Social Media: the good, the bad, the wierd

[CaptainEurope]

Pretty soon, Muskie will have more court cases against him than Trumpie:

Elon Musk‘s erratic posting on X, formerly Twitter, has come back to haunt him once again as a 22-year-old Jewish man pursues a defamation case over tweets in which the tech mogul baselessly suggested the recent college graduate was an undercover federal agent posing as a neo-Nazi during a street fight between far-right groups. Musk’s excruciating March 27 deposition in the matter, which a judge ordered released to the public over the objections of the CEO’s lawyer, reveals the extent to which he has continually sabotaged both himself and the social media platform he owns.

X is “the most accurate, timely and truthful place on the internet,” Musk said during his questioning about a false statement he made on the site that has been viewed by over a million users and has yet to be retracted or deleted almost a year later.

The lawsuit, brought in October by Ben Brody of California, concerns one of the many false conspiracy theories that Musk has fallen for and amplified since acquiring Twitter.

Brody’s attorney, Mark Bankston, who previously won Sandy Hook parents $45 million in damages from Alex Jones in a suit over the conspiracy kingpin’s false claims that the deadly school shooting never happened, has argued that Musk defamed Brody in this last post, with the college grad and his family doxxed and harassed to the point where they were forced to flee their home.

Musk dropped the name of a second burner account as well, though it may have been recorded incorrectly in the transcript of the deposition, which has it as “baby smoke 9,000.” There is no active X profile with that handle, though a verified account called @babysmurf9000 interacts with many of the same accounts that Musk follows and engages with, retweets official X company accounts, and posts in an emoji-laden style similar to Musk’s. It can also be found disparaging billionaire Mark Cuban, whom Musk has routinely criticized of late, as “an idiot.” That post came as Musk feuded with Cuban via his main account over DEI programs in early January.

Musk Admits He Doesn’t Fact-Check Himself and Has Two Burner Accounts on Twitter

[Tami]

Follow up to CE's Post

Best Moments From Elon Musk's Deposition He Doesn't Want You to Read

This deposition is related to Musk’s tweets on the X platform, specifically pertaining to a 22-year-old Jewish man Ben Brody who is suing the billionaire. Brody alleges Musk contributed to a conspiracy theory about him. However, this public deposition explored wide-ranging topics about Musk’s life.

Brody’s attorney, Mark Bankston, peppered Musk and his longtime lawyer, Alex Spiro, with questions for nearly two hours. In the deposition, Musk confirms some of his strange alt accounts on X. Spiro specifically asked at one point to make this deposition confidential, though it clearly was made public this week.

Musk revealed in his deposition that he’s never read Walter Isaacson’s biography on him. Later on, Musk says he may have done more financial harm than good to the X platform. These quotes from Musk, who often comes up as “A” or “WITNESS” in the transcript, come alongside several heated exchanges, all occurring over Zoom.

To start off, Elon Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro wouldn’t even let the plaintiff get the first question off. Spiro threatened to end the deposition before it started.

Here we see Elon admit to using an alt as a “test account.” HuffPost revealed this account to be @ermnmusk. Musk references “baby smoke 9,000" as well, which appears to be a typo for @babysmurf9000. Those two appear to be Elon’s alternate X accounts.

Elon Musk appeared to be confused about who Mr. Brody, the man suing him, actually is. Bankston asked Musk if he understood that he was a lawyer.

Bankston kept reading a rule about what types of objections a defending lawyer can make. Spiro didn’t care and continued to interrupt the whole time.

Musk says he “may have done more to financially impair the company than to help it” at one point in the deposition. He’s defending that he doesn’t start controversy to boost engagement.

Things got heated pretty early on. Bankston yelled at Musk (the witness) and Spiro to follow his rules. The defense had to remind Bankston to stay calm.

(my note, there are specific rules that have to be followed during a deposition. Usually a judge, if not there then is on call to deal with conflicts between attorneys, but not following the rules is never a good idea.)

Musk reveals that, based on the advice from Walter Isaacson, never read his own biography.

