Grab your popcorn cuz Elon Musk…

Via @cjtrowbridge

The post Elon Musk's Implosion Of Twitter Is Hurting Tesla Too! Should He Step Down From Both Companies? appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Thursday was a big day for the internet with the launch of a brand new social platform primed to dethrone Twitter. Meta finally launched their new competitor, Threads, which is basically an extension of Instagram meant to provide a home for everyone who is fed up with Elon Musk‘s control of Twitter but still wants a place to go to start conversations.

Within hours of the launch, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed they’d already signed up 30 million users, including Kim Kardashian and Shakira. So, it’s a great day for Meta — or it was…

Related: Mark Zuckerberg & Elon Musk Are Going To Fight In A Cage!

Now, Twitter is firing back with legal action as they try to get the battling app shut down!

According to sources familiar with the situation via ABC News, Twitter sent a cease-and-desist letter to Threads owner Meta on Thursday, claiming the company used the bird app’s trade secrets to get the new platform up and running, such as hiring ex-Twitter employees who retained proprietary info. The letter, which was signed by lawyer Alex Spiro, stated:

“Over the past year, Meta has hired dozens of former Twitter employees. Twitter knows that these employees previously worked at Twitter; that these employees had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information; that these employees owe ongoing obligations to Twitter; and that many of these employees have improperly retained Twitter documents and electronic devices.”

It continued:

“With that knowledge, Meta deliberately assigned these employees to develop, in a matter of months, Meta’s copycat ‘Threads’ app with the specific intent that they use Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property in order to accelerate the development of Meta’s competing app, in violation of both state and federal law as well as those employees’ ongoing obligations to Twitter.”

Uh oh…

Related: Beyoncé Cancels Concert Over ‘Production Logistics’ — Or Low Ticket Sales?!

As we all know, the SpaceX founder has pretty much singlehandedly been destroying Twitter since purchasing the company last year. And he’s not just ruining the user experience for many, he also fired roughly 75% of the workforce to save costs, per ABC News. So, yeah, no wonder there were so many former employees eager to support a competitor! In a tweet about the legal filing, Elon said:

“Competition is fine, cheating is not”

In an iconic clap back, Mark tweeted for the first time in 11 YEARS on Wednesday night. While he hadn’t been slammed with the legal issue yet, he was seemingly poking fun at all the comparisons between the two apps by posting the popular meme of two Spider-Mans pointing at each other. Ch-ch-check it out!

pic.twitter.com/MbMxUWiQgp

— Mark Zuckerberg (@finkd) July 6, 2023

He wanted to make sure Elon saw that! So petty. LOLz! Have you joined Threads?! Let us know what you think (below)!

[Image via Brian To/David R.Rico/WENN]

The post Twitter Sends Meta A Cease-And-Desist Letter Over New Competitor Threads! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Of course, Elon Musk recently (and very controversially) bought the social media app. And he’s been implementing changes ever since that have been, uh, interesting. Those include laying off a ton of staffers, canning lots of content moderation tools, and holding back workers’ ability to tamp down on racism, bigotry, misinformation, and much more.

Related: Missing Titanic Submarine Billionaire’s Stepson Deletes Controversial Twitter Account

Most recently, on the very last day of June, Musk announced on the site that verified users would be capped at reading 6,000 posts per day, with unverified users only able to read 600 posts. Those numbers, which Musk said were necessary caps due to “extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation, ” have since been raised slightly. But still, it’s all definitely controversial considering Twitter’s whole thing was that you could scroll forever (and ever, and ever, and ever…).

Late on Saturday night, Jauregui took to Twitter to talk about Musk’s latest moves. In a thought-provoking tweet, she noted that the changes may be coming about ahead of America’s looming national campaign and election cycle. Of course, that is set to start rolling out soon and only get WAY more intense over the next 15 months.

Jauregui stated:

“I just wanna say Elon destroying twitter ahead of elections is not a coincidence. Especially considering what his obvious political stance is. This place was one of our most effective organizing tools during 2020 and is where a lot of discourse and accountability happens.”

Then, the singer added:

“Please understand nothing these billionaires do is ever a coincidence. Slowly but surely is the game, so we are apathetic instead of paying attention. When everything feels random and confusing, just know it is anything but. Just connect the dots.”

Damn! That’s very thought provoking, indeed. And it may not be wrong?!

