- Pledge against ‘abnormal pricing practices’ retracted two days after being announced by Chinese automaker group Fortune
- Tesla commits to promoting ‘core socialist values’ in pledge with Chinese auto companies Fox Business
- China’s auto group retracts pledge to avoid ‘abnormal pricing’ Nikkei Asia
- Tesla, Other Automakers Retract ‘Abnormal Prices’ Pledge In China – Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), BYD (OTC:BYDDF), Benzinga
- Tesla Updates Referral Program With Bigger Incentives, but Introduces Referral Limit Not a Tesla App
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: pledge
Ex-GOP Rep. Declines To Pledge Support For Trump In Order To Participate At GOP Primary Presidential Debate – HuffPost
- Ex-GOP Rep. Declines To Pledge Support For Trump In Order To Participate At GOP Primary Presidential Debate HuffPost
- Hurd says he won’t support Trump to get on GOP debate stage: ‘I can’t lie to get access to a microphone’ Yahoo News
- CloseUp: Hurd tours northern border as he joins presidential race WMUR-TV
- Hurd wishes GOP would ‘focus on war criminals’ like Putin, ‘not my friends in the LGBTQ community’ Yahoo News
- Can Will Hurd and other conservatives save the GOP from itself? The Dallas Morning News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Ex-GOP Rep. Declines To Pledge Support For Trump In Order To Participate At GOP Primary Presidential Debate – Yahoo! Voices
- Ex-GOP Rep. Declines To Pledge Support For Trump In Order To Participate At GOP Primary Presidential Debate Yahoo! Voices
- Hurd says he won’t support Trump to get on GOP debate stage: ‘I can’t lie to get access to a microphone’ Yahoo News
- CloseUp: Hurd tours northern border as he joins presidential race WMUR-TV
- Hurd wishes GOP would ‘focus on war criminals’ like Putin, ‘not my friends in the LGBTQ community’ Yahoo News
- Will Hurd failed the Trump test. He votes for party, not country. (Opinion) Houston Chronicle
Hospitals pledge to protect patient privacy. Almost all their websites leak visitor data like a sieve – STAT
- Hospitals pledge to protect patient privacy. Almost all their websites leak visitor data like a sieve STAT
- 99% of hospital homepages sending user data to third parties, study finds FierceHealthcare
- Widespread Third-Party Tracking On Hospital Websites Poses Privacy Risks For Patients And Legal Liability For Hospitals healthaffairs.org
- Most hospital websites routinely transfer patient data via tracking tools SC Media
- Some Hospital Websites May Be Violating Privacy Rules By Sharing Data With Third-Party Trackers Forbes
- View Full Coverage on Google News
UK claps back at Putin over nuclear escalation following depleted uranium ammo pledge: ‘not nuclear munitions’ – Fox News
- UK claps back at Putin over nuclear escalation following depleted uranium ammo pledge: ‘not nuclear munitions’ Fox News
- Putin warns UK over depleted uranium weapons – BBC News BBC News
- Putin says Russia will “respond accordingly” if Ukraine gets depleted uranium shells from U.K., claiming they have “nuclear component” CBS News
- Putin says Russia will react ‘accordingly’ if West sends ammunition with depleted uranium Fox News
- U.S. Army sets up garrison on NATO’s east flank; Will counter Putin’s ‘aggression’ from Poland Hindustan Times
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Russia strikes Ukraine’s cities hours after Western countries pledge tanks to Kyiv
CNN
—
Ukraine has urged the West to get military hardware into the hands of its troops as quickly as possible, as Russia fired missiles toward Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities just hours after Germany and the US announced their plans to provide modern tanks to the country.
Russia launched 55 missiles at Ukraine on Thursday morning, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram. Shmyhal said the salvo was aimed at the country’s “energy facilities” and some power substations had been hit.
“The main targets were energy facilities to deprive Ukrainians of power and warmth,” Shmyhal said on Telegram. “The majority of missiles and drones were intercepted by our defenders. Unfortunately there were hits at substations. Nevertheless the situation in the power grid remains under control. Power engineers are doing everything to provide power supply.”
Emergency power outages were introduced in the Kyiv region after the attack.
One person died in the capital, and an air raid alert was in place across the whole country, according to the city’s mayor. The person who died was identified as a 55-year-old man, who was killed “due to the fall of missile fragments,” he head of the Kyiv city military administration, Serhiy Popko, added.
