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Why are billionaires bad for society? - Bernie Sanders

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Why are billionaires bad for society? - Bernie Sanders

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Why are billionaires bad for society? | Big Questions with Bernie Sanders

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Bernie Sanders on the concentration of wealth in America #power #wealth #berniesanders #billionaires

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America’s Top Givers 2022: The 25 Most Philanthropic Billionaires

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From Warren Buffett to newcomer Jeff Bezos, the nation’s most generous billionaires have given away a collective $169 billion in their lifetimes–and are still richer than ever.

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Greta Thunberg: The disarming case to act right now on climate change

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In this passionate call to action, 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg explains why, in August 2018, she walked out of school and organized a strike to raise awareness of global warming, protesting outside the Swedish parliament and grabbing the world's attention. "The climate crisis has already been solved.

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WATCH: Greta Thunberg's full speech to world leaders at UN Climate Action Summit

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Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye | National Geographic - Video Guru

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Climate Change is a real and serious issue. In this video Bill Nye, the Science Guy, explains what causes climate change, how it affects our planet, why we need to act promptly to mitigate its effects, and how each of us can contribute to a solution.

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Pride happens in June to honor the start of the modern gay rights movement. The movement was sparked by the Stonewall Uprising, in June of 1969. The Stonewall Inn, a popular #LGBTQ+ hangout on Christopher Street in New York City, was raided by police, triggering protests. The Christopher Street Liberation March was held one year later, and has evolved into the annual Pride parades held around the world. To mark the 50th anniversary of the first march, Nat interviews co-founder Ellen Broidy about its origins and legacy. They discuss how Pride 2020 will be different because of the coronavirus, how kids can be good allies to their LGBTQ peers, and parallels between today's Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the Stonewall Uprising.

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Pride Month 2020 | BrainPOP News - Video Guru

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Pride happens in June to honor the start of the modern gay rights movement. The movement was sparked by the Stonewall Uprising, in June of 1969. The Stonewall Inn, a popular #LGBTQ+ hangout on Christopher Street in New York City, was raided by police, triggering protests.

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Kids Talk Back to BrainPOP on LGBTQ Rights

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Kids Talk Back to BrainPOP on LGBTQ Rights

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Kids Talk Back to BrainPOP on LGBT Rights (full)

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Rebekah Bruesehoff, 14, enjoys playing field hockey, baking, and reading fantasy books. She's also an activist. Rebekah advocates × advocate SAWITREE PAMEE/EYEEM-GETTY IMAGES to support; to speak up for (verb) I will advocate for recycling. for transgender rights. People who are transgender don't identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. "When I was born, everybody thought I was a boy," Rebekah told TIME for Kids. "But I deeply know myself to be a girl. It's just who I've been forever."

At age 8, she changed her gender pronouns × gender pronoun FIZKES/GETYY IMAGES a word that refers to a person by gender, such as she or her (noun) The job application asked which gender pronouns I identify with. and started going by Rebekah. "When I went out in the world as Rebekah, that really changed everything for me," she says. "It made me happier, more confident, and I just felt like me."

Two years later, in 2017, Rebekah made headlines after speaking at a rally for transgender children's rights in her home state of New Jersey. Ever since then, she's been using her voice to make a difference.

Stand Up, Speak Out

To Rebekah, being an activist means speaking up about a topic or cause you care about. She advocates for transgender and all LGBTQ rights in the hope that all kids can be themselves and feel safe and accepted. "I know kids like me aren't always supported in their communities," Rebekah says. "So I knew I needed to fix that."

Rebekah speaks to groups, writes articles, and meets with leaders and politicians. In 2018, she spoke at the New Jersey state legislature in support of a bill that called for schools to teach a more inclusive curriculum. Last month, Rebekah was a special guest at the swearing-in ceremony of Delaware senator Sarah McBride. McBride is the first openly transgender state senator in United States history.

In 2019, Rebekah was featured in an episode of Marvel's Hero Project, a streaming series that highlights kids who are doing amazing things in their community. That same year, she began what is now one of her passions: her book drive. Rebekah collects books with LGBTQ characters, because "representation matters," she says. She donates the books to libraries and schools in need of inclusive stories. The book drive is one way Rebekah works to shatter stereotypes about transgender people. "Transgender kids are just like everybody else around you," she says. "It's probably the least exciting part of me."