After all, why would misinformation, fascism, and a bunch of other unsavory s**t run rampant on Twitter right now if there weren’t some underlying purpose for it all?! Especially when all the other popular social media sites (hello, Reddit) are cleaning up their acts to be more attractive to (a) investors or buyers, (b) IPOs, and (c) normal people who are burned out on bigotry and just want to post without getting shouted down by weirdos. Ya know???

Related: Mark Zuckerberg Accepted Elon Musk’s Challenge! They’re Going To Fight In A Cage!

You can see Jauregui’s whole tweet for yourself (below):

I just wanna say Elon destroying twitter ahead of elections is not a coincidence. Especially considering what his obvious political stance is. This place was one of our most effective organizing tools during 2020 and is where a lot of discourse and accountability happens. Please…

— Lauren Jauregui (@LaurenJauregui) July 2, 2023

So there you have it.

What do U think, Perezcious readers?! Is she right??

Sound OFF with your take on the matter down in the comments (below)…

[Image via MEGA/WENN/Avalon]

The post Fifth Harmony's Lauren Jauregui Thinks Elon Musk Is Destroying Twitter ON PURPOSE! Here's Why... appeared first on Perez Hilton.

OK, to recap…

Related: Kim Kardashian Epically BURNS Big Sis Kourtney As Wedding Feud Heats Up!

Zuckerberg announced that Meta would be releasing a Twitter rival app called Threads. Incessant s**tposter Elon responded with a sarcastic:

“I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options. At least it will be ‘sane’. Was worried there for a moment”

A fan flippantly warned Musk:

“Better be careful @elonmusk I heard he does the ju jitsu now”

It’s true. The Facebook bigwig has become an honest-to-goodness jiu jitsu competitor of late. Taking down real tournaments, where his money and fame can’t help, Tom Hardy-style. Elon, naturally, put out a challenge, saying:

“I’m up for a cage match if he is lol”

I’m up for a cage match if he is lol

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2023

The thing is, Zuck wasn’t playing around. He decided Elon’s terms were acceptable! He wrote on his IG, over a screenshot of the tweet:

“Send The Location”

Damn! Remember, Mark really can handle himself, apparently! We don’t think he’s kidding, even if Elon is!

Elon actually responded with a location, tweeting:

“Vegas Octagon”

Is this… Is this actually going to happen? Well, then… We guess…

What do YOU think, Perezcious pugilists? Will they go through with it or no?? Which one will back down??

[Image via MEGA/WENN.]

The post Mark Zuckerberg Accepted Elon Musk's Challenge! They're Going To Fight In A Cage! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

As you know, the OceanGate sub went down on Sunday morning for an excursion to the famous wreckage. The home base of the submersible usually keeps in touch with the sub via Elon Musk‘s Starlink satellites, but they lost contact with the crew early in the morning on Father’s Day — and haven’t heard from them since.

Related: Mom Of Missing Girl Arrested After Burned Remains Found

As of midday Tuesday, Captain Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District in Boston says the five confirmed passengers on the sub known as Titan have only about 40 hours of oxygen remaining — that is, if Titan didn’t meet a worse fate. Journalist David Pogue rode in the sub last year and said the two main forms of communication: safety pings and text messages. Both of these stopped about an hour and forty-five minutes into this excursion, and he told CBC there are two possible outcomes:

“There are only two things that could mean. Either they lost all power or the ship developed a hull breach and it imploded instantly. Both of those are devastatingly hopeless.”

So, so awful…

The sub reportedly had seven backup plans, all of which were supposed to bring it back to the surface in the event of an emergency — even if everyone aboard was unconscious. The fact that none of the aircrafts or search and rescue teams that were looking have seen the sub makes the outcome only look more grim.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is sending down their own Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System in hopes of finding the submarine to pull it to the surface. The salvage system is usually used for picking up bulky objects from the ocean floor, including aircrafts and ships, so if they’re able to find the Titan, they should be able to pull it ashore.

Right now, it’s not looking like this story is going to have the happy ending, but we continue to hope everyone is found safe.

[Image via OceanGate/YouTube]

The post Still No Sign Of Missing Titanic Tourist Sub -- Experts Say It May Have Imploded! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Over the weekend, Robby Starbuck, who ran for US Congress in 2022, made some pretty messed up claims about Megan Fox and her three sons with ex-husband Brian Austin Green. In case you didn’t see, he tweeted a photo of the Transformers star and her three children in which her oldest son, Noah, is wearing a dress. He claimed that he “used to live in the same gated community” as the family about five years ago, and that he once heard two of Fox’s sons having a “breakdown” over their clothing:

“These are Megan Fox’s sons. We used to live in the same gated community and our kids played at the park. I saw 2 of them have a full on breakdown saying they were forced by their mom to wear girls clothes as their nanny tried to console them. It’s pure child abuse. Pray for them.”

