GZERO Daily is a free newsletter!

{{ subpage.title }}

Elon Musks Wants A Way Out of Twitter | Quick Take | GZERO Media

Elon Musk wants a way out of Twitter

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi everybody. Ian Bremmer here. A Merry Christmas to you all. A happy Hanukkah, just kicked off. Happy holidays to everybody. I'm delighted to close out the year with a Quick Take, getting us kicked off this rather cold, blustery, very bright sunny day in New York. Hence the sweater, it feels like a layered kind of day. And with everyone talking about the meltdown that is occurring every day on Twitter, I might as well weigh in.

Most recently, Elon Musk, the owner, the CEO, not the founder of Twitter, asking everyone online should I step down as CEO saying, "I will abide by the results of this poll." The answer 57.5% saying yes, 42.5% say no. They want him to step down. Probably a lot of Tesla shareholders weighing in on that. Let's not pretend that this is in any way a real or useful poll. You can of course, vote all you want with your burner and your fake accounts. What happens if the 12 hours of the poll happen to be 12 hours when you are mostly sleeping, depending on what your time zone is around the world? Well, you are kind of out of luck. I mean, you snooze, you lose. That's what they say. Not to mention the bot problem, and all of the people on Twitter that aren't really Twitter, they aren't really people. Of course, they get to vote too. It's all performative. Of course, Rasmussen had Elon ahead by four, and they turned out to be a little bit wrong, but that happens frequently.

Read moreShow less

Podcast: Kara Swisher on Big Tech's Big Problem

Listen: Renowned tech journalist Kara Swisher has no qualms about saying that social media companies bear responsibility for the January 6th pro-Trump riots at the Capitol and will likely be complicit in the civil unrest that may continue well into Biden's presidency. It's no surprise, she argues, that the online rage that platforms like Facebook and Twitter intentionally foment translated into real-life violence. But if Silicon Valley's current role in our national discourse is untenable, how can the US government rein it in? That, it turns out, is a bit more complicated. Swisher joins Ian Bremmer on our podcast.

Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.

“Blood and glass" and the power of Big Tech

A little more than ten years after the start of the Arab Spring — a popular pro-democracy revolution helped along by Facebook and Twitter — the world's largest social media platforms this week banned the US president for inciting deadly violence in the United States.

If ever there were an illustration of the simultaneous promise, peril, and more importantly the power of social media to shape our lives and politics, this is it.

Read moreShow less

Activists question Malaysia's clampdown on spoof sites

December 09, 2020 8:16 PM

KUALA LUMPUR - The shutting down of parody Twitter accountBermanaTV has raised concerns among human rights groups in Malaysia, which claim that the suspension of parodical and satirical sites fits thealarming pattern of increased censorship and restrictions on freedom of expression by the Malaysian government.
Europe's Rising COVID Cases Require New Action | Tragedy in France | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Europe's rising COVID cases require new action; tragedy in France

Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, with the view from Europe:

What is happening with COVID in Europe?

Well, we see infections on the rise virtually everywhere. It looks particularly bad at the moment in Czech Republic, in Belgium. Doesn't look good in France and Spain. Neither does it in the United Kingdom, by the way. But it has to be said, it's all over the place. So, we'll see new advice of a rather strong nature by authorities. We see regulation sometimes, we see restaurants closing down earlier, and things like that. Let's just hope for the best. So far, deaths are fairly limited so far.

Read moreShow less

Malaysia deports Bangladeshi who criticised treatment of migrants

August 23, 2020 5:00 AM

KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysia has deported a Bangladeshi worker who criticised the government's treatment of migrants in a documentary made by broadcaster Al Jazeera, the country's director general of immigration confirmed yesterday.

Signal messenger rockets up Hong Kong download charts

July 08, 2020 3:04 PM

HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - Signal has become the most-downloaded messaging application in Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the city that stirred fears of curbs on civil liberties.

Malaysia's news portal Malaysiakini to face contempt suit by AG on July 13

July 03, 2020 9:05 AM

PUTRAJAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia's independent news website Malaysiakini will face a contempt of court proceedings over its readers' comments criticising the judiciary, after the Federal Court dismissed its application to set them aside on Thursday (July 2).

Subscribe to our free newsletter, GZERO Daily

Latest