Rebekah has a message for kids struggling to be accepted for who they are. "You are not alone, and there are people fighting for you," she says. "There are people who will love you no matter who you are."

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Rebekah Bruesehoff, 14, enjoys playing field hockey, baking, and reading fantasy books. She's also an activist. Rebekah advocates for transgender rights. People who are transgender don't identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. "When I was born, everybody...

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In June 2020, Sesame Workshop began a study of how kids and families in the United States feel and talk about racism. Researchers questioned 147 families with children from ages 6 to 11. In January 2021, they checked in with the families again to see how their perspectives had changed.

The study, Coming Together: Family Reflections on Racism, will be released today. Sesame Workshop shared the results with TIME for Kids first. They show that most kids think people of different races are not treated fairly in the U.S. Many kids have witnessed an act of racism. And nearly half say they've experienced discrimination themselves.

"Racism has always been in our society," Sesame Workshop's Tanya Haider told TFK Kid Reporter Sophia Hou on June 3. Haider is Sesame's chief strategy officer and executive vice president of research and ventures. "We know it. We acknowledge it," she says. "But what happened last summer-and the protests that followed-really has brought it to attention."

On May 25, a man named George Floyd was killed by a police officer during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A bystander captured the event on her phone and shared the video on social media. It sparked anti-racism protests around the world. "The increased media coverage around what happened with George Floyd was causing kids to ask questions that they hadn't before-of their parents, of their teachers, of each other," Haider says.

In January 2021, when young survey participants were asked about the protests, there were fewer who felt sad or angry than in June 2020. And more kids felt hopeful. "I feel like the protests helped with making changes to racism," wrote one. "The future [feels] kind of promising," wrote another.

Haider didn't expect that 86% of kids surveyed would say that people in the U.S. aren't treated fairly because of their race. "I was surprised it was that high," she says. "That means nearly every kid, almost 9 out of 10, thought that people are treated unfairly on the basis of their skin."

But Haider sees a reason to be hopeful. "The good thing about that number is that kids are aware that people are treated unfairly," she says. "And perhaps they'll do something about it."

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In June 2020, Sesame Workshop began a study of how kids and families in the United States feel and talk about racism. Researchers questioned 147 families with children from ages 6 to 11. In January 2021, they checked in with...

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TFK Reads: Stamped (for Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You

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A summer day is the perfect time to chill out with a good book. TFK Kid Reporters have reviewed some of the hottest books of the season. Below, TFK Kid Reporter Miguel Madero shares his thoughts on Stamped (for Kids):…

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Would you pay to go to space? Let us know below

⭐️HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW⭐️

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, just reached outer space.

He and 2 other billionaires are on the front lines of space tourism.

Soon space tourism might be for more than the rich.

Read on to explore the pros and cons of the new industry. ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Selfies with Saturn? Postcards from the International Space Station? Hotels on the moon?

Thanks to space tourism, those could all become realities.

On Tuesday, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos became the second billionaire within a week to reach outer space. He travelled aboard his company's Blue Origin rocket on a spaceflight that lasted 10 minutes.

Joining Bezos was a hand-picked group including his brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and an 82-year-old aviation pioneer from Texas - the youngest and oldest people to ever fly in space.

Jeff Bezos, third from the left, became the second billionaire within a week to reach outer space on July 20. He flew with Oliver Daemen, left, Mark Bezos, second from left, and Wally Funk, right. (Image credit: Joe Skipper/Reuters)

Last week, Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson ﻿was the first billionaire to head up to the skies, reaching 88 km above Earth's surface and achieving weightlessness for several minutes.

Richard Branson, fourth from left, and his crew flew 88 km above Earth's surface on July 12. Some experts say he didn't go far enough. They say space officially begins 100 km above the Earth. (Image credit: Virgin Galactic)

And this fall, billionaire Elon Musk will also enter the space tourism game, as he prepares to send four people to space in one of his SpaceX rockets.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman, left, Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor and Chris Sembroski are set to be SpaceX's first crew to head to space in September. (Image credit: Inspiration 4/Reuters)

It might be years before most Canadians can afford a ticket to outer space, and even then, ticket costs are likely to be many thousands of dollars.

But some planetary experts say the upcoming space launches led by billionaires could bring about a new era of space exploration, where you no longer have to be an astronaut to fly.

It's a pretty exciting idea, but what are the pros and cons of sending tourists to space?

