British government had ‘constructive’ talks with Musk’s X over disinformation, minister says
As the riots raged in the U.K., Elon Musk began making incendiary comments about the situation, including the statement: “Civil war is inevitable.” Musk is the owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as X.
Aytug Can Sencar | Anadolu | Getty Images
LONDON — The U.K. government has had “constructive” talks with Elon Musk’s social media site X over the spread of misinformation and other harmful content, technology minister Peter Kyle told CNBC Friday.
Kyle told CNBC’s Arabile Gumede that the government had been in contact with all the major social media platforms — including Musk’s X — over the summer about misinformation and the role they have in propagating harmful material.
The minister said that, although he hasn’t had direct contact with Musk himself, he is “in touch often with his local chief executives here in the United Kingdom.”
“So far, it has been a constructive set of conversations,” he said, adding that, though there are “differences” in views between the two parties, they talk them through.
Citizens and governments around the world have higher expectations about social media platforms today and the role they play in keeping people safe and mitigating potential harms stemming from their products, Kyle said.
“It is a privilege having access to the British economy and society. And I just expect any company that comes to work here and aspires to sell products and services into our country to respect that,” he added.
Kyle’s comments to CNBC come after misinformation spread online after a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in northwest England sparked far-right, anti-immigration riots — with shops and mosques being attacked in towns across the country.
Multiple social media users at the time spread false information about the alleged perpetrator, who has since been charged with murder and attempted murder, claiming he was an asylum seeker.
During the riots, Musk, who owns X, made comments about the situation in the U.K., calling Prime Minister Keir Starmer “two-tier Keir” in reference to the conspiracy theory that police were treating white far-right protesters and rioters more harshly than minority groups.
He also suggested the unrest could end up resulting in a civil war, saying in an X post: “Civil war is inevitable.” Musk’s comments were condemned by the U.K. government.
Last week, the Financial Times reported that British lawmaker Dawn Butler, a frontrunner to become next chair of the parliamentary committee on science, innovation and technology, wants to summon Musk to face questions from members of parliament, if elected.
The newspaper reported that Butler’s rival for the position, fellow Labour lawmaker Chi Onwurah, also supports an inquiry into how algorithms drive misinformation on social media services.
Labour’s Kyle, whose official title is the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, suggested that summoning Musk to the U.K. was being viewed as a last resort, but added that “innovators” like the Tesla and SpaceX CEO must have a “respectful relationship with us a country.”
The minister also told CNBC he is assessing whether he needs additional powers to regulate social media companies over the dissemination of harmful content online.
“I’m assessing on an ongoing basis whether I need extra powers to do so,” he said. “Right now, I want to assess and have conversations with those companies.”
Come early 2025, British regulator Ofcom will have the power to fine firms as much as 10% of their global annual revenues and even jail senior managers if they are found to be in breach of the Online Safety Act, or OSA — which is a sweeping set of rules requiring effective policing of illegal content by digital platforms.
U.K. politicians and campaign groups have called for the implementation of the OSA to be expedited to help tackle events like the summer riots.
Sources familiar with the matter told CNBC last month that the government is looking at a review of the legislation, but the timeline on when this would happen remains unclear.
Ofcom has said it has to finish consulting on codes of conduct for the tech companies before implementation can begin. A government spokesperson told CNBC earlier this year that its “immediate focus is getting the Online Safety Act implemented quickly and effectively.”
However, this spokesperson added, “our message to social media companies remains clear: There is no need to wait — you can and should take immediate action to protect your users.”
Technology
Indonesia wants Apple to sweeten its $100 million proposal as tech giant lobbies for iPhone 16 sales
Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi speaks at the opening night of the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Aug. 15, 2024.
Rodin Eckenroth | Filmmagic | Getty Images
Intuit shares fell 6% in extended trading Thursday after the finance software maker issued a revenue forecast for the current quarter that trailed analysts’ estimates due to some sales being delayed.
Here’s how the company performed in comparison with LSEG consensus:
- Earnings per share: $2.50 adjusted vs. $2.35 expected
- Revenue: $3.28 billion vs. $3.14 billion
Revenue increased 10% year over year in the quarter, which ended Oct. 31, according to a statement. Net income fell to $197 million, or 70 cents per share, from $241 million, or 85 cents per share, a year ago.
While results for the fiscal first quarter topped estimates, second-quarter guidance was light. Intuit said it anticipates a single-digit decline in revenue from the consumer segment because of promotional changes for the TurboTax desktop software in retail environments. While that will affect revenue timing, it won’t have any impact on the full 2025 fiscal year.
Intuit called for second-quarter earnings of $2.55 to $2.61 per share, with $3.81 billion to $3.85 billion in revenue. The consensus from LSEG was $3.20 per share and $3.87 billion in revenue.
For the full year, Intuit expects $19.16 to $19.36 in adjusted earnings per share on $18.16 billion to $18.35 billion in revenue. That implies revenue growth of between 12% and 13%. Analysts polled by LSEG were looking for $19.33 in adjusted earnings per share and $18.26 billion in revenue.
Revenue from Intuit’s global business solutions group came in at $2.5 billion in the first quarter. The figure was up 9% and in line with estimates, according to StreetAccount. Formerly known as the small business and self-employed segment, the group includes Mailchimp, QuickBooks, small business financing and merchant payment processing.
“We are seeing good progress serving mid-market customers in MailChimp, but are seeing higher churn from smaller customers,” Sandeep Aujla, Intuit’s finance chief, said on a conference call with analysts. “We are addressing this by making product enhancements and driving feature discoverability and adoption to improve first-time use and customer retention.”
Better outcomes are a few quarters away, Aujla said.
CreditKarma revenue came in at $524 million, above StreetAccount’s $430 million consensus.
At Thursday’s close, Intuit shares were up about 9% so far in 2024, while the S&P 500 has gained almost 25% in the same period.
On Tuesday Intuit shares slipped 5% after The Washington Post said President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed “Department of Government Efficiency” had discussed developing a mobile app for federal income tax filing. But a mobile app for submitting returns from Intuit is “already available to all Americans,” CEO Sasan Goodarzi told CNBC’s Jon Fortt.
Goodarzi said on CNBC that he’s personally communicating with leaders of the incoming presidential administration.
On the earnings call, Goodarzi sounded optimistic about the economy.
“Our belief, which is not baked into our guidance, is that we will see an improved environment as we look ahead in 2025, particularly just with some of the things that I mentioned earlier around just interest rates, jobs, the regulatory environment,” he said. “These things have a real burden on businesses. And we believe that a better future is to come.”
WATCH: H&R Block, Intuit shares fall after report Trump administration is considering a free tax-filing app
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