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Elon Musk Pulls Out of $44bn Deal To Secure Twitter Ownership

Elon Musk Pulls Out of $44bn Deal To Secure Twitter Ownership

Billionaire Elon Musk has pulled out of an agreement he had reached with the board of Twitter to takeover the social media platform.

The deal that had previously been agreed was said to be worth an estimated $44bn. However, Musk has now back out because of Twitter’s failure to supply enough information on the number of spam and fake accounts.

The Tesla owner was set to take charge of the company that has heavily criticized in the past by various politicians and regulators as well as Musk himself claiming that it has not been used as a platform for “free speech”.

Musk had initially bid on the 14th April for $53.20 a share, approximately $43bn, and since then there had been extensive negotiations between the two parties.

The initial bid from Musk was rebuffed by the Twitter board but they did manage to agree a deal.

In a statement provided to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, representatives for Mr Musk said Twitter breached terms of an agreement and “appears to have made false and misleading representations”.

“Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr Musk’s requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr Musk incomplete or unusable information,” the statement continued,” the statement read.

Twitter’s chairman Bret Taylor revealed on the social media site that the company is “committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement”.

“We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery,” he continued.

The original agreement contains a $1bn (£830m) break-up fee.

According to Forbes magazine, Musk is the richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of $273.6bn. In addition to his ownership of Tesla, he has also co-founded many other major companies such as SpaceX, OpenAI, Neuralink and Starlink.

When announcing the initial agreement on the platform, Musk tweeted: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated

“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans,” he added.

“Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

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Social Media Sites Return Following Outage

Social Media Sites Return Following Outage

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are running again after an outage that barred people from all across the world from accessing its services which lasted for nearly six hours.

All three platforms crashed on Monday afternoon at around 12:00 AST and services remained down until 18:00 AST, as users failed to receive and send messages or refresh their feeds.

Facebook named the cause of the outage due to a “faulty configuration change” which not only affected their services but also their employees passes and emails.

CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, apologised for the outage after the three sites had been restored, saying in a Facebook post: “”Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now.

“Sorry for the disruption today – I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about.”

It is reported that the outage affected Zuckerberg himself as according to Fortune, a business website, the founder of Facebook had lost an estimated $6bn in shares during one point of the outage.

Downdetector, a platform that tracks outages from various sites, stated that around 10.6 million issues were reported from across the world. Reports came from areas including North and South America, Russia, New Zealand, Europe and Australia. Despite this, with more than 3.5 billion users from all sites, the real number of people affected would have been significantly more.

Security experts have predicted other possible cause for the outage with suggestions including a sabotage from an insider or an unintentional mistake.

Facebook released a statement, which said: “”To all the people and businesses around the world who depend on us, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused by today’s outage across our platforms.

“We’ve been working as hard as we can to restore access, and our systems are now back up and running.

“The underlying cause of this outage also impacted many of the internal tools and systems we use in our day-to-day operations, complicating our attempts to quickly diagnose and resolve the problem.

“Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centres caused issues that interrupted this communication.

“This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centres communicate, bringing our services to a halt.

“Our services are now back online and we’re actively working to fully return them to regular operations.

“We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change.

“We also have no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime.”

Due to the outage of these sites, other social media giants such as Twitter and TikTok benefitted, as they reported higher-than-normal usage, with Twitter recording its highest number of people on its platform at one time.

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Social Media sites Remove Offensive Comments following Lizzo Abuse

Social Media Sites Remove Offensive Comments Following Lizzo Abuse

Facebook and Twitter have withdrawn numerous comments from Lizzo’s pages following the abusive remarks she had sustained on the social media platforms.

Action has been taken as the singer-songwriter revealed the amount of ‘hurtful’ abusive comments she had received following the release of her latest song, Rumours.

After the release of the song on 13th August, which also features popular rapper Cardi B, Lizzo was instantly targeted with large amounts of negative and abhorrent abuse, specifically related to her race and her body.

Lizzo has come out on Instagram, breaking down in tears revealing: “On the days when I should feel the happiest, I feel so down. Sometimes I feel like the world just don’t love me back. It’s like it doesn’t matter how much positive energy you put into the world, you’re still gonna have people who have something mean to say about you.”

A spokesman representing Facebook has come out and told The Hollywood Reporter the comments had been pulled off the site because they broke the social media site’s regulations regarding hate speech, harassment and bullying.

The Detroit-born artist in an interview with Good Morning America on Wednesday explained how she doesn’t mind receiving critical messages on the different songs she delivers however, the some of the treatment she gets specifically fat-shaming comments are unfair.”

Lizzo continued to let viewers know that “self-love is a journey”, while also saying “vulnerability is sexy and extremely powerful.”

The singer has also gathered positive messages of support from many of her followers in the days after.

Lizzo’s collaborator, Cardi B, has heavily supported the singer amongst the negative comments, stating: “Body-shaming is mean and racist.”

“Whether you skinny, big, plastic, remember these are nerds looking at the popular table.”

This is not the only time where social media sites have had issues with celebrities experiencing large amounts of abusive comments. In recent years, countless celebrities have come out and questioned platforms such as Twitter and Instagram and whether they should remain on their sites.

SEE ALSO: Fast & Furious 10 Official Release Date Announced

 

 

 

justin bieber

Justin Bieber Denies Sexual Assault Allegations, Plans to Take Legal Action

Following the #MeToo movement, more and more survivors of sexual assault have felt the courage to speak up about their personal experiences. One anonymous Twitter user has recently come forward to share her story, claiming that Canadian pop star Justin Bieber sexually assaulted her in 2014. However, the Intentions singer has come forward with a series of tweets denying the incident. In fact, based on his timeline, he’s claiming that the events are “factually impossible.”

