Elon Musk

The Game & Akon Slam Elon Musk Over Twitter Blue Verification

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Twitter’s future looks grim after Elon Musk took over the platform. He’s implemented changes that have impacted the Twitter community at large. The check mark became a point of contention as Twitter implements its new Blue subscription. Already, they’ve removed the New York Times’ checkmark for refusing to pay for the service, among other news outlets. However, members of the hip-hop community have also expressed their frustrations, including The Game and Akon, who later claimed he was hacked.

“Back in the day, Twitter was begging musicians to stay on cause they didn’t have traffic. They came up with a verification process to protect accounts from fakes ones, now @elonmusk is taking that away and forcing us to pay,” a since-deleted tweet from Akon’s account read. “FYI, I ain’t paying shit for something we helped build.” The “Lonely” artist later claimed he had been hacked. “This tweet didn’t come from me. Whom ever hacked my account, Please keep your personal opinions away from my profile respectfully,” he wrote.

Akon Claims He Was Hacked

The Game feels similar to Akon when it comes to the subscription service on Twitter. He didn’t take his frustrations out on Elon Musk, specifically, but rather on those who choose to pay monthly to keep their checkmark. As Instagram unrolls Meta Verified, which similarly provides users with a verification checkmark for a monthly fee, the Compton rapper explained why he doesn’t respect it. “If you bought your verification & I know you personally… delete my #. It tells me everything I need to know about you,” he wrote. In a subsequent post, he elaborated further writing, “You a broke cheater, we not the same.” 

Elon Musk introduced Twitter Blue as a way to monetize the platform following his $44B acquisition. However, the decision’s been under scrutiny as the verified check mark helped users decipher real accounts from fake ones. Over the weekend, LeBron James said that he wouldn’t pay a fee to keep his blue checkmark on his account. “Welp guess my blue ✔ will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain’t paying the 5,” he tweeted.

The Game Denounces Blue Checkmark

Elon Musk Singles Out The New York Times By Taking Their Verification Away

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Elon Musk is someone who is known for being a bit sensitive online. Overall, his entire crusade to buy Twitter has felt like a way to increase his popularity. However, it has ultimately done the opposite. From his cringy boomer memes to his painstaking desire to be taken seriously, Elon has overstayed his internet welcome. Moreover, it does not help at all that he has ruined the platform with some of his policies. One of those policies involves the verification badge that has allowed public figures to stand out from impersonators or parody accounts.

Now, anyone can be verified. This means I can go on Twitter, name myself “Elon Musk” and get myself verified. Subsequently, I could dupe various people into thinking I’m the Tesla billionaire. It’s all very ridiculous and many celebrities like LeBron James have stated that they refuse to pay for the service. This is significant as April 1st marked the day in which Elon promised to strip people of their legacy verification badges. Although Musk is giving some accounts a grace period, there is one organization that he is singling out.

Elon Musk Speaks

Of course, we are talking about none other than the New York Times. Elon Musk hates the newspaper, and on Sunday, he went off on them and their journalistic practices. “Also, their feed is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea,” Musk wrote. “It’s unreadable. They would have far more real followers if they only posted their top articles. Same applies to all publications.” These comments were made after the media company made it clear that they would not pay for verification. If you want the golden verification that is reserved or big organizations, you have to pay $1,000 per month. For many, this is just a wild cash grab and is not worth it.

Of course, there are thousands of people out there who are siding with Elon, clapping up a storm over his latest decision. At this point, though, it is hard to see this as anything other than a temper tantrum. Let us know what you think of Elon Musk and his management of Twitter, in the comments below. Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news from the tech world.

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LeBron James Refuses To Pay For His Twitter Checkmark

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LeBron James is the latest celebrity to speak on the news of paying for a Twitter checkmark. Since taking over Twitter, Elon Musk has made the decision to charge users to become an official account. While most have been disappointed in the decision. Some have accepted the idea and are paying to make their account official. Evidently, James isn’t one of those people. The Los Angeles Lakers star let his Twitter followers know his intention on the new stipulation.

