links from being shared, tweets will be labeled to provide context, Gadde said. San Francisco-based Twitter initially responded by banning users from sharing links to the article in tweets and direct messages because it violated the company’s policy prohibiting hacked content.

Why tech giants limited the spread of NY Post story on Biden

OAKLAND, Calif. – When Facebook and Twitter moved quickly this week to limit the spread of an unverified political story published by the conservative-leaning New York Post, it led to predictable cries of censorship from the right. But if social media titans aren’t careful, their attempts to clamp down on a story can amplify it further. For the first time in recent memory, the two social media platforms enforced rules against misinformation on a story from a mainstream media publication. Twitter, meanwhile, blocked users from tweeting out the link to the story and from sending it in private messages. In part because of this, and in part by the mere act of trying to limit the story, the tech platforms soon became the story, especially in conservative circles where purported bias from Big Tech is already a prime talking point.