Absolutely disgusting to make a claim you clearly know nothing about!

Related: Where Megan Fox & Machine Gun Kelly Stand Today!

Baby daddy Brian soon stepped in to strike down the hurtful chatter, writing in a statement to TMZ:

“There are only a few people in their world that can actually verify wether [sic] or not a story like this is true and I can tell you with absolute certainty it is not. This person trying to claim this is true is a perfect example of someone with selfish motives that does not care about negatively affecting a parent child relationship. As a society I hope we continue to push to be better. This Robby Starbuck person is full of s**t, and I have no idea who he is.”

Then, Megan addressed the whole situation herself, writing on Instagram Saturday night:

“exploiting my child’s gender identity to gain attention in your political campaign has put you on the wrong side of the universe. i have been burned at the stake by insecure narcissistic impotent little men like you many times and yet i’m still here. you f**ked with the wrong witch”

Okay, both parents chimed in to shut down the discussion, so that’s a pretty good indication to fall back from trolling, right? Well, the SpaceX founder just didn’t seem to get that hint.

Related: Megan Unloads About Her ‘Public Crucifixion’ In Hollywood

Sunday, he took to Twitter to share that he was “Looking to hire a VP of Witchcraft and Propaganda.” Many users quickly began drawing a line to Megan’s recent statement, in which she referred to herself as a “witch,” and shared she would be the perfect person for the job. However, one user said she’s “bad at propaganda,” which Elon responded with, “Nobody is perfect.”

Nobody is perfect

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 11, 2023

Ooof. It’s not like he was technically speaking negatively on her or the situation she’s been wrapped up in, but, it’s like, come on, dude. You could have just said nothing at all! We just know we certainly wouldn’t be messing with the protective momma bear!

Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments down below!

[Images via Real Time with Bill Maher & ABC/YouTube]

The post Elon Musk Couldn’t Resist From Trolling Megan Fox Amid Controversy Over Sons’ ‘Girls Clothes’ appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Elon Musk has once again taken to the app he’s been accused of absolutely destroying with another awful take! But this time, rather than disabled employees, child rescue teams, or the last words of people’s loved ones, he’s set his sights on Taylor Swift.

Related: Tucker Carlson Announces He’s Bringing His Show Back… On Twitter!

The 51-year-old tweeted a picture of the pop superstar alongside a screen grab of Jon Heder in the hit 2004 comedy Napoleon Dynamite that read “When you realize Taylor Swift is actually Napoleon Dynamite in drag.” WTF?!? But everyone’s jaws were on the floor when they read his added caption that said:

“[I] am a [Taylor Swift] fan – of course – but how do we know for sure they’re different people?”

He’s since deleted the post… but seriously, Elon? At his age, he’s posting the kind of crap you’d expect out of a poorly parented 12-year-old Fortnite player? You’d think he’d be old enough to know that making fun of appearances is the lowest blow — but considering he’s not even old enough to know not to role-play pervertedly as his young son on an alt account, we can’t say it’s surprising at this point.

But one thing about Tay Tay, if you’re gonna come for her, you’re gonna feel the wrath of her Swifties! And boy did they ever deliver. Fans of the Anti-Hero singer were quick to call out Elon for his embarrassing tweet and defend their queen bee, with some user responses even coming right back for him:

“He is so obsessed with her”

“Oh no look another person coming for Taylor when she’s literally just existing…leave her alone for gods sakes!”

“This is a reach if I’ve ever seen one”

“Leave her alone challenge”

“Taylor is performing sold out shows and thriving in more ways than you ever could and you are on a app that you can barely work tweeting this….girl”

One fan even pointed out the photo he posted of the 33-year-old was edited:

“Commenting on Taylor ‘s physical appearance of all people is crazy … The fact he felt the need to edit her picture lol”

That’s even creepier! Why would he feel the need to go out of his way to prove such a random point — for a “joke” that’s not even funny!

Plus, check out this excellent comparison one Swiftie made in reply to Pop Crave (below):

But he is This pic.twitter.com/axNFi8E0II

— Carlos Figueredo (@Carsperi) June 9, 2023

LOL…

We don’t approve of going after appearances, even of jerks — but you have to admit, he really opened the door for this one. If you’re gonna come for Taylor, make sure you look at who YOU ARE first!

