<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="405" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/107111240-1661865566264-musk5.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-420882" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/107111240-1661865566264-musk5.jpg 720w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/107111240-1661865566264-musk5-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/107111240-1661865566264-musk5-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /><figcaption>SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk takes part in a joint news conference with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert (not pictured) at the SpaceX Starbase, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 25, 2022. Adrees Latif | Reuters</figcaption></figure>



Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now in charge of Twitter, CNBC has learned.



Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and finance chief Ned Segal have left the company’s San Francisco headquarters and will not be returning, sources said.  Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal policy, trust, and safety was also fired, the Washington Post reported.



Musk had until Friday to complete his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter or face a court battle with the company.



The billionaire tweeted “the bird is freed” in an apparent reference to the takeover being completed.



In April, Twitter accepted Musk’s proposal to buy the social media service and take it private. However, Musk soon began sowing doubt about his intentions to follow through with the agreement, alleging that the company failed to adequately disclose the number of spam and fake accounts on the service.



When Musk said he was terminating the deal, Twitter sued the billionaire, alleging he “refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.”



In the ensuing months, Twitter and Musk would trade barbs via their attorneys as the two parties were slated to head to Delaware’s Court of Chancery to determine the fate of the company and whether it would end up in the Tesla chief’s hands.



Earlier in October, Musk had a change of heart and said he wanted to pursue his acquisition of Twitter at the original price of $54.20 a share if the social messaging service dropped its litigation. Distrustful of Musk’s motivations, Twitter’s lawyers said that the Tesla CEO’s “proposal is an invitation to further mischief and delay.”



A Delaware Chancery Court judge eventually ruled that Musk had until Oct. 28 to cement the Twitter deal or head to trial.



It is still unclear how Musk will finance the deal. Earlier this year, Musk secured some debt financing from a number of investment banks. He also got the backing of some high-profile investors including venture capital firms and technology CEOs.



Cryptocurrency exchange Binance, one of the original backers, confirmed to CNBC on Friday that it is an equity investor in Musk’s Twitter takeover.



“We’re excited to be able to help Elon realize a new vision for Twitter. We aim to play a role in bringing social media and Web3 together in order to broaden the use and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology,” Binance CEO Changpeng&nbsp;Zhao said in a statement.



Web3 is a term the technology industry uses to refer to the next-generation of the internet.



On Thursday, Musk wrote a message intended to reassure advertisers that social messaging services wouldn’t devolve into “a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”



“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said in the message. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far-right wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”



Musk arrived at the Twitter headquarters earlier this week carrying a sink, and documented the event on Twitter, saying “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!”



Musk also updated his Twitter description to “Chief Twit.”



—&nbsp;CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal and Ryan Browne contributed to this report.

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Elon Musk now in charge of Twitter, CEO and CFO have left, sources say

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/107108369-1661304508074-gettyimages-1240261886-Twitter.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-419531" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/107108369-1661304508074-gettyimages-1240261886-Twitter.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/107108369-1661304508074-gettyimages-1240261886-Twitter-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/107108369-1661304508074-gettyimages-1240261886-Twitter-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>In this illustration, Elon Musk’s Twitter account is displayed on the screen of a mobile phone with the Twitter logo in the background. A whistleblower’s complaint that Twitter misled federal regulators about the company’s security risks could provide Elon Musk with fresh ammunition in his bid to get out of buying the company for $44 billion. Sheldon Cooper | Lightrocket | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Elon Musk’s legal team filed another notice on Tuesday to terminate his $44 billion deal to buy&nbsp;Twitter, citing additional reasons.



Twitter shares were down more than 1% in premarket trade.



The latest filings come after Twitter’s former head of security, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko,&nbsp;alleged earlier this month&nbsp;“extreme, egregious deficiencies” by the social media company related to privacy, security and content moderation.



On July 8,&nbsp;Musk’s legal team initially filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to&nbsp;terminate the Twitter acquisition. Musk’s team alleged that “Twitter has not complied with its contractual obligations.”



The follow-up notice, disclosed to the SEC, cites allegations made by Zatko as additional reasons to terminate the deal.



“Allegations regarding certain facts, known to Twitter prior to and as of July 8, 2022, but undisclosed to the Musk Parties prior to and at that time, have since come to light that provide additional and distinct bases to terminate the Merger Agreement,” Mike Ringler, Musk’s legal representative from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &amp; Flom, wrote in a letter to Twitter’s legal chief.



Ringler said in the letter that the latest termination notice is “not legally necessary” to end the merger deal, but is being delivered in case the July 8 filing is “determined to be invalid for any reason.”



The letter on behalf of Musk said the Zatko complaint “alleges far-reaching misconduct at Twitter—all of which was disclosed to Twitter’s directors and senior executives, including (CEO) Parag Agrawal—that is likely to have severe consequences for Twitter’s business.”



Musk’s lawyer said Zatko alleges that Twitter is in “material noncompliance” with its obligations under its&nbsp;2011 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission. The letter laid out some of Zatko’s other allegations including claims that Twitter is “uniquely vulnerable to systemic disruption resulting from data center failures or malicious actors,” something senior management knew about but “ignored and sought to obfuscate.”



“These allegations, if true, demonstrate that Twitter has breached the following provisions of the Merger Agreement, thereby giving the Musk Parties the right to terminate the Merger Agreement pursuant to its terms as more fully described below,” the letter said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-twitter-responds"><a></a>Twitter responds</h2>



Twitter’s legal team responded on Tuesday by sending a letter to Musk’s legal representatives. Twitter said Musk’s termination case set out in the letter is “invalid and wrongful under” the acquisition agreement.



“It is based solely on statements made by a third party that, as Twitter has previously stated, are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lack important context,” the letter written by William Savitt of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen&nbsp;&amp; Katz law firm said.



“Contrary to the assertions in your letter, Twitter has breached none of its representations or obligations under the Agreement, and Twitter has not suffered and is not likely to suffer a Company Material Adverse Effect.”



Twitter said it intends to enforce the acquisition agreement and “close the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon” with Musk.



Twitter’s legal team said Musk’s latest notice to terminate the deal is “invalid for the independent reason that Mr.&nbsp;Musk and the other Musk Parties continue to knowingly, intentionally, willfully, and materially breach” the acquisition agreement.



The social media giant has previously responded to Zatko.



In a&nbsp;memo&nbsp;to staff posted to Twitter on Aug. 23 by CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan, Agrawal described Zatko as “a former Twitter executive who was terminated in January 2022 for ineffective leadership and poor performance.”



Zatko’s attorneys issued a&nbsp;statement&nbsp;on Monday in response to that characterization, saying he “put his career on the line because of his concerns about Twitter users, the public, and the company’s shareholders.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-twitter-musk-legal-clash"><a></a>Twitter-Musk legal clash</h2>



Twitter and Musk will go on trial on Oct. 17 in Delaware&nbsp;to resolve Musk’s attempt to cancel his acquisition of the company unless they reach a settlement first.



Since proposing the Twitter takeover,&nbsp;Musk has complained&nbsp;that the number of fake or spam accounts on the social media platform is higher than is being disclosed. In the July 8 letter, Musk’s legal team claimed the company had “failed or refused to provide” information on these accounts to the&nbsp;Tesla&nbsp;CEO.



