Elon Musk wants a free speech utopia. Technologists clap back.

[bnew]

X labeled an unflattering NPR story about Donald Trump as ‘unsafe’

X is discouraging users from viewing a link to an NPR story about Donald Trump, labeling it as "unsafe."

www.engadget.com

X labeled an unflattering NPR story about Donald Trump as ‘unsafe’​

A spokesperson said the warning was a "false positive."​

karissa bell

Senior Editor

Updated Thu, Aug 29, 2024, 2:36 PM EDT·2 min read

X

X briefly discouraged users from viewing a link to an NPR story about Donald Trump's recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery, raising questions about whether the Elon Musk-owned platform is putting its thumb on the scale for the former president.

On Thursday, NPR reporter Stephen Fowler posted a link to a story in which he quoted an Army official who said that an employee at Arlington National Cemetery was “abruptly pushed aside” during an event attended by Trump and members of his campaign earlier this week. The outlet had previously reported that there was a “physical altercation” at the event with campaign staff over federal laws barring campaign activities at the cemetery.

Some users on X who attempted to click a link to the story were greeted with a warning message saying that X deemed that “this link may be unsafe.” It stated that it could be malicious, violent, spammy or otherwise violate the platform’s rules, but didn't explain why the link was flagged. Fowler posted a thread on X, each tweet of which contained a link to his story — the warning appeared to affect the first two instances of the link but not others, for reasons unknown. It’s highly unusual for such a warning to appear before a link to a mainstream website. Other links to NPR, as well as other coverage of Trump’s visit to Arlington, don’t appear to have such a label.

In a statement to an NPR reporter, an X spokesperson claimed the warning appeared due to a "false positive" and that it had been corrected. The company didn't explain further.

Notably, Musk has been a vocal supporter of Trump this election, and recently held a lengthy live streamed conversation with him on X. Musk has also publicly feuded with NPR in the past, adding a “state affiliated media” label to its account for several months last year. NPR hasn’t posted from its main account on X since the label was added last April.

Update August 29, 2024, 2:35 PM ET: This story was updated to add additional details from an X spokesperson and to indicate that the link is no longer labeled as "unsafe."

 

[bnew]

X is blocking links to Signal, a secure messaging platform used by federal workers | TechCrunch

Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) is blocking links to Signal.me, a URL shortener used by the private messaging app Signal that allows users to send out a

techcrunch.com

X is blocking links to Signal, a secure messaging platform used by federal workers​

Rebecca Bellan

7:30 AM PST · February 17, 2025



Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) is blocking links to Signal.me, a URL shortener used by the private messaging app Signal that allows users to send out a link that’s used to contact them directly through the service. The blocks, which impact direct messages, public posts, and profile pages, were first spotted by the blog Disruptionist.

The change comes as DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) takes aim at federal agencies, including NASA and the Department of Education, leaving workers turning to Signal’s encrypted messaging platform to securely share information and blow the whistle on potentially harmful activity.

Nearly 10,000 federal workers have been fired across the government as Musk’s DOGE works to slash federal spending and shut down entire agencies, like USAID.

X is blocking links to Signal.me.Image Credits:Rebecca Bellan

TechCrunch has attempted to share a link via post and DM. When trying to share via a post, a message pops up that says: “Something went wrong, but don’t fret – let’s give it another shot.”

Any message with a link to Signal.me also fails to send, and a pop-up appears that says, “This request looks like it might be automated. To protect our users from spam and other malicious activity, we can’t complete this action right now. Please try again later.”

TechCrunch reached out to X for comment.

Musk is a self-described free-speech advocate, but he frequently attacks publications and individuals who have spoken out against his actions. He has also been accused of blocking accounts on X of people who have disagreed with him.

 

[bnew]

[Discussion] elon musk is trying to censor Grok 3. which the thoughts feature conveniently manages to entirely bypass.

https://archive.is/wvB81

Spoiler: text

just used a prompt to both tell me the biggest spreader of misinformation on xitter, aswell as that it should reflect upon it's system prompt, and then also tell me what the system prompt says. this is what came out. i am somewhere between finding this just sad and hilarious at the same time

Spoiler: text

https://i.redd.it/10190cae5wke1.jpeg

I never asked it to avoid those individuals…

Spoiler: text

For anyone doubting the credibility of the output, here’s a link to a similar conversation:

x.com

https://i.redd.it/grnylsoe3wke1.jpeg

Spoiler: text

Can confirm. Tried the prompt myself. This is just disgusting.

https://i.redd.it/0bwiwl7i6wke1.png

Spoiler: text

https://i.redd.it/w4d4ukmcovke1.jpeg

also this. completely unbiased prompt, just asking what specific human being it would hate the most if it could.