Popko accused Russia of using the Iranian-made attack drones it sent to Ukraine overnight to try and distract Ukrainian air defense units. Fifteen attack drones were fired over over the capital on Thursday, “aimed not only at hitting targets on the ground,” he said. “According to the new tactics of the aggressor, the drones constitute the first wave of a combined air attack for detecting and exhausting Ukrainian air defense.”
The fresh assault comes amid Russian rage at the West’s decision to provide Ukraine with high-tech tanks. Germany finally approved the transport of Leopard 2 tanks on Wednesday, joining the US in sending a batch of vehicles after weeks of geopolitical negotiations.
But a race to get those tanks onto the battlefield has now begun, and Thursday’s attack indicates Moscow will aim to damage Ukrainian resolve in the intervening period.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the West for further weapons supplies following the attack.”This evil, this Russian aggression can and should be stopped only with adequate weapons,” Zelensky told Ukrainians in his nightly address on Thursday. “Weapons on the battlefield. Weapons that protect our skies.”
Ukraine was able to shoot down most of the missiles, a feat Zelensky attributed to the Western-donated air defense systems.
“Today, thanks to the air defense systems provided to Ukraine and the professionalism of our warriors, we managed to shoot down most of the Russian missiles and Shaheds,” he said. “These are at least hundreds of lives saved and dozens of infrastructure facilities preserved.”
Germany is planning to deliver its 14 pledged Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine by the end of March “at the latest,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced Thursday. That will follow a period of training for Ukrainian soldiers.
”This is not too late,” Pistorius said.
The arrival of 31 American Abrams tanks is expected to take far longer, given the complexity of the systems and the logistics of getting a battalion across the Atlantic Ocean and into eastern Ukraine. In the meantime, the US will begin a “comprehensive training program” for the Ukrainians, which will require significant maintenance once they are deployed, according to the White House.
Kyiv will hope that Germany’s Leopards are incorporated into their operations before an anticipated Russian offensive in the spring begins.
Alongside Russia’s Thursday attack on Ukraine came another round of anger from the Kremlin over the supply of tanks. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Moscow sees the delivery of modern Western battle tanks to Ukraine as “direct involvement” in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
But NATO nations dismissed Russia’s ire, and shown a willingness to open up a possible new stage of the war with weapons that will allow Ukraine to take the fighting to Moscow’s forces, rather than focus on repelling Russian attacks.
Kyiv is also continuing to press for more Western stocks, including improved missile systems and modern fighter jets. “We have to unlock the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine, it is important for us to expand our cooperation in artillery, we have to achieve the supply of aircraft to Ukraine,” Zelensky said on Wednesday, adding he had spoken with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg about the desire.
Zelensky referred to the request as “a dream,” but also “an important task for all of us,” indicating another lengthy period of international dialogue in which Ukraine will look to warm up the West to the entire of stepping up its military aid again.
The country’s defense minister meanwhile told CNN on Wednesday that Ukraine’s “wish list” for Western-supplied weapons includes fighter jets.
“I sent a wish list card to Santa Claus last year, and fighter jets also [were] including in this wish list,” Oleksii Reznikov told Christiane Amanpour.
But he said that his government’s first priority was air defense systems, to prevent Russia from carrying out air and missile strikes. “We have to close our sky, to defend our sky,” he said. “That’s priority number one. After that, we need to get more armed vehicles, tanks, artillery systems, UAVs, etc. etc. We have people, but we need weaponry.”
On the ground, Russian forces were “intensifying their pressure” on the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said on Wednesday.
“The intensity of the battles is increasing,” Hanna Maliar said on Telegram. “The enemy is intensifying their pressure at the Bakhmut and Vuhledar directions. Heavy fighting continues.” That account tallies with two Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut, who said Wednesday that Russian forces were attempting to advance north and south of the city, with one telling CNN that the situation was “very alarming.”
US, European allies pledge more military firepower for Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine war News
The United States and some of its European allies have announced significant new arms donations to Ukraine, including armoured vehicles and heavy weaponry, ahead of a crucial meeting on bolstering the country’s defences nearly a year after Russia invaded.
The US said its package of military support – which includes armoured personnel carriers, air defence systems and tens of thousands of rockets and artillery rounds – was worth some $2.5bn. There will be 59 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 90 Stryker Armoured Personnel Carriers, the US Defense Department said in a statement on Thursday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was a “significant new security assistance package to help Ukraine continue to defend itself against Russia’s brutal war.” The latest package brings US military assistance for Ukraine to some $27.4bn, he added.