PROS

1. ﻿It's downright cool

The biggest perk of going to space is, of course, the sightseeing.

In more than 300,000 years of human existence, only around 500 people have been able to glimpse the view from outside our atmosphere.

2. More space research

This new era of tourism could make space science more accessible, said Marc Boucher, the founder and editor-in-chief of SpaceQ Media Inc., an online Canadian space news company based in London, Ontario.

The research that's happening in space right now is "really expensive," Boucher said.

"These flights of opportunities on these new suborbital vehicles will offer a much cheaper cost to do some of this research."

3. ﻿New technologies

More space science could mean more cool, new inventions.

Many of our technologies are based on innovations that started in space, said Sara Mazrouei, a planetary scientist and educational developer at Ryerson University in Toronto.

"The last space race that we had to get to the moon gave us the technology for our running shoes, for our foam mattresses, for our bulletproof vests," Mazrouei said.

"I'm really hopeful" that once we move beyond this initial set of billionaires getting to space, there will be room for more technological innovation, she said.

4. More space exploration overall ﻿ ﻿

Back in November 2020, many space experts remarked that SpaceX's successful launch to the International Space Station marked a new era of space exploration.

In November 2020, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket became the first privately owned spacecraft used by NASA to reach the ISS. (Image credit: Joe Skipper/Reuters)

This included Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques.

"This is the dawn of a new era," he said at the time. "[It] really opens up the door for cheaper, more frequent, more accessible access to Earth's orbit."

Saint-Jacques said this new level of access to space travel will allow national space agencies to "shift their focus" back to going to the Moon and eventually Mars.

Cons

1. It's expensive

Currently, space tourism is not cheap, meaning very few people can afford to do it.

For example, Oliver Daemen, one of the crew members on Bezos' flight, was a last-minute replacement for someone who paid $28 million US in an auction for their ticket.

His father bought the ticket for a lower, uncdisclosed price.

Virgin Galactic already has more than 600 reservations from would-be space tourists, with tickets initially costing $250,000 US a piece.

Musk's SpaceX plans to take tourists on more than just brief, up-and-down trips. Instead, they will orbit the Earth for days and seats will cost well into the millions.

Although tickets are likely to go down in price as space tourism becomes more common, ticket prices will still be out of reach for most Canadians for the next several years.

2. It may be bad for the environment

Some experts say rocket launches could be damaging our ozone layer.

The ozone layer, which is within Earth's stratosphere, is important for protecting us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.

Experts say that certain chemicals in rocket fumes are getting trapped in the stratosphere and are eating away at our ozone layer.

Until now, the problem has flown under the radar, but with rocket launches becoming more frequent, the problem could become a much bigger contributor to climate change.

3. It may contribute to space junk

Any time something goes wrong in space, there is potential for spacecraft, satellites and other technology to be lost and trapped in Earth's orbit.

Currently, there are millions of microshards of space junk that have accumulated in Earth's orbit.

This illustration from the European Space Agency represents all the space debris 1 mm in size and larger that is currently orbiting Earth. (IRAS/TU Braunschweig)

Just a few months ago, one of those pieces of debris pierced through Canada's robotic arm, called Canadarm, which is a fixture on the International Space Station.

There is a risk that more collisions will create more fragments, hence more collisions, in an escalating cascade of accidents.

That would make lower Earth orbit dangerous for the satellites we have come to depend on for global communications.

By sending so many more spacecraft into space through tourism without first solving the problem of space junk, the issue could be made even worse.

﻿4. Things can still go wrong

Although we've come a long way since the 1960s in terms of space innovation and technology, there are still occasional examples of things going wrong.

Space is, after all, essentially like stepping into a microwave, with intense levels of pressure, supercharged cosmic rays, solar emissions and other dangers.

Until scientists find a way to perfect the safety of space travel, potential mishaps remain an important concern for the first space tourists of the next several years.

Submissions for our "Would you pay to go to space?" question have now closed. Thank you for submitting.

With files from Nicole Mortillaro/CBC, Stephanie Dubois/CBC, The Associated Press and Chris Iorfida/CBC

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Billionaires in space? The pros and cons of space tourism | CBC Kids News

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⭐️HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW⭐️ Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, just reached outer space. He and 2 other billionaires are on the front lines of space tourism. Soon space tourism might be for more than the rich. Read on to explore the pros and cons of the new industry.

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American billionaire Jeff Bezos has soared into space on a reusable rocket built by his company Blue Origin.

