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EU Commission targets X over ‘dissemination of illegal content’

X owner Elon Musk told advertisers to “go f— yourself” on Nov. 29 after many left the social media platform in response to antisemitic content and a report on hate speech.

The European Commission said it had opened formal proceedings to investigate X — formerly Twitter — over content related to the terrorist group Hamas’ attacks against Israel.

In a Dec. 18 notice, the commission said it planned to assess whether X violated the Digital Services Act for its response to misinformation and illegal content on the platform. According to the government body, X was under investigation for the effectiveness of its Community Notes — comments added to specific tweets aimed at providing context — as well as policies “mitigating risks to civic discourse and electoral processes.”

“The opening of formal proceedings empowers the Commission to take further enforcement steps, such as interim measures, and non-compliance decisions,” said the notice. “The Commission is also empowered to accept any commitment made by X to remedy on the matters subject to the proceeding.”

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Elon Musk’s xAI files with SEC for private sale of $1B in unregistered securities

“Spicy” AI chatbot Grok hasn’t been seen by the public yet, but it’ll be worth plenty after this securities issue.

Elon Musk’s X-linked artificial intelligence modeler xAI has an agreement for the private sale of $865.3 million in unregistered equity securities, according to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission made on Dec. 5.

XAI filed the SEC’s Form D to allow it to engage in the private sale of securities without registration. The form is used to comply with Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, which provides exemptions to the standard rules. On the form, Musk is listed as the executive officer and director of the business.

The xAI Form D further clarifies that the securities will be sold to accredited investors with restrictions on their resale under Rule 506(b). The form also indicated that $134.7 million in such securities have already been sold, with the first sale taking place on Nov. 29. Thus, the company is seeking to raise $1 billion.

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Elon Musk to advertisers trying to ‘blackmail’ X — ‘Go fuck yourself’

The billionaire X owner lashed out at advertisers ditching the platform due to his controversial posts.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is making the headlines again, this time for an expletive-laden outburst on live TV at an annual conference hosted by The New York Times.

Speaking at the 2023 DealBook Summit in New York on Nov. 29, Elon Musk, the owner of micro-blogging platform X (formerly Twitter), lashed out at advertisers leaving the social media site due to antisemitic posts he amplified.

Recently, Musk publicly endorsed what the White House labeled “antisemitic and racist hate” on the platform, which he has since apologized for.

However, when interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin asked about advertisers leaving the platform, Musk stated:

“If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself …. Is that clear? I hope it is.”

Musk also shouted out to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who was reportedly in the audience, saying “Hi Bob!” since the company was one of several advertisers that have left X.

BTC price quotes now live on Twitter following eToro partnership

The move follows an Apr. 13 partnership between Twitter and the Israeli cryptocurrency exchange.

On or about Apr. 18, Twitter rolled out Bitcoin (BTC) price quotes on its social media platform, which can be viewed using its search tool.

The price quotes are powered by charting platform TradingView. In conjunction with the display is a link to Israeli cryptocurrency exchange eToro, where users can buy or sell Bitcoin. At the time of publication, it appears that only BTC price quotes are available, and not that of other major cryptocurrencies. A disclaimer with the label “Your Capital At Risk” also accompanies the Bitcoin price chart.

Bitcoin price quotes on the popular social media platform | Source: Twitter

On Apr. 13, Cointelegraph reported that Twitter would introduce crypto and stock trading options directly in-app via a partnership with eToro. A spokesperson for the exchange stated:

“Twitter has become a really important part of the retail investing community and it’s where a lot of people go to access financial news and acquire knowledge. We think $Cashtags can play a central role in this conversation and they are already gaining a lot of traction.”

Aside from Twitter, Elon Musk also announced on Apr. 17 that he will create an artificial intelligence program dubbed “TruthGPT” after witnessing the success of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. According to Musk, the truth-seeking AI will push against what he perceives as “left-wing” bias in the media industry.

Magazine: Bitcoin glory on Chinese TikTok, 30M mainland users, Justin Sun saga

Twitter isn’t the first major social platform to embrace Bitcoin price quotes. On Apr. 10, Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, rolled out Bitcoin price quotes for an estimated 730 million users in Mainland China. One day after its implementation, the quotes were taken down and replaced with a message warning users that “unofficial digital currencies do not possess the same legal standing as fiat currencies [in China].”