Ahead of the October trial, Musk’s legal team has subpoenaed the whistleblower Zatko, seeking information on the company’s spam accounts and its alleged security vulnerabilities.

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Elon Musk cites whistleblower claims in latest effort to scrap Twitter deal

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2856173673_405c882710_k-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-419094" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2856173673_405c882710_k-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2856173673_405c882710_k-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2856173673_405c882710_k-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2856173673_405c882710_k-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2856173673_405c882710_k-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2856173673_405c882710_k.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Photo: via Flickr</figcaption></figure>



KAMPALA, August 10 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Ugandan IT student Andrew Njuki spent years hunched over English-language textbooks, often grappling with material that would have been easier to grasp in his mother tongue Luganda.



As of May, the 27-year-old has been able to copy-paste his online teaching materials into Alphabet Inc&#8217;s&nbsp;GOOGL.O&nbsp;Google translation service and read them directly in Uganda&#8217;s official language Luganda, spoken by millions across the east African country but not taught in schools.



&#8220;To understand something better you need to first understand it in your mother tongue,&#8221; said Njuki, who also finds the service handy for surfing the internet and social media.



It is not perfect, he said, he rates it around 60% for quality and 65% for accuracy. But it is a start.



Translation and language-learning giants like Google and DuoLingo&nbsp;DUOL.O&nbsp;are expanding language databases available online, in a push to widen representation and reduce bias in artificial intelligence systems.



Isaac Caswell, a research scientist at Google Translate, said for speakers of minority languages &#8220;it can feel like the world of tech is ignoring you.&#8221; Online translation &#8220;is a very important signal to show that we do care about you,&#8221; he added.



Luganda is among 24 languages added to Google Translate in May, with others from sub-Saharan Africa, India and South America. There are now 23 African languages on the platform, accounting for 17% percent of the total.



DuoLingo, which&nbsp;includes&nbsp;eight under-represented languages out of 40&nbsp;on offer, is working to add Zulu and Xhosa &#8211; spoken by 20 million people mainly in South Africa &#8211; later this year.



Kampala resident Hussain Bharmal, originally from India, struggled to find resources to study Luganda, and believes the instant translations on his phone will help to bridge that gap.



&#8220;When you speak someone&#8217;s language you get the keys to their heart,&#8221; said the web developer.



(Reporting by Francis Mukasa and Sofia Christensen; Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Alexandra Hudson)

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Students cheer as online translation tools add more African languages

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/107101580-1660095651939-gettyimages-1395371348-dk023772_07aa4cd1-36c0-4f46-9752-7e238d4fb187.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-419070" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/107101580-1660095651939-gettyimages-1395371348-dk023772_07aa4cd1-36c0-4f46-9752-7e238d4fb187.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/107101580-1660095651939-gettyimages-1395371348-dk023772_07aa4cd1-36c0-4f46-9752-7e238d4fb187-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/107101580-1660095651939-gettyimages-1395371348-dk023772_07aa4cd1-36c0-4f46-9752-7e238d4fb187-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>NEW YORK, NEW YORK &#8211; MAY 02: Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue) Dimitrios Kambouris | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold 7.92 million shares of Tesla worth around $6.88 billion, according to a series of financial filings published Tuesday night.



His transactions occurred between Aug. 5 and 9, the SEC filings revealed, following Tesla’s 2022 annual shareholder meeting on Aug. 4 in Austin, Texas.



Earlier this year, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said on social media that he had “no further TSLA sales planned” after April 28.



That week, SEC filings revealed Musk had been selling a block of shares in his electric car maker worth about about $8.4 billion.



The centi-billionaire is in the midst of a contentious legal battle with Twitter, the social networking giant he agreed to acquire in April for about $44 billion or $54.20 per share.



Amid an overall market decline, Twitter’s share price and the price of Tesla shares dropped after that.



By July 8, Musk told Twitter he was terminating the deal. He accused Twitter of failing to give him all the information he needed to go ahead with the acquisition, and of understating the number of bots, spam and fake accounts on its platform.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-twitter-sues-elon-musk-to-enforce-original-merger-agreement">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/twitter-sues-elon-musk-to-enforce-original-merger-agreement/">Twitter sues Elon Musk to enforce original merger agreement</a></h3>



Twitter has sued to ensure the Musk deal goes through for the promised price, which would represent a windfall for many of its shareholders.



On Tuesday, after Musk’s latest stock sales were revealed, Tesla fans and promoters asked the celebrity CEO if he was done selling shares in the electric vehicle business, and if he might buy shares back in the future.



Asked if he was done selling Tesla shares, Musk replied: “Yes. In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close and some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock.”



Musk did not specify which equity partners he feared would abandon plans to finance a Twitter take-private transaction with him.



In early May, Musk had lined up equity financing from 19 different partners including Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, Qatari Holding, venture firms Sequoia, DFJ growth fund, Vy Capital, and the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.



He also said he would buy some of his shares back if he doesn’t have to go through with the Twitter acquisition.



If the Twitter deal doesn’t go through, he will consider creating his own social platform, X.com, he added.



Tesla shares were trading nearly flat after hours on the news. Shares in Tesla closed at $850, down just over 2% for the day on Tuesday, before Musk’s insider sales worth nearly $7 billion were made public through SEC filings.

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Elon Musk sells 7.92 million Tesla shares worth $6.88 billion

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/GettyImages-1230282004-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-401477" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/GettyImages-1230282004-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/GettyImages-1230282004-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/GettyImages-1230282004-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/GettyImages-1230282004.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>BRAZIL &#8211; 2020/12/23: In this photo illustration the close-up of the Twitter website seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



July 14 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Twitter&nbsp;TWTR.N&nbsp;was coming back online on Thursday after an hour-long outage kept thousands of users across the globe from accessing the social media website.



The outage affected&nbsp;nearly 2,000 users as of 9 am ET, down from the peak of 50,000 incidents an hour earlier, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.



The incident comes days after Twitter sued Tesla&nbsp;TSLA.O&nbsp;CEO Musk for violating his deal to buy the company and asked a Delaware court to order the world&#8217;s richest person to complete the takeover.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N2YP3CN&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



&#8220;Some of you are having issues accessing Twitter and we’re working to get it back up and running for everyone. Thanks for sticking with us,&#8221; the social media company said in a tweet.



Twitter&#8217;s status dashboard showed it was investigating the issue with some of its application programming interfaces. (<a href="https://bit.ly/3cfJXNd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://bit.ly/3cfJXNd</a>)



Twitter is hosted on Amazon Web Services and began using Google Cloud Platform as the secondary vendor from 2018, according to Well Fargo Securities analyst Brian Fitzgerald.



&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t seem to be a problem with its cloud vendors as other services continue to run,&#8221; Fitzgerald told Reuters.



Twitter had suffered another widespread outage in February that it blamed on a software glitch.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N2UM36M&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Other big technology companies have also been hit by outages in the past year, with a near six-hour interruption keeping Meta Platforms&#8217;&nbsp;META.O&nbsp;WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger out of the reach billions of users in October.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2R11YW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Notorious for outages in its early years, Twitter used its popular &#8220;Fail Whale&#8221; illustration, a beluga being lifted by birds, for such incidents until in 2013 when it discontinued the logo.



