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Chris Stokel-Walker Profile
Chris Stokel-Walker

@stokel

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20,092
Following
9,042
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Tech journalist and lecturer. I write books (How AI Ate The World, out May 2024), do radio and TV, and present podcasts too

Newcastle, UK
Joined January 2009
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 months
How AI Ate The World, is out on 9th May! "Comprehensive and compelling" - @MattNavarra "A wild, brilliant ride" - @ciaranmartinoxf "Entertaining... clear, direct" - @sharongoldman "I highly recommend it" - @SashaMTL 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
SCOOP: Twitter didn't pay its current and former employees on time in the UK and Germany today. “It has come to our attention that some of you may not have received your November 2022 salary yet in your bank account,” an email sent this morning says.
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
The original account that posted it has disappeared (either because the fanboys have been sicced on it or something more nefarious, not sure which), so here's Elon Musk being booed at a Dave Chapelle gig last night
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
5 months
If you're a tech executive the minimum you need is a good poker face when you're asked a question like "Is your model trained on YouTube data?"
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@tsarnick
Tsarathustra
5 months
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati says Sora was trained on publicly available and licensed data
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
This is a huge issue that has got current and former employees in private groups up in arms. Staff in Ireland and the Netherlands were paid on time. In the last 30 minutes, some of the salaries have been hitting bank accounts... one at a time, suggesting they're doing it by hand
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
SCOOP: I spoke to the guy behind Balenciaga Pope for @BuzzFeedNews , who was (a) tripping on shrooms when he made the image and (b) thinks it means we should regulate AI
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Usually, Twitter staff are paid on the 28th of every month. If the day falls on a Monday, staff would typically see their salary as a pending payment on the Friday, with the cash hitting their accounts by midnight on Saturday. But it didn't - or in one case, did and was reversed
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Current and former staff have entered their overdrafts as direct debits have been taken out to pay bills because their expected salary didn't arrive in time. "I feel ashamed I trusted the words of the senior staff [...] while the rest of us suffer like this," one ex-tweep told me
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Also, if you are the poor person at Twitter payroll manually making these salary payments and hand typing in “[surname] salary”;and hitting send (as the drip drab way they’re being paid right now suggests), please DM me for my Signal. You don’t have to live like this
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Frustratingly, this story surfaced to me before 9am today, and I'm having to tweet it now after a story on it got spiked. Grr. But yes, totally normally run company, having a normal one
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
10 months
"I was in no way amused by the comments"
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@danwootton
Dan Wootton
10 months
I want to reiterate my regret over last night’s exchange with Laurence on GB News. Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments. I reacted
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
You'll also remember, if you're following my reporting, that former Twitter employees who incurred expenses while still working for the company are still owed thousands in expenses that are gathering debt in their personal bank accounts
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
I'm very, very glad that staff have now been paid what they're owed. But also it's not a good way to run a company if people starting getting their salary after I approach Twitter for comment (if they still have a comms team...)
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
I personally thought this was news, and the response to it on Twitter already would suggest so, but apparently it was only spikeworthy despite the sourcing. If you're an editor who likes scoops, I have more: DM me
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Ars Technica came through wanting the story, so they get the wild update: some Twitter staff still haven't been paid. Those who have are getting paid from random, unusual accounts. Full story 👇
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
The first tweet in this thread has now had 380,000 impressions, for editors with buyers' remorse
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
28 days
Errrr, I would suggest that using ChatGPT to get data and analysis about the election that you’re then explaining on a live TV show is… not smart
@RoryStewartUK
Rory Stewart
28 days
We are all still awake here on @Channel4News - I fear however that @campbellclaret may be about to morph into a French intellectual on a late night culture show - as we wait for the Liz Truss news…😎
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
6 years
There's an interesting story to be told about the new trend of YouTube documentaries - between @CaseyNeistat on @ShawnMendes , @shanedawson on @jakepaul and @tanamongeau , and @LoganPaul doing his thing, longform's the way forward
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
SCOOP: After asking researchers to fork out $42,000 a month for API access Twitter is now saying those who don't pay have to delete any data they've already accessed under prior agreements - which one researcher compares to "book burning". (tip @techmeme )
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
SCOOP: The ICO, the UK's data protection body, has opened an investigation into why someone spent more than £6,000 on posh chocolates on a corporate credit card four days before Christmas. By me for @BIUK
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
9 months
The OpenAI board appears to have skipped or sped up due diligence on their new CEO
@eshear
Emmett Shear
1 year
@webdevMason Hmm. Maybe. But between 40-60% of women seem to have rape/non-consent fantasies. Why would you assume it’s not genuine sex fantasy for these girls? Or did I misunderstand and you agree it’s genuine fantasy, you’re just talking about the source of the fantasy?