Crypto Biz: Global AI race ramps up, Winklevoss $100M loan to Gemini, and more

Recent days have seen new players emerge in the race for artificial intelligence, with business giants announcing AI initiatives.

The artificial intelligence (AI) global race has taken on new players in the past days, with Twitter and Alibaba reportedly integrating the technology into their businesses. The Chinese giant is working on its own chatbot assistant, while the social media platform is apparently leveraging AI to “detect & highlight manipulation of public opinion”. It’s worth remembering that Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently spearheaded a letter calling for the halt of advanced AI development due to societal concerns. As the proverb says, “if you can’t beat your enemy, join them”. 

While the AI landscape is taking shape, crypto exchange Gemini has secured a $100 million personal loan from its founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. Funding comes after alleged external capital raising attempts failed.

This week’s Crypto Biz looks at the AI market competition worldwide, the Winklevoss’ loan to Gemini and MetaMask move to allow crypto purchases.

Winklevoss twins infuse Gemini with $100M personal loan

Co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have reportedly dipped into their own pockets to fund the business amid the crypto market downturn through a personal $100 million loan. The cash injection follows previous attempts to raise capital from outside investors. The Winklevoss brothers are funding Gemini amid regulatory scrutiny in the United States. In January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Gemini with offering unregistered securities through the exchange’s Earn program.

Elon Musk reportedly buys thousands of GPUs for Twitter AI project

Tech billionaire Elon Musk seems to be making progress with his plans on developing Twitter’s artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. According to anonymous sources familiar with the company, the Twitter CEO recently purchased nearly 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) to be used on the platform. Typically, GPUs work on large-scale AI models due to the massive computation power required by the technology. The alleged purchase comes a few days after Musk spearheaded a letter calling for the halt of AI development due to societal concerns.

MetaMask launches new fiat purchase function for cryptocurrency

MetaMask has announced the launch of a new feature that will allow users to purchase crypto with fiat currency directly from its Portfolio Dapp. According to MetaMask, the goal is to offer users an easier way to purchase crypto with fiat currency. A wide range of cryptocurrencies are available for purchase in the feature through debit and credit cards, as well as PayPal, bank transfers, and instant ACH (Automated Clearing House). The service will be rolled out to users in over 189 countries across eight different networks. MetaMask claims the service takes the user’s location into account and follows local regulations.

Tech giant Alibaba to roll out ChatGPT competitor AI

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is joining the global artificial intelligence (AI) race with its own version of a chatbot assistant. Alibaba announced the rollout of the ChatGPT-like product in the “near future.” The new product will be called Tongyi Qianwen, which translates to English as “seeking an answer by asking a thousand questions.“ The chatbot will be first available in English and Mandarin. It will be also integrated with Alibaba’s vast ecosystem of tech businesses, including the workplace messaging app, DingTalk, and voice assistant smart speaker, Tmall Genie.

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Twitter to launch crypto and stock trading in partnership with eToro: Reports

The popular social media app is looking to introduce crypto and stock trading options from within the app as Musk aims to penetrate financial markets.

Popular social media platform Twitter is reportedly set to introduce a new feature that will allow users of the platform to trade cryptocurrencies and stocks. The new feature is being launched in partnership with fintech firm eToro, as reported by CNBC.

Twitter users will be able to browse market charts for a wider variety of financial instruments and purchase or sell crypto and other assets through eToro. The latest partnership between the social media platform and fintech firm will expand on Twitter’s “cashtags” feature that currently allows users to view real-time trading data from TradingView. An eToro spokesperson told Cointelegraph:

“Twitter has become a really important part of the retail investing community and it’s where a lot of people go to access financial news and acquire knowledge. We think $Cashtags can play a central role in this conversation and they are already gaining a lot of traction.”

The new financial features can be accessed via a “view on eToro” tab, which will take the users to eToro’s trading platform. The fintech company, founded in 2007, introduced crypto trading features and a crypto wallet in 2019.

The latest partnership would also be the first notable deal for the social media giant since Elon Musk took over as CEO after acquiring the social media network for $44 billion last year. Yoni Assia, eToro’s CEO, called the partnership a perfect match and believes the feature will help bring a new audience to the platform.