Twitter shares were marginally down at $36.51 on Thursday.



(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni and Vinay Dwivedi)

In this photo illustration the close-up of the Twitter

Twitter back up for many users after global outage

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107053742-16512503012022-04-29t160201z_587487638_rc23xt9hew69_rtrmadp_0_twitter-m-a-musk-pay-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-418407" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107053742-16512503012022-04-29t160201z_587487638_rc23xt9hew69_rtrmadp_0_twitter-m-a-musk-pay-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107053742-16512503012022-04-29t160201z_587487638_rc23xt9hew69_rtrmadp_0_twitter-m-a-musk-pay-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107053742-16512503012022-04-29t160201z_587487638_rc23xt9hew69_rtrmadp_0_twitter-m-a-musk-pay-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107053742-16512503012022-04-29t160201z_587487638_rc23xt9hew69_rtrmadp_0_twitter-m-a-musk-pay-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107053742-16512503012022-04-29t160201z_587487638_rc23xt9hew69_rtrmadp_0_twitter-m-a-musk-pay-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107053742-16512503012022-04-29t160201z_587487638_rc23xt9hew69_rtrmadp_0_twitter-m-a-musk-pay.jpeg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Photo: via CNBC</figcaption></figure>



Twitter filed suit against Elon Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery on Tuesday after the billionaire said he was terminating his $44 billion deal to buy the company.



Twitter said Musk, after entering a binding merger agreement, now “refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.”



Twitter’s suit was expected after Musk said late last week that he no longer plans to buy the social network, citing Twitter bots and claiming that the company didn’t give him the information he needed to evaluate the deal.



The lawsuit filed on Tuesday marks the beginning of what could be a protracted legal battle as Twitter seeks to hold Musk to his deal to pay $54.20 per share for the company, and as Musk seeks to be let out of the agreement.



The outcome of the dispute could be unpredictable, legal experts say, and could involve a judge forcing Musk to complete the deal or forcing him to pay a $1 billion breakup fee, or other scenarios including a settlement, renegotiation of the purchase price, or even Musk walking away without paying anything.



Twitter is seeking a four-day trial in September, according to a court filing.



In the suit filed Tuesday, Twitter argued that Musk’s conduct during his pursuit of the social network was in “bad faith” and accused the Tesla CEO of acting against the deal since “the market started turning.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-elon-musk-notifies-twitter-he-is-terminating-deal">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/elon-musk-notifies-twitter-he-is-terminating-deal/">Elon Musk notifies Twitter he is terminating deal</a></h3>



“Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away,” Twitter wrote in the complaint.



“This repudiation follows a long list of material contractual breaches by Musk that have cast a pall over Twitter and its business,” Twitter wrote in its suit.



The suit claims that what Musk says about why he wants to terminate the deal, including the prevalence of bots on the service, are “pretexts.”



Musk announced plans to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in April. The stock was trading at just over $34 per share at Tuesday’s close, which is over 37% lower than Musk’s offer.



Twitter attributes the decline partially to Musk’s actions, although other social media companies have also seen their share prices slide during the same period.



“Since signing the merger agreement, Musk has repeatedly disparaged Twitter and the deal, creating business risk for Twitter and downward pressure on its share price,” Twitter said in its suit.



Twitter filed the suit to “hold Elon Musk accountable to his contractual obligations,” Twitter board chair Bret Taylor tweeted.



“Oh the irony lol,” Musk tweeted after Twitter’s filing.

107053742-16512503012022-04-29t160201z_587487638_rc23xt9hew69_rtrmadp_0_twitter-m-a-musk-pay

Twitter sues Elon Musk to enforce original merger agreement

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/106884111-1621276053397-musk.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-418366" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/106884111-1621276053397-musk.jpg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/106884111-1621276053397-musk-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/106884111-1621276053397-musk-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as he visits the construction site of Tesla’s gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2021. Michele Tantussi | Reuters</figcaption></figure>



Billionaire Elon Musk wants to end his deal to buy Twitter, according to a letter sent by a lawyer on his behalf to the company’s chief legal officer Friday.



In the letter, disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Skadden Arps attorney Mike Ringler charged that “Twitter has not complied with its contractual obligations.”



Ringler claimed that Twitter did not provide Musk with relevant business information he requested, as Ringler said the contract would require. Musk has previously said he wanted to assess Twitter’s claims that about 5% of its monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) are spam accounts.



“Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information,” Ringler claimed. “Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr.&nbsp;Musk’s requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr.&nbsp;Musk incomplete or unusable information.”



Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

106884111-1621276053397-musk

Elon Musk notifies Twitter he is terminating deal

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MaxPixel.net-Metaverse-Vr-Virtual-Headset-Man-Reality-6882917-820x462.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-416120" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MaxPixel.net-Metaverse-Vr-Virtual-Headset-Man-Reality-6882917-820x462.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MaxPixel.net-Metaverse-Vr-Virtual-Headset-Man-Reality-6882917-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MaxPixel.net-Metaverse-Vr-Virtual-Headset-Man-Reality-6882917-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MaxPixel.net-Metaverse-Vr-Virtual-Headset-Man-Reality-6882917-768x433.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MaxPixel.net-Metaverse-Vr-Virtual-Headset-Man-Reality-6882917-1536x866.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MaxPixel.net-Metaverse-Vr-Virtual-Headset-Man-Reality-6882917.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Metaverse Vr Virtual Headset Man Reality
Photo: via Max Pixel</figcaption></figure>



The tech industry’s disappointing track record on issues of diversity could have serious consequences when the metaverse comes along.



For years, tens of millions of people of color have endured unwelcome experiences on social media platforms built by mostly white and male tech CEOS, including harassment and hate speech. Many users have also had their contributions regularly ignored or copied without attribution.



If those issues follow users into the metaverse, a concept championed largely by those same mostly white and male tech CEOs, today’s online abuse could become significantly more visceral and damaging.



“When you don’t have people at the table who have historically suffered harms or abuses, or who have to live with certain things in the back of their mind, then you don’t build platforms in a way that protects those people,” says Jeff Nelson, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Blavity, an online media company geared toward Black millennial creators. “You build platforms that can be used by people who want to extend harm to others, [and can] do so at scale.”



The tech industry has spent a decade publicly reckoning with its diversity problem. Still, Black and Hispanic workers hold just 7% and 8% of computer worker roles in the U.S., though they represent 11% and 17% of the country’s total workforce, respectively, according to the Pew Research Center.



If the companies building the metaverse are lacking in diverse voices, Nelson says, it’ll be hard to avoid the same problems experienced by today’s social media users — including more than 80 million Americans of color, according to a CNBC Make It analysis of Pew data.



