Elon Musk’s X ‘declined to send an appropriate witness’ to Senate hearing on election threats

Published

1 year ago

September 18, 2024

admin

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

While top executives from Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a hearing on election threats, Elon Musk’s X won’t be participating.

A representative for Sen. Mark R. Warner, the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an emailed statement that X “declined to send an appropriate witness.” No further details were provided.

A spokesperson for X told CNBC that the company’s invited witness was Nick Pickles, who had been the head of global affairs but “resigned on September 6.” Warner’s office said X declined to send a replacement after Pickles’ departure.

The hearing is titled “Foreign Threats to Elections in 2024 — Roles and Responsibilities of U.S. Tech Providers.” Alphabet will be represented by Kent Walker, the president and chief legal officer, while Meta’s head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, will represent the social networking company. Microsoft President Brad Smith will represent the software giant.

The hearing, which is being led Warner (D-Va.) and committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), is centered around lawmakers’ concerns over foreign entities that are attempting to influence the outcome of the presidential elections in November using the biggest tech platforms.

Alphabet and Microsoft recently published research into the efforts by Iranian and Russian hacking groups to influence or attack officials linked to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. The hackers have utilized various tactics including spear phishing.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration said it’s targeting Russian government-sponsored attempts to affect U.S. public opinion.

“We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia, Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor” attempting to “interfere in elections and undermine our members,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement at the time.

X’s absence from the Wednesday hearing follows a streak of divisive posts by Musk, the world’s richest person, on the app, formerly known as Twitter, which he acquired in 2022. Musk has close to 200 million listed followers.

After a second apparent assassination attempt against Republican former President Donald Trump over the weekend, Musk shared then deleted a post questioning why there weren’t more assassination threats made against President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. Biden and Harris have both received assassination threats while in office.

European news agencies also reported this week that Musk has previously shared content on X that had been created by the Social Design Agency, which led a propaganda campaign at the Kremlin’s direction, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

On Wednesday, Musk shared a false story on X that claimed explosives were found in a car near Trump’s planned rally in Long Island, New York. According to a statement from Nassau County police, a civilian near the site of the rally had falsely reported explosives being found.

In the early stages of the meeting Wednesday afternoon, Warner said “it’s a shame” that no one from X appeared. He said that, prior to Musk’s takeover, the company was a “collaborator.”

“Under X, they are absent and some of the most egregious activity has taken place” on the platform, Warner said.

WATCH: SpaceX will be filing suit against the FAA for regulatory overreach.

SpaceX will sue the FAA for regulatory overreach, Elon Musk posts on X

Technology

iPhone 17 will drive record Apple shipments in 2025, IDC says

Published

46 mins ago

December 3, 2025

admin

iPhone 17 will drive record Apple shipments in 2025, IDC says

Apple’s latest iPhone models are shown on display at its Regent Street, London store on the launch day of the iPhone 17.

Arjun Kharpal | CNBC

Apple will hit a record level of iPhone shipments this year driven by its latest models and a resurgence in its key market of China, research firm IDC has forecast.

The company will ship 247.4 million iPhones in 2025, up just over 6% year-on-year, IDC forecast in a report on Tuesday. That’s more than the 236 million it sold in 2021, when the iPhone 13 was released.

Apple’s predicted surge is “thanks to the phenomenal success of its latest iPhone 17 series,” Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, said in a statement, adding that in China, “massive demand for iPhone 17 has significantly accelerated Apple’s performance.”

Shipments are a term used by analysts to refer to the number of devices sent by a vendor to its sales channels like e-commerce partners or stores. They do not directly equate to sales but indicate the demand expected by a company for their products.

When it launched in September, investors saw the iPhone 17 series as a key set of devices for Apple, which was facing increased competition in China and questions about its artificial intelligence strategy, as Android rivals were powering on.

Apple’s shipments are expected to jump 17% year-on-year in China in the fourth quarter, IDC said, leading the research firm to forecast 3% growth in the market this year versus a previous projection of a 1% decline.

In China, local players like Huawei have been taking away market share from Apple.

IDC’s report follows on from Counterpoint Research last week which forecast Apple to ship more smartphones than Samsung in 2025 for the first time in 14 years.

Bloomberg reported last month that Apple could delay the release of the base model of its next device, the iPhone 18, until 2027, which would break its regular cycle of releasing all of its phones in fall each year. IDC said this could mean Apple’s shipments may drop by 4.2% next year.

Technology

Anthropic reportedly preparing for one of the largest IPOs ever in race with OpenAI: FT

Published

6 hours ago

December 3, 2025

admin

Anthropic reportedly preparing for one of the largest IPOs ever in race with OpenAI: FT

Nurphoto | Getty Images

Anthropic, the AI startup behind the popular Claude chatbot, is in early talks to launch one of the largest initial public offerings as early as next year, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

For the potential IPO, Anthropic has engaged law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, which has previously worked on high-profile tech IPOs such as Google, LinkedIn and Lyft, the FT said, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The start-up, led by chief executive Dario Amodei, was also pursuing a private funding round that could value it above $300 billion, including a $15 billion combined commitment from Microsoft and Nvidia, per the report.

It added that Anthropic has also discussed a potential IPO with major investment banks, but that sources characterized the discussions as preliminary and informal.

If true, the news could position Anthropic in a race to market with rival ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, which is also reportedly laying the groundwork for a public offering. The potential listings would also test investors’ appetite for loss-making AI startups amid growing fears of a so-called AI bubble.

However, an Anthropic spokesperson told the FT: “It’s fairly standard practice for companies operating at our scale and revenue level to effectively operate as if they are publicly traded companies,” adding that no decisions have been made on timing or whether to go public.

CNBC was unable to reach Anthropic and Wilson Sonsini, which has advised Anthropic for a few years, for comment.

According to one of the FT’s sources, Anthropic has been working through internal preparations for a potential listing, though details were not provided.

The FT report follows several notable changes at the company of late, including the hiring of former Airbnb executive Krishna Rao, who played a key role in the firm’s 2020 IPO.

CNBC also reported last month that Anthropic was recently valued to the range of $350 billion after receiving investments of up to $5 billion from Microsoft and $10 billion from Nvidia.

In its race to overtake OpenAI in the AI space, the startup has also been expanding aggressively, recently announcing a $50 billion AI infrastructure build-out with data centers in Texas and New York, and tripling its international workforce.

According to the FT report, investors in the company are enthusiastic about Anthropic’s potential IPO, which could see it “seize the initiative” from OpenAI.

While OpenAI has been rumoured to be considering an IPO, its chief financial officer recently said the company is not pursuing a near-term listing, even as it closed a $6.6 billion share sale at a $500 billion valuation in October.