Tag Archives: Twitter

Elon Musk is at war with Apple

Tesla`s CEO, and the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, is at war with Apple. Musk says Apple threatened to remove Twitter from the App store. Not only that. Apple has also stopped advertising on Twitter.

On Monday, Elon Musk tweeted: «Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won`t tell us why.»

Apple is the world`s most valuable company and has huge power. The company was the top advertiser on Twitter and accounted for more than 4 percent of Twitter`s revenue in the first quarter of this year.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Pexels.com

Apple spent nearly $50 million on ads on Twitter, which is a huge loss for a company like Twitter. But if Apple were to block Twitter from its App Store, people would be unable to download the Twitter App on their iPhones, and iPads. It will also be problematic for existing users.

Twitter has warned investors in regulatory filings that the success of its services is dependent on their surviving review for compliance with App Store.

«Such review processes can be difficult to predict and certain decisions may harm our business,» the company wrote in a filing to the SEC last year.

«Failure to adhere to Apple`s and Google`s guidelines would be catastrophic, risking Twitter`s expulsion from their app stores and making it more difficult for billions of potential users to get Twitter`s services,» Yoel Roth, the company`s former head of Trust and Safety, wrote in a New York Times op-ed.

On Monday, Elon Musk also tweeted this: «Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?» But Apple didn`t respond to this.

Musk has attacked Apple in a series of tweets after his takeover. He sought to stoke long-running concerns and political scrutiny over Apple`s market power. He tweeted a link to a parody video that Apple foe Epic Games made in 2020 criticizing the App Store as a «monopoly.»

He also tweeted a yes or no poll, asking his more than 119 million followers whether Apple should «publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.» In another tweet, Musk said: «Did you know Apple puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy through their App Store?»

But there are more problems for Musk and Twitter. The EU has raised the prospect of a substantial fine or ban for Twitter after warning that it must «significantly increase» efforts to comply with new online legislation.

Twitter`s new owner, Elon Musk, was told he had «huge work ahead» to comply with the EU`s Digital Services Act, which requires tech firms to tackle problems including abusive posts and disinformation.

«I welcome Elon Musk`s statement of intent to get Twitter 2,0 ready for the DSA,» the EU`s commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton said. «I am pleased to hear that he has read it carefully and considers it as a sensible approach to implementing on a worldwide basis. But let`s also be clear that there is still huge work ahead, as Twitter will have to implement transparent user policies, significantly reinforce content moderation and protect freedom of speech.»

The Financial Times reported that Breton reiterated the punishments for breaches of the act, which include fines of up to 6% of global turnover, which would be around $500m in Twitter`s case, or a temporary suspension of the service if refused to comply endangers people`s life and safety. Suspension is described by the EU as a «last resort.»

Musk has fired half of Twitter`s 7,500 staff since buying the company for $44 billion in October. Another 1,200 was leaving the company in November after Musk told the remaining staff to commit to being «hardcore» or leave.

In November last year, I wrote an article about Musk and his potential Tesla phone, the Model Pi Smartphone. A phone that is connected to your Tesla EV which is also connected to the Starlink satellite.

The Tesla smartphone Model Pi is equipped with a quality 4K screen, has four cameras, and is powered by Snapdragon 898 SoC chip. Is this the reason why Apple is threatening Musk and Twitter?

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at Monday`s briefing that the White House was «keeping an eye on» Musk`s handling of Twitter.

There is no doubt: Elon Musk is at war with Apple.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shinybull.com. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Shinybull.com nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities, or other financial instruments. Shinybull.com and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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Elon Musk posted a Nazi picture and told his Twitter followers to vote for Republicans

The world`s richest man and new Twitter owner and CEO made his views clear before the US midterm election in 2022. The Tesla founder encouraged «independent-minded voters» to follow his lead and vote Republican in the midterm elections.

He posted a photo of a Nazi soldier with a crate of carrier pigeons on his back, with an unread notifications badge photoshopped onto the cage. 60 minutes later he tweeted a new message to «independent-minded voters»:

«Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic».

The tweet gained over 11,000 retweets and over 71,000 less than 30 minutes after it was posted.

«Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who`s in charge!» Musk added in another tweet.