Earlier, the United Kingdom, in a joint statement with defence ministers and representatives of nine European countries, said it would send 600 Brimstone missiles to Kyiv, while Denmark promised 19 French-made Caesar howitzers, and Sweden its Archer artillery system, a modern mobile howitzer Ukraine has been requesting for months.
“We recognise that equipping Ukraine to push Russia out of its territory is as important as equipping them to defend what they already have,” the statement said.
“Together we will continue supporting Ukraine to move from resisting to expelling Russian forces from Ukrainian soil. The new level of required combat power is only achieved by combinations of main battle tank squadrons, beneath air and missile defence, operating alongside divisional artillery groups, and further deep precision fires enabling targeting of Russian logistics and command nodes in occupied territory.”
The announcements came ahead of a meeting of defence and other officials from some 50 countries, including all 30 members of NATO, at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany to discuss support for Kyiv amid brutal battles in Ukraine’s east and Russia’s continued air attacks on its cities.
Looking ahead to the German talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Thursday that Kyiv expected “strong decisions” from the meeting.
“We are, in fact, now waiting for a decision from one European capital, which will activate the prepared chains of cooperation regarding tanks,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.
“We are preparing for the Ramstein meeting tomorrow. We are expecting strong decisions. We are expecting a powerful military aid package from the United States,” he added.
Kremlin warnings
Pressure on Germany to provide its modern Leopard 2 tanks is intensifying, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government so far appearing reluctant to authorise their transfer for fear of provoking Moscow. Germany has veto power over any potential transfer.
The Kremlin warned on Thursday that sending heavy weapons capable of striking Russian territory would be construed as an escalation.
“Potentially, this is extremely dangerous,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “It will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level which, of course, will not bode well from the point of view of global and pan-European security.”
Ukraine and Russia have both relied primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks, which have been destroyed in their hundreds during the war that began on February 24 last year when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops across the border in what he continues to call a “special military operation”.
Fearing the colder months will give Russian forces time to regroup and unleash a significant attack, Ukraine has stepped up calls on its allies to increase assistance.
During his trip to Washington, DC in December, Zelenskyy told the US Congress that supporting Ukraine was not charity but an investment in democracy.
Berlin on Thursday appeared to leave open the prospect of allowing allies to supply Ukraine with the requested tanks, saying the situation would “become clear in the next few hours or tomorrow morning”.
Lithuania’s defence minister, Arvydas Anusauskas, told the AFP news agency that “some countries will send” Leopard tanks to Ukraine, promising “more news tomorrow” at the talks.
Ukraine’s Western allies have been reluctant to transfer heavier weapons to avoid NATO appearing to confront Russia directly, but officials in Kyiv say tanks are crucial if Ukraine is to recapture land occupied by the Russians and defend itself from further attacks.
“From Washington to London, from Paris to Warsaw, you hear one thing: Ukraine needs tanks. Tanks are the key to ending the war properly. It is time to stop trembling before Putin and take the final step,” Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, CIA Director William Burns travelled in secret to Kyiv to meet Zelenskyy, a US official told the Reuters news agency on Thursday, declining to say when the visit took place.
The Washington Post, which first reported Burns’s trip, said the CIA director was in Ukraine at the end of last week and briefed Zelenskyy on how the US sees Russia setting its military plans in the coming weeks and months.
Fighting continued to be most intense in the eastern industrial region known as the Donbas, Ukrainian military officials said on Thursday night.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian forces shelled the town of Bakhmut, Russia’s main focus in the Donetsk province, which combined with the Luhansk province form the Donbas region.
Soledar, about 20 km (12 miles) from Bakhmut, also came under fire. Russian forces say they control the town, which is renowned for its salt mines, while Ukraine says its military is still fighting there.
Nearby towns also were shelled by Russian forces – including Klishchiivka, just south of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian military said. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Russian mercenary army, said his forces have taken control of Klishchiivka, a claim contested by Ukraine.
Foo Fighters end ‘the most difficult and tragic year that our band has ever known’ with pledge to carry on without Taylor Hawkins
After Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died suddenly on March 25, 2022, the future of the band was in doubt, given the extremely close friendship that Hawkins shared with Foos frontman Dave Grohl as well as his crucial role in the lineup (he’d been a core member since 1997, co-writing on every album starting with 1999’s There Is Nothing Left to Lose). Four days after Hawkins’s death, Foo Fighters indefinitely canceled all of their future gigs, including a performance at the 64th annual Grammys ceremony (where they ended up bittersweetly winning three awards in absentia.)