[Image via Paramount Pictures/YouTube/MEGA/WENN]

The post Taylor Swift VS Elon Musk! Fans FUME As Twitter Boss Says She Looks Like 'Napoleon Dynamite In Drag'! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Tucker Carlson announced Tuesday afternoon that after his firing he’s going to bring “a new version” of his show back immediately — only it will air directly on Twitter. He said in a video posted to the social network:

“Starting soon, we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter. Free speech is the main right you have. Without it, you have no others.”

He’s mixing up freedom of speech with freedom of the press, isn’t he? Oh wait, no, because he’s not actually doing news and never was. He’s just doing racist dog whistling (while reportedly saying much more explicitly racist stuff behind the scenes) for a growing number of white supremacist-leaning viewers. You know, stuff the lamestream media just can’t handle! Sigh.

Related: Tucker Blasts His ‘Post-Menopausal’ Fans In Leaked Audio

See his announcement video for yourself (below):

We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023

Innerestingly, according to Puck News reporter Dylan Byers, Tucker had a non-compete clause in his Fox contract. After he was let go from the network — reportedly due to their fear his private texts would make the network look way too racist — he would have gotten a cool $25 million! For doing nothing! Or, more accurately, for not doing what he’s doing, another version of his Fox News show. He could have done a Westminster Dog Show podcast about why the white dogs should all win, that would have been fine. But he’s choosing to forgo millions to do, as he puts it, “a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years” on a rival… well, not network exactly…

Why Twitter? It’s possible no actual network will have him. It’s more likely, though, that he’s getting a very, very good offer from a like-minded multibillionaire. Under Elon Musk, white supremacists are flourishing on Twitter like never before.

As for the money, well, it looks like Tucker is still going to try to get that $25 mil. His lawyer fired off a letter accusing Fox News of “fraud and breach of contract” just before the announcement. It looks like he’s coming out swinging against his former network. Will it work? Who knows? But he and Twitter are, sad to say, a pretty good fit these days…

What do YOU think of Tucker’s big move??

[Image via Tucker Carlson/Twitter/HBO/YouTube.]

The post Tucker Carlson Announces He's Bringing His Show Back... On Twitter! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

On Monday the billionaire announced Twitter was going to be, for the first time, deleting old accounts simply because they were no longer active. He wrote:

“We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop.”

We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2023

What’s the deal? Why do this? Well, ever since he (reportedly) overpaid by quite some margin for the social media platform, Elon has been trying to trim the fat wherever he can. And, in many of these cases, tech experts have pointed out he’s actually chopping off some vital organs… For instance, on Day One he started firing programmers left and right, many of whom it turned out he needed to hire back to keep the site running.

Related: Elon Accidentally Revealed He Has An Alt Account Where He Posts Sex Stuff As His Son

In this case, what’s the harm? Well… there are two big reasons accounts are inactive. There are users who quit Twitter… and there are those who died. There are a few fun inactive accounts that still hold significance for people. Like that one account that only ever tweeted that one Rocky Horror joke. We mean, where would we be if YouTube decided to free up space and deleted the channel that posted “David After Dentist” or “Skateboarding Dog”?

But the real tragedy users were quick to point out? It would erase the accounts of lost loved ones.

Plenty of users responded right away to tell the Twitter boss he was making a mistake — imploring him to keep their late loved ones’ accounts. On Facebook, accounts are frozen in time, so you can always go back and visit your deceased friends and family members’ personally cultivated pages. It would be a shame to lose that just for space — and importantly just for money.

You likely don’t even remember this — we sure didn’t — but Twitter talked about doing this years before Elon, back in 2019. The outcry was so strong, the move so unpopular, that the company scrapped it. Elon, we’re guessing, isn’t going to be moved by all this sentiment.

When one follower — one of Elon’s fans apparently, as he even had a blue checkmark — pointed out the historical significance of old tweets, the billionaire replied:

“The accounts will be archived… But it is important to free up abandoned handles”

Free up abandoned handles? So wait… is this yet another decision that’s going to make it harder to tell which tweets come from where? We mean, removing the verification was bad enough, but now someone is going to be able to buy a well-known old handle like @Horse_ebooks and just go to town tweeting whatever they want?

The account that used to be your funny cousin who passed away from cancer might now become home to a white supremacist spewing pro-Trump messages and great replacement theory garbage?! Gross…

Related: Tucker Carlson’s Secret Racist Text That Freaked Out Fox News!