This is interesting, because Elon Musk, like many, many others, voted for a Republican for the first time.

«I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically – overwhelmingly. Like, I`m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear. Now this election, I will,» he said earlier this year.

Elon Musk acquired Twitter a few weeks ago, and he stated his goal in purchasing Twitter was to protect the freedom of speech, saying in a statement last week that a public square open to diverse opinions is necessary for democracy to thrive.

In May, Musk promised to allow former president Donald Trump back on the site when he took over, a move that earned him support from conservatives who view Musk as a free-speech savior. The decision to ban Trump was «morally bad» and «foolish in the extreme,» Musk said at the time.

Donald Trump has helped Elon Musk in many business cases, but Trump is doing things his way with his own Truth Social platform. Trump is the man who started «Fake News» the day he was inaugurated, and MSM has attacked him since then.

President Joe Biden said he hoped the Democrats will pick up seats in both the house and senate on Tuesday. But history tells us a different story, and it says they probably won’t. Just look at the seven last presidents from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump and their loss in the midterm election.

No one lost more seats than Obama. He lost 91 seats, while Trump lost «only» 38 seats. Exactly what Ronald Reagan lost in the 80s in his midterm election.

In the house, there are 433 seats, and all of them are being contested. The Republicans only need to pick five seats to take control, and polls indicate that they can do that easily. They will probably pick up more.

The Senate is a toss-up with 35 seats contested. Right now the divide is 50/50. The Republicans only need one seat to take control. The Senate could come down to a close race in a number of states, including Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. For all I know, it may take some days to get the right answer.

Many investors hope to see a flip in the Senate on Tuesday, and that will change the US policy with no more bills, no more spending, no more taxes, and no more of anything for the next two years. People believe there is too much big government, and too much spending, and wants to see Washington shut down at midnight on Tuesday. Will investors be disappointed on Tuesday? Time will show.

According to democrats, «Democracy is going to die on Tuesday». Biden and Obama warned voters that democracy is at stake. Obama also said so in 2020. But this is not something new.

«The future of democracy is topic number one in the animated discussion going on all over America,» a contributor to the New York Times wrote in 1937.

«Epitaphs for democracy are the fashion of the day», the soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote in 1930.

In the 1930s, people all over the world, liberals, hoped that the United States would find a middle road between the malignity of a state-run economy and the mercilessness of laissez-faire capitalism.

Roosevelt campaigned in 1932 on the promise to rescue American democracy by «a new deal for the American people,» his version of that third way: relief, recovery, and reform. He won 42 of 48 states.

In the 1920s and 30s, American magazines continued the trend from the early 1900s, in which hardly a month went by without their taking stack; «Is Democracy doomed?» «Can Democracy survive?» (Those were the past century`s versions of more recent titles, such as «How Democracy ends,» «Why liberalism failed,» «How the right lost its mind,» and «How Democracies die.»

In 1939, the World`s Fair opened in Queens, New York featuring an exhibit called the Democracy, a model of utopia that was in keeping with the event`s chipper motto, «The World of tomorrow.»

«A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world`s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage,» Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747 – 1813) said.

Tytler expressed a critical view of democracy in general and representative democracies such as republics in particular. He believed that «a pure democracy is a chimera», and that «all government is essential of the nature of a monarchy».

The following quotation has been attributed to Tytler, although it has also been occasionally attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville: «A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.»

Democracy means «demos», meaning people, and «Kratos» meaning power, so democracy can be thought of as the «power of the people». A way of governing that depends on the will of the people.

Democracy is threatened by the inertia of good people, by the selfishness of most people, and by the evil designs of a few people, Stanley Kings said. And the best guarantee for a continuing democracy is an informed people.

«It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time,» Churchill once said. But democracy is something we must always be working at. It is a process never finished, never-ending.

Tuesday`s midterm elections are on pace for a record turnout, with more than 40 million ballots already cast nationwide. In other words; early voting has already surpassed the 2018 Midterm Election.

Republicans are expected to take the House of Representatives on Tuesday, though control over the Senate is a toss-up, according to polls.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shinybull.com. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Shinybull.com nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities, or other financial instruments. Shinybull.com and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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Trump to speak at CPAC on Sunday

Trump is silenced on Twitter, but he will have his first speech since leaving the White House on Sunday. A former senior adviser to President Trump, Stephen Miller predicts he will talk about the U.S economy, to open the schools back up again, and immigration.