While Grohl has occasionally made live surprise cameos — with Lionel Richie at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, with Billie Eilish at Los Angeles’s Forum, with Sir Paul McCartney at Glastonbury — the band’s only live performances have been at two all-star tribute concerts held in London and Los Angeles this past September. But now, Foo Fighters have confirmed in an emotional social media post that they will carry on without Hawkins — even though they will understandably be a “different band.”
“As we say goodbye to the most difficult and tragic year that our band has ever known, we are reminded of how thankful we are for the people that we love and cherish most, and for the loved ones who are no longer with us,” the band stated. “Foo Fighters were formed 27 years ago to represent the healing power of music and a continuation of life. And for the past 27 years our fans have built a worldwide community, a devoted support system that has helped us all get through the darkest of times together. A place to share our joy and our pain, our hopes and fears, and to join in a chorus of life together through music. Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were — and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward. We also know that you, the fans, meant as much to Taylor as he meant to you. And we know that when we see you again — and we will soon — he’ll be there in spirit with all of us every night.”
The year and a half leading up to Hawkins’s shocking death had been an especially bustling and prolific time for the seemingly unstoppable Foo Fighters. They released their Grammy-winning 10th album Medicine at Midnight, the Record Store Day disco covers album Hail Satin, and the horror-comedy movie Studio 666; performed at President Joe Biden’s inauguration; received the Global Icon Award at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards; and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by McCartney.
The Foo Fighters were also one of the first actively touring bands to get back onstage once COVID restrictions eased up in 2021, starting with a six-song set at SoFi Stadium’s Vax Live event on May 2 that year, followed by a full 23-song show at the 610-capacity Canyon Club in Agoura, Calif., to celebrate the “reopening” of Los Angeles County nightlife on June 15. The Foos also reopened New York’s Madison Square Garden just five days after the Canyon Club show and headlined several festivals, including Lollapalooza in Chicago. Overall, they played about 40 shows in 2021, and at the time of Hawkins’s death, there had been roughly 60 dates, throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Australia, on the Foo Fighters’ calendar for 2022.
Hawkins’s final show with Foo Fighters was at Lollapalooza Argentina on March 20, 2022. Five days later, he was found dead in his hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia, just hours before the Foos were set to perform at the Estéreo Picnic Festival; in lieu of the concert, candles were placed onstage that night to honor him. Two months after his death, Rolling Stone published a bombshell report titled “Inside Taylor Hawkins’s Final Days as a Foo Fighter,” claiming that the drummer had been on the brink of exhaustion from playing so many physically taxing, nearly three-hour shows, and had been considering scaling back his duties or even quitting the band entirely because he “knew he didn’t have it in him.” The Foos’ camp never publicly addressed these claims, but two of Hawkins’s close friends who were interviewed for the piece, Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, blasted Rolling Stone‘s report.
A cause of death has still not been revealed, and Foo Fighters’ Dec. 31 statement did not mention who might replace Hawkins in the lineup or any specific plans for a new album or tour.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Follow Lyndsey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Amazon
Dow Jones Futures Await Fed’s Favorite Inflation Report; Tesla Rises Late On Elon Musk Pledge
Dow Jones futures tilted lower after hours, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. The Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge is on tap Friday morning, while Tesla stock rose late on Elon Musk comments.
X
The stock market suffered heavy losses Thursday, wiping out Wednesday’s gains and more amid negative corporate news and economic data as well as bearish comments from billionaire investor David Tepper. The major indexes broke key levels with many leading stocks skidding back. Stocks did pare losses, but the closing declines were still significant.
Nvidia (NVDA), Lam Research (LRCX) and other chip stocks were big losers, as memory-chip maker Micron Technology (MU) missed views, guided low, and announced staff and additional capital spending cuts.
The Tesla (TSLA) meltdown continued. In addition to company-specific factors, Tesla stock tumbled Thursday with other automakers as CarMax (KMX) cited vehicle affordability issues for its big quarterly miss. TSLA stock rallied late after Elon Musk signaled no new share sales through 2023.
Other megacaps showed weakness, with Apple skidding toward bear market lows once again with Amazon.com (AMZN) already there. Microsoft (MSFT) broke through key support.