Like most of Twitter, James will not purchase his blue checkmark. The cost to make your account official is $5 a month. What may seem like a small amount for someone like James, the purchase does seem strange. The draw of social media has always been a place to communicate for free. Twitter, along with the Metaverse, is soon making that a thing of the past. Starting on April 1st, anyone who doesn’t pay for their official checkmark will lose the checkmark symbol.

LeBron James Not Worried About Twitter Account Being Official

After tomorrow, finding your favorite official accounts will soon become a challenge. The era of bots and burner accounts has already seen a rise. Certainly, now Twitter users will see even more of those fake accounts. Twitter seemed to be a well-functioning site before Musk’s $44 billion purchase. Now, the changes seem to have only frustrated users who weren’t even disappointed before. With more big stars like James following his lead, Twitter could soon become an issue for misinformation.

Twitter has been a great place to find news and communicate with those we normally wouldn’t. A big reason many users are on the site is to follow their favorite stars. While yes, they can still follow, without the official checkmark, fans may have a hard time trusting what is said. What are your thoughts on the new Twitter subscription? Is paying to make your account official ridiculous? Will top accounts look elsewhere in the social media realm? Let us know if you will be paying for a Twitter Blue subscription in the comment section below. For the latest news involving the NBA and its stars, stay locked in here at HNHH.

Grimes And Elon Musk’s Daughter Has An Odd New Name

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The relationship between Grimes and Elon Musk has generated many strange headlines but perhaps none more so than that of their choice in baby names. The odd couple has had an on-again, off-again relationship since 2018. When they made their public debut as a couple, many Grimes fans were left feeling confused. How could an extremely left-leaning alternative artist be in a relationship with the richest man in the world, who so often expresses conservative views and is perhaps the biggest troll on the internet? That part remains a mystery, as the couple has kept much of their relationship fairly private. What the public has been privy to, however, has been extremely strange.

In January 2020, Grimes announced her pregnancy via Instagram. Then, in March of that year, she gave birth to a baby boy named X Æ A-12. Considering this was perhaps the weirdest celebrity baby name to date, it was no surprise that the internet had an absolute field day with it. Grimes took to Twitter to clarify her son’s name and what it meant to her. Unfortunately, it only made the name seem even more strange. “X, the unknown variable,” she, tweeted. “Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence). A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent + (A = Archangel, my favorite song).”

A Simpler Name, But No Less Strange

Despite their breakup in 2021, Grimes and Elon Musk welcomed a baby girl via surrogate less than a year later. Once again, the couple chose perhaps the strangest name they could think of, announcing that their daughter’s name was Exa Dark Sideræl. Once again, the name was the subject of many jokes on Twitter and other social media outlets. Still, Grimes seemed undeterred. In an interview with Vanity Fair, she explained the meaning of the name, which made just about as much sense as the name of their first child. That is to say, none at all.

However, it now seems that Grimes has confirmed that she and Musk have officially changed their daughter’s name to Y. This was previously something she touted as simply being a nickname. However, she has now tweeted that her daughter was “Y now”, even suggesting that they attempted to legally change the baby girl’s name to a question mark but weren’t able to. It’s difficult to imagine that there was a time when celebrity baby names like Apple seemed outlandish. One can only imagine what name Grimes and Musk will dream up if they have a third child. What’s your favorite (or least favorite) weird celebrity baby name? Let us know in the comments.

Elon Musk Claims Twitter Is Now Worth Way Less Than What He Paid For It

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When Elon Musk swooped in to buy Twitter a few months ago, a lot of people laughed at him. Overall, Musk is far from the most popular person in the world. While he certainly does have an army of sycophants on Twitter, there are many who take issue with his business practices. Moreover, his behavior on social media is oftentimes that of a divorced dad with too much time on his hands. That said, perhaps it isn’t so surprising that he would want to be the owner of a platform that is known for housing the chronically online.

Either way, he bought the platform for a grand total of $44 billion. At the time, many felt as though he was grossly overpaying for the platform. After all, Twitter is not meant to be a huge cash cow. However, his meme offer put him in a precarious position, and he was forced to acquire the company. Since then, Twitter has only gotten worse. A horrific For You page, increased levels of racism, and Twitter Blue have made the website almost inhospitable. Consequently, the company is now experiencing major losses in its evaluation.