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Meanwhile, in the real, rules-based world, the French digital minister has had enough of this shit
@ericfreyss
Éric Freyssinet
2 years
Any attempt to remove my tweets that link to my other social media accounts, not violating any law, would actually make #twitter an editorial media, and no longer a social media platform, with civil and criminal liability for *any* illegal content therein.
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
To recap for those Brits who went to bed early last night: - Elon Musk sent a bad email to staff telling them Twitter could go bankrupt and they needed to return to office - A Twitter lawyer went on Slack and told the staff not to do it and rebel
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
tfw you’re 95 and you can do what you want
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Oh, I see. This is clearer now. Elon and his mum think we're all their employees.
@mayemusk
Maye Musk
2 years
This makes absolute sense. When I give a talk for a corporation, I don’t promote other corporations. If I did, I would be fired on the spot and never booked again. Is that hard to understand?
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Ok
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
How does a wig get dandruff?
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
SCOOP: Twitter's sudden layoffs don't just have an impact on your employment. Staff who were partway through IVF treatment funded by the company now have difficult decisions to make. My latest for @WIRED
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Twitter ad staff spent weeks convincing advertisers that Elon Musk wouldn't reinstate Donald Trump without oversight. A public poll changed all that. My latest for @FortuneMagazine , featuring ex-staff and @cbouzy
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Original tweet now approaching 920,000 impressions
@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
The first tweet in this thread has now had 380,000 impressions, for editors with buyers' remorse
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Unable to change your Twitter display name like @evacide ? Seeing weird manual RTs? Replies not loading? Twitter is breaking. For @techreview , I spoke to an engineer still employed about how the platform is failing - not with a bang, but with a whimper
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 years
A Twitch viewer is suing the Amazon-owned platform because the female streamers are too sexy so he: a) has felt compelled to use a Fleshlight that has chafed his penis b) has bloodshot eyes from ogling c) shortcircuited his monitor by ejaculating on it
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
@connorperrett @kattenbarge I: don't: know what: you're: saying is: wrong? :
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
SCOOP: Twitter’s new API access starts at $42,000 a month for 0.3% of Twitter’s data. My latest for @WIRED speaks to researchers who say that’s a non-starter
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
The shots used in the match are horrific, but the BBC doesn't get to pick them - it's done by the host broadcaster, so don't get angry at them for that. They should, however, have cut away from them to the studio when they realised the host broadcaster doesn't have any tact
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
SCOOP: I got hold of internal documents advising TikTok staff how to respond to press or creator questions. Three of the first four lines in the Master Messaging document? "Downplay ByteDance, downplay China, downplay AI." By me for @Gizmodo
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
The company handling PR for Triller and Triller Fight Club just rage quit. Totally normal companies.
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
The way in which pop music is made for TikTok virality is becoming very blatant
@shadiiAb
shadi
2 years
"It's me. Hi. I'm the problem, its me. #MidnightsTaylorSwift
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
I wrote about warring covid experts, and how attitudes to self-confessed furry @sailorrooscout have exposed an unhealthy side of social media punditry. My latest for @inputmag
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
So Twitter going behind a login screen is deliberate and not an accident, then
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
6 years
My latest story for @Telegraph is, you'll be pleased to hear, not on YouTube. It's on BTS, the K-pop sensations singlehandedly breaking into the west and changing perceptions
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 years
For those who don't understand journalism: @Slasher is a journalist, and he's well within his rights, if he's been leaked documents, to ignore embargoes he wasn't asked to (and wouldn't agree to) adhere to
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
So this is dumb for several reasons, including: 1) It stops the process of well-sourced reporting (if something newsworthy happens on Facebook or Instagram, journalists now can't link to it?) 2) Bigger than that, and hidden out the thread, they've banned Linktree.
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
Alt hed: Instagram loses 70% of its content on Reels
@MattNavarra
Matt Navarra
3 years
Instagram algorithm will cut reach of Reels with TikTok watermark IG will also limit reach of Reels if: - Blurry due to low resolution - Contain watermarks/logos from other apps - Have a border around video - The majority of the image is covered by text
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
Well, this is catastrophic for Twitter
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
So... why is this story still online?