Musk just started talking at one point, when no question was asked of him. The plaintiff asked Musk to wait for a question, and Spiro asked that Musk just be allowed to speak.

(my note, Depositions are supposed to be strictly Q and A. Most Attorneys usually instruct witnesses to answer the question at hand and nothing more, sometimes going as far as simple yes or no responses. Its not smart to allow a witness to ramble on as they might undermine the case.)

[Agent Z]

Tom Taylor has been receiving death threats.

[ed2962]

Move to ban Tik Tok if they don't sell picks up steam

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...us/ar-AA1nmtxT

[Kirby101]

Move to ban Tik Tok if they don't sell picks up steam

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...us/ar-AA1nmtxT

AFAIK, it passed the House and will pass the Senate. I am all for this. Tik Tok is a primarily a data collection app controlled by the Chinese Government that also has videos. It is the most invasive app out there. More than FB or X.

[ed2962]

So, You Tube has changed their rules again?

I noticed that maybe in the last couple of weeks, my home page was recommending me things different than usual even though my viewing habits haven't changed. But I just figured that they changed that algorithm.

However, I have a channel where I occasionally talk about comics. They demonetized that a few years ago like right before COVID ( cuz of COPA, amount of views, etc )...and fine. I'm not popular and didn't care...I just do it for fun. However, I was going through some of my vids recently and stuff that wasn't monetized is now monetized? And it's not super popular stuff. I have clips from years ago that have over thousands views but this recent stuff they think is commercially viable? I'm not complaining, I just thought it was odd...

[CaptainEurope]

Elon Musk has announced that he will let Nick Fuentes, the boyish nazi who died with Trump, back on Twitter.

[Mister Mets]

Elon Musk has announced that he will let Nick Fuentes, the boyish nazi who died with Trump, back on Twitter.

Not going to change anything then, though.

Sorry.

[Username taken]

I'm almost entirely off social media.

I only maintain my Facebook account for marketplace deals. Outside of that, too much racism and toxicity on most social media platforms.

[ed2962]

The anti-Cancel Culture Daily Wire slaps a gag order on Candace Owens

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opini...rt/ar-AA1o2K4I

[Catlady in training]

I hope someone will explain to me again, why Tiktok is vital to democracy.

Why North Korea's latest propaganda bop is a huge TikTok hit

When North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un released his latest song two weeks ago, surely he couldn’t have foreseen it becoming a hit on TikTok.

But the propaganda tune has gone viral online with Gen Z users bopping around to the synthy-electro pop.

Most are clearly quite oblivious to the Korean lyrics praising a man who’s vowed to “thoroughly annihilate the US” and launched dozens of ballistic missiles.

“Let’s sing Kim Jong Un, the great leader/ Let’s brag about Kim Jong Un, our friendly father,” the song goes.

It’s just a really great tune, TikTokkers say.

“Taylor Swift was not expecting to get blown out of the water right after dropping her new album,” one fan joked online.

“Wait, this slaps”, “This song needs a Grammy”, “It’s so dystopian in the catchiest way” – they are just some of the enthused comments under TikTok videos.

But the sunny pop hides something more sinister, experts say.

How to craft a propaganda hit
Friendly Father is just the latest in a line of propaganda pop songs churned out by the Communist state in the past 50 years.

It’s peppy, bright-tempoed and dangerously catchy – not that much different from Western pop hits.

But there is a certain Soviet-era tinge to it; Gen Z users describe it as “Abba-coded”, a reference to the Swedish superband.

“In this case, the song has Abba written all over it,“ says Peter Moody, a North Korea analyst at Korea University.

“It's upbeat, it could not be more catchy, and a rich set of orchestral-sounding sequences could not be more prominent,” he says.

But there’s more than just commercial considerations at play when writing a chart-topper in North Korea - authorities want an earworm that penetrates minds.

There’s no space for abstract phrasing or timing that’s overly complicated , says Alexandra Leonzini, a Cambridge University scholar who researches North Korean music.

Melodies have to be simple, accessible, something people can easily pick up.

