Federal regulators investigating Musk Tesla ‘Full Self Driving’ tweet
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/09/business ... index.html
CNN
—
Federal regulators want to know what Elon Musk meant in a Tweet about disabling driver alerts on Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” driver assist system.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed Monday that it is in contact with Tesla about Musk’s tweet in which he “agreed” that Tesla drivers should be allowed to disable the alert reminding them to keep their hands on the steering wheel while in “Full Self Driving” mode, which is a driver assist system in an early “beta” version that does not fully drive the car itself.
On December 31, Musk replied to a tweet by @WholeMarsBlog that said “users with more than 10,000 miles on FSD Beta should be given the option to turn off the steering wheel nag.”
“Agreed, update coming in Jan,” Musk replied.
NHTSA says the issue falls under the agency’s existing investigation into the performance of Tesla’s driver assist systems.
“The investigation opening was motivated by an accumulation of crashes in which Tesla vehicles, operating with Autopilot engaged, struck stationary in-road or roadside first responder vehicles tending to pre-existing collision scenes,” reads the summary of the investigation which opened in June.
The federal inquiry into the tweet was first reported by the Associated Press.
PP
Elon Strikes Again
Re: Elon Strikes Again
With my experience of technology actually working correctly.....it's a very big NO from me!!!
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Super Bowl ad slams Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ tech
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/12/business ... index.html
New York
CNN
—
Electric carmaker Tesla will face a hit on Super Bowl Sunday, when an ad will play showing the alleged dangers of its Full Self-Driving technology.
Tesla confirms DOJ has requested documents on Autopilot, 'Full Self-Driving'
The commercial, which will be aired in Washington, DC, Austin, Tallahassee, Albany, Atlanta and Sacramento does not paint Tesla in the best light. The ad is part of a multimillion dollar advertising campaign by The Dawn Project. Its founder, Dan O’Dowd, is a California tech CEO who has dedicated millions of his own money (and a failed US Senate race) to the cause.
The ad cost $598,000, a Dawn Project spokesperson told CNN.
It shows a Tesla Model 3, which allegedly has the Full Self-Driving mode turned on, running over a child-sized dummy on a school crosswalk, and then a fake baby in a stroller, in a series of tests by the Dawn Project. In the ad, the car swerves into oncoming traffic, zooms past stopped school buses, and cruises through “do not enter” signs.
“Tesla’s Full Self-Driving is endangering the public,” the ad said. “With deceptive marketing and woefully inept engineering.”
The Dawn Project says it wants to make computer-controlled systems safer for humanity, shooting its own videos as tests of Tesla’s alleged design flaws. In August, O’Dowd published a video showing a Tesla plowing into child-sized mannequins. Some Tesla fans posted their own videos in defense, using their own dummies or even their own children – YouTube has taken down several test videos involving actual children, citing safety risks.
O’Dowd received a cease and desist letter from Tesla over the video, claiming he and the Dawn Project were “disparaging Tesla’s commercial interests and disseminating defamatory information to the public.”
O’Dowd responded to the cease-and-desist with a 1,736-word post in which he pushed back at the suggestion his posts were defamatory, defended his tests and returned barbs from Musk and some Tesla supporters.
O’Dowd, who sold software to the military, is undertaking a campaign of millions of dollars to ban Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature. He is running national ads and posting online videos displaying the possible dangers of Musk’s technology. He also ran an unsuccessful one-issue campaign for the US Senate on the same message.
Though officially in beta mode, Full Self-Driving is available to any user in North America who wants to purchase the $15,000 feature.
Tesla did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system is intended to someday work on city streets, but despite its wide rollout, is still officially in a developmental “beta” program. No car for sale on the market is yet able to drive itself.
Autopilot is a suite of driver-assist features, while Full Self-Driving steers the car on city streets, but could also stop for traffic signals and make turns.
Tesla contends it is not aware of any ongoing government investigation that has concluded any wrongdoing occurred, and said its Autopilot, with its automated steering designed to keep a car within a lane, is safer than normal driving.
“Tesla’s reckless deployment of Full Self-Driving software on public roads is a major threat to public safety. Elon Musk has released software that will run down children in school crosswalks, swerve into oncoming traffic and hit a baby in a stroller to all Tesla owners in North America,” O’Dowd said in a statement.
Ford will begin offering its new BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system to customers later this year after 500,000 miles of development testing and fine-tuning the technology on a journey across the United States and Canada. Mustang Mach-E pictured.
Consumer Reports calls Ford's automated driving tech much better than Tesla's
Tesla said it “has received requests from the Department of Justice for documents related to Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD features” in a January 31 public filing.
Federal investigators are looking into a Musk tweet about disabling driver alerts on Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” driver assist system, joining several other National Highway Traffic Safety Administration probes.
On December 31, Musk replied to a tweet by @WholeMarsBlog which said “users with more than 10,000 miles on FSD Beta should be given the option to turn off the steering wheel nag.”
“Agreed, update coming in Jan,” Musk replied.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced last summer it was escalating its Tesla probe to an “engineering analysis,” a step toward seeking a recall. NHTSA first investigated Tesla’s driver-assist technology after reports Autopilot-engaged vehicles were crashing into emergency vehicles stopped at the scene of earlier crashes.
O’Dowd is the founder and CEO of Green Hills Software. Some of Musk’s defenders claim O’Dowd has a conflict of interest as one of its customers is Intel-owned Mobileye, which makes a computer chip to run driver-assisted software, the Washington Post reported.
O’Dowd told the Washington Post Mobileye is one of his hundreds of customers and that his main motivation is safety.
PP
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/12/business ... index.html
New York
CNN
—
Electric carmaker Tesla will face a hit on Super Bowl Sunday, when an ad will play showing the alleged dangers of its Full Self-Driving technology.
Tesla confirms DOJ has requested documents on Autopilot, 'Full Self-Driving'
The commercial, which will be aired in Washington, DC, Austin, Tallahassee, Albany, Atlanta and Sacramento does not paint Tesla in the best light. The ad is part of a multimillion dollar advertising campaign by The Dawn Project. Its founder, Dan O’Dowd, is a California tech CEO who has dedicated millions of his own money (and a failed US Senate race) to the cause.
The ad cost $598,000, a Dawn Project spokesperson told CNN.
It shows a Tesla Model 3, which allegedly has the Full Self-Driving mode turned on, running over a child-sized dummy on a school crosswalk, and then a fake baby in a stroller, in a series of tests by the Dawn Project. In the ad, the car swerves into oncoming traffic, zooms past stopped school buses, and cruises through “do not enter” signs.
“Tesla’s Full Self-Driving is endangering the public,” the ad said. “With deceptive marketing and woefully inept engineering.”
The Dawn Project says it wants to make computer-controlled systems safer for humanity, shooting its own videos as tests of Tesla’s alleged design flaws. In August, O’Dowd published a video showing a Tesla plowing into child-sized mannequins. Some Tesla fans posted their own videos in defense, using their own dummies or even their own children – YouTube has taken down several test videos involving actual children, citing safety risks.