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
5 years
BTS's fans are some of the most dedicated I've ever seen - and our latest story on @MediumFFWD explores that
@MediumFFWD
FFWD
5 years
Korean boyband @bts_bighit have created a fictional universe - the Bangtan Universe - in their music videos. Their fans - @BTS_ARMY - use YouTube to meticulously detail its twists and turns. @elliotsang digs into modern day fandom
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Narrator: And it was at this point that Jack Jack realised he made a terrible mistake
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
14 days
Good morning. Stay in bed today. Early reports suggest Crowdstrike Falcon - a computer threat checker used by lots (and lots and lots) of businesses pushed out an update that might have broken a lot of computers. Airlines, businesses etc affected
@troyhunt
Troy Hunt
14 days
Something super weird happening right now: just been called by several totally different media outlets in the last few minutes, all with Windows machines suddenly BSoD’ing (Blue Screen of Death). Anyone else seen this? Seems to be entering recovery mode:
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
6 years
New by me for @guardian : it took me two years (and almost £40,000 of taxpayers' money being spent by government against me) to find out how often the Northern Powerhouse minister left London in his role as minister for the north
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
What are the key moments in the history of the internet that you'd pinpoint?
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
5 years
Online today and in @guardianweekend tomorrow, I profiled Andras Arato, better known as Hide the Pain Harold, about how it feels to have your face co-opted as a meme
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 years
If you are an editor reading this, I am BEGGING YOU to let me write the shit out of this
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
One Finnish newspaper is trying to break through the Russian wall of propaganda around the invasion of Ukraine through an unusual method: a map in video game Counter-Strike (which has four million Russian players). By me for @FastCompany
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 months
Academic researchers have plans to swap out human participants in studies with LLMs. My latest for @sciam explores why that might be problematic - and asks if it ever would be worthwhile
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
Sometimes I wonder whether the world is going to hell in a handbasket then I remember these guys tried to sell an NFT of themselves earlier this month with a reserve of £1 million and the top bid was £740
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
What would you do if PayPal withheld $1.3 million of your cash and didn't tell you why, or give you a clear explanation of what you could do to free it? For @dailydot , I told the story of @flipper_zero
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
That second one, banning URL aggregators, is perhaps the least creator-friendly move you can make as a platform desperately trying to court creators. It's over. Dead. Pack up and move on. This, not the journalist bans, bad as they are, is the death knell for Twitter
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
8 months
Just so we’re clear, OpenAI has said our CEO on Friday is a liar and we’re saying so publicly, our CEO to replace him on Saturday isn’t good enough so we’re replacing her with our CEO on Sunday who we’ve decided isn’t good enough, so let’s have the guy we said not to trust back.
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
Elon Musk's attempts to wring money out of Twitter's research community looks like it's going to backfire further, with an end of the month deadline for researchers to delete data they already have. By me for @theipaper
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Look, I'm just a schmuck who speaks to people inside Twitter, but I'm not certain you can run a company with 7,500 staff just weeks ago with a staff of less than 900 now
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
Lots of people writing about Miles Routledge, the UK student who travelled to Afghanistan for the lulz. Very few have gone into detail about why he did it – or what those trying to evacuate people from Kabul think. I did both for @inputmag
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 years
I'm not usually one to pile on Laura Kuenssberg, but...why is she the one rebutting the story in the reply to tweets about this and not Number 10?
@bbclaurak
Laura Kuenssberg
4 years
@PippaCrerar Source says his trip was within guidelines as Cummings went to stay with his parents so they could help with childcare while he and his wife were ill - they insist no breach of lockdown
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
The Russian coup is the first massive story where you see the impact of the BBC News cuts/merger. Frank Gardner is framed like… this on, presumably, a laptop given its position up his nose and the pixelation and lag on his mouth. World-beating 🫣
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
9 months
"The Nazis were very evil, but" is a suboptimal thing for a CEO to say (even when making the case for how much of an existential risker they are)
@eshear
Emmett Shear
1 year
@BarbettiJames @ApriiSR @BellaRudd1 The Nazis were very evil, but I'd rather the actual literal Nazis take over the world forever than flip a coin on the end of all value.
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Any creator right now, reading this rule change, will be going "well, this is no longer a platform I should devote any time to". Twitter just singlehandedly killed one of the major reasons to come here: the content creators produce for free because they can monetise you elsewhere
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
5 years
💰 Top salary for an astronaut in 2018: $82,680 💰 Top salary for a YouTuber in 2018: $22.5 million Kids aren't stupid.
