Skip to main content

Twitter's ex-CEO stepped up the Silicon Valley beef and attacked Facebook for being a hotbed of anti-vaxxer Bill Gates conspiracy theories

* There's a big spat between Twitter and Facebook right now over the nature of free speech and censorship online. * Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Fox News on Thursday to say Facebook won't apply fact-checks to political figures like Trump, following Twitter's decision to fact-check two of the president's tweets about mail-in voting. * Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo attacked Facebook late on Thursday saying it is a hotbed for anti-vaxxer coronavirus conspiracy theories. * He cited a survey, in which 50% of Fox News viewers responded they believe the conspiracy that Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates wants to distribute coronavirus vaccines as a way of tracking people. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. There's an ongoing spat between Twitter and Facebook right now over whether social media platforms should fact-check politicians, after Twitter slapped warning and fact-check labels on President Trump's recent tweets. The latest salvo is from Twitter's former CEO Dick Costolo, who pitched in to criticize Facebook. That's after CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on Fox News to say his company wouldn't fact-check President Trump in the same way as Twitter. Zuckerberg went on Fox News on Wednesday to talk about Twitter's decision to put fact-check labels on two tweets from Trump which claimed mail-in votes in California would be "substantially fraudulent." Zuckerberg said Facebook wouldn't introduce similar measures. "I believe strongly that Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online. I think in general, private companies shouldn't be, especially these platform companies, shouldn't be in the position of doing that," said the Facebook CEO. Costolo, who was Twitter's CEO from 2010 to 2015, came after Zuckerberg following this interview by suggesting that Facebook has become a hotbed for misinformation around the coronavirus and vaccines: "According to a recent poll, half of the people watching Zuckerberg on Fox News last night believe Bill Gates is trying to control them by implanting microchips in a coronavirus vaccine," Costolo wrote late Thursday. "These viewers likely sat there with a phone logged into facebook [...] This facebook login controls what they see, what they'll do next, when they'll talk to others. It knows where they are, what they like, what else they're doing, what they'll buy. It largely determines whether they're happy, sad, angry. They won't get vaccinated, they won't logout." According to a recent poll, half of the people watching Zuckerberg on Fox News last night believe Bill Gates is trying to control them by implanting microchips in a corona virus vaccine. These viewers likely sat there with a phone logged into facebook.... — dick costolo (@dickc) May 28, 2020   Costolo is referring in his tweets to a survey of 1,640 Americans conducted by Yahoo News and YouGov. In the survey, 50% of Fox News viewers responded saying they believe Bill Gates wanting to distribute COVID-19 vaccines as a way to track people is true. A report from media analysis company Zignal labs in April found conspiracy theories blaming Bill Gates for the coronavirus were exploding on both Facebook and Twitter, seemingly spurred on by right-wing personalities. Current Twitter CEO and founder Jack Dorsey earlier responded to Zuckerberg saying Twitter's goal isn't to be the "arbiter of truth" but rather: "Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves." Twitter isn't stepping back from the ongoing firestorm. On Friday morning, the company added a new warning to a tweet the president wrote about the riots in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd.  Trump tweeted that the military could get involved in curbing the riots. "Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts," he wrote. Twitter placed a block on this tweet saying it broke the platform's rules on "glorifying violence," so users have to click through if they want to read it. The president on Thursday had signed an executive order that sought to create new regulations about how social media firms moderate speech. SEE ALSO: Twitter responds to Trump executive order on social media calling it a 'reactionary and politicized approach to a landmark law' Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid
https://bit.ly/3cbZ5Wb

Popular posts from this blog

Why an early exec quit unicorn food delivery startup Deliveroo to launch a food business in the middle of a pandemic

* A former Deliveroo exec has launched a market food hall startup in the middle of COVID-19. * Dan Warne was managing director of the unicorn startup until 2019, but has now launched Sessions Market as a community food hall concept to rejuvenate UK towns after the pandemic. * Warne says he hopes to bring his experience from Deliveroo, particularly about customer behavior, to the analogue world of food halls. * The first venue, Shelter Hall on Brighton seafront, launches July 4. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. On Saturday, the UK's bars, restaurants, and cinemas will fling their doors open to customers for the first time since a strict lockdown commenced in late March. Given continued public health concerns around the coronavirus pandemic, it might be unwise to open a new food business right now. But Dan Warne, a former high-level executive at British unicorn startup Deliveroo, has launched Sessions Market, a series of community-orientated food hal...
Read more

The $136,000 Maserati Levante GTS is a drool-worthy preview of what Ferrari's SUV could be like (FCAU)

* I tested a 2020 Maserati Levante GTS SUV that with thousands in options stickered at approximately $136,000. * The Maserati Levante GTS has a 550-horsepower, twin-turbocharged V8 engine, plus a gorgeous red interior. * The Levante GTS is beautiful, powerful, and fast. That puts it near the top of the luxury, high-performance SUV segment. * But competition is coming — and the Levante is a great preview of what Ferrari may put on the road in the next few years. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Let's say you want a Ferrari, but you hail from a strange region where nobody is taught the lore of Maranello sports cars. An SUV is just your style, you decide. So you swing by your friendly neighborhood prancing horse dealership one day and ask if you can look at a couple of utes.  The dealer would thank you for your interest and slip you the business card of a colleague who represents Maserati, which since 2016 has been selling the Ferrari of SUVS, right dow...
Read more

Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck London fintech Lanistar used to raise $19 million at a $190 million valuation

* London-based fintech startup Lanistar has raised a £15 million ($19 million) funding round from Milaya Capital.  * Founded in 2019, Lanistar is building a personal financial management platform that will launch later in 2020.  * "We're expecting a huge amount of growth upon our launch and have already seen strong interest among our sign ups," Gurhan Kiziloz, founder and CEO of Lanistar, told Business Insider. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.  The coronavirus lockdown in the UK has brought the importance of managing money into sharp relief. A recent study from Money.com shows that 71% of UK households have saved cash during lockdown, and, with uncertainty about jobs and the economy looming, money management is now front of mind for many. Lanistar, a banking platform with a focus on personal finance, is one company offering tools for consumers to better manage their money. It has just raised a £15 million ($19 million) funding round from Mil...
Read more