“If we make the same mistakes that we did with social networking and web 2.0 &#8230; then we’ll just bring that problem into this new space,” Nelson says. “So it absolutely is a problem.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-users-of-virtual-worlds-already-encounter-harassment-bigotry"><a></a>Users of virtual worlds already encounter harassment, bigotry</h2>



The metaverse isn’t off to a great start. Studies of virtual world gaming platforms, like VRChat, have found evidence of minors being regularly exposed to racist, violent language and harassment in the virtual worlds. Those types of experiences can be full-on assaults to users’ mental health, psychologists say.



To Nelson, it’s an extension of the existing issues that people of color have faced for years on social media — and a sign that metaverse platforms aren’t ready for the types of abuse that their users can throw at each other.



He’s attempting to force change with Blavity. Each year, his company runs a conference called AfroTech, which helps “bring mass awareness about Black people in tech and entrepreneurship and professional development,” Nelson says.



When Covid hit, AfroTech went virtual — resulting in what Nelson calls the “first-ever Black metaverse.” That’s more than just branding, he adds: The more Black people put their stamp on the metaverse today, the more the developers building those future platforms will know that they need to intentionally create more welcoming virtual spaces.



“Creating worlds within the metaverse, creating content, creating art, all those things are efforts that are important to us as we think about the metaverse and making sure that Black people are fairly represented in this future,” Nelson says.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-tech-giants-like-meta-are-responding"><a></a>How tech giants like Meta are responding</h2>



There’s evidence that some tech giants are listening — or, at least, saying they are.



Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg almost single-handedly turned “metaverse” into the tech world’s buzziest concept over the past year. His company has also faced criticism for suppressing the accounts and content of Black creators in the past, leading Instagram and Facebook to take steps over the past year to better support and promote Black creators on the Meta-owned platforms. 



Facebook has committed to spending $1 billion each year with “diverse suppliers,” including $100 million annually with Black-owned businesses. And Meta says it’s keeping diversity in mind as it builds its own version of the metaverse.



“Because companies like Meta are starting to think about this future now, we have the opportunity to help build the metaverse with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from its inception,” Maxine Williams, Meta’s chief diversity officer, wrote in a blog post in February.



Online gaming company Roblox, another firm that’s betting big on the metaverse, regularly promotes its creators of color. According to Julian Walshaw-Vaughan, a vice president of engineering at Roblox and recipient of a Blacks in Gaming award last year, the company’s business model depends on it.



“Our hope is: If we can provide a platform for anyone in the world to learn important skills as developers and engineers alongside an opportunity to express themselves creatively and easily publish content, this will have an impact on the technology industry at large and result in more diverse and representative shared experiences,” he says.



Those types of statements are positive signs for a more inclusive metaverse future. But for Nelson, seeing is believing.



“Frankly, I haven’t seen enough,” he says.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The metaverse could be ‘a perfect opportunity to do better’</h2>



Nelson says easiest way for tech companies to begin making a difference is obvious: Hiring.



Currently, he says, tech companies often boost diversity in their workplaces by hiring people of color from the same places they get most of their employees: Stanford or the Ivy Leagues. Meta’s Williams, for example, attended Yale University, according to her LinkedIn profile.



″[That’s] paying lip service to diversity,” Nelson says. “Companies are not bringing in people that will challenge culture. They’re bringing in people who will sort of assimilate or fit their preconceived notion of how they should operate.”



That sort of change might need to happen quickly, as companies like Meta, Apple, Roblox and Microsoft forge ahead to build the web’s next iteration — even as the metaverse itself could take years, if not decades, to become mainstream reality.



“The metaverse is a perfect opportunity to do better,” Nelson says. “I am confident, because it’s so early and we’re having these conversations [now] — instead of us having this conversation five years from now, and it’s about, ‘The metaverse isn’t welcoming. How can we fix this?’”

Metaverse Vr Virtual Headset Man Reality

Racism could ruin the metaverse if tech doesn’t improve diversity now, CTO warns: ‘It absolutely is a problem’

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/XUK7NLPIJJM3HPDGG7G2OJXCN4-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-417857" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/XUK7NLPIJJM3HPDGG7G2OJXCN4-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/XUK7NLPIJJM3HPDGG7G2OJXCN4-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/XUK7NLPIJJM3HPDGG7G2OJXCN4-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/XUK7NLPIJJM3HPDGG7G2OJXCN4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/XUK7NLPIJJM3HPDGG7G2OJXCN4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/XUK7NLPIJJM3HPDGG7G2OJXCN4-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>FILE PHOTO: Optical fiber cables for internet providers are seen running into a Enel Group server room in Perugia, Italy, June 23, 2017. Picture taken June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



GENEVA, June 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The global technology industry is pressing the World Trade Organization to exempt data flows from cross-border tariffs, saying a failure to do so would undermine a global recovery already threatened by spiralling prices.



The WTO&#8217;s 164 members will present their views on the topic on Wednesday, the final scheduled day of a four-day ministerial conference.



Keisal Peters, trade minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, who is leading discussions, said at the conference that divergences remained. As time ran out, WTO members should consider meeting halfway, he added.



The WTO agreed in 1998 to a moratorium on e-commerce tariffs and repeatedly extended it at ministerial conferences, which the Geneva-based trade body normally holds every two years.



Now India, Indonesia and South Africa were threatening to block an extension, trade sources close to talks at the WTO said. This raises the prospect that tariffs could be imposed on such data flows as music streaming and financial transactions.



That possibility has prompted 108 tech company associations, including groups from India and Indonesia, to write to the WTO urging members to renew the moratorium, saying failure to do so would be a historic setback for the WTO and would undermine the global recovery.



Small developing countries, they say, would lose the chance to increase their digital competitiveness without a moratorium.



John Neuffer, chief executive of the U.S.-based Semiconductor Industry Association, said tariff-free data flows were essential for countries wishing to attract foreign. They also offered clear benefits to consumers and small businesses, he said.



&#8220;We heard alarm bells that things were in trouble, with much more risk of the moratorium not being extended,&#8221; Neuffer told Reuters. &#8220;The risk is that if one or two go, it sets off a torrent of efforts by other countries to do the same thing&#8221; &#8211; impose tariffs.



Studies demonstrated that tariff revenue benefits would be outweighed by economic losses, he said.



An EU official said countries favouring a moratorium extension were still hoping for a multilateral deal. They were not yet at the point of seeking a plan B &#8211; forming a smaller alliance in which they would not impose tariffs on data flows between them.



(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Bradley Perrett)

FILE PHOTO: Optical fiber cables for internet providers are seen running into a Enel Group server room in Perugia

Global tech on edge as WTO weighs e-commerce tariffs

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="570" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1229901686-820x570.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-397302" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1229901686-820x570.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1229901686-300x209.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1229901686-768x534.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1229901686-1536x1068.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1229901686-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., arrives at the Axel Springer Award ceremony in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. Tesla Inc. will be added to the S&amp;P 500 Index in one shot on Dec. 21, a move that will ripple through the entire market as money managers adjust their portfolios to make room for shares of the $538 billion company. Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



The Twitter board has agreed to a $44 billion buyout offer from billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Beyond that, little is known about what the world’s richest person plans to do with his preferred social media platform.



Under the terms of the deal, Musk is paying $54.20 per share in cash for Twitter. The announcement ended a weekslong saga Musk kicked off when he bid to buy the company at that price, which he called his “best and final offer.”