The woman, who goes by the name Danielle, tweeted from an anonymous account @danielleglvn  Saturday night. The account was removed from Twitter shortly after Bieber publicly commented on the situation. According to Danielle, the incident allegedly took place at a hotel in Austin, Texas, on March 9, 2014. But Justin Bieber has refuted allegations that he sexually assaulted her—and he has the receipts to prove it.

The original tweets have been removed from the micro-blogging site. Fortunately, PopCrave has reposted the photo series:

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Bieber quickly refuted these claims, providing his Twitter followers a series of articles, emails, and receipts as evidence that this incident is “factually impossible.”

Justin Bieber Tweets

See also: J Crew Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Following Danielle’s story, another Twitter user has come forward claiming that Bieber also allegedly assaulted her in 2015. Bieber has yet to respond to those accusations.

 

Kevin Hart Steps Down As Oscars Host

Kevin Hart Steps Down As Oscars Host

Kevin Hart has announced that he will no longer be hosting the 2019 Oscars ceremony.

On Thursday night, the comedian-actor took to Twitter to issue an apology to the LGBTQ community for past “insensitive words” and to confirm he will not be a “distraction” at the Oscars.

The apology and step-down follow an outcry after homophobic comments and tweets from the Ride Along and Jumanji star resurfaced.

What happened?

On Tuesday December 4, Hart—who is currently performing in New Zealand—revealed that he would host Hollywood’s prestigious Oscars ceremony in February 2019.

“I am so happy to say that the day has finally come for me to host the Oscars,” he wrote.

“I am blown away simply because this has been a goal on my list for a long time.”

The backlash

A significant number of Hart’s tweets from between 2009 to 2011 promptly flooded the internet, in which he had used homophobic slurs and derogatory language.

In a tweet from 2011, among some that have been deleted, Hart said: “Yo if my son comes home & try’s 2 play with my daughters doll house I’m going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice ‘stop that’s gay’.”

A video from a 2010 standup special also resurfaced; where Hart delivers an entire standup routine based on the fear his three-year-old son would be gay.

This led people to criticize the Academy’s decision to make him host.

The apology

On Thursday, Hart addressed the situation by posting a video of himself to Instagram that did not feature an apology.

Instead, he said: “Our world is becoming beyond crazy, and I’m not going to let the craziness frustrate me.” The post’s caption read: “I am truly happy people … there is nothing that you can do to change that … NOTHING.”

Hours later, he posted yet another Instagram video, detailing that he had received a call from the Academy telling him to apologize or be removed as host.

“I chose to pass, I passed on the apology. The reason I chose to pass is because I’ve addressed this several times. This is not the first time this has come up, I’ve addressed this. I’m not going to continue to go back and tap into the days of old when I’ve moved on and I’m in a completely different space in my life.”

By Thursday night however, Hart had posted an apology.

“I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscars,” he wrote.

“This is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.

“I’m sorry that I hurt people. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love and appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.”

Among those to question the backlash is Nick Cannon, who reposted old tweets from female comics Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, and Chelsea Handler, which all feature similar slurs.

So, who will host the Oscars now?

Market Yourself Social Media

Market Yourself on Social Media

Statistics tell us that in 2017 alone 81 percent of Americans had a social media profile—but how can you market yourself on social media professionally?

It’s amazing the way people perceive someone from a simple, yet detailed, social media website such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. The saying is true: “A picture says a thousand words.” So how do you make yourself more appealing when it comes to prospective head hunters looking for their next applicant?

To market yourself on social media, eliminate all those old photos starring you holding a beer bong or a bottle of liquor with your tongue hanging out—for starters. Sure, save them onto your computer so you can look back someday and laugh at your memories, but remove them from social media because employers will take a look at a candidate’s social media profiles. The last impression you want to make on a prospective employer is that you’re unprofessional and irresponsible. There’s a time and place for everything, and as we get older, we need to leave a lasting, positive impression for those who may help us plant seeds for long and prosperous career.

A person’s perception of you can change in an instant. All it takes is some light “Facebook stalking” to find out where you might live, who you’re currently dating and the things you enjoy doing. I, personally, have found myself reeling in shock after seeing an old friend’s social media page. It makes you wonder what kind of life they’re living and this is what potential employers will think, as well. Even though you may not be connected on social media, your profile picture is very much visible and certain information about yourself could be posted publicly. To market yourself on social media to a professional standard, hide anything that may potentially harm your reputation—such as offensive public statuses or tweets—and make a future boss reconsider adding you to the team. Instead, consider publishing your academic and professional achievements. You can also use platforms like Twitter and Facebook to build a network of like-minded professionals by making groups or forums for topical discussions. This will help future employers see that you are serious and passionate about the industry you’re applying for.

Not every profile photo of yours needs to be of you wearing professional attire or a head shot you had snapped at Sears. Just try to keep it moderately conservative and classy. Don’t be too revealing in certain areas—if you catch my drift. Men: this goes for you, too. Keep status updates to a minimum so it doesn’t appear that you spend a majority of your day with your nose in your phone. Yes, we all have our opinions on politics, children and lifestyles; to a head hunter, however, an aggressive and assertive personality could spark controversy in an office setting—this is a big turn-off for someone in search of a solid candidate. So keep those blunt thoughts between you and friends, and off of your social media accounts.

I’m not saying do not be true to who you are—by all means, be yourself. Just remember though, you’re not the only person viewing your profile. Words mean something, an image represents something, and social media portrays you. Don’t be fake, just be smart. A positive mind is the beginning to a positive life. You know that Memories notification you get on Facebook every day that displays everything you posted on that very day over the past um-teen years? Wouldn’t you love to look back at it in a year and say, “Wow, I’ve come a long way since then.” Welcome to adulthood!

Further reading: Using LinkedIn