O’Dowd received a cease and desist letter from Tesla over the video, claiming he and the Dawn Project were “disparaging Tesla’s commercial interests and disseminating defamatory information to the public.”
O’Dowd responded to the cease-and-desist with a 1,736-word post in which he pushed back at the suggestion his posts were defamatory, defended his tests and returned barbs from Musk and some Tesla supporters.
O’Dowd, who sold software to the military, is undertaking a campaign of millions of dollars to ban Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature. He is running national ads and posting online videos displaying the possible dangers of Musk’s technology. He also ran an unsuccessful one-issue campaign for the US Senate on the same message.
Though officially in beta mode, Full Self-Driving is available to any user in North America who wants to purchase the $15,000 feature.
Tesla did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system is intended to someday work on city streets, but despite its wide rollout, is still officially in a developmental “beta” program. No car for sale on the market is yet able to drive itself.
Autopilot is a suite of driver-assist features, while Full Self-Driving steers the car on city streets, but could also stop for traffic signals and make turns.
Tesla contends it is not aware of any ongoing government investigation that has concluded any wrongdoing occurred, and said its Autopilot, with its automated steering designed to keep a car within a lane, is safer than normal driving.
“Tesla’s reckless deployment of Full Self-Driving software on public roads is a major threat to public safety. Elon Musk has released software that will run down children in school crosswalks, swerve into oncoming traffic and hit a baby in a stroller to all Tesla owners in North America,” O’Dowd said in a statement.
Ford will begin offering its new BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system to customers later this year after 500,000 miles of development testing and fine-tuning the technology on a journey across the United States and Canada. Mustang Mach-E pictured.
Consumer Reports calls Ford's automated driving tech much better than Tesla's
Tesla said it “has received requests from the Department of Justice for documents related to Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD features” in a January 31 public filing.
Federal investigators are looking into a Musk tweet about disabling driver alerts on Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” driver assist system, joining several other National Highway Traffic Safety Administration probes.
On December 31, Musk replied to a tweet by @WholeMarsBlog which said “users with more than 10,000 miles on FSD Beta should be given the option to turn off the steering wheel nag.”
“Agreed, update coming in Jan,” Musk replied.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced last summer it was escalating its Tesla probe to an “engineering analysis,” a step toward seeking a recall. NHTSA first investigated Tesla’s driver-assist technology after reports Autopilot-engaged vehicles were crashing into emergency vehicles stopped at the scene of earlier crashes.
O’Dowd is the founder and CEO of Green Hills Software. Some of Musk’s defenders claim O’Dowd has a conflict of interest as one of its customers is Intel-owned Mobileye, which makes a computer chip to run driver-assisted software, the Washington Post reported.
O’Dowd told the Washington Post Mobileye is one of his hundreds of customers and that his main motivation is safety.
PP
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TheGreenAnger
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 3286
- Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2022 11:40 pm
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Elon Strikes Again and again...
Musk has had another little hissy Elon fit with the nasty Ukrainians who had previously refused to listen his "sage" advice about yielding large tracts of their country to the saintly Russian invaders. One slightly unpolitic, but justly aggrieved, Ukrainian official literally told little Elon to go and multiply himself, at which, as is his wont, Elon threatened to take his internet ball off the field and go and play with himself (probably quite a common occurrence with him) but now tiny Elon is threatening the Ukrainians again...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... -elon-musk
I wonder what future military (or other) payload customers might think of Elon's possible tendency to think he has the right to dictate to them how they use their own satellites? As for his Mars endeavours, I wouldn't like to be an early colonist at Musk Mars' Base 1 when Elon has another hissy fit because some colonist refuses to pay homage at Musk's golden statue, or kiss his sainted arse, like that cave diver, who told Musk a few home truths some years back did, and who was defamed by Musk for his honesty and good sense!
Let's be honest, Musk is a bona fide bellend, with a power jag as big as his overinflated ego. People tend to associate the technical success of his companies with him personally, but let's be clear, he is neither an automotive engineer nor a rocket scientist, but rather a rather shrewd manipulator of US state and government (in the case of NASA) subsidies and incentives and has shown himself to be a total social dim wit and extravagant vainglorious marketing hype merchant in many other ways.
Some might say that I don't like little Elon, and some may be right, as much as it pains to me to say it, me being born in Pretoria and being a South African chauvinist and all!
A senior Ukrainian presidential aide has reacted with anger after Elon Musk’s SpaceX said it had taken steps to prevent its Starlink satellite communications service from controlling drones, which are critical to Kyiv’s forces in fighting off the Russian invasion.
Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s chief operating officer, said at a conference in the US that the surprise decision had been taken because it had never been the company’s intention to allow Starlink to be used “for offensive purposes”.
That prompted an immediate complaint on Thursday morning from Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, Volodymr Zelenskiy, who argued that Musk’s business had failed to recognise Ukraine’s right to self-defence.
Companies, Podolyak tweeted, had to decide if they were “on the side of the right to freedom” or “on the Russian Federation’s side and its ‘right’ to kill and seize territories” after its unprovoked invasion last year.
Shortly after the start of the war, Musk, SpaceX’s founder, agreed to provide Starlink for nothing to Ukraine, in response to a plea made on Twitter by Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation. “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine,” Musk said in reply.
Ukrainian forces use Starlink to help control their large network of surveillance drones, critical to monitor Russian troop concentrations and military movements, at a time when Moscow’s forces are on the attack across large parts of the eastern front.
The country’s military rapidly became dependent on Musk’s network, because other internet services were unavailable because of war damage, power outages, jamming or simply because the locations were remote.
Space X’s unilateral announcement also flies in the face of western nations, who are stepping up their military aid to Kyiv to help it resist, agreeing last month to provide tanks. Now they are considering whether to supply combat jets, in response to a pleas made by Zelenskiy on a trip to London, Paris and Brussels this week.
Shotwell said Starlink was “never, never meant to be weaponised” by Ukraine, although it cannot come as a surprise to the company as Kyiv’s military has been using it to pilot drones for months. “Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement,” she added.
She said SpaceX was able to take measures to curb Ukraine’s use of the technology to pilot drones, although it was not immediately clear what those were and whether Kyiv’s military could work around them.
The row is not the first between Ukraine and Musk. Last October, Musk asked Twitter users to vote on a poll for Russia-Ukraine peace that included Ukraine handing over Crimea and allowing UN-supervised referendums on whether Moscow could keep other land it had occupied after its unprovoked invasion.
“**** off is my very diplomatic reply to you,” replied Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, prompting Musk to threaten to stop providing Starlink to Ukraine. Musk had said that providing Starlink was costly to SpaceX, although the US government pays at least some of the costs.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... -elon-musk
I wonder what future military (or other) payload customers might think of Elon's possible tendency to think he has the right to dictate to them how they use their own satellites? As for his Mars endeavours, I wouldn't like to be an early colonist at Musk Mars' Base 1 when Elon has another hissy fit because some colonist refuses to pay homage at Musk's golden statue, or kiss his sainted arse, like that cave diver, who told Musk a few home truths some years back did, and who was defamed by Musk for his honesty and good sense!
