Elon Musk's temper, long-term trauma, obsession to “X” and dominating everything, and win every argument even facing most profitable law firm in the world.
8.07am San Francisco / 11.07am DC
Elon Musk’s father (Errol Musk) instilled his drive but also his demons, beginning at an early age. Elon and his brother Kimbal tell vivid and psychologically brutal tales and the scars they left, and their father Errol spends hours giving his own side forcefully. Elon and Kimbal and their mother Maye describe the lasting psychological scars, and Elon’s wives Justine and Talulah Riley and his girlfriend Claire Boucher give vivid examples of how Musk is still dealing with the traumas. Psychological trauma is truly something awful. No one should have to go through such terrors.
Elon Musk has over the last year threatened legal action against tech competitors, employees and people who use Twitter, which he owns. Now he is also taking aim at an organization that studies hate speech and misinformation on social media.
X Corp., the parent company of the social media company, sent a letter on July 20 to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that conducts research on social media, accusing the organization of making “a series of troubling and baseless claims that appear calculated to harm Twitter generally, and its digital advertising business specifically” and threatening to sue.
The letter cited research published by the Center for Countering Digital Hate in June examining hate speech on Twitter, which Mr. Musk has renamed X.com. The research consisted of eight papers, including one that found that Twitter had taken no action against 99 percent of the 100 Twitter Blue accounts the center reported for “tweeting hate.” The letter called the research “false, misleading or both” and said the organization had used improper methodology.
The letter added that the center was funded by Twitter’s competitors or foreign governments “in support of an ulterior agenda.”
Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of Center for Countering Digital Hate, said, “Elon Musk’s actions represent a brazen attempt to silence honest criticism and independent research.” He added that Mr. Musk wanted to “stem the tide of negative stories and rebuild his relationship with advertisers.”
The center also said it did “not accept any funding from tech companies, governments, or their affiliates.”
Publishing research on hate speech and extremism is also in the interest of free speech. The radical right figures Elon Musk has enabled on this platform (to put it mildly) do not want LGBTQIA people to speak freely, feminists, Black people, etc. They are not interested in creating a "free speech" platform. They want to insulate themselves from speech they don't like.
Elon Musk is very worried about Russian casualties. (No mention of Ukrainians including civilians and children.) Not because Elon cares about Russian lives but because of past, current, and future business ties with Russia.
Russian officials including Medvedev have praised Musk. Elon Musk orders that Starlink be turned off at critical stages of the fight whenever Ukrainian forces start threatening Crimea. So how do you fight when your communications are controlled by a man who parrots Kremlin propaganda, and probably has Medvedev and Putin on the phone? Elon Musk's Starlink technology is the "blood" of Ukraine's communication infrastructure, as NATO uses it to wage a proxy war on Russia. Musk has been closely collaborating with the US government on this. They're also using it to try to destabilize Iran.
Musk is the dominant figure in satellite internet, giving him growing geopolitical sway. No company or country comes close to matching what he built with Starlink. From Ukraine to Taiwan, the way he is wielding that power is now raising alarms. With slowdown “minutes of use” in THREAD (average just 5-6 minutes per users), Elon with Twitter / X still the most fascinating social media on earth. If not counting all Chinese automaker, Tesla is king of EV.
At one point, he denied the Ukrainian military’s request to turn on Starlink near Crimea, the Russian-controlled territory, affecting battlefield strategy. David Sacks, ‘jack of all trades” for Elon Musk, uploaded a screenshot about an Op-Ed by Henry Kissinger in THE STATESMAN UK, which suggested that Henry Kissinger thought of sending Crimea to Russia to end the war.
The Chinese government sought assurances from Elon Musk "that he would not turn Starlink on inside the country, where the internet is controlled and censored." Given Musk's huge Tesla operations in China, he agreed to keep the Chinese people censored.
Twitter Japan apparently legally cannot change their rebranding to “X Japan” because the Jrock band X JAPAN owns the rights to the name. Japan arguably the 6th biggest user of Twitter.
X is so widely used and cited in trademarks that it is a candidate for legal challenges - and the company formerly known as Twitter could face its own issues defending its X brand in the future.
FROM THIS
Jamie Schler is respected Chef, very active to share her recipes in twitter / X and in Substack
TO THIS:
"There's a 100% chance that Twitter is going to get sued over this by somebody," said trademark attorney Josh Gerben, who said he counted nearly 900 active U.S. trademark registrations that already cover the letter X in a wide range of industries.
Microsoft since 2003 has owned an X trademark related to communications about its Xbox video-game system. Meta Platforms - whose Threads platform is a new Twitter rival - owns a federal trademark registered in 2019 covering a blue-and-white letter "X" for fields including software and social media.
Meta and Microsoft likely would not sue unless they feel threatened that Twitter's X encroaches on brand equity they built in the letter, Gerben said.
Meta itself drew intellectual property challenges when it changed its name from Facebook. It faces trademark lawsuits filed last year by investment firm Metacapital and virtual-reality company MetaX, and settled another over its new infinity-symbol logo.
And if Musk succeeds in changing the name, others still could claim 'X' for themselves.
"Given the difficulty in protecting a single letter, especially one as popular commercially as 'X', Twitter's protection is likely to be confined to very similar graphics to their X logo," said Douglas Masters, a trademark attorney at law firm Loeb & Loeb.
