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Twitter shares slide as Elon Musk and social media company line up for legal fight – CBC News
Shares of Twitter slid more than nine per cent in the first day of trading after billionaire Elon Musk said that he was abandoning his $44 billion US bid for the company and the social media platform vowed to challenge Musk in court to uphold the agreement.
Twitter is now preparing to sue Musk in Delaware, where the company is incorporated. While the outcome is uncertain, both sides are preparing for a long court battle.
Musk alleged Friday that Twitter has failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts on its service. However, Twitter said last month that it was making available to Musk a “fire hose” of raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets when he raised the issue again after announcing that he would buy the social media platform.
Twitter has said for years in regulatory filings that it believes about five per cent of the accounts on the platform are fake.
But on Monday, Musk continued to taunt the company, using Twitter, over what he has described as a lack of data. In addition, Musk is also alleging that Twitter broke the acquisition agreement when it fired two top managers and laid off a third of its talent-acquisition team.
WATCH | How Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter ignited a free speech debate:
Calling himself a “free speech absolutist,” Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover deal is reigniting the debate around freedom of speech on social media platforms. Some fear that under Musk’s ownership, Twitter could be exploited as a platform to spread disinformation and monitor critics.
Musk agreed to a $1 billion US breakup fee as part of the buyout agreement, although it appears Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and the company are settling in for a legal fight to force the sale.
“For Twitter, this fiasco is a nightmare scenario,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who follows the company, wrote Monday. He said the result would be “an Everest-like uphill climb for Parag and Co.,” given concerns over employee morale and retention, advertiser concerns and other challenges.
The sell-off in Twitter shares pushed the share price below $34 US, far from the $54.20 that Musk agreed to pay for the company. That suggests Wall Street has very serious doubts that the deal will go forward.
Many experts in the legal and business sectors believe Twitter likely has a stronger case.
Morningstar analyst Ali Mogharabi noted that Twitter has described its estimate of fake and spam accounts for years in regulatory filings while explicitly noting that the number might not be accurate given the use of data samples and interpretation.
Given current market conditions, Mogharabi said, Twitter may also have a solid argument that the layoffs and firings of the past weeks represent “an ordinary course of business.”
“Many technology firms have begun to control costs by reducing headcount and/or delaying adding employees,” he said. “The resignations of Twitter employees cannot with certainty be attributed to any change in how Twitter has operated since Musk’s offer was accepted by the board and shareholders.”
Tech industry analysts say Musk’s interlude leaves behind a more vulnerable company with demoralized employees.
“With Musk officially walking away from the deal, we think business prospects and stock valuation are in a precarious situation,” wrote CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino. “[Twitter] will now need to go at it as a standalone company and contend with an uncertain advertising market, a damaged employee base, and concerns about the status of fake accounts/strategic direction.”
The uncertainty surrounding who will run Twitter could lead wary advertisers to curtail their spending on the platform, Mogharabi said.
But the drama surrounding the deal, he added, will also likely attract new users to the platform and increase engagement, particularly given the upcoming U.S. midterm elections. That, he said, could convince advertisers to cut a bit less.
In the long run, he said, “we think Twitter will remain one of the Top 5 social media platforms for advertisers.”
Arrest made in false fire alarm
A Guelph male has been charged in relation to a false fire alarm activation at Guelph General Hospital earlier this year.
Early on January 27, the male had a verbal dispute with hospital security and ran through the hospital, pulling a fire alarm and smashing a window. On Tuesday he turned himself in to Guelph Police.
An 18-year-old Guelph male is charged with making a false alarm of fire and mischief under $5,000. He will appear in a Guelph court October 4, 2022.
Male held after missing court
A Guelph male who missed a court date on charges including carrying a weapon for a dangerous purpose was rearrested Tuesday.
Guelph Police Service officers were on patrol downtown just before 11 a.m. when they spotted a male known to be wanted. The male tried to flee as officers approached but was arrested a short distance away. A search incident to arrest revealed a driver’s licence which had been reported stolen in 2018.
A 50-year-old Guelph male is further charged with failing to attend court and possessing stolen property. He will appear in a Guelph bail court Thursday.
Driver suspended after traffic stop
A Guelph male was taken off the road for three days following a traffic stop Tuesday night.
Just after 10 p.m., a member of the Guelph Police Service stopped a vehicle in the area of Willow Road and Dawson Road. The driver was asked to provide a breath sample into a roadside screening device and registered an Alert, indicating a blood-alcohol level between 50 and 100 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrams.