Let's be honest, Musk is a bona fide bellend, with a power jag as big as his overinflated ego. People tend to associate the technical success of his companies with him personally, but let's be clear, he is neither an automotive engineer nor a rocket scientist, but rather a rather shrewd manipulator of US state and government (in the case of NASA) subsidies and incentives and has shown himself to be a total social dim wit and extravagant vainglorious marketing hype merchant in many other ways.
Some might say that I don't like little Elon, and some may be right, as much as it pains to me to say it, me being born in Pretoria and being a South African chauvinist and all!
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.
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OFSO
- Chief Pilot
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- Age: 80
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Agree completely.
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TheGreenAnger
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 3286
- Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2022 11:40 pm
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Re: Elon Strikes Again and again...
Sad news of one of the boys rescued from the cave after Messanic Elon's "look at me and my technology" attempt to have a mini submarine used in the search. This ludicrous idea was nixed and the boys were rescued by Thai Navy Seals losing one man in the narrow caverns in the process, with another rescuer dying from blood poisoning later.TheGreenAnger wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 5:15 amWho refuses to pay homage at Musk's golden statue, or kiss his sainted arse, like that cave diver, who told Musk a few home truths some years back did, and who was defamed by Musk for his honesty and good sense!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... dies-in-uk
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Tesla recalling nearly 363,000 vehicles over 'full self-driving' software that could lead to crashes
The technology remains under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consum ... -rcna71048
Tesla is recalling 362,758 vehicles because a version of its "full self-driving" software may increase the risk of crashes, according to a notice posted Thursday on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website.
According to the recall document, the FSD's "beta" release may cause affected Tesla vehicles to act unsafely around intersections. For example, it said, the software may cause the vehicles to travel "straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, [enter] a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or [proceed] into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution."
In addition, it said, the system may not respond sufficiently to changes in posted speed limits, or not adequately account for a driver's adjustment of the vehicle's speed when it exceeds posted speed limits.
As a remedy, Tesla is releasing a free over-the-air software update to users.
The recall affects 2016-2023 Model S and Model X vehicles; 2017-2023 Model 3 vehicles; and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles.
The recall comes a week after the National Transportation Safety Board said it found no evidence that Tesla's autopilot driver-assistance feature was engaged at the time of a fatal 2021 crash in Texas.
But Tesla's FSD and autopilot features remain under investigation by the NHTSA. According to Reuters, 830,000 vehicles are under review.
And last month, Tesla revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the Justice Department had requested documents related to the features.
A Tesla representative could not be reached for comment.
Tesla shares have been among the best-performing stocks this year, having nearly doubled in price to about $211 after falling 32% over the past 12 months. In January, the company reported profits and revenues that beat analysts' expectations, with CEO Elon Musk stating that January had seen "the strongest orders year-to-date ever in our history."
PP
The technology remains under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consum ... -rcna71048
Tesla is recalling 362,758 vehicles because a version of its "full self-driving" software may increase the risk of crashes, according to a notice posted Thursday on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website.
According to the recall document, the FSD's "beta" release may cause affected Tesla vehicles to act unsafely around intersections. For example, it said, the software may cause the vehicles to travel "straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, [enter] a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or [proceed] into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution."
In addition, it said, the system may not respond sufficiently to changes in posted speed limits, or not adequately account for a driver's adjustment of the vehicle's speed when it exceeds posted speed limits.
As a remedy, Tesla is releasing a free over-the-air software update to users.
The recall affects 2016-2023 Model S and Model X vehicles; 2017-2023 Model 3 vehicles; and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles.
The recall comes a week after the National Transportation Safety Board said it found no evidence that Tesla's autopilot driver-assistance feature was engaged at the time of a fatal 2021 crash in Texas.
But Tesla's FSD and autopilot features remain under investigation by the NHTSA. According to Reuters, 830,000 vehicles are under review.
And last month, Tesla revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the Justice Department had requested documents related to the features.
A Tesla representative could not be reached for comment.
Tesla shares have been among the best-performing stocks this year, having nearly doubled in price to about $211 after falling 32% over the past 12 months. In January, the company reported profits and revenues that beat analysts' expectations, with CEO Elon Musk stating that January had seen "the strongest orders year-to-date ever in our history."
PP
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Complaint accuses Tesla of firing more than 30 workers after union effort was announced
The organizing campaign is being spearheaded by the same group unionizing some Starbucks locations
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/busine ... -rcna71008
A group of Tesla workers in Buffalo, New York, have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the electric carmaker of firing at least 30 workers in response to their union organizing efforts.
In a release, the group that calls itself Tesla Workers United, accuses Tesla and CEO Elon Musk of retaliating in direct response to the unionization drive, launched Feb. 14 at Tesla's Buffalo Gigafactory 2. The affected workers are part of the Buffalo location's autopilot group, where they "train" Tesla's artificial intelligence software by identifying images.
The group is asking for a federal injunction to protect the workers' rights.
A Tesla representative could not be reached for comment.
The union drive is being spearheaded by a Rochester, New York-based unit of Workers United, which is an affiliate of the larger Service Employees International Union. Workers United is also the group that has been attempting to organize Starbucks locations.
The NLRB has the power to order an employer to reinstate workers with back pay, though it cannot assess penalties. Tesla was cited in 2021 by the NLRB on accusations of "coercively interrogating" and "threatening" employees at its Fremont plant. The company was ordered to offer to reinstate a fired worker; Tesla has denied wrongdoing and is appealing the citation.
According to Tesla's website, the Buffalo Gigafactory has created nearly 800 jobs, with plans to ultimately employ as many as 5,000.
PP
The organizing campaign is being spearheaded by the same group unionizing some Starbucks locations
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/busine ... -rcna71008
A group of Tesla workers in Buffalo, New York, have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the electric carmaker of firing at least 30 workers in response to their union organizing efforts.
In a release, the group that calls itself Tesla Workers United, accuses Tesla and CEO Elon Musk of retaliating in direct response to the unionization drive, launched Feb. 14 at Tesla's Buffalo Gigafactory 2. The affected workers are part of the Buffalo location's autopilot group, where they "train" Tesla's artificial intelligence software by identifying images.
The group is asking for a federal injunction to protect the workers' rights.
A Tesla representative could not be reached for comment.
The union drive is being spearheaded by a Rochester, New York-based unit of Workers United, which is an affiliate of the larger Service Employees International Union. Workers United is also the group that has been attempting to organize Starbucks locations.
The NLRB has the power to order an employer to reinstate workers with back pay, though it cannot assess penalties. Tesla was cited in 2021 by the NLRB on accusations of "coercively interrogating" and "threatening" employees at its Fremont plant. The company was ordered to offer to reinstate a fired worker; Tesla has denied wrongdoing and is appealing the citation.
