Category Archives: Twitter

Rishi Sunak Corrected By Community Notes On X 25 Times, Report Finds

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Rishi Sunak has been publicly corrected on 25 different occasions for his misleading posts on social media, according to a new report.

The research, conducted by pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain and first reported by The Independent, also found that the Conservative Party is almost five times more likely to be corrected than Labour.

Best for Britain came to that conclusion by comparing the number of community notes added to posts on X (formerly Twitter) from the prime minister, cabinet ministers and the official Conservative account to their opposition counterparts.

What are community notes?

Community notes are a feature in the social media platform which were added in January 2023 to allow other X users to add context or clarifications to posts.

Users who sign up to be “contributors” can add notes to posts offering different points of view. If enough of these notes are rated as helpful by fellow contributors, it will appear below the post in question as a community note.

According to X, “community notes aim to create a better informed world by empowering people on X to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading posts”.

How many times have the Tories and Labour been corrected in this way?

Best for Britain found 73 community notes attached to government accounts in total, compared to 15 from official opposition accounts.

Twenty-six of those posts were attached to the Conservative Party’s official account, and 25 were from the PM who vowed at the start of his premiership to lead with “integrity, professionalism and accountability”.

In the first week of January, Sunak was rebuked three times for posting misleading claims about clearing the asylum backlog, suggesting tax was cut, and claiming responsibility for halving inflation.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer has accrued four community notes in the same period while the Labour account has seven.

David Lammy was the only shadow minister to receive more community notes than his counterpart, David Cameron – Lammy has two, while the foreign secretary has none.

The group’s CEO Naomi Smith said the findings “shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially in an election year where lack of trust can feed dangerous populism”.

“A government that the public can’t trust to act with integrity and transparency – both essential for liberal democracy – is a government that shouldn’t be in power,” Smith continued. “We need a general election and our polling shows that the public want it now.”

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24 Hilarious Tweets That Sum Up Parenting Your 1st Kid vs. Your 2nd Kid

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As a first-time parent, you worry about every little thing: adhering to a perfect schedule, feverishly researching the best baby products, feeding your kid the healthiest foods you can find, documenting every milestone and avoiding screen time.

Below, we gathered 24 tweets that hilariously capture the differences between raising your first kid versus raising your second, third or fourth.

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Swifties React To Elon Musk Warning Taylor Swift Of ‘Popularity Decline’

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Fans of Taylor Swift ― singer/songwriter, pop megastar and Time magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year ― are reminding Elon Musk that there are a few key differences between Swift and himself.

Last week, Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, congratulated Swift on being named Person of the Year, before offering a word of caution.

“Some risk of popularity decline after this award,” Musk posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “I speak from experience lol.”

Musk was named Time’s Person of the Year in 2021. Since then, he has bought Twitter and renamed it X, engaged with antisemitic material on the site and apologized for doing so. He has reportedly ordered his Tesla and SpaceX employees working remotely to return to the office or lose their jobs.

Musk recently urged businesses to “go fuck” themselves if they stopped advertising on X because of his behaviour. Hate speech on X has soared since Musk’s acquisition, and advertising has plummeted. This week, Musk restored the account of banned user Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist perhaps best known for harassing the parents of dead children.

X users were happy to point out some of the contrasts between Musk and Swift.

“Elon Musk try not to make everything about himself challenge,” one user posted.

Another user wrote: “He could’ve just [said] congratulations and move on. No one asked for his advice/opinion thou.”

“People actually like taylor so i don’t think that’ll be a problem elon,” another user posted.

“Taylor has been dealing with fame before Elon became famous,” someone else wrote. “So that advice is not needed.”

“I don’t think #TaylorSwift needs your advice,” another user posted.

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Twitter Users Raise A Stink After Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Biden An ‘Old Fart’

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Republcian Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene called Joe Biden an “old fart”, but the insult whiffed with many social media users.

On Friday, the president announced the creation of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention within the White House and later tweeted that “it’s time to again ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

He added: “If members of Congress refuse to act, then we need to elect new members of Congress who will act.”

That post apparently had Greene seeing red and she responded by tweeting back, “Whatever you old fart. We are electing a new President. Turning 45 into 47.”

