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
Elon Musk’s Neuralink filed as ‘disadvantaged business’ before being valued at $9 billion
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Elon Musk’s health tech company Neuralink labeled itself a “small disadvantaged business” in a federal filing with the U.S. Small Business Administration, shortly before a financing round valued the company at $9 billion.
Neuralink is developing a brain-computer interface (BCI) system, with an initial aim to help people with severe paralysis regain some independence. BCI technology broadly can translate a person’s brain signals into commands that allow them to manipulate external technologies just by thinking.
Neuralink’s filing, dated April 24, would have reached the SBA at a time when Musk was leading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. At DOGE, Musk worked to slash the size of federal agencies.
MuskWatch first reported on the details Neuralink’s April filing.
According to the SBA’s website, a designation of SDB means a company is at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more “disadvantaged” persons who must be “socially disadvantaged and economically disadvantaged.” An SDB designation can also help a business “gain preferential access to federal procurement opportunities,” the SBA website says.
Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, in addition to his other businesses like artificial intelligence startup xAI and tunneling venture The Boring Company. In 2022, Musk led the $44 billion purchase of Twitter, which he later named X before merging it with xAI.
Jared Birchall, a Neuralink executive, was listed as the contact person on the filing from April. Birchall, who also manages Musk’s money as head of his family office, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Neuralink, which incorporated in Nevada, closed a $650 million funding round in early June at a $9 billion valuation. ARK Invest, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital and Thrive Capital were among the investors. Neuralink said the fresh capital would help the company bring its technology to more patients and develop new devices that “deepen the connection between biological and artificial intelligence.”
Under Musk’s leadership at DOGE, the initiative took aim at government agencies that emphasized diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). In February, for example, DOGE and Musk boasted of nixing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of funding for the Department of Education that would have gone towards DEI-related training grants.
Technology
Defense manufacturing startup Hadrian closes $260 million funding round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund
Defense manufacturing startup Hadrian on Thursday announced the closing of $260 million Series C funding round led by Peter Thiel‘s Founders Fund and Lux Capital.
The machine parts company said it will use the funding to build a new 270,000 square foot factory in Mesa, Arizona, and expand its Torrance, California, location as it looks to beef up its shipbuilding and naval defense capabilities.
“What we really need in this country is this quantum leap above China’s manufacturing model,” said CEO Chris Power in an interview with CNBC’s Morgan Brennan. “It’s about supercharging the worker versus replacing them.”
Defense tech startups like Hadrian are disrupting the mainstay defense contracting industry, which is led by leaders such as Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, and battling it out to boost U.S. defense production while scooping up Department of Defense contracts.
An overall view of the manufacturing line in a Hadrian Automation Inc. factory.
Courtesy: Hadrian Automation, Inc.
Hadrian said the Arizona space will be four times the size of its California facility and start operations by Christmas. The factory will create 350 local jobs. The Hawthrone, California-based company said it is working on four to five new facilities to support production over the next year to support Department of Defense needs.
Hadrian said it uses robotics and artificial intelligence to automate factories that can “supercharge American workers.”
Power said demand is rapidly growing, but the lack of U.S.-based talent is a major hurdle to building American dominance in shipbuilding and submarines.
Using its tools, the company said it can train workers within 30 days, making them 10 times more productive. Its workforce includes ex-marines and former nurses who have never set foot in a factory.
An overall view of the manufacturing line in a Hadrian Automation Inc. factory.
Courtesy: Hadrian Automation, Inc.
“We have to do a lot more … but certainly we’re able to keep up with the scale right now, and grateful to our team and customers for letting us go and do that,” he said. “As a country, we have to treat this like a national security crisis, not just the economics of manufacturing.”
The fresh raise also includes investments from Andreessen Horowitz and new stakeholders such as Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital.
The company closed a $92 million funding round in late 2023.
WATCH: Startup Hadrian raises $260 million to expand its AI-powered factories to meet soaring demand
An overall view of the manufacturing line in a Hadrian Automation Inc. factory.
Courtesy: Hadrian Automation, Inc.
The Kuka arm is seen at a Hadrian Automation Inc. factory.
Courtesy: Hadrian Automation, Inc.
Attendees walk through an exposition hall at AWS re:Invent, a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services, in Las Vegas on Dec. 3, 2024.
Noah Berger | Getty Images
Amazon is laying off some staffers in its cloud computing division, the company confirmed on Thursday.
“After a thorough review of our organization, our priorities, and what we need to focus on going forward, we’ve made the difficult business decision to eliminate some roles across particular teams in AWS,” Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser said in a statement. “We didn’t make these decisions lightly, and we’re committed to supporting the employees throughout their transition.”
The company declined to say which units within Amazon Web Services were impacted, or how many employees will be let go as a result of the job cuts.
Reuters was first to report on the layoffs.
In May, Amazon reported a third straight quarterly revenue miss at AWS. Sales increased 17% to $29.27 billion in the first quarter, slowing from 18.9% in the prior period.
Amazon said the cuts weren’t primarily due to investments in artificial intelligence, but are a result of ongoing efforts to streamline the workforce and refocus on certain priorities. The company said it continues to hire within AWS.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been on a cost-cutting mission for the past several years, which has resulted in more than 27,000 employees being let go since 2022. Job reductions have continued this year, though at a smaller scale than preceding years. Amazon’s stores, communications and devices and services divisions have been hit with layoffs in recent months.
AWS last year cut hundreds of jobs in its physical stores technology and sales and marketing units.
Last month, Jassy predicted that Amazon’s corporate workforce could shrink even further as a result of the company embracing generative AI.
“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Jassy told staffers. “It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce.”
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