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Earlier today I did an interview where my soul left my body. This is the result of that. For @BuzzFeedNews , I spoke to a Raspberry Pi rep, and to disgruntled users like @infil00p , @PeteForsyth , @varjmes , @mplewis and @joshmarcushills , about hiring a cop
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
📣 IT’S PUBLICATION DAY! 📣 TikTok Boom, my deep reported dive into the rise of the social media phenomenon – and its geopolitical issues – is out today. Please please please spread the word, get your copy and leave a review. Buying options here:
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
To be very, very clear, I find it hard to believe that Twitter would outright delete the original poster's account, so those saying so can have me remind them that conspiratorial nonsense is as bad from people whose POV you share as those you don't
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 years
Cool cool, one in every 35 students at Northumbria University are already covid-positive, very excited to teach in person at a higher education institution in the same city in two weeks' time, excellent. Can we stop the charade now please @UniofNewcastle ?
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
"No idea, it last met in 1952" is a pretty good summation of how unprecedented this all is
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
Here's the docs. "Large package" is $210,000 a month, or $2.5 million a year (tip @techmeme )
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
Read the replies to this for the worst examples of graphic design you've ever seen, algorithmically sorted by their abjectness
@elonmusk
Elon Musk
1 year
If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make go live worldwide tomorrow
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
This is just too perfect. He is so dumb.
@elonmusk
Elon Musk
2 years
The acid test for any two competing socioeconomic systems is which side needs to build a wall to keep people from escaping? That’s the bad one!
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
10 months
👀 Look what just arrived in the post! Out three weeks today
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Cloudflare's problems with Kiwi Farms isn't a new thing - an analysis conducted earlier this year found the platform has an outsized role in keeping misinformation and hate sites online. My latest for @TIME
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
If you're an academic at a research group who had access to Twitter's decahose API before, and you're not paying to move onto their insanely priced new ones, you're expected to delete (and provide evidence you have) the data you already bought access to
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
Beyond the copyright issues, if correct this causes a massive, massive problem in terms of biasing the model if 75% of its news content training comes from the Daily Mail
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
“I don’t know if there’s an academic on the planet who could afford $42,000 a month for Twitter,” says @jhblackb , which was not a unique sentiment
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 years
A story in four parts
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
5 years
Just to clarify why big tech's insistence that coding their way out of issues doesn't work: some sort of automated system triggered by the hate speech policy change today on YouTube has taken down a highly respected history educational channel by accident
@MrAllsopHistory
Mr Allsop History
5 years
YouTube have banned me for 'hate speech', I think due to clips on Nazi policy featuring propaganda speeches by Nazi leaders. I'm devastated to have this claim levelled against me, and frustrated 15yrs of materials for #HistoryTeacher community have ended so abruptly. @TeamYouTube
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
I very much can believe that the person who posted it saw it doing mad engagement on here, got the wave of pro-Musk fanboys people get whenever they say anything critical, and decided they'd had enough of Twitter
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
My latest for @Nature is a longread, looking at the impact Elon Musk has had on science on Twitter. The answer? Not great.
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 years
In the last 45 minutes, Kellyanne Conway has demanded her 15-year-old daughter issue a correction on her TikTok about the sequencing of her covid tests
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 years
The person filing the lawsuit (who has err, previous for odd lawsuits) is asking Twitch to ban all the women he finds sexually attractive and to pay him $25 million in damaged
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
4 years
OMG BBC with the helicopter over Trump's golf course inject it into my veins
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
- The lawyer also kiboshed Musk's claims that each engineer would be legally liable for Twitter code changes - Musk then held a meeting with staff in which one employee said he "avoided answering questions, instead giving vague rambling tangents about his other companies"
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
Man who six days ago tweeted "I do what I want" after tweeting libel finds out actually you cannot do what you want when a lawyer calls
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
3 years
OnlyFans creators! I want to chat to you about the strength of the community you built on the platform (and how you're intending on moving that community elsewhere). Would love to tell your stories! DM me!
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
1 year
If you're a current Twitter employee, I'd like to hear from you btw
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
While I love them dearly and enjoy working with them, shout out to those who passed, and those who spiked 🤣
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
- Oh and overnight, Twitter Blue, which Musk said would be the thing that saves Twitter from financial collapse (he wanted 50% of revenue to come from it), disappeared from the app in the United States and elsewhere. Broadcast producers, if you need me to explain that, DM me
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
After being asked the umpteenth time at the end of an interview for quote approval, I figured I should put together an accessible doc for interviewees to understand what the process is like. Anyone got any feedback on it/would it be useful for others?
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@stokel
Chris Stokel-Walker
2 years
Shot, chaser
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