Greene may have thought the “old fart” comment was a truth bomb, but many users of X, formerly known as Twitter, raised a stink, especially since she’s been griping recently about the lack of “society’s standards that set etiquette and respect for our institutions.”

As a result, she was thoroughly mocked.

Greene has been harping on civility for everyone else but her for a while now.

On Monday, after she criticised Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman for wearing a hoodie on the Senate floor, he pointed out that there are other forms of decorum. He reminded her of when she displayed nude images of Hunter Biden during a House hearing.

Back in May, Greene found out how much her Democratic colleagues respect her desire for decorum when they raucously laughed at her after she told them, “Members are reminded to abide by decorum of the House,” she said, only to spark raucous laughter.

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Rishi Sunak’s Pivot On Green Policies Has Created A Storm Of Disbelief Online

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Rishi Sunak’s sudden U-turn on the UK’s climate pledges has caused deep alarm on social media – not least because of the policies he said he plans to “stop”.

The prime minister called a last-minute conference on Wednesday afternoon – just after parliament went on recess – to announce he was pivoting to a more “pragmatic, proportionate and realistic” approach to net zero by 2050.

He promised: “We will never impose unnecessary and heavy-handed measures on you, the British people.

“We will still meet our international commitments and hit net zero by 2050.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he listed five policies which he planned to “stop”: taxes on eating meat, new taxes to discourage flying, sorting your rubbish into seven different bins, compulsory car sharing and expensive insulation upgrades.

He did also announce five new policies which he would be pushing for – including lifting the ban on onshore wind and new carbon capture storage – but that did not get as much engagement as his first post.

That’s probably because the policies he plans on stopping are not well-known government strategies.

Readers even added a community note to the post, which read: “Taxes on meat and flying had already been repeatedly ruled out by the government.

“There is no proposal to require people to have seven bins, or for ‘compulsory’ car sharing.

“The announced changes on insulation only stand to benefit private landlords.”

So, you can imagine the kind of reactions that followed across X…

Even his lectern was mocked for contrasting with the contents of his speech.

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12 Actually Funny Reactions About A-Level Results Day

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A-level results day has arrived – and, as usual, the internet is full of people either sharing their own accomplishments or sending lengthy commiserations to those who may not have secured the grades they wanted.

Plenty of people share their own stories about receiving their grades as headlines up and down the country reveal the proportion of A or A* grades has fallen from 44.8% at the pandemic peak to 27.2% this year.

That’s hardly a surprise though, as the government had been planning to bring grades back to pre-pandemic levels.

Still, X (formerly known as Twitter) is currently flooded with users (including celebrities) revealing the minimal impact their A-level results had on their own successful lives.

And while it is definitely an important day for those who receive their results, the occasion tends to turn into a competition online.

Jeremy Clarkson, for instance, rolled out his annual tweet reminding everyone that he got a C and 2Us at A-level – and yet he has “loads of friends and a Bentley” and “my own brewery”.

Meanwhile education secretary Gilligan Keegan was also criticised for suggesting employers won’t ask about students’ A-level grades within 10 years of their graduation.

Labour’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said she was being “rude and dismissive” and “talking down England’s young people”.

So if you’re fed up of seeing this endless dialogue about A-levels and just how much they matter, here are 12 actually funny tweets (or X reactions) to lift your mood:

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‘Nothing Compares’: Tributes Paid To Sinead O’Connor After Death At 56

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After Sinead O’Connor’s death at the age of 56 was announced on Wednesday, her colleagues, friends and fans took to social media to offer their tributes.

Many of those honouring the Irish singer, who famously covered Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U and also went by Shuhada Sadaqat in recent years, were well-known names from show business.

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, similarly paid his respects to O’Connor, saying that “her talent was unmatched and beyond compare.”

Although many of the celebrity tributes appeared on Twitter (aka X), Outlander star Caitriona Balfe honoured the singer with an Instagram post.

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Twitter Users Mock George Santos For Demanding Biden’s Impeachment

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And so is one member of Congress who should probably sit this one out: George Santos .