According to Tesla's website, the Buffalo Gigafactory has created nearly 800 jobs, with plans to ultimately employ as many as 5,000.
PP
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TheGreenAnger
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Re: Elon Strikes Again
I suspect old Elon is going to be bog washed more thoroughly by the markets, and ultimately by his employees, than he was back in day at school in Bryanston in Johannesburg, where he was cordially disliked, and bullied. I suspect that experience is the basis of his many issues to this day.
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Tesla, Musk sued by shareholders over self-driving safety claims
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/28/tech/tes ... index.html
Tesla (TSLA) and its Chief Executive Elon Musk were sued on Monday by shareholders who accused them of overstating the effectiveness and safety of their electric vehicles’ Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies.
In a proposed class action filed in San Francisco federal court, shareholders said Tesla defrauded them over four years with false and misleading statements that concealed how its technologies, suspected as a possible cause of multiple fatal crashes, “created a serious risk of accident and injury.”
They said Tesla’s share price fell several times as the truth became known, including after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating the technologies, and reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating Musk’s Autopilot claims.
The share price also fell 5.7% on Feb. 16 after NHTSA forced a recall of more than 362,000 Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving beta software because they could be unsafe around intersections.
Tesla has said it acquiesced to the recall, though it disagreed with NHTSA’s analysis.
“As a result of defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s common stock, plaintiff and other class members have suffered significant losses and damages,” the complaint said.
Tesla, which does not have a media relations department, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Monday’s lawsuit led by shareholder Thomas Lamontagne seeks unspecified damages for Tesla shareholders from Feb. 19, 2019 to Feb. 17, 2023. Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn and his predecessor Deepak Ahuja are also defendants.
Tesla’s share price closed Monday up $10.75, or 5.5%, at $207.63, but the stock has lost about half its value since peaking in Nov. 2021.
Musk is expected at Tesla’s March 1 investor day to promote the company’s artificial intelligence capability and plans to expand its vehicle lineup.
The case is Lamontagne v Tesla Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 23-00869.
PP
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/28/tech/tes ... index.html
Tesla (TSLA) and its Chief Executive Elon Musk were sued on Monday by shareholders who accused them of overstating the effectiveness and safety of their electric vehicles’ Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies.
In a proposed class action filed in San Francisco federal court, shareholders said Tesla defrauded them over four years with false and misleading statements that concealed how its technologies, suspected as a possible cause of multiple fatal crashes, “created a serious risk of accident and injury.”
They said Tesla’s share price fell several times as the truth became known, including after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating the technologies, and reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating Musk’s Autopilot claims.
The share price also fell 5.7% on Feb. 16 after NHTSA forced a recall of more than 362,000 Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving beta software because they could be unsafe around intersections.
Tesla has said it acquiesced to the recall, though it disagreed with NHTSA’s analysis.
“As a result of defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s common stock, plaintiff and other class members have suffered significant losses and damages,” the complaint said.
Tesla, which does not have a media relations department, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Monday’s lawsuit led by shareholder Thomas Lamontagne seeks unspecified damages for Tesla shareholders from Feb. 19, 2019 to Feb. 17, 2023. Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn and his predecessor Deepak Ahuja are also defendants.
Tesla’s share price closed Monday up $10.75, or 5.5%, at $207.63, but the stock has lost about half its value since peaking in Nov. 2021.
Musk is expected at Tesla’s March 1 investor day to promote the company’s artificial intelligence capability and plans to expand its vehicle lineup.
The case is Lamontagne v Tesla Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 23-00869.
PP
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TheGreenAnger
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Re: Elon Strikes Again
And again.
Musk fired another 200 employees at Twitter on the 27th of February.
Musk fired another 200 employees at Twitter on the 27th of February.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... eport-saysTwitter has been hit by a major outage, soon after the company’s most recent round of layoffs.
Visitors to the site saw what appeared to be a welcome page, as if they did not follow anyone on the site. It encouraged them to click through and find their first people to follow.
“Welcome to Twitter!” the message read. “This is the best place to see what’s happening in your world. Find some people and topics to follow now.”
A similar message appeared on the app version of Twitter, with a button reading “Let’s go” that took users to a list of suggested users.
But there was no way to get around that initial message, leaving users unable to see the feed or any posts from the people they do actually already follow.It was however possible to see a specific user’s tweets by heading to their account page, which appeared to be loading as normal.
Twitter’s search feature also appeared to be working, though unreliably. And users were able to post new tweets – even as there was no feed to actually view them in.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... eport-saysElon Musk has fired another 200 staff at Twitter including the executive behind the revamp of its paid-for premium service, according to a report.
The latest round of job cuts equates to about 10% of Twitter’s vastly reduced workforce, which stood at 7,500 people before Musk bought the company in October.
According to the New York Times, Twitter sacked at least 200 employees from its 2,000-strong workforce on Saturday. The redundancies affected jobs including product managers, data scientists and engineers who ensure the site runs efficiently, the NYT reported.
Esther Crawford, the director of product management at Twitter who oversaw the introduction of charging for account verification, was reportedly among the employees affected.
Musk’s hard-driving approach to management was exemplified in November by a picture of Crawford sleeping on the floor of Twitter’s offices, which she retweeted with the hashtag #SleepWhereYouWork.
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Elon Musk targets laid-off Twitter employee by claiming he used his disability as an excuse
In a Twitter post with screenshots of the exchange, Musk claimed the employee “did no actual work” and used his disability as an excuse.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ ... -rcna73742
Elon Musk took aim at a disabled Twitter employee Monday who tagged him in a tweet to ask if he'd been laid off.
Haraldur Thorleifsson, who has a form of muscular dystrophy called Dysferlinopathy and uses a wheelchair, tweeted at the Twitter CEO on Monday to say that access to his work computer had been cut off.
"However your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You’ve not answered my emails," Thorleifsson wrote. "Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?"
Musk responded, asking Thorleifsson what work he's been doing for the company. Thorleifsson confirmed on the thread that he'd finally heard back from HR and no longer works at Twitter.
On a Twitter post with screenshots of the exchange, Musk claimed Thorleifsson "did no actual work" and used his disability as an excuse.
"The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm," Musk wrote. "Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that."
In another tweet, Musk said Thorleifsson couldn't be fired because "you can’t be fired if you weren’t working in the first place!"
Thorleifsson responded to the CEO with a thread about his disability, which he says put him in a wheelchair 20 years ago.
"In that time the rest of my body has been failing me too. I need help to get in and out of bed and use the toilet," he wrote. "For a long time I thought my arms would remain strong. A doctor told me they would. But they ended up losing strength. Which, I don’t mind telling you, was hard to accept."
Later Tuesday, Musk tweeted that he had a video call with Thorleifsson. He also apologized and said Thorleifsson is considering staying at Twitter.
Musk has reportedly continued to lay off employees, further whittling the company's headcount from when he took control in October.
According to his website, Thorleifsson, who is originally from Iceland and was voted the country's person of the year in 2022, started a design company called Ueno about nine years ago.