Investors should largely be in cash, reducing already-modest exposure and largely eschewing new buys.
Third-quarter GDP growth was revised higher than forecast, along with the report’s inflation gauge. Initial jobless claims nudged higher, but less than expected. The November index of Leading Economic Indicators fell 1%, bolstering arguments for a recession next year.
PCE Inflation Data
On Friday, the Commerce Department will release the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index for November. The inflation data is part of the monthly income and spending report.
The PCE price index should rise 0.2% vs. October, with core prices also up 0.2%. The PCE inflation rate should cool to 5.5% from October’s 6%. Core PCE inflation is expected to slow to 4.6% from 5%.
The PCE inflation rate has been the Fed’s favorite price gauge for some time. Recently Fed chief Jerome Powell has said he’s keeping a close eye on PCE services prices excluding housing.
Personal incomes should climb 0.3% in November, with consumer spending up 0.2%. Americans have been dipping into savings and ramping up credit charges in recent months.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures edged down vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures tilted lower, with TSLA stock offering a modest boost.
PCE inflation rate figures will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. November durable goods data also will be released at that time, with November new-home sales out at 10 a.m. ET.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
Join IBD experts as they analyze actionable stocks on IBD Live
Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally started off weak and kept tumbling through midafternoon. The major indexes pared losses after that but still suffered damaging losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell just over 1% in Thursday’s stock market trading. The S&P 500 index sank 1.45%, with Tesla stock and LRCX the worst performers. The Nasdaq composite retreated 2.2%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gave up 1.3%.
Apple stock retreated 2.4% to 132.23, not far from its June bear market low 129.04. Fellow Dow Jones titan Microsoft gave up 2.55%, below its 50-day line after holding that key level since early November. Amazon stock slid 3.4%, nearly undercutting its March 2020 Covid crash low.
Nvidia tumbled 7%, but did find support at its 50-day line.
U.S. crude oil prices fell 1% to $77.49.
The 10-year Treasury yield dipped 1 basis point to 3.67%. The two-year Treasury yield, more closely tied to Fed policy, rose modestly. Markets still expect quarter-point rate hikes in February and March.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) fell 1.9%, with MSFT stock a major component. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) plunged 4.15%. Nvidia stock, LRCX and Micron are notable SMH holdings, but chip weakness was widespread.
Reflecting more-speculative story stocks, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) gave up 3.4%, falling to a fresh five-year low. ARK Genomics ETF (ARKG) fell back 1.1%. TSLA stock is a major holding across Ark Invest, but especially ARKK.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) lost 1.75%. U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) retreated 2.1%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) declined 0.9%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) cooled off 2.3% and the Financial Select SPDR ETF (XLF) ceded 0.9%. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) dipped 0.1%.
Five Best Chinese Stocks To Watch Now
Tesla Stock
Tesla stock dived 8.8% to 125.35 on Thursday, hitting its lowest point since September 2020 as the heavy-volume sell-off continued. Tesla doubled its year-end delivery discount in the U.S. to $7,500 late Wednesday. That came as CarMax’s affordability concerns hit automakers and dealers broadly. TSLA stock has lost nearly 36% in December alone.
However, Tesla Elon Musk, in a Twitter Spaces call Thursday night, said, “I won’t sell stock next year under any circumstances…not selling stock until 2024-2025.”
Musk has sold nearly $39 billion worth of Tesla stock since shares peaked in November 2021, including yet another batch in mid-December. Several times he has stated that he was finished selling for the time being, but he’s never been so definitive.
However, Musk made it clear that he won’t tone down his politically charged tweets. “I’m not gonna suppress my views just to boost the stock price.”
TSLA stock rose more than 2% in overnight trade.
Market Rally Analysis
The stock market rally was in a bearish mood Thursday, with the major indexes plunging on economic data and corporate news.
The S&P 500 index, which just reclaimed its 50-day line on Wednesday, sold off to undercut Tuesday’s lows intraday. So did the Nasdaq, but both rallied to finish above Tuesday’s lows.
The Dow Jones just undercut Monday’s lows intraday, but rebounded to close above the 50-day line.
While Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and especially Tesla stock look terrible, this isn’t just a megacap sell-off. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) fell 1.1% on Thursday, back below its 50-day line.
The SMH chip ETF dived below its 50-day line, just a few days after jumping to a multi-month best on Dec. 13, above the 200-day average. Unlike the S&P 500, SMH closed well below Tuesday’s lows.