At Twitter's (X's?) offices, workers are trying to remove all bird-related paraphernalia, according to two sources. In San Francisco, folks have been working to remove a 10-foot-tall blue bird logo from the cafeteria. In its place, X logos have been projected on the wall. For those out of the know, Elon's been trying to make 'X' a thing for almost 25 years now. Starting with X .com in 1999, then SpaceX, then Tesla Model X, then naming his son X, then xAI announced this month, and now X Corp. He tried to get PayPal to be named X too.
Elon Musk was accused of taking over @X / (at)X Twitter account from a photographer. Elon Musk didn’t just take (at)X from its original user for
Twitter/X Corp. He also took the @xai / (at)xAI username for his new AI company, xAI. The Japanese user who first registered @xai explained he never heard from the company. His @ handle was just switched to @xai_
Blessed, I already registered (at)Prada in substack, thanks too late Miuccia Prada Società per azioni (S.p.A. or spa —— more or less equivalent to S.A. or public limited company (Plc) in other countries ) using (at)Prada in substack.
The Kanye West account not only reinstated, also now has a gold check mark. Twitter says its gold checks are for official business accounts. Accounts with gold checks can run ads and get increased distribution as part of the paid Twitter Blue program.
Matt Dorsey (who is not related to Jack), the SF Supervisor in the area, who happened to be near the building of HQ Twitter / X at lunch. He said he witnessed several self-driving cars become confused by the crane, which was in the street. Yes, coincidence with name of Jack (Dorsey).
The city of San Francisco sent representatives twice last weekend to inquire about the flashing, gargantuan “X” logo that Elon Musk installed atop his social media platform’s downtown headquarters, the latest in his attempts to rebrand the company.
Twitter’s advertising business has been struggling under the ownership of Mr. Musk, who bought the company last year. U.S. ad revenue for the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59 percent from a year earlier. Advertisers may have been spooked by Mr. Musk’s changes to the social network, including the removal of rules of what can or can’t be said on the service and more ads featuring online gambling and marijuana products.
In May, Mr. Musk hired Linda Yaccarino, a former top advertising executive for NBCUniversal, to become Twitter’s chief executive.
The letter was at least the third legal threat or action by X Corp. in the last two months. In May, it sent a letter to Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, accusing the tech giant of improperly using its data. This month, it also sent a letter to Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, saying it had copied Twitter’s trade secrets when creating Threads, a new social app.
X also sued Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a leading corporate law firm, by profits per equity partner it is the most profitable law firm in the world, and no.56 biggest law firm by total revenue, this month over what it said were unjust payments related to Mr. Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.
If you are having thoughts of anxiety, suicide because using social media, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. Bit different but still related/potential to suicide, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid, or can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
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-prada- Adi Mulia Pradana is a Helper. Former adviser (President Indonesia) Jokowi for mapping 2-times election. I used to get paid to catch all these blunders—now I do it for free. Trying to work out what's going on, what happens next. Arch enemies of the tobacco industry, (still) survive after getting surreal-sophisticated doxed. For me, justice is a difficult dream, because (ex) my friend, hundred, cooperate each other, to kill me and my mom. Don't let the bastards get you down, Prada, some my close friend support me. If Kevin Spacey and Johny Depp finally free from accusation, maybe next is my chance. i refuse to sacrifice my peace and comfort just to keep someone in my life. i refuse to allow consistent disrespect from someone just to keep them in my life.
Now figure out, or, prevent catastrophic situations in the Indonesian administration from outside the government. After his mom was nearly killed by a syndicate, now I do it (catch all these blunders, especially blunders by an asshole syndicates) for free. Writer actually facing 12 years attack-simultaneously (physically terror, cyberattack terror) by his (ex) friend in IR UGM / HI UGM (all of them actually indebted to me, at least get a very cheap book). 2 times, my mom nearly got assassinated by my friend with “komplotan” / weird syndicate. Once assassin, forever is assassin, that I was facing in years. I push myself to be (keep) dovish, pacifist, and you can read my pacifist tone in every note I write. A framing that myself propagated for years.
(Very rare compliment and initiative pledge. Thank you. Yes, even a lot of people associated me PRAVDA, not part of MIUCCIA PRADA. I’m literally asshole on debate, since in college). Especially after heated between Putin and Prigozhin. My note-live blog about Russia - Ukraine already click-read 4 millions.
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Thanks for reading Prada’s Newsletter. I was lured, inspired by someone writer, his post in LinkedIn months ago, “Currently after a routine daily writing newsletter in the last 10 years, my subscriber reaches 100,000. Maybe one of my subscribers is your boss.” After I get followed / subscribed by (literally) prominent AI and prominent Chief Product and Technology of mammoth global media (both: Sir, thank you so much), I try crafting more / better writing.
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(Promoting to more engage in Substack) Seamless to listen to your favorite podcasts on Substack. You can buy a better headset to listen to a podcast here (GST DE352306207).
Listeners on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or Pocket Casts simultaneously. podcasting can transform more of a conversation. Invite listeners to weigh in on episodes directly with you and with each other through discussion threads. At Substack, the process is to build with writers. Podcasts are an amazing feature of the Substack. I wish it had a feature to read the words we have written down without us having to do the speaking. Thanks for reading Prada’s Newsletter.
Headset and Mic can buy in here, but not including this cat, laptop, and couch / sofa.