Related: ‘ChatGPT-like personal AI’ can now be run locally, Musk warns ‘singularity is near’

Assia noted that financial Twitter became quite a trend and was key to the retail trading boom during 2021. He added that “cashtags” searches have grown into millions. On the other hand, Musk, in a recent interview, said that he wants Twitter to become “the biggest financial institution in the world.”

Musk had earlier floated the idea of making Twitter a “super app,” with a focus on building an ecosystem that would offer users access to several online services in one place. The concept of the super app is quite popular in China, where such apps function as a gateway to everything a consumer needs in their day-to-day life. WeChat, for example, offers instant messaging, social media, travel and hotel booking, banking and more.

Magazine: ZK-rollups are ‘the endgame’ for scaling blockchains: Polygon Miden founder

Why is Dogecoin (DOGE) price down today?

Elon Musk’s Twitter removed the Dogecoin logo from its home button, pouring cold water on expectations that DOGE payments are coming.

The price of Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 4.6% to $0.0808 under the influence of a broader crypto market correction on April 12. This downside move preceded the release of U.S. Consumer Price Index data for March, which showed inflation eased to its lowest level in two years.

Dogecoin wipes out Elon Musk-led gains

Dogecoin’s latest price drop appeared also after Elon Musk-owned Twitter removed the token’s official mascot — the “doge” from the Shiba Inu meme — from its home button to reinstate its original blue bird logo.

Previously, DOGE price had surged by 30% to $0.104 on April 3 as speculation emerged that Musk was working on adding Dogecoin payments for Twitter.

DOGE/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Instead, the website removed the Dogecoin logo from its home button around April 7. Since then, DOGE price has lost 5.25% and has effectively wiped out its Dogecoin-Twitter logo gains.

Related: Will Shiba Inu tail Dogecoin’s price rally?

DOGE price eyes 15% rebound 

Nevertheless, DOGE should attract buyers near $0.080, which coincides with a support confluence comprising its long-standing ascending trendline and its 50-day exponential moving average (50-day EMA; the red wave), as shown below.

A bounce after or before testing the support confluence could put DOGE/USD on the road to $0.10 in April or early May, up around 15% from current price levels.

“High time frames this is an area of huge volume, probably a fine area to accumulate a spot position,” noted independent market analyst Altcoin Sherpa, adding:

“But it could take a long time to play out as it normally does, so the opportunity cost of that $ could be pricey.”

DOGE/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Conversely, a decisive break below the support confluence could increase DOGE’s probability of falling toward $0.069. This level coincides with Dogecoin’s multi-month ascending trendline support; it was also instrumental in limiting the downside in December 2022.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Elon Musk reportedly buys thousands of GPUs for Twitter AI project

According to anonymous sources close to the company, Musk purchased nearly 10,000 graphics processing units intending to further his AI projects at Twitter.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and, as of October 2022, Twitter, recently made headlines when he spearheaded a letter to halt artificial intelligence (AI) development due to societal concerns. Despite the effort, the tech mogul seems to be pushing forward with his own plans for developing AI infrastructure.

A report from Business Insider revealed that Musk appears to be moving forward with plans for an AI project at Twitter. According to two anonymous sources familiar with the company, the Twitter CEO recently purchased nearly 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) to be used on the platform.

Typically, GPUs work on large-scale AI models due to the massive computation power required by the technology. This follows a tweet from Musk on March 18, in which he said that the company would use AI to “detect & highlight manipulation of public opinion” on Twitter.

The anonymous sources reportedly deemed the project to be in its early stages, but the purchase of such a quantity of GPUs shows Musk is “committed” to it. One of the sources said the project works with a large language model. However, the sources also said the definite role of generative AI at Twitter is unclear. 

Related: Bloomberg reveals AI for financial data, community responds

Additionally, Twitter recently acquired new talent with an extensive background in the AI field. In March, engineers Igor Babuschkin and Manuel Kroiss joined Musk’s team after working with DeepMind, an AI research subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

These developments come only a few weeks after Musk signed an open letter, along with thousands of other researchers in the tech space, to temporarily halt the development of AI due to the risk to humanity.

Musk is also on record in 2017 giving a warning to regulators at an event with the United States National Governors Association that AI research needs to be regulated “before it’s too late.“

Twitter seems to have blocked all interaction with tweets containing Substack links

Elon Musk’s free speech movement hits a speed bump as Twitter blocks interaction with countless crytpo, blockchain and Web3 blogs.