Considering that Santos was indicted on 13 counts in May for allegedly embezzling money from his campaign, lying to Congress about his income and cheating his way into undeserved unemployment benefits, some people wondered if he was in any position to be calling for an indictment ― including Anna M. Kaplan, who is running to replace him in Congress.

She posted two tweets, the first of which offered some helpful advice ― “Sit this one out, George” ― while the second suggested that McCarthy expel Santos “instead of this partisan impeach inquiry.”

Others joined in on mocking Santos ― and some even brought receipts.

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Elon Musk Aims Below The Belt With Latest Mark Zuckerberg Attack

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The swell of enthusiasm around the new app Threads seems to be too much for Elon Musk.

The CEO of Twitter has been lashing out at fellow tech mogul Mark Zuckerberg since the release of Meta’s micro-blogging app last Tuesday, but he truly aimed below the belt when he challenged his rival to “a literal dick-measuring contest” on Sunday night.

Musk’s proposition followed a crass jab he tweeted hours earlier, “Zuck is a cuck” ― short for “cuckold”, which has become a go-to insult for the right-wing set.

Twitter owner Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference in Paris on June 16.
Twitter owner Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference in Paris on June 16.

Chesnot via Getty Images

The embattled tech CEO has already threatened to sue Meta over Threads, which TechCrunch reports hit 100 million users by Monday morning, just five days after its launch.

Twitter currently has around 250 million active users, but data from internet services company Cloudflare seems to show traffic has been steadily declining since the start of 2023, following Musk’s purchase of the app for $44 billion last fall.

Musk’s feud with Zuckerberg took a decidedly personal turn last month after he challenged the Facebook founder to a cage match. In a surprising twist, the usually mild Zuckerberg tweeted back at Musk, writing, “Send me location.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the Paley Center in New York on Oct. 25, 2019.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the Paley Center in New York on Oct. 25, 2019.

via Associated Press

Zuckerberg has pitched Threads as a more welcoming alternative to Twitter and its quarrelsome culture.

“The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands,” he wrote on Threads last week. “I think it’s possible and will ultimately be the key to its success. That’s one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have, and we want to do it differently.”

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Elon Musk’s Twitter Sued Over Unpaid Office Services

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Elon Musk’s Twitter is facing yet another lawsuit over unpaid bills, this time from an Australian company specialising in project management and delivery.

Facilitate alleges in a lawsuit filed last week in US District Court for the Northern District of California that the social media firm owes over $700,000 for work in four Twitter offices outside the U.S. since last year. Twitter, owned by the world’s richest person, owes $40,777 for decommissioning and storing the contents of Twitter’s Sydney office, $257,444 for installing sensors in the London and Dublin offices, and $404,224 for outfitting the Singapore offices, according to the suit, first reported by NCA Newswire.

Facilitate alleges it signed a master services agreement with Twitter in March 2021 after Twitter had used the Sydney-based company since 2015 without issue. The agreement, according to Facilitate, mandates that Twitter must pay within 60 days of receiving an invoice.

“Following the acquisition, Facilitate corresponded about its outstanding invoices with its remaining contacts at the company,” the lawsuit says. “They gave no indication that Twitter disputed it owed the amounts on the invoices and offered no justification for not paying.”

Bloomberg reported in May that at least 10 other vendors, including small businesses, have sued Twitter over unpaid bills since December.

Facilitate also detailed Musk’s chaotic tenure at the social media network, pointing out that the company’s content moderation decisions under his leadership, including the reinstatement of former President Donald Trump’s account, damaged its relationship with advertisers, thus prompting a financial crisis for the company.

“On information and belief, Twitter responded with a campaign of extreme belt-tightening that amounted to requiring nearly everyone to whom it owes money to sue,” the complaint alleges.

HuffPost reached out to Twitter for comment on the lawsuit. Twitter, as is now customary, responded with a poop emoji.

Musk announced over the weekend that Twitter was placing a limit on the posts users can see based on their account status. Those who exceed those “temporary limits” could have their accounts locked for the day, The Associated Press reported.

Twitter in recent weeks started repaying Google Cloud for its services, following a period when Musk reportedly refused to pay. The companies mended their relationship after new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino intervened, according to Bloomberg.

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