Yay! Nobody Cares about Tickle Me Elmo Musk

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

At what point UK just block Xitter from the country?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

At what point UK just block Xitter from the country?

He's probably so upset because the relevant sections of the Online Safety Act 2023 (passed, that is, by the previous Conservative government) will come into force, subject to parliamentary approval, on March 25 this year. At this point OFCOM, the independent regulator, will be able to fine companies large amounts and, in extreme cases, block them from the UK altogether, if they fail to remove various types of illegal or harmful content, so things could start to become rather expensive for Twitter X if Mr Free Speech Absolutist doesn't take steps to comply with UK law.

Online Safety Act: explainer

www.gov.uk

 

[Noodles]

He's probably so upset because the relevant sections of the Online Safety Act 2023 (passed, that is, by the previous Conservative government) will come into force, subject to parliamentary approval, on March 25 this year. At this point OFCOM, the independent regulator, will be able to fine companies large amounts and, in extreme cases, block them from the UK altogether, if they fail to remove various types of illegal or harmful content, so things could start to become rather expensive for Twitter X if Mr Free Speech Absolutist doesn't take steps to comply with UK law.

Online Safety Act: explainer

www.gov.uk

I don't know what he is worried about, Twitter is all "the truth" plus he asked really nicely for people to post more productive content!

 

[Innula Zenovka]

David Batty (@david-batty.bsky.social)

Starmer condemns ‘lies and misinformation’ as he hits back at Musk PM also criticises politicians ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ amid row over action on child sexual exploitation...

bsky.app

Glyn Moody (@glynmoody.bsky.social)

Emmanuel Macron joins growing criticism of Elon #Musk in Europe - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/06/emmanuel-macron-joins-growing-criticism-elon-musk-europe "The French president joined the Norwegian and British prime ministers and a German government spokesperson"

bsky.app

ETA

The Elon Musk saga has exposed Reform’s soft underbelly - Politics.co.uk

Just a few short weeks ago, tech billionaire Elon Musk and bullish populist Nigel Farage met in the United States to discuss, among other things, the prospect of a hefty donation. Reports at the time suggested Musk could transfer Reform as much as $100m to bolster the party’s...

www.politics.co.uk

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Dropping this in here for background

The Guardian (@theguardian.com)

Why is Elon Musk attacking Keir Starmer over the grooming scandal? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/06/why-is-elon-musk-attacking-keir-starmer-over-grooming-scandal?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&CMP=bsky_gu

bsky.app

Wikipedia Rochdale Child Sexual Abuse Ring

I'd add that a major contributory factor was that, at the time of the initial investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service guidance (issued before Keir Starmer took over) told prosecutors to consider the chances of obtaining a conviction when deciding whether or not to prosecute, which meant in sexual abuse cases prosecutors and police took into account how credible they thought juries might find the complainant's evidence. Because of the various victims' troubled backgrounds, the police and CPS initially thought juries probably wouldn't believe them, so the prosecutions were never brought.

Starmer changed the guidance to stress that the more serious the allegation, the greater the public interest was that the matter be decided by a jury rather than behind closed doors by prosecutors and that the investigation should focus more on the credibility of the allegations as a whole rather than the credibility of individual witnesses. This means, in effect, that a prosecution should be brought if the complainant's allegations disclose sexual abuse, and it's up to the jury to decide whether or not they are persuaded to the criminal standard that the allegations are true.

The downside of this is that a lot of cases of sexual assault are now brought that don't have much chance of success -- I remember one I was involved in where a crack addict accused her pimp and dealer of rape, and his defence was that it was consensual and she was retaliating because he wouldn't give her some crack for free, in which I was pretty sure I believed her, but could not in good faith have said I was sure his account was not true -- but I still think it's better that a jury decide that than the police or the prosecutors.

Certainly, though, Starmer can't be blamed for Rochdale -- he helped clear up a mess he'd inherited.

ETA: The Times (no friend of the Labour Party) gives the history

What is the grooming gangs scandal and how does Starmer fit in?

Years after claims of the abuse of girls first emerged, a Times investigation exposed a conspiracy of silence that has been thrust back into the headlines

www.thetimes.com

Evernote Link

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Random aside: Adam Bienkov (@adambienkov.bsky.social)

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

"F u retard"
~Elon Musk, January 6 2025

Guess his new "nicer/informative" algorithm shat the bed?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Random aside: Adam Bienkov (@adambienkov.bsky.social)

Also this

Jim Pickard (@pickardje.bsky.social)

Boris Johnson, 2019: “awful lot of money & an awful lot of police time now goes into these historic offences...£60m I saw was being spaffed up a wall on some investigation into historic child abuse...what on earth is that going to do to protect the public now?”...

bsky.app

 

[Free]

Elon Musk Suggests America Should 'Liberate' Britain From 'Tyrannical Government'

After a barrage of attacks from the key adviser to Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned "lies and misinformation."

www.huffpost.com

Sorry Leon, but were presently dealing with our own incoming tyrannical government to be bothered with Britain's.

