FTC faces uphill battle in Microsoft/Activision appeal
By Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON The U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) bid to temporarily block Microsoft's $69 billion purchase
2023-07-14 22:27
Bitcoin near 13-month high as investors welcome Ripple ruling
By Tom Westbrook and Rae Wee SINGAPORE Bitcoin was hovering near its highest so far this year on
2023-07-14 22:22
Biden Administration to Forgive $39 Billion in Student Debt
The US Department of Education will forgive $39 billion in student debt by updating a technical requirement under
2023-07-14 21:52
Crypto scores a key legal victory in long-running regulatory feud
The crypto industry notched a crucial win in its battle with regulators Thursday when a judge ruled that Ripple Labs did not violate federal securities law by offering its XRP token on public exchanges — undermining a key argument made by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
2023-07-14 21:47
Twitter starts making payments to its controversial users, including $20k to Andrew Tate
Elon Musk’s Twitter has started sending payments to some of its most most popular and controversial users. The scheme is part of what Twitter says is an ad revenue sharing programme, which will let people keep some of the money generated from showing advertising in the replies to their tweets. It is still not clear exactly how the size of the payments is decided, and some have reported receiving tens of thousands of dollars. Users must be subscribed to Twitter Blue and have at least five million impressions on their posts. The payments have gone to popular Twitter users that include some of the most controversial on the site. Andrew Tate, for instance, shared that he had received a payment of $20,000 from Twitter. Many of those who have received payouts have had their accounts boosted by Elon Musk in recent months. Mr Musk has often replied to some of the site’s users – especially those focused on politics – seemingly in an attempt to draw more attention to those accounts. Some critics of Mr Musk had suggested that he had favoured right-wing accounts in the first payouts. But the nature of the accounts may also be affected by the fact that users must pay for Twitter’s premium Blue membership – which has been embraced by many of Mr Musk’s political allies – and other non-political accounts did post that they had received payments. Mr Musk first announced the ad sharing plan in February, saying that the idea was to allow people to “create an interesting thread and get paid for it”. The payments that are being sent to the first users are based on the impressions their posts have gathered since that plan was first announced, he said in a recent tweet. In a thread, Twitter said that the scheme was intended to allow people to make a living directly on Twitter. Until now, users have had to monetise their following in other ways – usually by sending traffic to other platforms. “We’re expanding our creator monetisation offering to include ads revenue sharing for creators. This means that creators can get a share in ad revenue, starting in the replies to their posts,” the company wrote on its official account. “This is part of our effort to help people earn a living directly on Twitter. We’re rolling out the program more broadly later this month and all eligible creators will be able to apply. Go get yourself something nice!” Twitter said that it will soon launch an application process for ads revenue sharing. It is not clear how those who received early payments were chosen. After some users attempted to calculate how much money accounts were receiving per view, Mr Musk cautioned that the system includes some other controls. He said that the payouts are “not exactly per impression”, and were instead based on how many ads were shown to other verified users, which he said was done to ensure that people were not able to use bots to drive up their impressions. Mr Musk also said that he had given the money generated from his own tweets to the creator payout pool. Twitter’s announcement comes soon after Meta announced its own competitor to the site, in the form of Threads. That app has grown rapidly – and while it is still unclear how much it has affected the user base of Twitter, some away from the company have said that the site’s traffic is “tanking”.
2023-07-14 21:21
Does Pokimane have 'fake' streaming room? Fans say 'we've been tricked, backstabbed'
Pokimane's streaming room has always been an integral part of her broadcasts, but it appears not everything is as it seems
2023-07-14 21:19
Microsoft gets more time from UK to plead case to buy video game maker Activision
British antitrust regulators have extended their deadline to issue a final order blocking Microsoft’s $69 billion plan to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard
2023-07-14 20:54
15 Historical Figures’ Names You’re Probably Mispronouncing
Here’s how to pronounce ‘Elie Wiesel,’ ‘Cixi,’ and 13 other famous names from history.
2023-07-14 20:26
Why trolling the likes of Andrew Tate is actually earning them money
Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, many controversial users who were previously banned from the platform have been allowed back on and are flourishing. Users such as Andrew Tate have regained a platform to spout his harmful views to millions of users. But, while it may feel satisfying to troll such users, engaging with their tweets actually earns them money. Here’s why: Twitter recently announced it was paying out thousands of dollars in advertising revenue to users to “benefit” from their high engagement on tweets, earning more money the higher their engagement is. As part of Twitter’s Ad Revenue sharing program, users require “5M+ Tweet impressions in each month for the last 3 months”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter On Thursday (13 July), some eligible users began receiving notifications of how much money they would receive. The highest earner, Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus, known online as Shibetoshi Nakamoto, earned $37,050. Tate also revealed in a tweet that he earned $20,379 from ad revenue generated in the reply threads under his posts. The money comes from the ad revenue generated in their replies below the content they post on the platform, and is paid out via the Stripe account that the user registered for creator subscriptions with. Twitter staffer, Patrick Traughber, said: “Excited to start sending our first payments to creators for ads revenue sharing today. “Creators are the lifeblood of this platform, and it's great to see so many creators I follow getting paid today. The program will be expanding soon—more to come!” The cash payouts come just a week after Meta launched its rival text-based platform, Threads. 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.
2023-07-14 19:49
What challenges does Microsoft's $69 billion Activision deal face?
(This story has been refiled to fix the dateline) By Foo Yun Chee and Chavi Mehta The U.S.
2023-07-14 18:58
Chandrayaan-3: India's historic Moon mission lifts off successfully
With Chandrayaan-3, India aims to be the first to land near the Moon's little-explored south pole.
2023-07-14 17:51
Extreme Heat Rips Through Europe, Bringing Health Risks for Millions
Extreme heat is ripping through southern Europe and parts of Germany, with the next blast from the Sahara
2023-07-14 17:22