Victor Tangermann
Fri, June 14, 2024
Clawback
After firing a number of X-formerly-Twitter staff in Australia, the platform's new owner Elon Musk is threatening to take them to court, demanding to claw back payments after claiming the company had accidentally overpaid them.
The flailing social media service fired much of its remaining staff stationed in Australia back in January 2023. But thanks to an alleged currency "conversion error," the social media company is now asking the fired employees to repay up to $46,500 in US dollars in some cases, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
In other words, X is kicking its former staff while they're down — a gross example of an employer blaming laid off workers for its own careless accounting mistake.
AUD Lang Syne
According to the report, at least six former X employees received letters in the mail, alleging that they had "received a significant overpayment in error in January 2023."
"We would be grateful if you could arrange the repayment to us [using the account details below] at your earliest convenience," the letter reads.
The payment was made to the former staff in the form of Twitter shares, which were valued at the price when Musk bought the company in 2022. The number of shares varies, depending on how long each employee worked for the company.
Per the Herald, overpayments range anywhere between $1,000 and $46,500 US.
The company also threatened the former staff members with legal action if the money wasn't repaid.
Atwitter
According to the Herald, none of the former employees yet have complied with the unusual request.
The social media platform has also been hit by a class-action suit in California, filed by former employees who claim they were never paid severance.
The latest accounting error shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the sheer chaos the company has been in over the last two years. Following his disastrous acquisition of Twitter, Musk has slammed the company with several rounds of mass layoffs. The mercurial CEO's abhorrent behavior has since scared away many advertisers, and the platform has quickly descended into a cesspool of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and extreme right-wing pundits.
It's still unclear whether X has any recourse in asking for its money back. Employment law specialist Hayden Stephens told the Herald that the former employees should ask the company for supporting evidence before handing over any money.
Under Australian labor law, Stephens explained that "there is usually an obligation to repay that money" in the case of a genuine mistake.
Elon Musk's X attracts more right-leaning users since Twitter takeover, new research finds
Pascale Davies
EURONEWS
Thu, June 13, 2024
Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, has become more popular with right-leaning users in the two years since he bought the company, newly published research has found.
The Pew Research Center study, which looked at some 10,200 social media users in the United States, found that the percentage of Republicans that said X is "mostly good" for democracy increased to 53 per cent this year, a figure that has tripled since 2021.
Meanwhile, just 26 per cent of Democrat users said X was good for democracy this year, compared to 47 per cent in 2021.
Musk has said his aims was to make X a platform for free speech, having previously expressed disdain at what he called "far, far left San Francisco views" that dominated then Twitter.
Elon Musk ready to ban Apple products at his companies after ChatGPT integration
When he took over the platform he reversed a Twitter ban on former president Donald Trump and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
As a result, the study found that just a third of Democrats surveyed said their views were welcomed on X.
In contrast, more than half of Republicans surveyed said they "feel welcome" on the site.
The study also looked at Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, but said these social media sites were not primarily used to consume news but for other reasons like connecting with family and friends and entertainment.
It found that X was the exception to the pattern with 65 per cent using the platform to get their news, and as many as half of surveyed X users regularly getting news on the site.
Elon Musk's X platform is hiding which posts you 'like' citing privacy reasons
Left-leaning users more likely to see inaccuracies
However, on all four sites, more people see users expressing opinions or funny posts about current events rather than news articles or breaking news.
Yet, 79 per cent of X users also saw news articles (linked, posted, or reposted) and more X users are more likely to see breaking news on the site compared to the other social media platforms.
Democratic-leaning X users were also more likely than conservatives to say they saw inaccurate news on the site with some 66 per cent of X users saying they think the platform influences which news stories they see.
News consumers on X (37 per cent) followed by Facebook (33 per cent) were the most likely to say they often see news that seems inaccurate.
Elon Musk drops lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman
The study comes just five months before the 2024 US presidential election in November as concern rises about the accuracy of information on social media.
Almost 75 per cent of those X users surveyed said they come across political content as they scroll through the site, the study found.
As well as ramping up criticism of Democratic US president Joe Biden on the platform, Musk has come under fire for his public support on X for German far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD), recently posting this week that he didn’t understand why its policies were being branded "extremist".
Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, has become more popular with right-leaning users in the two years since he bought the company, newly published research has found.
The Pew Research Center study, which looked at some 10,200 social media users in the United States, found that the percentage of Republicans that said X is "mostly good" for democracy increased to 53 per cent this year, a figure that has tripled since 2021.
Meanwhile, just 26 per cent of Democrat users said X was good for democracy this year, compared to 47 per cent in 2021.
Musk has said his aims was to make X a platform for free speech, having previously expressed disdain at what he called "far, far left San Francisco views" that dominated then Twitter.
Elon Musk ready to ban Apple products at his companies after ChatGPT integration
When he took over the platform he reversed a Twitter ban on former president Donald Trump and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
As a result, the study found that just a third of Democrats surveyed said their views were welcomed on X.
In contrast, more than half of Republicans surveyed said they "feel welcome" on the site.
The study also looked at Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, but said these social media sites were not primarily used to consume news but for other reasons like connecting with family and friends and entertainment.
It found that X was the exception to the pattern with 65 per cent using the platform to get their news, and as many as half of surveyed X users regularly getting news on the site.
Elon Musk's X platform is hiding which posts you 'like' citing privacy reasons
Left-leaning users more likely to see inaccuracies
However, on all four sites, more people see users expressing opinions or funny posts about current events rather than news articles or breaking news.
Yet, 79 per cent of X users also saw news articles (linked, posted, or reposted) and more X users are more likely to see breaking news on the site compared to the other social media platforms.
Democratic-leaning X users were also more likely than conservatives to say they saw inaccurate news on the site with some 66 per cent of X users saying they think the platform influences which news stories they see.
News consumers on X (37 per cent) followed by Facebook (33 per cent) were the most likely to say they often see news that seems inaccurate.
Elon Musk drops lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman
The study comes just five months before the 2024 US presidential election in November as concern rises about the accuracy of information on social media.
Almost 75 per cent of those X users surveyed said they come across political content as they scroll through the site, the study found.
As well as ramping up criticism of Democratic US president Joe Biden on the platform, Musk has come under fire for his public support on X for German far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD), recently posting this week that he didn’t understand why its policies were being branded "extremist".
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