The world's richest man was joined on the flight by his younger brother, Mark Bezos, teenage tourist Oliver Daemen and 82-year-old female aviation* pioneer* Wally Funk.

The New Shepard rocket was launched from the company's Launch Site One near Van Horn, in Texas, at 11pm AEST*, in a milestone* mission for the space tourism company.

The crew experienced a few minutes of weightlessness as the space capsule soared past the Karman line, the internationally recognised boundary of space, to reach an altitude of about 100km above Earth.

The rocket created a sonic boom* before returning to the ground in an upright position, and successfully landing about 11 minutes after it launched.

The capsule containing the four space tourists then drifted back to land with the help of six parachutes.

Mr Bezos said it was the "best day ever" when ground crew checked on him inside the capsule after it landed.

Mr Bezos emerged from the capsule wearing a cowboy hat. He and the other passengers were greeted by family and friends after landing.

The journey made Oliver, a Dutch physics student, the youngest person to visit space and former NASA trainee Ms Funk the oldest.

Mr Bezos described the space flight as the "perfect mission" and said he wanted to go again.

"Oh my God ... My expectations were high, and they were dramatically exceeded," he said after landing.

"You feel comfortable, it's not weird at all," he added.

Ms Funk also expressed her wish to repeat the experience.

"We had a great time, it was wonderful," she said. "I want to go again, fast!"

She said she just wished the flight was longer and that she had room for some somersaults in weightlessness.

The launch came two weeks after Mr Bezos stepped aside as Amazon boss, and just nine days after rival billionaire Sir Richard Branson went into space aboard Virgin Galactic's first fully crewed spaceflight.

Although Sir Richard beat Mr Bezos in a landmark moment for the fledgling* space tourism industry, Blue Origin has claimed its spaceflight experience is superior*.

Blue Origin's rocket broke the internationally-recognised boundary of space at an altitude of 100km, while Virgin Galactic passed the 80km border that is recognised by the US.

Blue Origin also claims to be more environmentally friendly, with its New Shepard reusable spacecraft more eco-friendly than Virgin Galactic's air-launched spaceplane, which emits greenhouse gases and soot.

Blue Origin's ambitions also extend beyond Virgin Galactic's space tourism plans, with Mr Bezos aiming to become a major contractor for NASA missions.

Currently, NASA's leading private sector* partner is Elon Musk's SpaceX, which began taking astronauts to the International Space Station in 2020 and is developing a deep space rocket for future missions to Mars.

According to Mr Bezos, he has been fascinated by space since watching the Apollo moon landing on July 20, 1969, as a child. He chose the date of his launch to coincide with 52nd anniversary of the moon landing.

He believes space will play a role in the future of the human species and in taking environmental pressure off earth.

He has spoken about the possibility of humans living in space colonies, drawing ideas from science fiction writers as well as scientists.

"We humans have to go to space if we are going to continue to have a thriving civilisation," Mr Bezos told a 2019 CBS News interview.

"We have become big as a population, as a species, and this planet is relatively small. We see it in things like climate change and pollution and heavy industry. We are in the process of destroying this planet ... we have to preserve this planet."
GLOSSARY

aviation: to do with flying

pioneer: person who is among the first to do something

AEST: Australian Eastern Standard Time

milestone: a significant stage or event in the development of something

sonic boom: loud noise caused by the shockwave created when an object travels through air faster than the speed of sound

fledgling: something that is young and still developing

superior: better

private sector: the businesses that are run by individuals and not governments

EXTRA READING Teenager is bound for space Billionaire blasts to edge of space Mystery person buys ticket to space Space tourists to go into super-high orbit in 2021 QUICK QUIZ

1. What is the name of Jeff Bezos' space company?

2. What is the name of the rocket that took the four passengers to space?

3. Who were the other three passengers that joined Jeff Bezos on the flight?

4. What altitude did the rocket reach above Earth?

5. Why did Jeff Bezos chose July 20 to launch into space?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Blue Origin v Virgin Galactic
Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic Space enterprises. Include information about the owners, the spacecraft, the astronauts, and other details mentioned in the Kids News article.

Create a table with two columns. Write "Blue Origin" at the top of one column and "Virgin Galactic" at the top of the other. Now list your observations about each company and their space plans in these columns.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Critical and creative thinking

2. Extension
Jeff Bezos believes space will play a role in the future of the human species and in taking environmental pressure off earth. How much do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your reasoning and what you think space travel might look like in the future.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Critical and creative thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read with Kung Fu Punctuation
Pair up with the article between you and stand up to make it easy to demonstrate your Kung Fu Punctuation.