In Monday’s statement, Twitter said Musk is providing about $21 billion and has secured $25.5 billion of debt and “margin loan financing,” adding “there are no financing conditions to the closing of the transaction.”



So, Musk is taking over. But just about every other key question regarding the future of the popular social media platform remains unanswered. Users, employees, investors and politicians are eagerly waiting to hear more on the following topics: &nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-will-lead-the-company"><a></a>Who will lead the company?</h2>



One of the biggest questions facing Twitter is who Musk will appoint as the new CEO.



Current CEO Parag Agrawal has led the company for just five months after succeeding co-founder Jack Dorsey. Agrawal was quickly forced to deal with an aggressive Musk, who snapped up about 9% of the stock and briefly agreed to join the board.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/twitter-shares-jump-3-on-reports-it-could-accept-elon-musks-bid-as-early-as-monday/">Twitter shares jump 3% on reports it could accept Elon Musk’s bid as early as Monday</a></h3>



Then Musk scrapped that agreement and chose instead to go after the whole company, while Agrawal warned of “distractions ahead.”



He got his distraction on Monday, and now it seems unlikely that the pair will forge a future together. “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world,” Agrawal said in his lone comment in the company statement. “Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-will-be-on-the-board"><a></a>Who will be on the board?</h2>



The board of directors, led by Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, adopted a “poison pill” to try and fend off a potential hostile takeover from Musk. That came after Musk reneged on his agreement to join the board.



Musk gets his chance to wipe the slate clean, and the list of potential candidates to help him in the journey is long. He and Dorsey have appeared chummy of late. Could he choose to join forces with his fellow tech billionaire founder?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-much-control-will-musk-exert"><a></a>How much control will Musk exert?</h2>



Twitter said the company is being acquired by “an entity wholly owned by&nbsp;Elon Musk.” That says nothing about how much control the mega-billionaire will exert.



Musk is currently CEO of Tesla, which has a market cap of $1 trillion, and SpaceX, which is valued in the private market at $100 billion. He’s also got his start-ups Neuralink and The Boring Company.



Will he take the Jeff Bezos approach with the Washington Post and allow an independent management team to run the operations? Or will be a hands-on owner? The answer will go a long way to knowing what to expect from content moderation and whether the many high-profile people who have been kicked off the site will soon return.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-will-twitter-look-like"><a></a>What will Twitter look like?</h2>



Musk has attempted to crowdsource opinions on Twitter features, asking his 83 million-plus followers to weigh in on whether they want certain changes like an edit button. Will he make decisions based on what his followers want?



Here’s what he said in the release:



“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”



What does Musk mean by free speech? In a tweet on Monday, he wrote, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”



Will he let everyone stay? Content moderation is important in keeping a social network from becoming a dumpster fire. Free speech for a private corporation doesn’t have to mean what it does in the First Amendment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-is-trump-coming-back"><a></a>Is Trump coming back?</h2>



Former President Donald Trump was banned by Twitter last year for violating its rules — a move that drew ire from Trump and many conservative politicians. Musk has made clear he doesn’t like what he views as the company’s policies of censorship. So will Trump come back? Will users leave as a result? Will open sourcing the algorithm help us understand who comes, who goes and why?



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/elon-musk-offers-to-buy-twitter-for-43-billion-so-it-can-be-transformed-as-private-company/">Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion, so it can be ‘transformed as private company’</a></h3>



Trump told CNBC on Monday he wouldn’t return to Twitter even if Musk reversed the former president’s ban, saying that he’ll be on his own service, Truth Social, “within a week.”



“We did a lot for Twitter when I was in the White House.” Trump said. “I was disappointed by the way I was treated by Twitter. I won’t be going back on Twitter.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-will-happen-to-the-workforce"><a></a>What will happen to the workforce?</h2>



By taking the company private, Musk has to figure out a whole new structure for employee pay. Existing stock grants and rewards are no longer meaningful. Will they be replaced with equity in the new version of Twitter, giving employees potential upside should the company go public a second time?



The tech industry is dealing with a tightening and highly competitive market for talent. Employers are under more pressure than ever to retain what they’ve got. Under these circumstances, why would workers stay at Twitter and why would they go there from somewhere else?



And who does Musk keep? If he removes content-moderation practices, a lot of employees are suddenly deemed irrelevant. Does the Musk army become Twitter’s workforce?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-about-tesla-investors"><a></a>What about Tesla investors?</h2>



If you’re betting on Tesla at $1 trillion, you’re likely betting on Musk to continue working his magic. He has plenty of distractions already. Is this latest one too big for some investors to stomach? Tesla shares fell slightly on Monday and are down 2.3% since Musk’s bid on April 14. But the Nasdaq Composite has fallen further.

Billionaire Elon Musk Receives Axel Springer Award

Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter leaves many key questions unanswered

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239926981-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-416680" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239926981-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239926981-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239926981-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239926981-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239926981-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/GettyImages-1239926981-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>BRAZIL &#8211; 2022/04/11: In this photo illustration, the official profile of Elon Musk on the social network Twitter. The billionaire Elon Musk bought 9% of Twitter, an investment of USD 3 billion. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



Twitter shares jumped more than 3% on reports the company is nearing a deal with Elon Musk that could be announced as soon as Monday.



Musk earlier this month offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, or about $43 billion. The social media company had been expected to decline a deal and had adopted a so-called poison pill to fend off a potential hostile takeover. However, Twitter became more receptive to a bid after Musk revealed he secured $46.5 billion in financing.



The company’s board met Sunday to discuss Musk’s financing plan for his proposed bid, a source close to the situation told CNBC.



Bloomberg and Reuters reported the two sides could reach an agreement as soon as Monday. The board negotiated with Musk into the early hours of Monday, according to The New York Times.



It’s unclear what a final deal could look like, and Reuters reported Monday that an agreement could still fall apart. Twitter has not been able to secure a “go-shop” agreement yet, which would allow it to look for other bids once it signs an accord, according to Reuters. The company could still accept another bid if Musk pays a break-up fee, it added.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-elon-musk-offers-to-buy-twitter-for-43-billion-so-it-can-be-transformed-as-private-company">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/elon-musk-offers-to-buy-twitter-for-43-billion-so-it-can-be-transformed-as-private-company/">Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion, so it can be ‘transformed as private company’</a></h3>



Wall Street was likely to view the news of Twitter’s openness to a bid “as the beginning of the end for Twitter as a public company with Musk likely now on a path to acquire the company unless a second bidder comes into the mix,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a Sunday note.



“I think they almost have to” take the deal, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Monday on “Squawk on the Street.” Twitter is set to report first-quarter earnings Thursday, and some, including Cramer, expect the company to post disappointing results.



“Locking a deal up today or tomorrow may sound pretty appealing for someone who knows they are in possession of bad news,” Gordon Haskett said in a Monday note.



Twitter declined to comment. Tesla shares were down more than 1% in the morning.



The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been on a tear to acquire Twitter. He had built up more than 9% in stock and turned down an offer to join the board before putting in a bid for the company.