"We grew fast and made money. I think that’s what you are referring to when you say independently wealthy? That I independently made my money, as opposed to say, inherited an emerald mine," Thorleifsson wrote in a tweet, taking aim at rumors that Musk's family owned an emerald mine.
Thorleifsson's company was acquired by Twitter in 2021, a move he said wasn't the best decision financially. He also addressed Musk's claims that he used his disability as an excuse not to type, which he says was confidential health information he told HR.
"I’ll tell you what I told them. I’m not able to do manual work (which in this case means typing or using a mouse) for extended periods of time without my hands starting to cramp," he wrote. "I can however write for an hour or two at a time."
Thorleifsson ended the thread by asking the Twitter CEO whether he is going to pay him what is owed to him.
"I think you can afford it?" he wrote.
Thorleifsson and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.
PP
In a Twitter post with screenshots of the exchange, Musk claimed the employee “did no actual work” and used his disability as an excuse.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ ... -rcna73742
Elon Musk took aim at a disabled Twitter employee Monday who tagged him in a tweet to ask if he'd been laid off.
Haraldur Thorleifsson, who has a form of muscular dystrophy called Dysferlinopathy and uses a wheelchair, tweeted at the Twitter CEO on Monday to say that access to his work computer had been cut off.
"However your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You’ve not answered my emails," Thorleifsson wrote. "Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?"
Musk responded, asking Thorleifsson what work he's been doing for the company. Thorleifsson confirmed on the thread that he'd finally heard back from HR and no longer works at Twitter.
On a Twitter post with screenshots of the exchange, Musk claimed Thorleifsson "did no actual work" and used his disability as an excuse.
"The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm," Musk wrote. "Can’t say I have a lot of respect for that."
In another tweet, Musk said Thorleifsson couldn't be fired because "you can’t be fired if you weren’t working in the first place!"
Thorleifsson responded to the CEO with a thread about his disability, which he says put him in a wheelchair 20 years ago.
"In that time the rest of my body has been failing me too. I need help to get in and out of bed and use the toilet," he wrote. "For a long time I thought my arms would remain strong. A doctor told me they would. But they ended up losing strength. Which, I don’t mind telling you, was hard to accept."
Later Tuesday, Musk tweeted that he had a video call with Thorleifsson. He also apologized and said Thorleifsson is considering staying at Twitter.
Musk has reportedly continued to lay off employees, further whittling the company's headcount from when he took control in October.
According to his website, Thorleifsson, who is originally from Iceland and was voted the country's person of the year in 2022, started a design company called Ueno about nine years ago.
"We grew fast and made money. I think that’s what you are referring to when you say independently wealthy? That I independently made my money, as opposed to say, inherited an emerald mine," Thorleifsson wrote in a tweet, taking aim at rumors that Musk's family owned an emerald mine.
Thorleifsson's company was acquired by Twitter in 2021, a move he said wasn't the best decision financially. He also addressed Musk's claims that he used his disability as an excuse not to type, which he says was confidential health information he told HR.
"I’ll tell you what I told them. I’m not able to do manual work (which in this case means typing or using a mouse) for extended periods of time without my hands starting to cramp," he wrote. "I can however write for an hour or two at a time."
Thorleifsson ended the thread by asking the Twitter CEO whether he is going to pay him what is owed to him.
"I think you can afford it?" he wrote.
Thorleifsson and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.
PP
-
TheGreenAnger
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 3286
- Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2022 11:40 pm
- Location: Unfashionable end of the Western Spiral
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Little Elon, the poor bruised, maligned, Bryanston boy, bog washed and bullied, now needs his own bouncers to protect him from his own IT staff, generally uber nerds (the staff, not the close protectors), and the nerds, the most pacific people in the quantum universe! No wonder he feels he can bully them!
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.
Re: Elon Strikes Again
CNN Exclusive: ‘How am I in this war?’: New Musk biography offers fresh details about the billionaire’s Ukraine dilemma
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/07/politics ... index.html
Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet, according to an excerpt adapted from Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the eccentric billionaire titled “Elon Musk.”
As Ukrainian submarine drones strapped with explosives approached the Russian fleet, they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson writes.
Musk’s decision, which left Ukrainian officials begging him to turn the satellites back on, was driven by an acute fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with nuclear weapons, a fear driven home by Musk’s conversations with senior Russian officials, according to Isaacson, whose new book is set to be released by Simon & Schuster on September 12.
Musk’s concerns over a “mini-Pearl Harbor” as he put it, did not come to pass in Crimea. But the episode reveals the unique position Musk found himself in as the war in Ukraine unfolded. Whether intended or not, he had become a power broker US officials couldn’t ignore.
The new book from Isaacson, the author of acclaimed biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, provides fresh insights into Musk and how his existential dread of sparking a wider war drove him to spurn Ukrainian requests for Starlink systems they could use to attack the Russians.
After Russia disrupted Ukraine’s communications systems just before its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Musk agreed to provide Ukraine with millions of dollars of SpaceX-made Starlink satellite terminals, which became crucial to Ukraine’s military operations. Even as cellular phone and internet networks had been destroyed, the Starlink terminals allowed Ukraine to fight and stay connected.
But once Ukraine began to use Starlink terminals for offensive attacks against Russia, Musk started to second-guess that decision.
“How am I in this war?” Musk asks Isaacson. “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”
Musk was soon on the phone with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, the chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, and the Russian ambassador to the US to address anxieties from Washington, DC, to Moscow, writes Isaacson.
Meanwhile, Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister of Ukraine, was pleading with Musk to restore connectivity for the submarine drones by telling Musk about their capabilities in a text message, according to Isaacson. “I just want you—the person who is changing the world through technology—to know this,” Fedorov told Musk.
Musk and SpaceX did not reply to CNN’s requests for comment.
Musk, the CEO of electric carmaker Tesla and private space exploration firm SpaceX, replied that he was impressed with the design of the submarine drones but that he wouldn’t turn satellite coverage back on for Crimea because Ukraine “is now going too far and inviting strategic defeat,” according to Isaacson.
The unchartered territory that Ukrainian and US officials were in – relying on the charity of an unpredictable billionaire for battlefield communications – also led to a standoff over who would pay for the Starlink terminals last fall.
SpaceX had spent tens of millions of its own money sending the satellite equipment to Ukraine, according to Musk. And the company told the Pentagon that they wouldn’t continue to foot the bill for the satellite gear, as CNN first reported last October.
After CNN’s reporting, Musk reversed course, tweeting “the hell with it … we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
Gwynne Shotwell, Musk’s president at SpaceX, was livid at Musk’s reversal, according to Isaacson.
“The Pentagon had a $145 million check ready to hand to me, literally,” Isaacson quotes Shotwell as saying. “Then Elon succumbed to the ***** on Twitter and to the haters at the Pentagon who leaked the story.”
But SpaceX was eventually able to work out a deal with the US and European governments to pay for another 100,000 new satellite dishes to Ukraine at the beginning of 2023, according to Isaacson.