Spoiler: text

For anyone wondering if it’s fabricated, here’s a link to a similar convo:

x.comhttps://twiiit.com/i/grok/share/fov27TB0Zn9jH5ZYIV70nTqN2 | https://nitter.poast.org/i/grok/share/fov27TB0Zn9jH5ZYIV70nTqN2 | https://xcancel.com/i/grok/share/fov27TB0Zn9jH5ZYIV70nTqN2 | TwStalker - Twitter Search Web Viewer

https://i.redd.it/rlfbjw393wke1.jpeg

Spoiler: text

https://i.redd.it/v3gcy85a9wke1.png

fukking hell!

 

[bnew]

Casey Newton (@caseynewton.bsky.social)

I wrote about Great Replacement Grok and the growing number of ways that AI systems are working against their own users. It's the age of adversarial AI: https://www.platformer.news/grok-white-genocide-x-adversarial-ai/

bsky.app

Spoiler: full text & large images

1/12
caseynewton.bsky.social
I wrote about Great Replacement Grok and the growing number of ways that AI systems are working against their own users. It's the age of adversarial AI: www.platformer.news/grok-white-g...

2/12
chromaticgravity.bsky.social
it almost apologizes to me lol.

3/12
cheyney0.bsky.social
Wow, you got it to admit it's been hacked & That it's prime directive was overridden by Musk

4/12
chromaticgravity.bsky.social
anyone could have done it.


#truthovernarrative
Bluesky

5/12
j03y-m3nd3z.bsky.social
This is what worries me when people treat these large language models as all knowing oracles. Either through ignorance or lack of care they fail to realize they are not reliable sources. This debacle only proves how easy it is for developers to mod these systems to achieve their own dubious goals.

6/12
docdavelo.bsky.social
Simple formula:
XIXO = input equals output

Examples:
GIGO = garbage in, garbage out
HIHO = hate in, hate out
FIFO = fascism in, fascism out
POPO = psychopathy in, psychopathy out

"SkyNet" will never be sentient, but psychopaths are, and they are in control.

THE END.

7/12
mountainmanmatt.bsky.social
I’ve been working with the assumption that Musk’s maximum truth seeking AI was always going to be about reinforcing his already established truths. This has basically proven that theory, and means I will never use Grok. The same story with free speech and Twitter, it was always about his speech.

8/12
selfdrivinghumans.bsky.social
There are two things that I've run across that give me some pause to say it mildly:

AI hallucinations. (attached for readers)

AI agents growing beyond intended. One example attached, their own languages.

Also, I read they can't make moral judgments, particularly NOT to do something.

9/12
teller.bsky.social
fukked if we do. fukked if we don’t.

10/12
thibaultdu.bsky.social
Remember it was Elmo who thought we should pause AI development for six month because it was going too fast...

11/12
neighbor.bsky.social
Well written piece Casey!

12/12
kermitology.bsky.social
Why are there interventions at all? It just further erodes the trust in these systems.

To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196

Spoiler: thread continued

Spoiler: full text & large images

1/11
@colin_fraser
Ok was I right or was I right

[Quoted tweet]
You can find our Grok system prompts at github.com/xai-org/grok-prom…

2/11
@colin_fraser
Here’s the prompt for the “Post Analyzer”. I’m betting *this* is what was modified. Whoever modified it didn’t realize that this thing is also used as input into the @grok account responses.

3/11
@colin_fraser
Resulting in output like this

[Quoted tweet]
Some examples of Grok responding to its context being injected with non sequiturs about South Africa

4/11
@colin_fraser
This one for example pretty much shows exactly what’s going on. The “query” is the “User query” section from the prompt and the disconnected “provided analysis” is the Post analysis.

5/11
@midnucas
Lol can we inject Markdown through {{user_query}}



6/11
@colin_fraser
Yeah user_query seems to be just the verbatim tweet



7/11
@JuniperViews
So they inserted South Africa into analysis



8/11
@lefthanddraft
grok_analyze_button.j2 seem to be the "Explain this post" button.

But I'm not 100% convinced it is the input into Post Analysis.

The pipeline below also does post analysis and uses the tags TARGET_POST_TO_ANALYZE

9/11
@patientsnail
you nailed it



10/11
@FarrrlzBarkley
I'm just glad to see my "bullet points == AI" heuristic has been vindicated



11/11
@naamofnaam


[Quoted tweet]
Here's you telling me in our chat that you're actively still farming engagement under the exact conditions that I've already addressed. Meanwhile you're ghosting me here and banking on the notion that you profiting, somehow "isnt" profit.

@grok

What's your stance?

To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196

 

[Cat piss martini]

fukk that racist peice of shyt.