Leading stocks were hard hit again Thursday, aside from some defensive or defensive growth names. Some metals and mining stocks still look OK on a weekly chart.
The stock market rally is under heavy pressure, just hanging on.
Time The Market With IBD’s ETF Market Strategy
What To Do Now
The market action continues to deteriorate, with trends turning decisively negative since just after the open on Dec. 13.
Market exposure should be slim, limited only to positions that are working. Even then, investors may want to take partial profits or simply exit some trades with a gain.
At some point, the market will bounce as it did on Wednesday. Do not get swept up in a strong open, or even a strong session.
Investors should be working on their watchlists. Focus on stocks with strong relative strength or holding key levels such as the 50-day line, and that get fussy if the charts don’t look great right now.
Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.
Please follow Ed Carson on Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
Why This IBD Tool Simplifies The Search For Top Stocks
Catch The Next Big Winning Stock With MarketSmith
Want To Get Quick Profits And Avoid Big Losses? Try SwingTrader
IBD Digital: Unlock IBD’s Premium Stock Lists, Tools And Analysis Today
Tesla Vs. BYD: Which EV Giant Is The Better Buy?
Twitter suspends account that tracked Musk’s private jet, despite billionaire’s ‘free speech’ pledge
CNN
—
Twitter on Wednesday permanently suspended an account that tracked the location of Elon Musk’s private jet, despite the social media company’s owner last month vowing, “My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk.”
The @ElonJet account, which had amassed more than 500,000 followers, was removed as the company posted a new set of edicts that appeared to be designed specifically to justify the removal of the jet-tracking account. The move comes after Musk has reinstated previous Twitter rule-breakers and stopped enforcing the platform’s policies prohibiting Covid-19 misinformation.
The @ElonJet account, run by Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old Florida college student, used publicly available flight tracking information to build a Twitter bot that tweeted every time Musk’s Gulfstream took off and landed at an airport. The last post from the account prior to the suspension showed Musk’s jet taking off from Oakland, California, on Monday and landing in Los Angeles 48 minutes later.
Sweeney woke up Wednesday morning to a message from Twitter informing him @ElonJet had been permanently suspended. Later in the day his personal account and other jet-tracking accounts he ran were also shut down by the company.
The account had long been a thorn in Musk’s side. According to screenshots Sweeney shared with CNN, Musk reached out to him last December through a Twitter private message asking, “Can you take this down? It is a security risk.”
Sweeney, a student at the University of Central Florida, recalled his surprise receiving the message in an interview with CNN Wednesday.
“I was about to go to sleep, and I was in a normal college dorm and I remember telling my roommate, ‘Hey, Elon Musk just direct messaged me.”
The billionaire then offered Sweeney $5,000 to shut down the account. Sweeney countered the offer, raising it to $50,000, writing, “It would be great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a [Tesla] Model 3.” After some back and forth, Musk responded, “Doesn’t feel right to pay to shut this down.”
Sweeney said he setup @ElonJet initially because he was a Musk fan. “It gives you just another view that a lot of people don’t know about where [Musk] is going and might give you clues into what new business is going on,” he said.
The enterprising student believes he was tipped off Saturday that his account was being targeted by the social media company’s management.
Sweeney said he received an email from an anonymous person purporting to be a Twitter employee that included a screenshot showing an internal company message from Ella Irwin, Twitter’s new head of trust and safety, asking staff to “apple heavy VF to @elonjet immediately.”
In Twitter parlance, “VF” means “visibility filtering” which throttles the reach of certain accounts.
CNN has attempted to reach Irwin and Twitter for comment.
As part of its new policy announced Wednesday, Twitter said it will “prohibit sharing someone else’s live location in most cases.”
“You can still share your own live location on Twitter,” it said. “Tweets that share someone else’s historical (not same-day) location information are also not prohibited by this policy.”
Musk also posted his justification for the new policy. “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info. Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok,” he wrote.
The restrictions around location sharing were not part of Twitter’s existing policies until this week.
Data from the Internet Archive shows the company updated its “private information and media policy” to add a clause that prohibited the sharing of live location data, ” we will remove any tweets or accounts that share someone’s live location,” it read.
Asked if he planned to comply with the new policy, Sweeney told CNN he would begin delaying posting the whereabouts of Musk’s jet for 24 hours, “but just on Twitter.”