Starlink’s importance in the war hasn’t waned.
Last week, the US and its “Five Eyes” allies accused Russian hackers of targeting Ukrainian commanders’ battlefield communications. The Russians’ malicious code was designed to intercept data sent to Starlink satellites, according to the Ukrainians.
PP
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/07/politics ... index.html
Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet, according to an excerpt adapted from Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the eccentric billionaire titled “Elon Musk.”
As Ukrainian submarine drones strapped with explosives approached the Russian fleet, they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson writes.
Musk’s decision, which left Ukrainian officials begging him to turn the satellites back on, was driven by an acute fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with nuclear weapons, a fear driven home by Musk’s conversations with senior Russian officials, according to Isaacson, whose new book is set to be released by Simon & Schuster on September 12.
Musk’s concerns over a “mini-Pearl Harbor” as he put it, did not come to pass in Crimea. But the episode reveals the unique position Musk found himself in as the war in Ukraine unfolded. Whether intended or not, he had become a power broker US officials couldn’t ignore.
The new book from Isaacson, the author of acclaimed biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, provides fresh insights into Musk and how his existential dread of sparking a wider war drove him to spurn Ukrainian requests for Starlink systems they could use to attack the Russians.
After Russia disrupted Ukraine’s communications systems just before its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Musk agreed to provide Ukraine with millions of dollars of SpaceX-made Starlink satellite terminals, which became crucial to Ukraine’s military operations. Even as cellular phone and internet networks had been destroyed, the Starlink terminals allowed Ukraine to fight and stay connected.
But once Ukraine began to use Starlink terminals for offensive attacks against Russia, Musk started to second-guess that decision.
“How am I in this war?” Musk asks Isaacson. “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”
Musk was soon on the phone with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, the chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, and the Russian ambassador to the US to address anxieties from Washington, DC, to Moscow, writes Isaacson.
Meanwhile, Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister of Ukraine, was pleading with Musk to restore connectivity for the submarine drones by telling Musk about their capabilities in a text message, according to Isaacson. “I just want you—the person who is changing the world through technology—to know this,” Fedorov told Musk.
Musk and SpaceX did not reply to CNN’s requests for comment.
Musk, the CEO of electric carmaker Tesla and private space exploration firm SpaceX, replied that he was impressed with the design of the submarine drones but that he wouldn’t turn satellite coverage back on for Crimea because Ukraine “is now going too far and inviting strategic defeat,” according to Isaacson.
The unchartered territory that Ukrainian and US officials were in – relying on the charity of an unpredictable billionaire for battlefield communications – also led to a standoff over who would pay for the Starlink terminals last fall.
SpaceX had spent tens of millions of its own money sending the satellite equipment to Ukraine, according to Musk. And the company told the Pentagon that they wouldn’t continue to foot the bill for the satellite gear, as CNN first reported last October.
After CNN’s reporting, Musk reversed course, tweeting “the hell with it … we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
Gwynne Shotwell, Musk’s president at SpaceX, was livid at Musk’s reversal, according to Isaacson.
“The Pentagon had a $145 million check ready to hand to me, literally,” Isaacson quotes Shotwell as saying. “Then Elon succumbed to the ***** on Twitter and to the haters at the Pentagon who leaked the story.”
But SpaceX was eventually able to work out a deal with the US and European governments to pay for another 100,000 new satellite dishes to Ukraine at the beginning of 2023, according to Isaacson.
Starlink’s importance in the war hasn’t waned.
Last week, the US and its “Five Eyes” allies accused Russian hackers of targeting Ukrainian commanders’ battlefield communications. The Russians’ malicious code was designed to intercept data sent to Starlink satellites, according to the Ukrainians.
PP
-
OneHungLow
- Chief Pilot
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2023 8:28 pm
- Location: Johannesburg
- Gender:
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Time for Musk to man up, before he gets his comeuppance again, even harder, and worse than those horrible "bullies" at Bryanston High School....
The man is fool, he really wants to be "loved" and has got in well above his head, all his money aside...
The man is fool, he really wants to be "loved" and has got in well above his head, all his money aside...
The observer of fools in military south and north...
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Elon Musk confirms he and Grimes have had a third child – and its name is as unusual as you’d expect
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/11/entertai ... index.html
Noted without comment that this was in the entertainment section of CNN.
Elon Musk has confirmed that he and former partner Grimes have a third child together – and its name is just as unusual as its siblings’.
The child is called Tau Techno Mechanicus, the technology billionaire wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
Musk, who owns the social network, was responding to a post from entertainment news account Pop Base, which named his and Grimes’ three children as “X Æ A-Xii, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, Techno Mechanicus.”
Grimes and Elon Musk secretly welcomed their second child in December
The child’s existence had been kept a secret until recently.
Musk and Grimes broke up in September 2021, but the Canadian singer – born Claire Boucher – has described their relationship status as “very fluid.”
In a March 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, she revealed that Exa Dark Sideræl Musk was born via surrogate in December 2021.
Although the couple apparently had no intention of announcing the birth of their second child, nicknamed “Y,” Grimes shared the news after Vanity Fair journalist Devin Gordon overheard a baby crying.
Grimes and Musk previously welcomed a son named X Æ A-Xii in May 2020.
Musk, 48, has five other children – twins Griffin and Vivian and triplets Damian, Saxon and Kai – from a previous marriage.
It was also revealed on September 6 that Musk has 16-month-old twins named Strider and Azure with Shivon Zilis, an executive at Neuralink, a company he owns which hopes to develop an implantable computer chip for the human brain.
musk grimes baby
Elon Musk and Grimes welcome a baby boy
He has previously spoken out about his concerns over declining birth rates.
“USA birth rate has been below min sustainable levels for ~50 years,” Musk wrote on Twitter in May 2022.
And he reiterated his stance in July that year.
“Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis,” he posted. “A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”
This story has been updated to reflect that Musk has also been revealed to have twins named Strider and Azure with Shivon Zilis.
PP
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/11/entertai ... index.html
Noted without comment that this was in the entertainment section of CNN.
Elon Musk has confirmed that he and former partner Grimes have a third child together – and its name is just as unusual as its siblings’.
The child is called Tau Techno Mechanicus, the technology billionaire wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
Musk, who owns the social network, was responding to a post from entertainment news account Pop Base, which named his and Grimes’ three children as “X Æ A-Xii, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, Techno Mechanicus.”
Grimes and Elon Musk secretly welcomed their second child in December
The child’s existence had been kept a secret until recently.
Musk and Grimes broke up in September 2021, but the Canadian singer – born Claire Boucher – has described their relationship status as “very fluid.”
In a March 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, she revealed that Exa Dark Sideræl Musk was born via surrogate in December 2021.
Although the couple apparently had no intention of announcing the birth of their second child, nicknamed “Y,” Grimes shared the news after Vanity Fair journalist Devin Gordon overheard a baby crying.
Grimes and Musk previously welcomed a son named X Æ A-Xii in May 2020.
