Elon Musk, upon his arrival at the United States Capitol last Wednesday. SHAWN THEW (EFE)
Elon Musk, owner of the social network X, formerly Twitter, is considering requiring a “small monthly payment” from all users of the platform. This option is among the possible plans of the entrepreneur who took over the technology company in October 2022. Since then, the tycoon has resorted to several strategies to make the service profitable, including an eight-dollar monthly subscription for premium access. Musk has argued that his decision is aimed at combating a “vast army of bots.” This happened on Monday during a long-distance call he made with Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, who is on a business trip to California. He has demanded that he stop the spread of anti-Semitism on the platform, which has increased since Musk took the helm of the company.
According to Musk, between 100 and 200 million messages are published on the platform every day. “Some of them will be bad,” said the businessman, who assured in conversation with Netanyahu that X’s policy was not to promote or amplify hate speech. During the lecture, broadcast through streamingMusk assured that X now has around 550 million “monthly users”. He did not explain how many of them are authentic or bots. As of May 2022, Twitter reported having approximately 229 million daily active accounts.
Musk’s arrival on the social network also meant the return of many banned users and banned comments. Some of them have also opted for a monthly subscription to get even more exposure. According to Mashable, around 650,000 users were registered for the service in April. The owner of Tesla and Space
Netanyahu, himself a symbol of the American right, has urged Musk to find a balance between allowing freedom of speech without leading to an increase in anti-Semitic messages on X. “It is urgent that you find a balance, although it is difficult,” commented the prime minister, who is on a working tour focused on the San Francisco Bay, the cradle of many technology companies and companies focused on artificial intelligence.
Suprematist megaphone
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, has accused Musk of distributing a megaphone to members of the neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements. The head of the group, Jonathan Greenblatt, assures that the millionaire reinforced the messages of this ideology by interacting with some users of his account, followed by 157 million people. Musk, on the other hand, blamed the league for the decline in advertising on the social network and for wanting to “kill their platform.” The company has had 60% fewer advertisers since the purchase.
In the speech, Netanyahu warned of the need to force artificial intelligence to adopt a code of ethics or conduct that can stop the spread of hate speech. In his opinion, monitoring elements will be necessary that denounce the use of these expressions by individuals or states.
Both Musk and Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of
However, this Sunday, Musk sparked another controversy when he declared online that Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros’ organization “seems to want nothing more than to destroy Western civilization.” In his message, Musk criticized a nonprofit organization that has donated billions of dollars and is targeted by the international right. Many of these attacks are anti-Semitic because Soros, 93, is Jewish.
Netanyahu’s presence in California sparked demonstrations at the Tesla factory in Fremont. Dozens of people protested against the reform that the ultra-conservative government wants to implement to weaken the Supreme Court. From the West, the Prime Minister travels to New York, where he will attend the annual meeting of the United Nations this Wednesday. He is also expected to meet briefly with President Joe Biden.
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