Practice reading one sentence at a time. Now read it again, while acting out the punctuation as you read.

Read and act three sentences before swapping with your partner. Have two turns each.

Now as a challenge ask your partner to read a sentence out loud while you try and act out the punctuation. Can you keep up? Now swap over.

Are you laughing yet?

Have fun acting out your punctuation.

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Billionaire Jeff Bezos and space tourists hit new heights

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Elon Musk has made sweeping changes to Twitter - often to his own benefit. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO - Nearly four months into Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter, one of the most influential social media websites has been transformed into a mercurial billionaire's personal sandbox.

Twitter users knew the site would change under Musk, who purchased the company in October for $44 billion and installed himself as CEO on a promise of restoring "free speech." What many underestimated was the extent to which Musk would make wholesale changes with the potential to disrupt the experience across the site for his own benefit.
Tech is not your friend. We are. Sign up for The Tech Friend newsletter.
That approach was illustrated dramatically this week when the site Platformer reported Twitter had made major algorithmic changes - on Musk's orders - that resulted in users seeing the billionaire's tweets first. Musk had been worried that his engagement was declining: His tweet throwing support behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl had not performed as well as President Biden's, for example. The fix that Twitter rolled out pushed Musk's tweets to the top of many users' feeds, something widely noted by users.

Twitter's public data backs that up.

A new feature displaying view counts on tweets that rolled out late last year showed Musk's tweets at the time were driving massive engagement, including more than 1 billion views on Dec. 18, for example. All in all, Musk's tweets on a typical day in December were shown 231 million times.

But that number dropped off substantially this year. Between Jan. 1 and the Super Bowl, Musk's tweets were shown only 137 million times on a typical day. This week, after his posts were artificially boosted, he's up to around 400 million per day, according to a Washington Post analysis of the view counts.

Musk is a prolific Twitter user who has a penchant for tweeting his mind and sometimes landing himself in trouble in the process. Appearing in court last month over an infamous 2018 tweet declaring he had "Funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 a share, Musk said he sees the site as an effective way to communicate with the public, both to disseminate company information and "memes."

Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk has nearly 130 million followers, making him one of the site's most popular users. He first indicated he was pursuing Twitter in April, saying he wanted to restore "free speech" and tackle the site's persistent problem of spam and bots.

But several former Twitter employees, including some with direct knowledge of the issues he prioritized, said Musk's changes were often geared toward improving his own user experience. Data has emerged showing how he has benefited from the changes, and examples have piled up month after month of specific actions geared toward improving his personal experience on the site. The former employees spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

At Twitter, Musk has bent the company to his impulses in ways that might be less feasible at publicly traded Tesla, where he also serves as chief executive, and which has a corporate board, unlike Twitter.

And at one point, Musk was so hellbent on eliminating spam and bots on the site, for example, that Twitter - which uses phone numbers to verify the authenticity of accounts - banned entire country codes from its system, according to the people with knowledge of the matter.

That created a problem: One of the countries affected, Ukraine, is in the midst of a prolonged war with Russia, where social media has played a key strategic role. Ukrainians suddenly found they could not post on Twitter.

And since Musk took over as Twitter CEO, the list of major changes includes several with a direct benefit to Musk, former employees said, with little potential upside for the rest of the users.

In December, Twitter adopted a policy banning live-location sharing so that accounts such as one publishing the whereabouts of Musk's private jet could no longer post that information to Twitter in real time. Musk blamed an alleged stalking incident on the account - which he had previously held up as proof of his commitment to free speech - but police later said they had not established a link between the two.

After banning the jet account, Twitter banned journalists who had posted about it, as Musk baselessly accused them of posting "basically assassination coordinates." He backed down under public pressure, but only if the users deleted the offending tweets.

The prior month, after a swarm of Musk impersonators surfaced in the wake of Musk's announcedchanges to Twitter's check-mark verification system, Musk adopted a zero-tolerance approach to verified users posing as others.

The new policy resulted in immediate bans on users who did not specify they were engaged in parody while posing as public figures. That resulted, for example, in comedian Kathy Griffin getting banned from the site, although she was restored later in November.