Musk, an avid Twitter user, has contended it needs to be “transformed” into a private company so it can become a forum for free speech. He’s also said that Twitter’s board members’ interests “are simply not aligned with shareholders” and that the board “owns almost no shares” of the company.

In this photo illustration, the official profile of Elon

Twitter shares jump 3% on reports it could accept Elon Musk’s bid as early as Monday

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="728" height="485" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/V5QM7JFVHRME5I2XIPSEBIGWGA.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-416570" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/V5QM7JFVHRME5I2XIPSEBIGWGA.jpg 728w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/V5QM7JFVHRME5I2XIPSEBIGWGA-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/V5QM7JFVHRME5I2XIPSEBIGWGA-135x90.jpg 135w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /><figcaption>A view of a sign above the entrance of the Google office, ahead of presentation of the detailed investment plan for Germany, in Berlin, Germany, August 31, 2021. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, April 20 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Alphabet Inc&#8217;s Google&nbsp;GOOGL.O&nbsp;is investing in its first ever Africa product development centre in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, it said, as it positions itself to serve a growing base of internet users on the continent.



By the end of this decade, the continent will host 800 million internet users, the California-based firm said, and a third of the world&#8217;s youth population, making it an attractive investment destination.



Google is hiring engineers, product managers, user experience designers and researchers to staff the new centre, said Suzanne Frey, vice president for products, and Nitin Gajria, the head of Google Africa, in a joint blog post on Tuesday.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-twitter-opens-first-african-office-in-ghana">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/twitter-opens-first-african-office-in-ghana/">Twitter opens first African office in Ghana</a></h3>



The company is investing $1 billion in various projects on the continent over five years, its CEO Sundar Pichai said last October, to help economies accelerate their digital transformation.



It has already opened an artificial intelligence centre in Accra, Ghana, focusing on innovations that can be applied to various challenges.



Microsoft&nbsp;MSFT.O&nbsp;has also been investing in technology development hubs in Kenya and Nigeria, investing $100 million and hiring hundreds of engineers in both countries.



(Reporting by Duncan Miriri;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

FILE PHOTO: A view of a sign above the entrance of the Google office in Berlin

Google to set up first Africa product development centre in Nairobi

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/107039802-16487420312019-08-29t053314z_127653384_rc1ff757dd70_rtrmadp_0_china-tech-820x547.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-416515" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/107039802-16487420312019-08-29t053314z_127653384_rc1ff757dd70_rtrmadp_0_china-tech-820x547.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/107039802-16487420312019-08-29t053314z_127653384_rc1ff757dd70_rtrmadp_0_china-tech-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/107039802-16487420312019-08-29t053314z_127653384_rc1ff757dd70_rtrmadp_0_china-tech-135x90.jpeg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/107039802-16487420312019-08-29t053314z_127653384_rc1ff757dd70_rtrmadp_0_china-tech-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/107039802-16487420312019-08-29t053314z_127653384_rc1ff757dd70_rtrmadp_0_china-tech-1536x1025.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/107039802-16487420312019-08-29t053314z_127653384_rc1ff757dd70_rtrmadp_0_china-tech-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk attends the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China August 29, 2019. Aly Song | Reuters</figcaption></figure>



Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, saying the social media company needs to be transformed privately, a little over a week after first revealing a 9.2% stake in the company. Musk’s offer values Twitter at about $43 billion.



“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk wrote in a letter sent to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor and disclosed in a securities filing.



According to Musk, the social media company needs to go private because it can “neither thrive nor serve” free speech in its current state.



“As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced,” he wrote. “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”



Twitter shares jumped 12% in premarket trading after closing at $45.85 a share on Wednesday.



“The Twitter Board of Directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders,” the company said in a statement.



Musk first disclosed his stake in the social media giant on April 4. He later landed a seat on the company’s board of directors before reversing those plans.



The Tesla CEO has previously criticized the social media giant publicly, polling people on Twitter last month about whether the company abides by free speech principles. He also said he was considering building a new social media platform.



Shares of Twitter have seesawed in recent weeks amid the news from Musk, but are up 6% this year and 18.5% since the start of the month.



Tesla’s stock dipped 1% on the news.



This is a developing story&#8230;

107039802-16487420312019-08-29t053314z_127653384_rc1ff757dd70_rtrmadp_0_china-tech

Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion, so it can be ‘transformed as private company’

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/220406-Dara-Khosrowshahi-al-0919-a92f58-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-416336" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/220406-Dara-Khosrowshahi-al-0919-a92f58-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/220406-Dara-Khosrowshahi-al-0919-a92f58-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/220406-Dara-Khosrowshahi-al-0919-a92f58-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/220406-Dara-Khosrowshahi-al-0919-a92f58-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/220406-Dara-Khosrowshahi-al-0919-a92f58-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/220406-Dara-Khosrowshahi-al-0919-a92f58-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi addresses the audience during the keynote at the start an Uber products launch in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2019.</figcaption></figure>



Uber is driving ahead with its plan to become a travel “superapp”.



The San Francisco-headquartered firm announced Wednesday that it is adding trains, buses, planes and car rentals to its U.K. app this year. The move is part of a pilot that could be expanded to other countries at a later date if it goes well.



While Uber won’t provide these travel services itself, it will allow users to book them through its app following software integrations with platforms that sell tickets.



The tech giant, which may take a cut on each booking, said it plans to announce various partners in the coming months.



Uber said the integrations will help to boost app usage among its users in the U.K, who also have the choice of using apps like Bolt and Free Now. The U.K. is one of Uber’s largest markets outside the U.S.



Jamie Heywood, Uber’s boss in the U.K., said in a statement that Uber hopes to become “a one-stop-shop for all your travel needs.”



“You have been able to book rides, bikes, boat services and scooters on the Uber app for a number of years, so adding trains and coaches is a natural progression,” he said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-west-africa-faces-historic-food-crisis-driven-by-conflict-price-surge">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/west-africa-faces-historic-food-crisis-driven-by-conflict-price-surge/">West Africa faces historic food crisis driven by conflict, price surge</a></h3>



He added: “Later this year we plan to incorporate flights, and in the future hotels, by integrating leading partners into the Uber app to create a seamless door-to-door travel experience.”



Uber also plans to let people buy Eurostar train tickets through the app. Eurostar allows travelers to commute from London to Paris and other cities via the Channel Tunnel.



The announcement comes after a recent win for Uber.



On March 26, Uber secured a 30-month license to continue operating in London, ending a protracted battle with city regulators over whether the ride-hailing app was “fit and proper.”



But the company is behind schedule on its “superapp” plans.



In 2018, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi&nbsp;said he wanted to add more transport options to the app.



“It’s fair to say that Covid made it a little bit hard for us to progress as quickly as we would like,” Heywood reportedly told The Financial Times.



In premarket trading Wednesday, Uber’s share price was down 1.6% to $34.40 at 6:40 a.m. ET.