Elon Musk State Of The Union

Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum’s 2022 Hallowe’en Party at Sake No Hana at Moxy LES on October 31, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

According to TMZ, a memo from Elon addressed to Twitter employees claims that the company is now only worth upwards of $20 billion. When you do the math, you realize that Elon Musk has lost over half of his investment. Although, Musk doesn’t seem too concerned right now. He believes that Twitter would have gone bankrupt if it were not for him. This is quite a bold statement, however, it isn’t that surprising when you consider how only a select few are crazy enough to pay to use Twitter.

It remains to be seen how Musk will be able to turn the company around, if at all. Advertisers are already running for the hills in regard to Twitter as content moderation has been pitiful. In Musk’s eyes though, he is the best CEO to ever exist. If only we all could have such visions of ourselves.

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Kanye West Consulted Elon Musk On Plans To Build “Texas Utopia”: Report

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Over the years, Kanye West expressed his desire to build his own utopian community, which appears to be the same thing that Elon Musk plans on doing in Texas. Per WSJ, Musk acquired 3,500 acres of land just outside of Austin. The SpaceX founder plans on turning the plot of land into “a sort of Texas utopia along the Colorado River, where his employees could live and work” near the facilities for SpaceX and Boring Co. This would reportedly allow Musk to develop his own regulations on the land which would help speed up his plans.

Apparently, Elon Musk consulted Kanye West about building the Texas town. According to WSJ, Ye, and Elon Musk held a meeting in 2022 to discuss these plans. Details surrounding the meeting remain unclear but Ye’s expressed his fondness of Musk’s innovations and vice versa. During a Q&A at SXSW a few years back, Musk named West as a person that inspires him. With that said, it’s no surprise that he would’ve wanted Ye’s thoughts on his Texas town.

Kanye & Elon Musk’s Fall Out

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 21: George Lucas, Kanye West and Elon Musk attend TIME 100 Gala, TIME’s 100 Most Influential People In The World at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 21, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TIME)

At this point, it’s unclear when the meeting took place. Kanye West and Elon Musk haven’t necessarily seen eye-to-eye in recent times due to the former’s anti-Semitic comments. Musk suspended Ye from Twitter for posting a swastika on his page in the midst of his hateful 2022 tirade. Musk also said that he “personally wanted to punch” Ye over his spree of anti-Jewish comments that ultimately led to Adidas and GAP parting ways with the artist.

In response to the suspension, Ye questioned whether Elon Musk was a “genetic hybrid” of a Chinese genius and a South African model. “Take a Chinese genius and mate them with a South African super model, and we have an Elon,” he said. “​​I say an Elon because they probably made 10 to 30 Elon’s and he’s the first genetic hybrid that stuck.” We’ll keep you posted on any more details surrounding Ye and Elon Musk’s meeting. Would you live in Elon Musk’s “Texas utopia”? Let us know in the comment section below.  

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Elon Musk Reclaims Title As World’s Richest Man

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Elon Musk has reclaimed his title as the richest man in the world after a rise in Tesla’s stock over the last few weeks. While the stock, in which much of Musk’s wealth is tied up, took a massive hit in 2022, it’s bounced back a bit over the last month. Since February 1, Tesla is up 17%. It is still down significantly from its highs in 2021 however. According to reports from Barron’s, the SpaceX co-founder owns approximately 424 million shares of Tesla.

As it stands, Musk’s net worth was just north of $187.1 billion as of Monday after markets closed, according to Bloomberg. The figure positions him just over Bernard Arnault, CEO of French luxury brand LVMH (LVMHF), who is worth $185.3 billion. All-in-all, Musk spent a little over two months at the No. 2 spot before regaining it this week.

Elon Musk In 2022

BOCA CHICA BEACH, TX – AUGUST 25: SpaceX founder Elon Musk during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event on August 25, 2022 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. The two companies announced plans to work together to provide T-Mobile cellular service using Starlink satellites. (Photo by Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)

Despite the recent gains, Musk is still down significantly over the last year. At the end of 2022, he became the first person to ever lose $200 billion. His net worth plummeted from $340 billion in Nov. 2021 to $137 billion in Dec. 2022. Outside of Tesla, Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter has also done a good deal to damage his personal wealth. The decision to buy the company shook Tesla investors for starters.

