Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft for illegally using Twitter data

[midian182]

What just happened? Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft over his claim that the Redmond company illegally used Twitter data to train artificial intelligence models. Musk's tweet was a response to news that Microsoft is dropping Twitter from its advertising platform.

Mashable was first to report that as of April 25, advertisers will no longer be able to access their Twitter accounts via the Microsoft Digital Marketing Center's social media management tool. Moreover, users will no longer be able to schedule, create, or manage tweets or tweet drafts. They won't be able to view their past tweets and engagement on the platform, either.

Microsoft's decision comes after Twitter announced how much people will have to pay to use its new API; the company is keeping the free tier, but its functionality is severely limited. It's believed that the Enterprise level API has a starting cost of $42,000 per month, a price that has seen many smaller developers abandon their Twitter-based apps.

While Microsoft is one of the largest companies in the world, it seems Redmond isn't willing to hand over that much money at a time of belt-tightening that's seen it implement mass layoffs.

Not surprisingly, Musk is far from happy about Microsoft's move. In a tweet about the news, he replied, "They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time."

They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

While Musk didn't make it clear what he was referring to in the tweet, it's likely a reference to OpenAI using Twitter data to train its large language models powering the likes of ChatGPT. Microsoft doesn't own OpenAI, but it has made a multibillion-dollar investment in the company and is using its AI tech in products such as Bing and Edge – with great success.

In a separate tweet, Musk, who was one of the OpenAI co-founders before leaving the board in 2018, wrote that he was "open to ideas" about how to use Twitter's data but "ripping off the Twitter database, demonetizing it (removing ads) and then selling our data to others isn't a winning solution."

I'm open to ideas, but ripping off the Twitter database, demonetizing it (removing ads) and then selling our data to others isn't a winning solution

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

Whether Musk ends up suing Microsoft remains to be seen. The billionaire has a history of not following up on these sorts of things, such as when he threatened to sue Jack Sweeney, the creator of the @ElonJet account.

Microsoft has not commented on Musk's threat, and the Twitter press email account automatically replies to requests with a poop emoji.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/98388-elon-musk-threatens-sue-microsoft-illegally-using-twitter.html

 

[VoidTheWarranty]

I'm curious if Microsoft could tell us how much money or users Twitter has from "verified" Russian and Chinese accounts spreading propaganda. That's the data I'm curious about.

 

[PascalBP]

Elon **** all over the board, and seem angry that MS dealt with that with saying "all right bye then"
Awesome stategy Elon...

 

[Kirby1]

Do it Musk, kick the hornets nest you stupid ****.

 

[tellmewhy]

Brief summary: Elon is in a difficult position with the debt and is actually "asking" for a donation/tip in exchange for Twitter data (which actually belongs to its authors). MS doesn't see it that way and simply refuses a high price that is not in harmony with the value it adds.

Elon is young and until now he has made everything he has touched work more efficiently and adds value. He deserves to be helped, he spends a lot of his personal time making things work better for everyone, so maybe a low interest (say 2%) loan of a few billion dollars with Tesla or SpaceX stock as collateral would be helpful. Anyone from the big guys interested?

 

[PEnnn]

This country is plagued by big, whiny, rich, entitled cry-babies: From the Orange Pumpkin to Lemon Musk.

Sorry Mr. Lemon, it's not MS, or anybody else's fault that your ego suckered you into buying Twitter.

 

[axiomatic13]

Elon is in a full-on tailspin.

 

[Kirby1]

Brief summary: Elon is in a difficult position with the debt and is actually "asking" for a donation/tip in exchange for Twitter data (which actually belongs to its authors). MS doesn't see it that way and simply refuses a high price that is not in harmony with the value it adds.

Elon is young and until now he has made everything he has touched work more efficiently and adds value. He deserves to be helped, he spends a lot of his personal time making things work better for everyone, so maybe a low interest (say 2%) loan of a few billion dollars with Tesla or SpaceX stock as collateral would be helpful. Anyone from the big guys interested?

He is a rich investor. Money tends to make things work better. The thing he has been hands on with the most is twitter, and he definitely did not make twitter better. He made it much worse.

 

[Kirby1]

Since twitter is turning into a new truth social, I suspect a lot of advertising businesses will be dropping twitter.

 

[wiyosaya]

Awwww. Poor widdle Elon. His mouth got him into a stupid buy, and now he want's daddy to buy him a new diamond ring. I think widdle Elon is going to have to live with the consequences of his mouth - among other things - Like this -

 

[toooooot]

Shouldnt platforms like reddit and wikipedia be the most helpful since they actually have useful/solid information?
I can literally find everything on those two when my personal knowledge is not enough

 

[WhiteLeaff]

I think he already has too many debts and serious problems to deal with to get involved in fights with uncle bill..

 

[erickmendes]

Next move Musk will wear domi black spandex and go out in the night to hunt down criminals...