A 30-year-old Guelph male faces several Highway Traffic Act charges and had his licence suspended for three days.
Total calls for service in the last 24 hours – 211
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A new study published in the academic journal Current Opinion in Psychology offers a path forward for parents who are searching for better ways to navigate the nascent world of adolescent social media use.
The authors argue that it is possible for parents to put guardrails in place that reduce pre-teen and adolescent anxiety and depression resulting from social media overconsumption, as well as minimize the negative effects of cyberbullying.
Here is an overview of their recommendations.
Recommendation #1: Familiarize yourself with the different styles of social media parenting
It should come as no surprise that parents vary widely in the way they manage their children’s social media use. According to the authors, there are four general approaches parents take when monitoring their teenagers’ social media use. They are:
- Autonomy-supportive. This approach provides a developmentally appropriate rationale for social media rules and takes adolescents’ perspectives seriously.
- Autonomy-restrictive. This approach provides rules in a strict and harsh way, without much respect for adolescents’ perspectives.
- Inconsistent. This strategy, or lack thereof, occurs when parents randomly vary in their restrictions, regulations, or discussions of social media.
- Permissive. This approach avoids guidance and discussion and provides limited restrictions or rules.
There are other styles as well. Some parents practice ‘social media surveillance,’ in which they keep tabs on adolescents’ media use — for example, by using tracking software, holding adolescents’ social media passwords, or checking adolescents’ social media profiles. Researchers break social media surveillance down into two sub-categories: ‘authoritarian surveillance’ (e.g., accessing adolescents’ social media accounts and passwords) and ‘nonintrusive inspection’ (e.g., browsing their profiles).
There are also cases of ‘co-use,’ where parents and children use social media together.
Before attempting to refine your social media parenting style, it is important to reflect upon your current social media stance and how it may be perceived by your child or children. Are you autonomy-supportive or autonomy-restrictive? Are your rules inconsistent or permissive? Do you co-use social media with your child? Do you practice some form of social media surveillance?
Recommendation #2: A stricter approach may be a better approach
While there is no ‘right answer’ to the question of how to parent in the age of social media, a preponderance of the data suggests that more active approaches lead to better outcomes than passive approaches.
The authors state, “Overall, studies find that adolescents report less problematic use when parents use more parental monitoring, restrictive or active mediation, or strict internet and smartphone rules.”
There is also evidence to suggest that adolescents spend less time using social media when parents implement an autonomy-supportive approach. Other evidence reveals that teens exhibit more anxiety and depressive symptoms when parents use a more autonomy-restrictive style to restrict adolescents’ social media use and fewer symptoms when parents implement an autonomy-supportive style.
In other words, there is something to be said for creating a family environment in which social media dialogue between kids and parents is a supportive, two-way street — but while maintaining strict rules to limit overconsumption and problematic social media activity.
Of course, there are counterarguments to this line of thinking. One study published in Frontiers in Psychology, for instance, found that a more restrictive stance on social media access was associated with a heightened risk of social media addiction. What this should illuminate is that while some approaches on average work better than others, individual circumstances should be taken into account when developing your own social media monitoring strategy.
Recommendation #3: Stay informed. As social media evolves, so will the guidance.
Many big questions have yet to be answered. For example, it is still unclear whether the type of social media your child is using (be it online, on a smartphone, for gaming, etc.) influences how you, as a parent, should manage it. It’s also unclear how quickly the negative effects of social media overconsumption on a child’s well-being can be undone. Can parents expect a rapid turnaround in a child’s behavior after shifting course, or do the negative effects linger for some time?
More research is needed to address these important questions.
Media
Media Advisory: Premier Furey to Announce Additional Measure to Address Recruitment and Retention of Physicians – News Releases – Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
The Honourable Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, will announce an additional measure to address recruitment and retention of physicians today (Tuesday, August 16) at 2:15 p.m.
He will be joined by the Honourable Tom Osborne, Minister of Health and Community Services, Dr. Sohaib Al-Asaaed, Post Graduate Medical Education Associate Dean, and Dr. Mikaela Murphy, a second-year family medicine resident.
The availability will take place in Room M5M101, Faculty of Medicine, St. John’s Campus, Memorial University.
The availability will be streamed live on Facebook.
– 30 –
Media contacts
Meghan McCabe
Office of the Premier
709-729-3960
meghanmccabe@gov.nl.ca
Laura Thomas
Health and Community Services
709-729-6986, 727-0341
laurathomas@gov.nl.ca
9:10 am
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