Additionally, his behavior on the platform has become increasingly erratic. In one recent post, he claimed that the United States media is racist against white people. “For a very long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians. Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America,” he said. “Maybe they can try not being racist.” Behind the scenes, there have been large layoffs at the company as well. In his time at the site, he’s also launched a paid verification program known as Twitter Blue. The feature got off to a rocky start in 2022 but has since launched in full.

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Elon Musk Thinks U.S. Media Is Racist “Against Whites & Asians”

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Since taking over as Twitter’s CEO, Elon Musk’s posts on the social media platform have been undeniably controversial. Ever the advocate for free speech, the South African engineer’s latest scandal finds him coming to the aid of a famous cartoonist who’s become known as a racist. As Salon reports, Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, has been dropped by hundreds of newspapers across the nation for making damaging comments about the Black community in a now-viral video.

It all began when the artist shared the latest episode of his YouTube series, Real Coffee with Scott Adams. At the time, he repeatedly shared his thoughts that Black people are part of a “racist hate group.” He appears to have fallen into the school of thought after seeing Rasmussen Reports’ poll revealing that a reported 53% of Black Americans agreed with the statement, “It’s OK to be white.”

Scott Adams Controversy

Elsewhere in his post, Adams revealed that he no longer plans to “help Black Americans” before advising other white people to “get the hell away from Black people.” In wake of the Dilbert doodler being cancelled by social media users far and wide, plenty of debate has been flying – chiefly on Twitter. “If Scott Adams wasn’t a cruel, racist, heinously insensitive asshole… it might’ve worked out differently,” actor William Baldwin wrote in a condemning post.

“This isn’t wokeness, this isn’t political correctness, this isn’t cancel culture. This is consequences. See the difference?” he pointed out to followers. Of course, the number of critics Adams has is steadily growing, but luckily for him, one of the biggest accounts on Twitter is coming to his rescue. On Sunday (February 26), Elon Musk turned the tables with a tweet suggesting that there are bigger issues to deal with as far as racism goes.

Elon Musk Chimes In

In response to a tweet from @MonitoringBias, declaring that “Adams is a racist, but not the 20 million Black people who think it’s not OK to be white,” the 51-year-old shared his opinion that, “the media is racist.” Musk went on to say, “For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites and Asians.”

He then noted that the same thing previously happened with elite colleges and high schools around the country. “Maybe they can try not being racist,” the controversial public figure wrote, leading to further debate. What do you think of Elon Musk’s take on modern-day racism? Sound off in the comments, and check back later for more pop culture news.

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Mark Zuckerberg Announces Paid Service For Facebook & IG Similar To Twitter

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Mark Zuckerberg says that Meta is launching a paid service for Facebook and Instagram, noticeably similar to the Twitter Blue service that Elon Musk recently went forth with. The subscription will cost $11.99 per month on web browsers or $14.99 per month on iOS. Zuckerberg made the announcement on his Instagram Story, on Sunday.

“Good morning and new product announcement: this week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified — a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support. This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services. Meta Verified starts at $11.99 / month on web or $14.99 / month on iOS. We’ll be rolling out in Australia and New Zealand this week and more countries soon.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s Announcement

Image via Instagram/zuck

A spokesperson for Meta confirmed to CNN that the company will shift the emphasis of the blue badge to authenticity in order to verify more people. “We are evolving the meaning of the blue badge to focus on authenticity so we can expand verification access to more people,” the Meta spokesperson said. “We will display follower count in more places so people can distinguish which accounts are notable public figures among accounts that share the same name.”

Elon Musk launched a similar idea for Twitter back in December. While the service has undergone many changes since then, it costs $11 a month for iOS and Android subscribers. Discord, Reddit, and YouTube are other social media platforms to offer similar subscription-based features.

Unlike Twitter, Meta users looking for verification will have to submit government IDs and match them up to their own profile. This will hopefully prevent the spread of fake accounts posing as celebrities, as has been a problem on Musk’s site. Musk responded to the Meta news on Twitter, Sunday, while reacting to a meme that implied Zuckerberg is cheating off of Musk’s ideas. He also described the decision by Meta as “Inevitable.” Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion, last year.

Elon Musk’s Response

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