Tunes also need to be pitched at a vocal range where they can be sung by most people. The masses can’t keep up with vocal gymnastics, so forget about multi-octave riffs.

Ms Leonzini says the songbook also rarely contains any tracks with real emotion. "The idea is they want to motivate, to strive towards a common goal for the benefit of the nation… they don't tend to produce songs like ballads,” she says.

There is zero tolerance for creative or artistic freedom in North Korea. It is illegal for musicians, painters and writers to produce works simply for the sake of art.

“All artistic output in North Korea must serve the class education of citizens and more specifically educate them as to why they should feel a sense of gratitude, a sense of loyalty to the party,” Ms Leonzini says.

North Korea’s government believes in the "seed theory", she adds, where every single work must contain an ideological seed, a message that is then disseminated en masse through art.

Music is one of its most powerful tools - and Pyongyang keeps its pop tracks for those at home. The state has paraded its opera troupes and symphony orchestras on overseas missions – but its lighter ensembles are kept for a domestic audience only.

North Koreans wake up every morning to propaganda songs blasted over village town squares, say defectors.

The song sheet and lyrics of the latest songs - which only come out sparingly - are printed in newspapers and magazines; usually they also have to learn dances to go with it, says Keith Howard, an emeritus professor of musicology at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, who first visited North Korea in the 1990s.

“By the time the song has sort of been taken into the body, it’s become part of the person,” he says.

“So they know the lyrics so well, even if they're just doing the actions, even if they're just listening to it. A good ideological song does that - it needs to embed the message.”

Reading between the lines
And for regime watchers, the two-minute track released last month has an alarming new message.

While Western music fans have been dissecting Taylor Swift's new songs or breaking down the Kendrick Lamar v Drake diss tracks, North Korean experts have been scrutinising Friendly Father’s lyrics.

It’s not the first song dedicated to Mr Kim. But there’s a noticeable departure in the language and vocabulary used.

He is being referred to as “father” and “the Great” - terms previously reserved for North Korea’s first leader, his grandfather Kim Il Sung.

Mr Kim was called the "Great Successor” when he took over the mantle in 2012 after his father Kim Jong Il’s passing.

However, more than a decade on, analysts think this may be a sign that he is shoring up his image as North Korea's "Supreme Leader".

In recent times, he’s also replaced the lyrics in another propaganda song, switching out “our father Kim Il Sung” to “our father Kim Jong Un”.

It could be a sign of his direction. As a leader he has become increasingly hostile and aggressive in his rhetoric, pledging to build up his country’s military arsenal.

At the start of this year, he also declared the North would no longer seek reunification with the South, which he said was "public enemy number one". Reports say Pyongyang also demolished a major arch that symbolised hope for reunification with the South - an arch that had also been symbolic of his grandfather’s legacy.

“Songs are used to telegraph the direction the state is going in… to signpost important moments and important developments in politics,” Ms Leonzini says.

“A song is almost like the newspaper in North Korea.”

Meanwhile on TikTok, users are just enjoying the music. Some say they can’t stop listening to the song: on the way to work, at the gym, while doing homework.

Others are nostalgic, it reminds them of older Spanish and French pop or Eastern European styles, they say.

Existing North Korean music fans recommend the other big hits – there are only four or five state-endorsed North Korean bands, of which the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble and the all-girl Moranbong Band are most cited.

“North Korea has a song called Potato Pride which is a song on how versatile and useful a potato is, if anyone’s interested,” one TikTokker suggests.

For many American users, the irony’s not been lost on them that a Communist song has gone viral on the Chinese-owned app while US lawmakers are trying to ban it.

It’s an idiosyncrasy that’s caught mass appeal.

British TikTokker Matas Kardokas made several meme videos using North Korean propaganda songs – one says: “Nobody in the trendy coffee shop knows that I am listening to North Korean propaganda music right now". It gained more than 400,000 likes.

“Something in me just clicked and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m sitting in a coffee shop right now listening to this',” he told the BBC.

"Isn’t that just the most bonkers thing you could imagine?”