Furthermore, he will talk about standing up against Communist China and the blue-collar working-class agenda. American conservative union chair, Matt Schlapp said that one of the reasons Trump was a great conservative president is because conservatives didn`t immediately go on the attack like so many others in the establishment.

Focus on the politics. Not the person, Matt said. This is probably why so many were blinded by hate. These people painted themself into a corner and stayed there for four years. That is painful and a big mistake.

Everybody is looking forward to Trump`s speech on CPAC on Sunday.

To contact the author: post@shinybull.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shinybull.com. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Shinybull.com nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities, or other financial instruments. Shinybull.com and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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Snap Inc was a bubble but is now down to a normal level again

Snapchat was a big bubble when it went public in March last year. It went straight up to about $27, but the story has so far been a disaster. The stock has plummeted. It closed at $6,59 after the bell on Wednesday, down -3,37 percent.

Snap is losing money, and they still have negative user growth. Two things investors don`t like at all. The company will report earnings on Thursday 25, and the reported earnings for the same quarter last year was $-0,32.

If we compare Snap with Facebook and Twitter, the company is now down to earth again. But when it comes to popularity, Instagram is more popular among teenagers than Snapchat. A survey found that 85 percent of teens use Instagram at least once a month. 84 percent use Snapchat.

The company have 188 million Daily users and most of them is kids. Snaps CEO Evan Spiegel admitted the company rushed the redesign, and they didnt spend enough time to test the new platform. It all ended up with angry users.

Snaps market capitalization also fell by about $12 billion after a bad ad campaign with Rihanna. She used Facebooks Instagram to complain about the ad with Snap.

Snap need to report a growth in DAU`s to lift the stock again. A decline in their DAU can make the trend to continue. What we know so far is that this stock is very volatile and you can see how the stock jumped in February and June this year.

Snap Inc is expected to report earnings on Thursday 25, 2018, after market close. The report will for the fiscal Quarter ending September 2018. Earnings forecast for the quarter is $-0,27. Better than last years earnings at $-0,32.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shiny bull. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Shiny bull nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Shiny bull and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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Snap`s self-serve ads is finally ready to launch, but the drawback here is sliding ad inventory prices

Snap Inc is set to report second-quarter earnings after the market closes on Tuesday August 7. Historically, the company makes big moves in the wake of its quarterly reports. The average single-day price swing is about 24 percent regardless of direction.

Both Facebook and Twitter faces a challenging time. So do Snap Inc. GDPR pushed Facebook`s user counts down compared with the first quarter and that will also impact Snap Inc. Snap is a small company compared to Facebook, and they will not deal with the same level of scrutiny from lawmakers as Facebook.

EPS in March 2017 came in at -$2,31, but have since then been far better with -$,030 a year later. Analysts on average project Snap second-quarter revenue of $250,4 million, up from $182 million in the same quarter last year.

Facebook have the same tools as Snap and that is hurting their profit. Their biggest competitor is also Instagram which makes it difficult for them to be unique. But Snap launched the second version of its Spectacles product, sunglasses that let people take photos and video and use them within the Snapchat app.

This is also the only move that live up to its claims in the SEC filings that Snap Inc is a camera company.

Snap`s self-serve ads is finally ready to launch, but the drawback here is sliding ad inventory prices. Not good in the short run because Snap have only 191 million DAU`s, an increase of 4 million from the Q4 but below estimates of 194 million.

The company has also struggled with the impact of a product redesign in February that was widely criticized. That didn`t help the stock price that crashed to a record low on May 2 after it reported first-quarter earnings.

They missed views on revenue, user growth and several other key metrics, and analysts slashed price targets. The IPO was held in March 2017, and pricing shares were $17. It went up 2,5 percent on Monday and ended the session at $13,05. The stock is down 11 percent in 2018.

Will Snap Inc take a hit from the implementation of Europe`s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)? The same types of issues that led to big declines for Facebook and Twitter.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shiny bull. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Shiny bull nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Shiny bull and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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