One of the former employees said Musk's aggressive focus on impersonation emerged as top Twitter officials circulated examples of accounts parodying Musk himself.

"And all the ones that were being sent to us were using his image," the former employee recalled, referring to Musk, who was part of the conversations.

The order to nab impersonators filtered down through a Musk deputy, after it became clear he had grown concerned.

"Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying 'parody' will be permanently suspended," Musk posted on Nov. 6, announcing the policy.

Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying "parody" will be permanently suspended
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022

Meanwhile, Musk stoked division over what he called the "lords & peasants system" for awarding verification check marks.

One of his key ideas for driving revenue was charging $8a month for the signature blue badges, as Musk pledged to phase out the older, "corrupt" ones held by users including many journalists and public figures. Musk has phased out the public relations department at Tesla and dramatically pared down the communications staff at Twitter, which no longer typically responds to media requests.

Even before he bought Twitter, Musk emphasized the site's need to crack down on spam and bots, particularly those shilling cryptocurrency.

"If our Twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!" Musk posted on April 21, shortly before the deal was made, a day before he decried what he said were verified "scam crypto bots" on the site.

It wasn't that crypto bots weren't a problem.

"All the examples were pretty unique to him, but there were these long-standing issues that overlapped," one of the former employees recalled.

Musk's pronouncements about the problems plaguing Twitter even before the takeover were often raising alarms about issues that were far from the typical user's experience, according to the former employees.

"I remember people on our team thinking he's having a very personal experience unique to him on the platform," said one of the former Twitter employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. "Our impression was just that he was describing his very specific experience as a Twitter user, and Elon Musk is not a typical Twitter user."

Musk has also acknowledged mistakes. In December, as Musk was in Qatar attending the World Cup final, Twitter rolled out a policy banning the promotion of other social media sites, such as Instagram, and prohibiting users from pushing links to competing sites such as Mastodon. The move led to swift backlash, including from some Musk supporters who said the new policy flew in the face of his free speech commitment, and Musk backed down later that day.

He then launched a poll asking whether he should step down as Twitter CEO. After respondents to the unscientific survey voted yes, Musk committed to finding a new CEO. By mid-February, no clear candidate had emerged, and Musk said at an international summit this week that he probably will need until the end of the year to find a successor.

Since taking over, he has cut Twitter's staff by more than two-thirds, and engaged in an aggressive campaign of cost-cutting targeting Twitter's workplaceand infrastructure, reorienting the company around what he regards as his star team of engineers. He has installed loyalists in key roles, and brought in engineers from his other companies, including Tesla, to oversee the site's operations.

Before taking over, he had heaped criticism on his predecessors' approach to content moderation, casting them as a pro-censorship regime that was stifling free speech. That led Twitter to restore many previously suspended accounts, such as that of former president Donald Trump, and lift bans on thousands of previously suspended accounts under an amnesty policy. Meanwhile, his team has rolled out a system of different-colored verification check marks to distinguish between government, business and other verified accounts.

The most dramatic change to the user interface of the site is the rollout of an algorithmic feed, similar to what users might encounter on apps such as Instagram or TikTok, a departure from Twitter's largely chronological structure in the past. Instead of defaulting to the latest tweets, users are now shown a curated selection of posts that might interest them - a move driven by the pressures of the attention economy, but one that some regarded as a departure from Twitter's roots and role as a news aggregator.

That played a role in pushing Musk's tweets at times this week to the top of users' feeds, where they appeared under a section labeled "For You."

Even his early interest in purchasing the site was at least partially driven by its ban on the conservative satire site the Babylon Bee, according to text messages revealed in court, a site he had repeatedly praised and pushed as an alternative to the Onion.

About two weeks ago, Musk set his account to private - as he said he was conducting an experiment related to the visibility of his tweets.

He said he was going private to test "whether you see my private tweets more than my public ones."

Made my account private until tomorrow morning to test whether you see my private tweets more than my public ones
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2023

He talked about his following on a Tesla earnings call in January.

Musk was asked about the potential brand risk to Tesla brought on by his vocal expression of political opinions. It was a rare instance in which Musk was confronted with the prospect of declining popularity.

"Let me check my Twitter account. So I've got 127 million followers," he said in response. "It continues to grow quite rapidly. That suggests that I'm reasonably popular."