Twitter users on both mobile and web found themselves unable to interact with tweets containing links to Substack pages on April 7.

When many users attempt to like, retweet or reply to posts containing Substack links, they’re given an error message that “some actions on this tweet have been disabled by Twitter.” In some cases, users report the UI seems to register their likes or retweets, but upon inspection, it doesn’t appear to be counting or displaying the interactions.

Attempts to like and share Substack tweets appear to have been disabled. 

It’s unclear at this time whether the issue is a bug or an intended feature. Twitter appears to have cut off the ability for Substack users to embed tweets in their posts as of April 6, but per The Verge, a spokesperson for Substack didn’t clarify whether they believed the issue involved a change to the Twitter API or a bug. The inability of Twitter users to interact with tweets containing Substack links appears to have begun around the same time, however, thus indicating the two problems are related. 

The issue comes on the heels of multiple recent, mysterious changes to Twitter, including several days where the platform featured a Doge image in place of Twitter’s bird logo and nonprofit media organization National Public Radio (NPR) receiving a “state media” label.

It also bears mentioning that Substack announced “Notes,” a Twitter-like posting application that could be seen as competition to the bird app, on April 5.

Substack is often regarded as a place for expert-level bloggers to share their thoughts with like-minded communities, something the crypto community has taken advantage of to a relatively large degree.

There are countless cryptocurrency-, blockchain- and Web3-related blogs on Substack with millions of subscribed readers. As one Twitter user noted, blocking interaction with posts from these authors featuring their work could have a chilling effect on free discourse:

Cointelegraph reached out to Substack for comment.

“We’re disappointed that Twitter has chosen to restrict writers’ ability to share their work,” Substack co-founders Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi told Cointelegraph in a written statement, adding: 

“This abrupt change is a reminder of why writers deserve a model that puts them in charge, that rewards great work with money, and that protects the free press and free speech. Their livelihoods should not be tied to platforms where they don’t own their relationship with their audience, and where the rules can change on a whim.”

Cointelegraph reached out to Twitter for comment and received a poop emoji in response. 

Who paid for Twitter Blue verification? Here’s how to find out

Under the direction of Elon Musk, Twitter rolled out the “Twitter Blue” subscription to discourage spam bots and fake accounts on the platform.

With Twitter allowing users to verify their accounts for a monthly fee, the number of accounts with a blue checkmark — previously associated with prominent figures — has flooded the social media platform. A browser extension available for Chrome, Firefox and Safari aims to bring back the balance by revealing the accounts that have paid $8 for subscribing to Twitter Blue.

Under the direction of Elon Musk, Twitter rolled out the “Twitter Blue” subscription to discourage spam bots and fake accounts on the platform. However, when the service was initially launched in November 2022, trolls took it as an opportunity to verify parody accounts and propagate fake information.

While a subsequent Know Your Customer requirement stifled the account verification of suspicious accounts, the number of verified accounts on Twitter skyrocketed, reintroducing user doubt. A browser extension named “Eight Dollars” allows users to spot the difference between actual verified accounts and Twitter Blue users.

The extension shows how each account gained its verification badge. For users that paid for the Twitter Blue subscription, the extension will display a “paid” text right next to the blue checkmark. For the rest, it will simply show “verified.“

The Eight Dollars extension shows a fake verified account impersonating Elon Musk. Source: Eight Dollars 

The above screenshot shows an example of how an account parodying Elon Musk paid for verification. As a result, the extension helps identify scam accounts.

Public reviews of people using the Eight Dollars extension. Source: chrome.google.com

Moreover, Twitter users supported the software extension as it effectively reinstates transparency across the social media platform, as evidenced by the screenshot of the reviews above.

Related: ‘CryptoGPT’ Twitter accounts spring up as hashtag trends on Twitter

Meanwhile, Musk, and more than 2,600 tech industry leaders and researchers signed an open letter calling for a halt to artificial intelligence development.

The letter split opinions, with many notable entrepreneurs opposing it.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes that every technology poses a certain amount of danger, and the goal should be to keep moving forward.

Magazine: Simon Dixon on bankruptcies, Celsius and Elon Musk: Crypto Twitter Hall of Flame