Tesla is being sued by the widow of an Apple engineer who died in a 2018 car crash.
The lawsuit cites statements from Elon Musk promoting the safety of Tesla’s self-driving software.
But Tesla’s lawyers say they can’t confirm if he ever said that, because they could be deepfakes.
Jack Black, Ian McKellen, and other celebrities are irritated by Elon Musk’s plans to charge Twitter users at least $8 a month for a blue checkmark
Celebrities have criticized Elon Musk for his plan to charge Twitter users for verified checkmarks.
Jack Black planned to call Musk’s bluff, while William Shatner called Twitter Blue a “money grab.”
Ian McKellen and LeBron James said they wouldn’t pay $8 a month for the subscription.
Elon Musk has made many changes on Twitter since acquiring the company for $44 billion in late October. As well as laying off thousands of employees and restoring former President Donald Trump’s account, he’s also launched Twitter Blue.
Twitter Blue is a monthly subscription service that costs at least $8 a month. Blue offers subscribers fewer adverts, priority with tweets, and above all, a blue checkmark that signals that they’re verified.
Although Twitter said users who previously got a blue tick for free would have their legacy checkmark removed from April 1, the only account affected so far is the New York Times’ account. The rollout of Twitter’s paid subscription feature has irritated some users, including celebrities.
Jack Black told Variety he was going to call Musk’s bluff.
Black told Variety at the premiere of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” on Saturday that he wasn’t sure whether he was going to pay for Twitter Blue.
“I’m a little embarrassed by the blue check to be honest with you,” he told Variety. Black said it wasn’t cool to pay for Twitter Blue and he was going to see what happens when he doesn’t sign up for the subscription service.
“I’m gonna call his bluff, see if he really takes my check away,” Black added.
Ian McKellen made it clear he wasn’t planning to sign up for Twitter Blue.
“Please note that I am not paying for the blue checkmark, which I’ve displayed for many years,” McKellen tweeted on Sunday.
Ben Stiller said he had “no idea” how people will know what his official Twitter account is once his blue checkmark is removed.
Stiller tweeted what he thought would be his last post with a blue checkmark next to his name.
“My last blue check night, loving this #Knick game,” he said.
In response to a Twitter user who asked how will people know whether he is the real Ben Stiller, the actor said: “I have no idea. I’ll keep my account. Not sure what I’ll do.”
LeBron James also said he wasn’t paying for Twitter Blue.
“Welp,” the NBA superstar tweeted. He added that his blue tick may disappear soon because “if you know me I ain’t paying” for Twitter Blue.
Dionne Warwick said she’d rather spend the money on extra hot lattes than Twitter Blue.
Warwick said she was not paying for a blue check.
“That money could (and will) be going towards my extra hot lattes,” she tweeted.
William Shatner called Twitter Blue a “money grab.”
Shatner, known for portraying Captain Kirk in “Star Trek,” tweeted at Musk, telling him he’d been on Twitter for 15 years giving his time and “witty thoughts all for bupkis.”
Musk responded to Shatner, saying that celebrities should be treated the same as everyone else on Twitter.
Shatner replied to the billionaire, saying: “Somewhere, Twitter lost its way.”
The actor said blue checkmarks were “guardrails to legitimacy; not meaningless status symbols.” He added that Twitter doesn’t stop another William Shatner from being verified with the subscription service.
Shatner said Twitter Blue seemed to be a “money grab.”
“There’s nothing wrong with money grabs if you are clear upfront. You aren’t,” he said.
Monica Lewinsky shared screenshots of other Twitter accounts that had the same name as her and a blue checkmark.
“In what universe is this fair to people who can suffer consequences for being impersonated?” she wrote in a following tweet. ” A lie travels half way around the world before truth even gets out the door.”
She then shared her Instagram handle in a Twitter post.
Jason Alexander, who starred in “Seinfeld,” threatened to quit Twitter.
The American actor tweeted that although there were bigger problems in the world than having a blue checkmark on Twitter, anyone could allege to be him.
“So, if I lose that tick know I will leave this platform,” Alexander said. “Anyone appearing with it=an imposter. I tell you this while I’m still official.”
Karl Urban, who acted in “Star Trek” and “Lord of the Rings,” warned his Twitter followers about other users impersonating him.
Urban wrote in a tweet that he would lose his blue checkmark on Twitter because he was “opposed to spending money on social media.”
The New Zealand actor told his followers to be careful about “imposters and money soliciting scams.”
“I will never ask you for money on any social media platform,” Urban said.
He added that he was going “checkless.”
Martin Lewis, an expert in personal finance in the UK, told his 2.2 million Twitter followers that Twitter Blue could cause scams and fraud.
“This is not a good for scam or fraud prevention. Scammers can pay as they make money from it,” Lewis, founder of the MoneySavingExpert platform, tweeted.
Lewis later shared that he had signed up for Twitter Blue, but his decision wasn’t a recommendation or support for Musk’s new feature.
“I’m in a peculiar position that scammers commonly impersonate me to steal from the vulnerable, so I feel obligated to do it to reduce that risk,” Lewis said.
But Musk isn’t backing down. He’s said there shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities on Twitter.
“It’s more about treating everyone equally. There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities imo,” Musk told Shatner in a tweet.
15/15 SLIDES
Tesla’s lawyers say that Elon Musk’s past statements about the safety of its self-driving feature can’t be trusted because they could be deepfakes, per court filings seen by Insider.
The lawsuit – which was first submitted to the Santa Clara County Superior Court in 2019 – alleges that Tesla’s autopilot feature was defective, and accelerated Huang’s car into a concrete barrier after misreading highway lane lines.
Huang’s lawyers want to interview Musk about statements he made promoting the capabilities of Tesla’s self-driving software.
Per Reuters, that includes a speech from a 2016 conference, when he said: “A Model S and Model X, at this point, can drive autonomously with greater safety than a person right now.”
But Tesla’s lawyers say they don’t know whether or not Musk actually said any of those things.
“At first glance it might seem unusual that Tesla could not admit or deny the authenticity of video and audio recordings purportedly contain statements by Mr. Musk,” they wrote in an April 20 court filing seen by Insider.
“The reality is he, like many public figures, is the subject of many ‘deepfake’ videos and audio recordings that purport to show him saying and doing things he never actually said or did.”
On Wednesday, Judge Evette Pennypacker said these arguments were “deeply troubling” and tentatively ordered Musk to be interviewed under oath for three hours about whether he made the statements, Reuters reported.
“Their position is that because Mr. Musk is famous and might be more of a target for deepfakes, his public statements are immune,” Pennypacker wrote, per Reuters.
“In other words, Mr. Musk, and others in his position, can simply say whatever they like in the public domain, then hide behind the potential for their recorded statements being a deep fake to avoid taking ownership of what they did actually say and do,” the judge added.
The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial on July 31.
Tesla and an attorney for Huang did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, sent outside US working hours.