US-IT-LIFESTYLE-TRANSPORT-UBER

Uber looks to create travel ‘superapp’ by adding planes, trains and rental cars

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Getty-1536x1024-1-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-416226" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Getty-1536x1024-1-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Getty-1536x1024-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Getty-1536x1024-1-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Getty-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Getty-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Christina Aguilera performs during the Closing Ceremony Held For Expo 2020 Dubai at Al Wasl Dome on March 31, 2022 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The world&#8217;s fair was postponed from its original date of October 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Closing Ceremony celebrates historic six months with performances by Christina Aguilera, Norah Jones and Yo-Yo Ma. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



FORBES AFRICA was at Expo 2020 Dubai to witness the tech-filled finale of the multi-billion-dollar, 182-day global event that also brought all of Africa.



The party was on for six months.



And on a balmy night, under a gold dome in a grand spectacle of sound and light that saw hundreds of performers and several thousand diverse and starry-eyed visitors, the curtain came down on the Expo 2020 Dubai that brought through its gates an estimated staggering 23 million visitors.



The closing ceremony of the world gala in the UAE emirate last night (March 31), had thousands of visitors streaming in well into the wee hours for the live shows, fireworks and pyrotechnics.



Tech reigned.



Even as Grammy award-winning singer and headline crowd-pleaser Norah Jones said it’s her first trip to Dubai and dazzled in a grey sequinned dress at the piano singing the soulful&nbsp;Come Away With Me, and as thousands thronged every inch of space on the walkways – dodging baby strollers and e-scooters – to hear global pop sensation Christina Aguilera, the true star of the show was the Al Wasl gold dome, the all-rounder of the mega event.



The intricate lattice dome’s eye-popping technical specs? At 67.5 meters tall and comprising 13.6 kilometers of steel, it weighs 2,544 tonnes – “as much as 25 blue whales”. And under it, a sea of humanity gazing at an immersive 360-degree projection system with giant fabric screens.



At the closing event, the baton was handed over to the Japanese city of Osaka, where the next expo will be held in 2025.



The UAE, which celebrated its 50th&nbsp;year during the expo and changed its weekend to Saturday and Sunday in keeping with the West, is home to multiple nationalities. The expo, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, is being seen as “the start of a new beginning”.



Africa was well-represented too. The colorful African stalls in the world souq areas were quite the magnet for crowds, with hand-woven African baskets and print sandals selling at Dhs100 ($27) a piece.



The African Union pavilion located within the Opportunity District at the expo site spoke to the Agenda 2063 aspirations of the continent and strengthening trade links between the Middle East and Africa.&nbsp;



“It’s been a great experience,” says Coumba Dioukhane, a spokesperson at the Côte d’Ivoire pavilion, even as crowds queue up around us to get their expo passports stamped by the West African country.



“We were able to showcase the Ivory Coast from an economic, social and cultural point of view; this was an opportunity to show to the whole world where we are, and the investment opportunities we have.”



Similar sentiments at the Sierra Leone pavilion.



The salesman at the store inside points to the python skin for sale and a crocodile skin handbag selling for Dhs1,500 ($408). “But you know we also have gold and diamonds,” he says with a glint in his eye. “Our country was hidden but not anymore. The last six months here in Dubai have been incredible.”



South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had also been at Expo 2020 Dubai, at his country’s pavilion three days before the finale, calling it “a seminal event… as we strive to recover and rebuild in the wake of the pandemic”.



Some enduring connections for Africa in this glistening city in the desert.

Getty-1536×1024-1

World Fair Ends With Festivities, Pyrotechnics And High Tech

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/107021838-1646031589017-gettyimages-1233496076-SKOREA_SK_TELECOM.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-416034" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/107021838-1646031589017-gettyimages-1233496076-SKOREA_SK_TELECOM.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/107021838-1646031589017-gettyimages-1233496076-SKOREA_SK_TELECOM-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/107021838-1646031589017-gettyimages-1233496076-SKOREA_SK_TELECOM-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>An employee wearing HTC’s Vive virtual reality headset plays a video game at the T.UM showroom in the SK Telecom Co. headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, on June 11, 2021. SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Imagine discussing a confidential multimillion-dollar deal with your boss. The conversation ends, and you both leave.



A while later, you both meet again and you bring up your earlier conversation — but your boss has absolutely no recollection of the deal.



What just happened?



In the metaverse, this might mean you were the victim of a hacked avatar or deepfake,&nbsp;said Prabhu Ram, head of the industry intelligence group at CyberMedia Research, a research and consulting firm. Deepfakes refer to manipulated digital figures that look or sound like someone else.



The metaverse has drawn hype in recent months, with companies like Meta, formerly known as Facebook, and Ralph Lauren, rushing to get their foot in the door. But unless cybersecurity risks in the metaverse are addressed, these companies may not see the success they’re hoping for.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/whatsapp-has-until-end-of-feb-to-clarify-privacy-policy-change-eu-says/">WhatsApp has until end of Feb to clarify privacy policy change, EU says</a></h3>



Cybercrime in the real world is already becoming more rampant.



Cybersecurity firm Check Point reported a 50% increase in overall attacks per week on corporate networks in 2021 compared to a year earlier. As businesses rush to plant their flag in the metaverse, not all may realize the full dangers of this new world, said Ram.



“Since the contours and potential of metaverse are yet to be fully realized, the overt concerns around privacy and security issues in the metaverse remain confined to only a few ‘tech-aware’ companies,” Ram said.



“As new attack vectors emerge, they will require a fundamental realignment of today’s security paradigms to identify, verify and secure the metaverse,” he added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-identity-security"><a></a>Identity security</h2>



JPMorgan released a white paper in February which recognized user identification and privacy safeguards as important elements for interacting and transacting in the metaverse.



“Verifiable credentials [should be] easily structured to enable easier identification of fellow community or team members, or to enable configurable access to varying virtual world locations and experiences,” according to the white paper.



Gary Gardiner, who is head of security engineering for Asia-Pacific and Japan at Check Point Software Technologies, agreed.



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The same mindset for internet security needs to be applied to the metaverse, he said, adding that security protocols should be as user-interactive as possible.



People are looking at blockchain to identify users, or “using tokens that could be assigned by an organization, or biometrics in a headset you’re wearing so there’s that level of trust so you actually know who you’re talking to,” he said.



Gardiner also suggested having “little exclamation marks” above avatars’ heads to signal that a person is untrustworthy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Data breaches</h2>



As users leave trails of data around the metaverse, one major problem in the real world may also cross into the virtual reality world — the invasion of user privacy by tech companies.



The 2018 Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, for example, saw millions of users’ data harvested and used without consent. In the metaverse, there may be even more data available for these companies to feed on if strict regulations are not put in place to protect users.



When users are wearing devices like virtual reality headsets, organizations can collect data such as their head and eye movement or their voice, said Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life, an online world that allows people to hang out, eat and shop virtually.



“Meaning within a few seconds, we can identify it is you exactly wearing the device. This is a very serious potential privacy problem for the virtual world,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>What can be done</h2>



Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicted in a blog post in December that within the next two to three years, most virtual meetings will move to the metaverse.



For businesses to safely operate in the metaverse, Gardiner said, it’s important to train staff well.



“The weakest point in any organization from a cybersecurity perspective is the user,” he explained.



If an attack hits the metaverse, users will be in a stronger position if they have that level of training and understanding of what is suspicious, he said.