Musk, 48, has five other children – twins Griffin and Vivian and triplets Damian, Saxon and Kai – from a previous marriage.
It was also revealed on September 6 that Musk has 16-month-old twins named Strider and Azure with Shivon Zilis, an executive at Neuralink, a company he owns which hopes to develop an implantable computer chip for the human brain.
musk grimes baby
Elon Musk and Grimes welcome a baby boy
He has previously spoken out about his concerns over declining birth rates.
“USA birth rate has been below min sustainable levels for ~50 years,” Musk wrote on Twitter in May 2022.
And he reiterated his stance in July that year.
“Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis,” he posted. “A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”
This story has been updated to reflect that Musk has also been revealed to have twins named Strider and Azure with Shivon Zilis.
PP
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Elon Musk demands Bob Iger ‘be fired’ after Disney pulled ads from X
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/07/business ... index.html
If he wants to have Iger fired all he has to do is buy Disney first.
CNN
—
Elon Musk wants Bob Iger fired.
The X owner and erratic billionaire conspiracy theorist went on a rampage Thursday against the Disney chief executive, assailing Iger for the Magic Kingdom’s decision to pull advertisements from his imperiled social media platform, and declaring that Iger should be forcibly removed from his job.
“He should be fired immediately,” Musk, who often uses his influential perch to bully critics and others, wrote about Iger on the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company.”
Representatives for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Iger is widely credited for boosting Disney into an entertainment juggernaut through a series of well-executed acquisitions — Star Wars, Marvel Studios, and Pixar — during his first stint as chief executive.
Disney, like a slew of other major companies, stopped advertising on X last month, after Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory popular among White supremacists. Musk tacitly apologized for the post last week after the flurry of companies ceased their relationships with X, but simultaneously delivered a profanity-laced message to companies who decline to purchase ads from his social media platform.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his security detail depart the company's local office in Washington, U.S. January 27, 2023.
Major brands are not only pausing ads on Elon Musk’s X. They’re stepping away from the platform altogether
“Go f**k yourself,” Musk repeatedly said on stage to the fleeing brands at The New York Times DealBook Summit.
At the summit, Musk singled out Iger, ranting against the Disney boss after he had explained earlier in the day that the entertainment giant had made the decision to stop advertising on X because of Musk.
“We just felt that the association with… Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us,” Iger said.
The decision to pull advertisements also came amid a broader trend on the social media website. Since Musk took over in late 2022, he has made a number of decisions that have contributed to a surge in hate speech, misinformation, and conspiracy theories on the platform.
Musk has himself repeatedly contributed to the toxicity of X. Most recently, he boosted the false – and dangerous — Pizzagate conspiracy theory. Since he acquired the company, he has also smeared the press, launched ugly attacks on the Anti-Defamation League, and elevated extremists on the platform.
The lack of major advertising partners has taken an enormous financial toll on X, which generates the vast majority of its revenue from advertising. Musk himself acknowledged at the DealBook Summit that the current dearth of major advertisers will likely lead to the death of his company.
“What this advertising boycott is going to do, it’s going to kill the company,” Musk candidly said.
Musk, however, has taken no real personal responsibility for the dire state of affairs at X. Instead, he has sought to portray the advertisers at fault, suggesting that they will be responsible for X’s demise, should it happen.
PP
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/07/business ... index.html
If he wants to have Iger fired all he has to do is buy Disney first.
CNN
—
Elon Musk wants Bob Iger fired.
The X owner and erratic billionaire conspiracy theorist went on a rampage Thursday against the Disney chief executive, assailing Iger for the Magic Kingdom’s decision to pull advertisements from his imperiled social media platform, and declaring that Iger should be forcibly removed from his job.
“He should be fired immediately,” Musk, who often uses his influential perch to bully critics and others, wrote about Iger on the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company.”
Representatives for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Iger is widely credited for boosting Disney into an entertainment juggernaut through a series of well-executed acquisitions — Star Wars, Marvel Studios, and Pixar — during his first stint as chief executive.
Disney, like a slew of other major companies, stopped advertising on X last month, after Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory popular among White supremacists. Musk tacitly apologized for the post last week after the flurry of companies ceased their relationships with X, but simultaneously delivered a profanity-laced message to companies who decline to purchase ads from his social media platform.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his security detail depart the company's local office in Washington, U.S. January 27, 2023.
Major brands are not only pausing ads on Elon Musk’s X. They’re stepping away from the platform altogether
“Go f**k yourself,” Musk repeatedly said on stage to the fleeing brands at The New York Times DealBook Summit.
At the summit, Musk singled out Iger, ranting against the Disney boss after he had explained earlier in the day that the entertainment giant had made the decision to stop advertising on X because of Musk.
“We just felt that the association with… Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us,” Iger said.
The decision to pull advertisements also came amid a broader trend on the social media website. Since Musk took over in late 2022, he has made a number of decisions that have contributed to a surge in hate speech, misinformation, and conspiracy theories on the platform.
Musk has himself repeatedly contributed to the toxicity of X. Most recently, he boosted the false – and dangerous — Pizzagate conspiracy theory. Since he acquired the company, he has also smeared the press, launched ugly attacks on the Anti-Defamation League, and elevated extremists on the platform.
The lack of major advertising partners has taken an enormous financial toll on X, which generates the vast majority of its revenue from advertising. Musk himself acknowledged at the DealBook Summit that the current dearth of major advertisers will likely lead to the death of his company.
“What this advertising boycott is going to do, it’s going to kill the company,” Musk candidly said.
Musk, however, has taken no real personal responsibility for the dire state of affairs at X. Instead, he has sought to portray the advertisers at fault, suggesting that they will be responsible for X’s demise, should it happen.
PP
Re: Elon Strikes Again
SpaceX illegally fired workers critical of Elon Musk, U.S. labor agency says
A regional official with the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint claiming SpaceX violated the workers’ rights under federal labor law to band together and advocate for better working conditions.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ ... rcna132250
Rocket and satellite maker SpaceX on Wednesday was accused by a U.S. labor agency of unlawfully firing eight employees for circulating a letter calling founder and CEO Elon Musk a “distraction and embarrassment.”
A regional official with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint claiming SpaceX violated the workers’ rights under federal labor law to band together and advocate for better working conditions.
The letter sent to SpaceX executives in June 2022 focused on a series of tweets Musk had made since 2020, many of which were sexually suggestive. The employees claimed Musk’s statements did not align with the company’s policies on diversity and workplace misconduct, and called on SpaceX to condemn them.
The complaint also accuses SpaceX of interrogating employees about the letter, disparaging the workers who were involved, and threatening to fire workers who engaged in similar activity.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SpaceX has a “toxic culture” where harassment is tolerated, particularly against women, Deborah Lawrence, one of the employees who was fired, said in a statement provided by her lawyers.
“We wrote the open letter to leadership not out of malice, but because we cared about the mission and the people around us,” Lawrence said.
The NLRB’s general counsel acts like a prosecutor and brings cases to the five-member board appointed by the president.