He added: "I might not be popular [with] some people but for the vast majority of people, my follower count speaks for itself."
Joseph Menn contributed to this report. View 3 more stories

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Elon Musk reinvents Twitter for the benefit of a power user: Himself

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SAN FRANCISCO - Nearly four months into Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter, one of the most influential social media websites has been transformed into a mercurial billionaire's personal sandbox. Twitter users knew the site would change under Musk, who purchased the company in October for $44 billion and installed himself as CEO on a promise of restoring "free speech."

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The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, has reached a deal to buy Twitter, one of the world’s largest social media sites, for $44 billion. Mr. Musk says he wants to protect “free speech”, but many people worry about actions he may take as Twitter’s owner.

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Elon Musk; Wikimedia Commons image.

US businessman Elon Musk is trying to buy the social media platform Twitter. If he is successful, it could cost him more than $43 billion (US).

Musk is perhaps best known as the founder and main owner of Tesla, which makes electric vehicles. He also created SpaceX, which makes rockets that go to the moon. He is the richest person in the world, with more than $264.6 billion (US) dollars, according to Forbes magazine.

Twitter is used by more than 200 million people around the world every day, to post messages and connect.

In January 2021, then-President Donald Trump was permanently banned from Twitter because he posted tweets that contained misinformation. He had more than 88 million followers. Twitter said Trump had violated the platform's "glorification of violence" and that his messages, which contained false information, could cause some people to become violent. Many people shared Twitter's view of this.

Since the pandemic started, Twitter has also banned people for posting lies about things like the effectiveness of vaccines.

Elon Musk is known to be against bans like this, which he considers censorship. Censorship, in this case, is when someone prevents someone from saying something or "speaking freely." Musk said he supports everyone's right to free speech.

If he buys Twitter, it's likely that Musk would stop such bans.

The people who run Twitter don't want Musk to buy the company. To try to prevent it, they have said they will create a "poison pill"-which is not a real pill or real poison. A "poison pill" is a business move that essentially makes Twitter more difficult to purchase and could prevent Musk from buying it.

(How does a "poison pill" work? Very simply put, Twitter would flood the stock market with large quantities of cheap Twitter stocks. That would make it much more complicated for Musk to purchase the company.)

Some people say that the "poison pill" business move would likely delay the purchase, but probably wouldn't prevent it altogether. Musk has said that if Twitter's leaders don't want him to make the purchase, he may decide to walk away from the deal.

The business world is watching to see what happens in this interesting turn of events.
Thank you to journalist Paul Bagnell for his invaluable assistance with this article. Paul Bagnell is a news anchor at BNN Bloomberg's The Street, which reports on business and finance. THINK & DISCUSS

Do you think it is okay for Elon Musk to purchase Twitter? Why or why not? What, in this article, helped to lead you to that opinion?

2. What did you learn from this article about "poison pills"? What questions do you still have about that?

3. If Elon Musk owned Twitter, it would place a very large communications platform in the hands of one already very powerful person. Discuss why that might be a problem.

4. If you had $264 billion, what are five things you would do with it?

5. Listen to the song "If I had a Million Dollars," by the Barenaked Ladies (link below) and, if you can, take a look at the lyrics. Discuss.

6. Do you think Elon Musk will be successful in purchasing Twitter? What obstacles does he face? Find information in the article to support your answer.

7. What else do you know about Elon Musk? What keywords would you use in Google to gather that information?
LINKS TO RELATED INFORMATION
BNN Bloomberg article about Musk wanting to buy Twitter: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/elon-musk-seeking-to-buy-twitter-for-us-43b-1.1752212

Elon Musk recently tweeted a link to this BNN Bloomberg article that praises his business success: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-04-18/elon-musk-in-defense-of-the-tesla-ceo-s-managerial-excellence

Washington Post article about whether Elon Musk would reinstate Trump on Twitter: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/07/elon-musk-trump-twitter-free-speech-ban/

Forbes profile of Elon Musk: https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=4a4e05617999

YouTube video of the Barenaked Ladies' hit song "If I Had a Million Dollars" (4:26): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aynCgnbbgbM

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Billionaire Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter

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US businessman Elon Musk is trying to buy the social media platform Twitter. If he is successful, it could cost him more than $43 billion (US). Musk is perhaps best known as the founder and main owner of Tesla, which makes electric vehicles. He also created SpaceX, which makes rockets that go to the moon.

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Julia Rosen and Yuliya Parshina-KottasApril 18, 2021

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