While companies should implement risk mitigation strategies, both Rosedale and Gardiner said that maintaining privacy ultimately depends on the type of security platforms and safety models the metaverse puts in place for organizations.



Citing LinkedIn, a professional networking site, as an example, Rosedale said users will need to be able to use a “web of trust” to exchange information with others to establish trust more easily.



Identifying people you trust and sharing that information with other trusted people will allow you to assess whether you have friends in common with someone new, he added.



Meanwhile, Gardiner said companies involved in designing the metaverse will have to work together to establish a common standard that will enable security protocols to be deployed effectively.



“The foundation [of the metaverse] has to be done well because if the foundation is weak and it’s not done well, people will lose confidence in the platform and we’ll stop using it,” Gardiner said.

107021838-1646031589017-gettyimages-1233496076-SKOREA_SK_TELECOM

The metaverse may bring new cyber risks. Here’s what companies can do

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/107007566-1643309717837-gettyimages-1237397004-Metaverse_Concept_VR.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-415254" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/107007566-1643309717837-gettyimages-1237397004-Metaverse_Concept_VR.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/107007566-1643309717837-gettyimages-1237397004-Metaverse_Concept_VR-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/107007566-1643309717837-gettyimages-1237397004-Metaverse_Concept_VR-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>Citizens try out a virtual reality experience at the opening of Cheonan Qianshu Shopping mall, Shanghai, China, On December 22, 2021. Virtual reality is a key part of the concept of the metaverse. Xing Yun | Costfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Imagine this: the metaverse with Chinese characteristics. That’s how the virtual world that everyone’s talking about will likely look in the world’s second-largest economy.



China’s technology giants are beginning to invest in the metaverse — the latest buzzword in internet technology. It’s a term with no concrete definition, but largely taken to mean virtual worlds that people will be playing and living in.



Censorship will likely be rife and regulation tight as Beijing continues to keep a close check on the practices of its domestic technology firms.



U.S. firms like Facebook parent Meta are going all-in on the metaverse concept, while Microsoft has positioned its proposed acquisition of gaming company Activision as a play on this theme.



Chinese firms are taking a more cautious approach. So what are they up to and how will regulation play out?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-the-apps"><a></a>What are the apps?</h2>



In China, the total addressable market for the metaverse could be 52 trillion yuan, or around $8 trillion, Morgan Stanley said in a note published last month.



Companies like Tencent, NetEase, TikTok owner ByteDance and Alibaba could be the front-runners in this space among China’s internet companies.



That comes down to the type of applications that could be part of the metaverse. Analysts say that virtual reality, gaming and social media could be some of the early applications.



This may include things like buying virtual items in games or creating digital avatars of yourself to participate in meetings.



“Metaverse is the future of social network. All China’s tech giants have to embrace it to find new ways to engage the youngest generation of internet users, which is critical at the time when their business models on smartphones and mobile internet are matured,” Winston Ma, managing partner at CloudTree Ventures, told CNBC.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="china-s-tech-giants-in-the-metaverse"><a></a>China’s tech giants in the metaverse</h2>



In an earnings call in November, Tencent CEO Pony Ma said the metaverse will be an opportunity to add growth to existing industries such as gaming. Tencent is the world’s largest gaming company with a strong portfolio of PC and mobile games.



Tencent also owns WeChat, a messaging service with over a billion users that has social media aspects.



Ma said the company has “a lot of the technology and know-how building blocks” to explore and develop the metaverse.



Meanwhile, ByteDance has made an aggressive expansion into gaming over the last year. In August, the company acquired virtual reality headset maker Pico. ByteDance also owns TikTok, the short-form video app, and its Chinese equivalent Douyin. The Beijing-headquartered firm has laid foundations in VR, social media and gaming.



Alibaba this year said it plans to launch augmented reality glasses for virtual meetings. Augmented reality refers to virtual images overlaid on the real world. Again, this could be a play on the metaverse. The e-commerce giant launched a “virtual influencer” named Dong Dong for the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The digital avatar can be found on Alibaba’s Taobao shopping app and provides facts about the Olympics and also promotes items related to the Games.



NetEase, another one of China’s gaming giants, has set up a base in the southern province of Hainan focused on the development of metaverse applications, local media reported last year.



Search giant Baidu launched a metaverse app last year called XiRang, a sort of virtual world that can hold up to 100,000 people at once. Baidu executives, however, downplayed expectations of the app at its launch and said many aspects were not yet up to par. Ma Jie, a vice president at Baidu, said it could be another six years until a full launch.



Still, there are signs that China’s biggest technology names are beginning to experiment and lay the groundwork for future applications.



“Similar to the pitch we’ve seen from Meta, the metaverse concept may at first involved VR/AR-supported games and social interactive environments,” Charles Mok, the founder of Tech For Good Asia, told CNBC.



“These will obviously be the areas that China big tech players will follow first, with features that are advanced in China — such as payment, and WeChat-like integrated online services — that can be extended and built into the metaverse.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="china-s-regulated-metaverse"><a></a>China’s regulated metaverse</h2>



The metaverse push by Chinese tech firms comes after an intense year of regulatory scrutiny on the country’s tech sector.



New anti-monopoly laws for internet platforms were proposed, while a landmark personal data protection law has been passed. Beijing has also cut the amount of time children under 18 years of age are allowed to play online games.



Analysts said these existing pieces of legislation will likely be used to regulate metaverse applications as well, even as new ones are developed.



“The sheer diversity of metaverse applications means developing a ‘one-fits-all’ set of policies will not be feasible for Beijing,” Hanyu Liu, China market analyst at Daxue Consulting, told CNBC.



“Each specific application would receive its own unique set of regulations that builds upon existing legislature.”



China also continues to censor content on its tightly controlled internet.



“We should also expect to see strict censorship, meaning there will most likely be an isolated, Chinese metaverse that is separate from the international,” Liu said.



There are more specific pieces of regulation that analysts said could be used to manage the metaverse.



In January, authorities passed a set of regulations that governs how internet firms can use recommendation algorithms. That was followed by draft rules regarding so-called “deep synthesis” technology. This relates to software that could be used to generate or edit voices, video or images or virtual settings. The two rules overlap.



“This overlap with the recent algorithm rule as specifically required by the new rule would have important impact on Metaverse companies in China,” Ma said.



Even Chinese cities and regions are looking at opportunities for the metaverse. Last year, the major city of Shanghai mentioned the metaverse in its five-year development plan for the information technology industry.



“China is extremely smart when it comes to this. It knows just when and where it needs to stay its hand; close enough so that it can keep a careful watch, but not to the point where it would cause irreversible harm to the industry,” Liu said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-about-crypto"><a></a>What about crypto?</h2>



Some metaverse applications may rely on cryptocurrencies. For example, if you are buying some sort of virtual land or item, you could pay with a digital currency.



This is likely to be problematic in China, where the government has looked to wipe out trading and the so-called mining of cryptocurrencies.



Meanwhile, the government has been promoting its own central bank-issued digital currency, known as the digital yuan or e-CNY.



“There’ll likely be very limited options for crypto,” Liu from Daxue Consulting said, adding that China’s digital currency might be used instead in metaverse payment applications.

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