We can’t help but wonder if Elon plans to sell those old handles — and just wants to bring in more $8/month accounts. Heck, he could even be planning to auction off the more popular ones…. who knows at this point?

And then there’s those who are loved by millions. What about the inactive accounts of dead celebrities? Sure, some accounts, like James Caan‘s, get taken over by a friend or employee. But not all. Carrie Fisher‘s account is all her, as is Bob Saget‘s. Some actually end beautifully as the star knew they didn’t have much time. Willie Garson‘s final tweet is still sitting there on his page, greeting you like an old friend. He wrote:

“BE KIND TO EACH OTHER……ALWAYS. LOVE TO ALL. APRROACH KINDNESS.”

BE KIND TO EACH OTHER……ALWAYS. LOVE TO ALL. APRROACH KINDNESS.

— Willie Garson ???????? (@WillieGarson) September 5, 2021

Leonard Nimoy‘s final tweet, too:

“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP [Live Long and Prosper]”

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 23, 2015

And that will be taken away from us? To save/make a few bucks?? Maybe he’ll avoid deleting celebs’ accounts. He certainly cares what they think — he made an exception for the blue check with certain stars, whether they wanted him to or not. But that won’t protect your grandmother’s account. Or your school friend’s.

What do YOU think, Perezcious readers?

[Image via MEGA/WENN/Carrie Fisher/Willie Garson/Bob Saget/Twitter.]

The post Elon Musk Is Removing The Tweets Of People Who've Died To Save Space appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Elon Musk‘s Twitter changes since purchasing the social media app for way too much have been largely panned. He fired staff needed to run the site (so much so he had to hire some back), he unbanned white supremacist accounts and shadow-banned folks who were critical of him, and much like Donald Trump with his infrastructure promises (remember that?) he completely failed to do the one thing we were cheering for — bringing back Vine.

Most recently he removed the verification check marks — replacing them with a paid “verification” system which offers none of the ID theft/hoax security but does net Elon a return on his $44 billion investment — $8 at a time. It was this last move he was bragging about when he showed a little too much on Monday. He posted a screen grab of his account which showed the actual number of current subscribers to Twitter Blue — 24.7k. That means he’s getting a cool $200k per month. (Minus all the unwilling celeb subscribers he’s paying for out of his own pocket of course.) But hey, it’s something. In just 18 THOUSAND years, he should break even!

Content creators may wish to enable subscriptions on this platform.

Just tap on Monetization in settings. pic.twitter.com/CmD06Mczmn

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 24, 2023

But it wasn’t the numbers that had folks flummoxed. It was the fact he forgot you could see the alt accounts on that Twitter bio page. And the one he exposed is a doozy!

It seems that Elon is the true mind behind an account with the handle ErmnMusk. The user is listed as a 2-year-old boy who will turn 3 on May 4. Sound familiar? Yeah, it very much appears he’s posing as his own son, X AE A-XII Musk. The profile pic looks a lot like the kid (as seen above), too. That’s weird enough, but it’s what the account posts that really has social media users gagging.

Related: Grimes Shares Meaning Behind Son’s Name!

Apparently Elon uses that account, which was created in November 2022, to tweet the most embarrassing stuff, like about sexual kinks and whatnot. The kind of thing, we presume, he doesn’t want on his main? Or maybe he would, who knows. But he’s ALSO tweeting stuff here. As a child.

For instance, he replied to his own meme — a photo of disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in a fake PornHub video titled “Man F**ks 5 Million People At Once.” The baby Musk asked in response:

“Is this a real peon video?”

Is this a real peon video?

— Elon Test (@ErmnMusk) November 13, 2022

Don’t google that. Trust us.

Lil Elon also commented on the sexual attractiveness of SBF’s girlfriend, talked about wanting to be old enough to go to nightclubs, and asked a crypto bro:

“Do you like Japanese girls?”

Yeah, not appropriate words to put in a child’s mouth, are they?

See more evidence below, in case it gets deleted!

BREAKING: Elon Musk has allegedly revealed a secret alt account where he pretends to be a child version of himself posting a lot of bizarre sexual content pic.twitter.com/HaItr9Cl31

— The Serfs (@theserfstv) April 25, 2023

[Image via MEGA/WENN.]

The post Elon Musk Accidentally Revealed He Has A Twitter Alt Account Where He Poses As His Own Son & Posts Weird Sex Stuff appeared first on Perez Hilton.