 

[Free]

We're going to be overrun with new states soon.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

He's probably so upset because the relevant sections of the Online Safety Act 2023 (passed, that is, by the previous Conservative government) will come into force, subject to parliamentary approval, on March 25 this year. At this point OFCOM, the independent regulator, will be able to fine companies large amounts and, in extreme cases, block them from the UK altogether, if they fail to remove various types of illegal or harmful content, so things could start to become rather expensive for Twitter X if Mr Free Speech Absolutist doesn't take steps to comply with UK law.

Online Safety Act: explainer

www.gov.uk

Thread here has some details of how things might work out, if the regulators decide to play tough

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) (@sundersays.bsky.social)

Musk's tweets re Starmer & Phillips prob defamatory. (He can take that risk, given their roles + his billions). But unlikely to be criminal. Yet they encourage/solicit responses that do cross line to incitement + may socialise violence If lawful but extreme, the remedy is regulation + pressure

bsky.app

 

[Noodles]

Whats with this weird obsession with conquoring countries and making them states?

Its like these Nationalist idiots realized how fucking stupid Nationalism is and instead of accepting it, they want to Nationalize Globalism, because they spent too much effort telling everyone "Globalism Bad" and can't ever admit they are stupid and wrong.

 

[Free]

/me glances at thread title.




EDIT: Posted for a previous comment that's since been removed. But I'm leaving it for enigmatic purposes...

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Whats with this weird obsession with conquoring countries and making them states?

Its like these Nationalist idiots realized how fucking stupid Nationalism is and instead of accepting it, they want to Nationalize Globalism, because they spent too much effort telling everyone "Globalism Bad" and can't ever admit they are stupid and wrong.

No, I think they're simply emulating other oligarchies run by autocrats. Putin wants Ukraine so he invades the country. Xi wants Taiwan and, on Trump's watch he'll probably invade too.

Trump/MAGA don't want to stand up to them, so they'll act as they see the autocrats acting, threatening to invade Panama and Mexico, joking about annexing Canada and the UK, and making noises about buying Greenland, to prove they're hard cases, too.

It's all of a parcel with Trump's Godfather act and his successful businessman act. A weak autocrat's idea of how a strongman dictator behaves.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Outstanding achievement of Elon Musk: Russian troll botnet Matryoshka migrating from X to Blusky on its own!

How comes? "This trend has been driven largely by Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election and Elon Musk’s controversial “reforms” that introduced unpopular changes to the platform he now owns. "

So in other words X is now such a shithole by itself, that Russian trolls are not necessary any longer to spread the FUD and propaganda Moscow wants to see!

Russian disinfo network “Matryoshka” is migrating to Bluesky as exodus from X continues

The Russian disinformation network “Matryoshka” has launched a new campaign on the Bluesky social network. Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative journalism group Bellingcat, has been one of the first researchers to detect its activity. So far, four Russian-made fake videos have been...

theins.ru

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Jess Phillips, the UK's safeguarding minister whom Musk has called a "rape genocide apologist," reponds

The Guardian (@theguardian.com)

Elon Musk knows ‘absolutely nothing’ about women and girls’ safety, says Jess Phillips https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/07/elon-musk-knows-absolutely-nothing-about-womens-safety-says-jess-phillips?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&CMP=bsky_gu

bsky.app

Interview on which the story is based (don't know if it's available outside the UK)

Jess Phillips: Musk's criticism of me is 'ridiculous' but it is turning my world 'upside down' - Latest From ITV News

Also

Paul Brand (@paulbrand.bsky.social)

Fascinating interview with the journalist Andrew Norfolk who first exposed grooming gangs more than a decade ago. He hits out at Musk and says another inquiry won’t help victims, though more work should be done to understand causes of the horrific abuse...

bsky.app

In a wide-ranging interview, he criticised the “relentless attacks” on mainstream media by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of X, whose claims about grooming have reignited the scandal this week.

“The truth is a concept that Elon Musk clearly has very little interest in,” said Norfolk, emphasising that the grooming was only exposed through his years of painstaking reporting in The Times, during which he had the full support of its editors.

Evernote Link

 

[detrius]

We're going to be overrun with new states soon.

America should grant statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington before it starts annexing new territories.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

America should grant statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington before it starts annexing new territories.

Neither are conservative enough for the Republicans to "give" them two senators and have many representatives, and democratic leadership knows that they can't help them without giving something up in return.. and failing to help either d.c. or Puerto Rico will just drive token across the aisle.

I can't see either party taking ratification seriously, not until something makes it immediately beneficial to both parties

 

[Noodles]

Neither are conservative enough for the Republicans to "give" them two senators and have many representatives, and democratic leadership knows that they can't help them without giving something up in return.. and failing to help either d.c. or Puerto Rico will just drive token across the aisle.

I can't see either party taking ratification seriously, not until something makes it immediately beneficial to both parties

Do Republicans really think Canada or Greenland are Conservative enough? Of the 4 choices here, I want to say I have heard Puerto Rico is pretty conservative, probably more than Greenland and Canada, primarily due to religeon.

 

[Free]

Do Republicans really think Canada or Greenland are Conservative enough?

Here's a logic issue with your question: Do Republicans think.