Elon Musk – Twitter news latest: CEO’s net worth plummets $200m as he posts Twitter is ‘the best and the worst’

Twitter’s former director of product management says he’s worried that new owner Elon Musk’s massive layoffs at the company are coming at the exact wrong time, just as the midterm elections take place.

Edward Perez used to oversee the company’s civic integrity team, a 100-person unit that monitored the spread of mis- and disinformation across Twitter.

“I really am concerned that it feels like the drama around corporate takeover is sucking up all the oxygen in the room,” Mr Perez told Wired, adding that he’s worried about “potentially inadequate attention on these election-related issues.”

The Tesla billionaire has pushed through mass layoffs affecting about half of the company.

Observers have noted that Elon Musk shared a photo of a Nazi soldier in a post making a joke about social media.

On Monday, the new Twitter owner posted a photo of a soldier holding a cage with three carrier pigeons, with a superimposed red icon deonting unread messages, captioned with the phrase, “How times have changed.”

As Tori Otten of The New Republic notes, the meme is based on a picture of a Nazi soldier.

When Mr Musk planned to buy Twitter, observers warned that the billionaire would turn the network into a “supercharged engine of radicalisation.”

Elon Musk shocked some and thrilled others when he urged his legions of followers to vote for Republicans if they were “independent-minded.”

“Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” the new Twitter boss wrote on the social network.

Many were critical of the billionaire’s endorsement, arguing he was strengthening the increasingly right-wing GOP.

Others took issue with Mr Musk’s basic premise.

New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman argued in a piece on Tuesday that on a purely factual level, divided party government doesn’t necessarily mean better results for the economy or anything else.

“Divided government isn’t a good thing,” he wrote, arguing that relatively prosperous periods under divided government could be explained by larger factors outside of a split Congress.

“Extrapolating from the Clinton years, when partial government paralysis did relatively little harm, is a really bad idea.”

Hellsite. That is the word so often chosen by Twitter users to describe the website where, for their sins, they sink so much time. It is also very close to the word that tech tycoon Elon Musk used on Thursday night when he finally confirmed that he would buy the social network, which he promised not to turn into a “hellscape”.

Catch up on the Twitter story with this Voices column from Io Dodds.

Elon Musk has said that Twitter is the “worst”, but also the “best”, amid increasing criticism of his brief time owning it.

Mr Musk has faced criticism and a number of scandals in the time he has been owning and running the company, despite doing so for little over a week.

It wasn’t clear whether Mr Musk’s comments were describing the company, the site that it operates, or both.

“Twitter is the worst! But also the best,” he wrote on Twitter.

Andrew Griffin has the full story for The Independent.

Fans have shared their amused reactions to Ryan Reynolds joining Tumblr amid Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.

On Thursday, the 46-year-old actor shared his first Tumblr post, which included a meme from his hit film, Deadpool. In the days since, he has posted a handful of GIFs of himself on the platform, prompting mixed responses from fans to his page.

While some people claimed that Tumblr isn’t necessarily a place for celebrities, like Twitter has been, others welcomed Reynolds to the platform and encouraged him to share posts similar to what normal Tumblr bloggers would.

“I think the key to celebrities who survive Tumblr is that they understand we’re not here to follow them, they’re here to hang out with us,” one person wrote. “We’re here building a fort out of scraps of stuff we found in a dumpster and if Ryan Reynolds would like to sit down in the mud and contribute, he is welcome to. But the fort comes first.”

“You know maybe, we should let Ryan Reynolds stay – the guy has his likes and following hidden like a true Tumblrina,” another added.

Elon Musk has been slammed for telling “independent-minded voters” to turn out for Republican in the midterms.

On Monday morning, a day before the midterm elections on Tuesday, the Twitter owner tweeted that “shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic”.

“Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge!” he added.

Twitter users were quick to criticise Mr Musk.

“I’m an independent, and I’m voting straight blue down the ticket this year… Republicans have gone insane!” William LeGate responded.

Elon Musk could be asked to appear before the European Parliament to answer questions about his takeover of Twitter.

MEPs from the liberal Renew group have written to the EU legislature’s president asking her to invite the billionaire to attend a scrutiny session.

Dita Charanzová, the group’s top MEP on the European Parliament’s internal market committee, said Twitter could not be left to become a “dystopian hellscape” and that EU laws had to be followed.

Mr Musk has said he will focus on promoting free speech on the platform, though he has said he will respect local regulations.

“The bird might be free, but European values and laws must still apply to Twitter,” said Sophie in ‘t Veld, Renew’s top MEP on the civil liberties and home affairs committee.

The Taoiseach has said the Government is to consult tech giants whose Ireland-based employees are at risk of redundancy.

Micheal Martin said there are issues within the digital sector and he is concerned over the potential job losses in the state.

He made the comments as Tanaiste Leo Varadkar meets officials from the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) over job losses at Twitter.

Tweets falsely suggesting that Donald Trump has died are testing the content moderation of Elon Musk’s Twitter.

Huge number of users started posting tweets that suggested the former president had died in a protest against the new administration of Twitter.

As soon as Elon Musk announced he intended to buy the social network, questions arose of what kinds of content he would allow to be posted. He repeatedly indicated that he would be more permissive about the what could be said on the social network, describing himself as a free speech champion.

In response, some users have decided to test the moderation on the social network by posting false stories about Donald Trump, and see whether they would be taken down. They were led by Tim Heidecker, a comedian who encouraged others to share the false posts.