If SpaceX does not settle, the case will be heard by an administrative judge, whose decision can be appealed to the board and then to a federal appeals court. A hearing is scheduled for March 5.
When the NLRB finds that firings violated labor law, it can order that workers be reinstated and given back pay. If SpaceX is found to have violated the law, it could also face steeper penalties in future cases before the board.
The case is the latest to accuse companies run by Musk of violating employees’ rights under labor and employment laws.
Reuters in November documented at least 600 previously unreported workplace injuries at SpaceX facilities, including crushed limbs, electrocution, head injuries and one death. SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment on the findings.
In October, the NLRB issued a complaint accusing X, the Musk-owned social media service formerly known as Twitter, of illegally firing an employee over tweets challenging the company’s return-to-office policy. X has denied wrongdoing.
And electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), where Musk is CEO, has faced several NLRB complaints amid a union organizing campaign and numerous lawsuits alleging widespread race discrimination at its factories. Tesla has said it does not tolerate discrimination.
PP
A regional official with the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint claiming SpaceX violated the workers’ rights under federal labor law to band together and advocate for better working conditions.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ ... rcna132250
Rocket and satellite maker SpaceX on Wednesday was accused by a U.S. labor agency of unlawfully firing eight employees for circulating a letter calling founder and CEO Elon Musk a “distraction and embarrassment.”
A regional official with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint claiming SpaceX violated the workers’ rights under federal labor law to band together and advocate for better working conditions.
The letter sent to SpaceX executives in June 2022 focused on a series of tweets Musk had made since 2020, many of which were sexually suggestive. The employees claimed Musk’s statements did not align with the company’s policies on diversity and workplace misconduct, and called on SpaceX to condemn them.
The complaint also accuses SpaceX of interrogating employees about the letter, disparaging the workers who were involved, and threatening to fire workers who engaged in similar activity.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SpaceX has a “toxic culture” where harassment is tolerated, particularly against women, Deborah Lawrence, one of the employees who was fired, said in a statement provided by her lawyers.
“We wrote the open letter to leadership not out of malice, but because we cared about the mission and the people around us,” Lawrence said.
The NLRB’s general counsel acts like a prosecutor and brings cases to the five-member board appointed by the president.
If SpaceX does not settle, the case will be heard by an administrative judge, whose decision can be appealed to the board and then to a federal appeals court. A hearing is scheduled for March 5.
When the NLRB finds that firings violated labor law, it can order that workers be reinstated and given back pay. If SpaceX is found to have violated the law, it could also face steeper penalties in future cases before the board.
The case is the latest to accuse companies run by Musk of violating employees’ rights under labor and employment laws.
Reuters in November documented at least 600 previously unreported workplace injuries at SpaceX facilities, including crushed limbs, electrocution, head injuries and one death. SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment on the findings.
In October, the NLRB issued a complaint accusing X, the Musk-owned social media service formerly known as Twitter, of illegally firing an employee over tweets challenging the company’s return-to-office policy. X has denied wrongdoing.
And electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), where Musk is CEO, has faced several NLRB complaints amid a union organizing campaign and numerous lawsuits alleging widespread race discrimination at its factories. Tesla has said it does not tolerate discrimination.
PP
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Former Twitter execs sue Elon Musk over severance payments
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/04/tech/for ... index.html
A group of former Twitter executives sued Elon Musk on Monday in a bid to recover more than $128 million in severance that they allege Musk has not paid since he acquired the company, now called X, more than a year ago.
The executives include former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, former Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde and former General Counsel Sean Edgett — all of whom were fired within hours after Musk took control of Twitter.
The lawsuit alleges that Musk declined to make the severance payments as a form of “revenge” against the executives after he was forced to go through with the $44 billion acquisition deal that he had spent months trying to get out of.
“Because Musk decided he didn’t want to pay Plaintiffs’ severance benefits, he simply fired them without reason, then made up fake cause and appointed employees of his various companies to uphold his decision,” the complaint, filed Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, states. “He claimed in his termination letters that each Plaintiff committed ‘gross negligence’ and ‘willful misconduct’ without citing a single fact in support of this claim.”
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Monday’s lawsuit is just the latest legal action brought by former Twitter employees related to Musk’s acquisition. One lawsuit brought by a former Twitter human resources leader in July, seeking class action status, seeks an order for Musk and the company to pay additional severance benefits allegedly owed to former employees in an amount no less than $500 million. The company has also been accused of failing to pay annual bonuses to employees laid off after Musk’s takeover.
Agrawal, Gadde and Segal also previously sued Musk to recover more than $1 million in legal fees they said they were owed; the company was ordered to pay the fees in a Delaware Chancery Court ruling last year.
Musk and X have also faced lawsuits from vendors, landlords and business partners who claim the company has failed to pay what they are owed.
“Musk’s refusal to pay Plaintiffs is part of a larger pattern and practice of failing to comply with his payment obligations,” the former executives claimed in Monday’s lawsuit.
PP
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/04/tech/for ... index.html
A group of former Twitter executives sued Elon Musk on Monday in a bid to recover more than $128 million in severance that they allege Musk has not paid since he acquired the company, now called X, more than a year ago.
The executives include former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, former Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde and former General Counsel Sean Edgett — all of whom were fired within hours after Musk took control of Twitter.
The lawsuit alleges that Musk declined to make the severance payments as a form of “revenge” against the executives after he was forced to go through with the $44 billion acquisition deal that he had spent months trying to get out of.
“Because Musk decided he didn’t want to pay Plaintiffs’ severance benefits, he simply fired them without reason, then made up fake cause and appointed employees of his various companies to uphold his decision,” the complaint, filed Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, states. “He claimed in his termination letters that each Plaintiff committed ‘gross negligence’ and ‘willful misconduct’ without citing a single fact in support of this claim.”
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Monday’s lawsuit is just the latest legal action brought by former Twitter employees related to Musk’s acquisition. One lawsuit brought by a former Twitter human resources leader in July, seeking class action status, seeks an order for Musk and the company to pay additional severance benefits allegedly owed to former employees in an amount no less than $500 million. The company has also been accused of failing to pay annual bonuses to employees laid off after Musk’s takeover.
Agrawal, Gadde and Segal also previously sued Musk to recover more than $1 million in legal fees they said they were owed; the company was ordered to pay the fees in a Delaware Chancery Court ruling last year.
Musk and X have also faced lawsuits from vendors, landlords and business partners who claim the company has failed to pay what they are owed.
“Musk’s refusal to pay Plaintiffs is part of a larger pattern and practice of failing to comply with his payment obligations,” the former executives claimed in Monday’s lawsuit.
PP
Re: Elon Strikes Again
Sounds like the next Donald Trump.Musk and X have also faced lawsuits from vendors, landlords and business partners who claim the company has failed to pay what they are owed.
“Musk’s refusal to pay Plaintiffs is part of a larger pattern and practice of failing to comply with his payment obligations,” the former executives claimed in Monday’s lawsuit.