Twitter boss Elon Musk, who has often touted himself as a champion of free speech, said he had no "actual choice" when accused of caving in to censorship demands made by authoritarian governments. Since the billionaire's takeover in October last year, Twitter has approved 83 per cent more censorship requests from governments such as Turkey and India, El Pais reported. The company reportedly received 971 requests from governments, fully acceding to 808 of them and partially acceding to 154. The year prior to Mr Musk taking control, Twitter agreed to 50 per cent of such requests, which was in line with the compliance rate indicated in the company’s last transparency report. The report, shared by Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias, evoked an angry reaction from Mr Musk. Mr Yglesias tweeted the report with the caption "I’m a free speech absolutist", quoting the Twitter boss. The world's second-richest person shot back, writing: "You're such a numbskull. Please point out where we had an actual choice and we will reverse it." The columnist responded: "Look, I’m not the one who bought Twitter amidst a blaze of proclamations about free speech principles. "Obviously you’re within your rights to run your business however you want." Mr Musk has repeatedly reiterated his backing for free speech both before and since the $44bn acquisition of Twitter. The “absolutist” quote refers to a tweet in March 2022 in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. "Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint," Mr Musk tweeted. "Sorry to be a free speech absolutist." Yet Twitter has been accused of helping incumbent Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan stifle criticism by blocking several accounts in the two days before the country’s hotly contested general election. “In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today,” Twitter’s global government affairs announced, without explaining which tweets would be blocked. Following severe criticism, Mr Musk alleged Twitter has “pushed harder for free speech than any other internet company, including Wokipedia”. Earlier this year in India, Twitter complied after Narendra Modi’s government used emergency powers to ban content related to a BBC documentary on social media. The two-part documentary included a previously unpublished report from the UK Foreign Office that held Mr Modi “directly responsible” for the “climate of impunity” that enabled communal violence in Gujarat state. The riots in February 2002 killed over 1,000 people – most of them Muslims – while Mr Modi was chief minister of the state. Justifying the consent Mr Musk said: "The rules in India for what can appear on social media are quite strict, and we can’t go beyond the laws of a country." He said doing so would put his staff at risk. “If we have a choice of either our people going to prison or us complying with the laws, we will comply with the laws.” Read More Elon Musk tweets quote by neo-Nazi wrongly attributed to Voltaire Erdogan declared winner of Turkey presidential run-off – extending his 20 years in power India uses emergency powers to ban anyone from sharing clips of BBC Modi documentary Elon Musk tweets quote by neo-Nazi wrongly attributed to Voltaire Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip company gets FDA approval for human testing AOC jokes more people watched her gaming online than listened to DeSantis launch

LYNCHBURG, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 20, 2023--

As they race to capitalize on a craze for generative AI, leading tech developers including Microsoft, OpenAI and Google have acknowledged that growing demand for their AI tools carries hefty costs, from expensive semiconductors to an increase in water consumption

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 8, 2023--

Chinese law enforcement may be behind a disinformation operation that’s been trying to spread propaganda

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 16, 2023--

If ever anyone needs proof that aliens exist, they need only turn to the bottom of the sea. No, we’re not talking about fragments of interstellar meteors or spacecraft, we’re not even talking about mysterious mermaids, we’re talking about the extraordinary creatures that lurk in the depths of our oceans. One of these incredible beasts has been captured on film, swimming more than 3,700ft (1,128m) below the surface of the Indian Ocean. What makes this “alien” so special is not just the fact it’s able to live so far beneath the waves, but the fact it can transform its appearance entirely in just the blink of an eye. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The jaw-dropping metamorphosis was recorded thanks to a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which was exploring the sea off the East coast of Africa. In the clip, the creature – which looks more like a strange logo than a living being – can be seen floating serenely in the water. Then suddenly, 40 seconds into the video, it seems to shrink into a small black dot. On closer inspection, it’s clear that this isn’t a black dot but a jet-black jelly, decked out with streams of pulsating, technicoloured lights. The video was posted to YouTube by the user CaptainJRD back in 2013. In a caption, he explained that it was taken “at a depth of 3753 ft in the Indian Ocean within close proximity to a drill wellhead. “Near the end of the footage you can see the creature getting caught up in the output from the ROV thrusters. The video has not been altered,” he added. Alien looking creature transforming near Ocean floor at over 3700 feet.Video from ROV www.youtube.com The recording has been watched more than 5.8 million times, with viewers agreeing that it was the most “alien-looking creature” they’d ever seen. “If this isn’t one of the coolest things ever, I’m not sure what is,” one wrote. “Is no one gonna talk about how it looked like a disco ball after it transformed? This is an amazing discovery,” commented another. “This is why I never go more than 1000 ft underwater when I go to the beach,” joked a third. And a fourth added: “I’m a strong believer that everything deep deep down in the ocean looks like an alien. I also bet that there’s a lot of crazy species we’ve never seen before, hell I wouldn’t be that surprised if a 900 million-year-old dinosaur dwells at the bottom of the ocean.” Meanwhile, other commentators were quick to identify the creature, with most agreeing that it was a unique form of comb jelly. “For those wondering, this is a Bloodbelly Comb Jelly also called Lampocteis. Really beautiful creatures,” one wrote. Viewers also shared their dismay at what became of the stunning beast. Watch till the end of the video and you’ll see that no sooner does it execute its glorious transformation than it is brutally torn apart, apparently by a valve on the wellhead. “I became absolutely mesmerized. It was one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen, and then it suddenly just got ripped apart,” one commented. Hailing it as a “powerful video” another lamented: “The camera catches the most amazing, beautiful creature never seen before, just to see it torn to shreds by the oil blowout valve. “So very sad and also fitting for what we do to nature every second, everywhere on Earth.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

One user exclaimed, 'You look gorgeous! So proud of you for all your hard work'

Anaplan Inc. is moving its headquarters to Miami after more than a decade in San Francisco, marking a

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 7, 2023--

There was a certain kind of older brother in the 2000s. He didn't even have

A new study has revealed that black holes could be lurking much closer to Earth than anticipated. A black hole in space is when "gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out," NASA explains. "The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying." Due to no light being present, they are invisible. Only special tools can pick up on them. There are said to be around 10 million to 1 billion mass black holes in the Milky Way, according to Science Alert. However, astrologers only know of about 20 of them. Now, a recent study has revealed that they could be a lot closer to Earth than previously thought after investigating the Hyades cluster, "a group of stars located 150 light-years away". In a statement, astrophysicist Stefano Torniamenti of the University of Padua explained: "Our simulations can only simultaneously match the mass and size of the Hyades if some black holes are present at the centre of the cluster today (or until recently). The Hyades with hundreds of stars is said to be approximately 625 million years old. Due to its packed environment, "higher rates of collisions and mergers" are expected. At 153 light-years away, it is considered the closest star cluster to Earth. Researchers were able to observe two or three black holes in the Hyades, which are either still present or ejected less than 150 million years ago and hovering around the outskirts. "This observation helps us understand how the presence of black holes affects the evolution of star clusters and how star clusters in turn contribute to gravitational wave sources," Professor Mark Gieles of the University of Barcelona said. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.