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Elon Musk calls out Twitter for lack of effort in removing bots Elon Musk calls out Twitter for lack of effort in removing bots

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Elon Musk calls out Twitter for lack of effort in removing bots

Credit: Kevin Krejci/Flickr CC BY 2.0

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Elon Musk called out Twitter for the social network’s lack of effort in removing bots and spam accounts today. His response was to The Future Funds’ Gary Black who said that Elon Musk should be very careful to not disrespect Twitter’s counsel. 

“Judge McCormick is a no-nonsense judge with a gift for wicked prose. She will tear Elon apart if he shows disrespect for the court. See Friday’s ruling on David Sacks subpoenas,” Black wrote on Twitter. Elon Musk advised Black to read the actual ruling and pointed out that he had nothing to do with David Sacks’ response.

Elon added that all potential witnesses have been advised to provide full cooperation with the court. Then he called out Twitter for prioritizing sending out subpoenas over removing bots and spam accounts. 

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“If Twitter put as much effort into bot/spam removal as they do into subpoenas, we wouldn’t have this problem in the first place!”

You may remember that thread Elon Musk posted to Twitter yesterday with his opinion on the new Lord of The Rings series. What was casually overlooked by many reporting on the topic was another screenshot of bots spamming Elon’s replies on Twitter.

This isn’t the first time bots and scam accounts (most likely bots, also) have plagued the Tesla CEO’s personal Twitter account. Verified accounts have even been hacked. I shared Andrea Stroppa’s story when he lost his Twitter verification when he took action to protect his account from hacked verified Twitter accounts. Andrea changed his user name which is a big no-no for Twitter’s verified users.

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Another verified account changed its user name and lost its verification status. You may remember Tesla China being verified on Twitter.  Tesla China changed its username to Tesla Asia and lost its verification status.

Twitter is very strict when it comes to verified accounts however, seems to be pretty lenient when hacked verified accounts change their names and target individuals using the platform. Elon Musk, in my opinion, was right to call out Twitter over prioritizing suing him and sending out subpoenas over solving the issues that encouraged Elon to back out of the deal.

My question to Twitter: are your bots and spam account really worth protecting?

Your feedback is important. If you have any comments, or concerns, or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter at @JohnnaCrider1

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The Tesla Diner is basically finished—here’s what it looks like

The company first broke ground on the Diner, Drive-in, and Supercharger location in September 2023. Now, it has served one of its first internal customers.

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Tesla has finally completed the construction of its highly anticipated Diner, Drive-in, and Supercharger in Los Angeles, and recent photos of the interior’s “retro-futuristic” style are making their way around the internet.

X user Brad Goldberg shared photos from the Tesla Diner site last Tuesday, depicting some of the Supercharger stalls, indoor and outdoor seating areas, multiple neon lights, and even an Optimus robot. Goldberg also noted that there had been a “flurry of activity on site” while he was snapping the photos last week, suggesting that the restaurant location could be getting close to opening.

The Tesla Diner also served one of its first internal customers in the past few days, as Elon Musk posted on X on early Monday morning that he had just finished up eating a meal at the site:

I just had dinner at the retro-futuristic Tesla diner and Supercharger.

Team did great work making it one of the coolest spots in LA!

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The photos also show that the site is pretty much done, with some of them even showing vehicles charging at the charging stalls.

You can see some of the latest photos of the Tesla Diner below.

Credit: BradGoldbergMD | X

Credit: BradGoldbergMD | X

Credit: BradGoldbergMD | X

Credit: BradGoldbergMD | X

Credit: TeslaKing420 | X

Credit: TeslaKing420 | X

Credit: Brad Goldberg (via Sawyer Merritt on X)

Credit: Brad Goldberg (via Sawyer Merritt on X)

Credit: Brad Goldberg (via Sawyer Merritt on X)

Credit: Brad Goldberg (via Sawyer Merritt on X)

Credit: Brad Goldberg (via Sawyer Merritt on X)

READ MORE ON TESLA’S LA DINER: Tesla readies Drive-In Diner Supercharger for launch with app inclusion

When will the Tesla Diner open to external customers?

While it’s still not open to external customers yet, the news again suggests that the company could be close to an official opening date. Tesla first broke ground on the Diner in September 2023, after receiving a wave of building permit approvals throughout that yearTeslarati also covered much of the construction progress throughout last year, including when crews installed the first and second drive-in screens.

Located at 7001 West Santa Monica Boulevard, the idea was first discussed in 2018 by Musk and a few others on Twitter, featuring 1950s rock and roll, waiters on roller skates, and drive-in movie theater screens playing clips from some of history’s best movies. Notably, the photos of the front doors also show that the site will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whenever it does end up opening.

Tesla’s progress on Supercharger with diner, drive-in seen in aerial footage

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Tesla updates Robotaxi app with several big changes, including wider service area

Tesla’s Robotaxi app has gotten another update, and this time it offers a wider service area, but there are a lot of other changes, too.

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Credit: @AdanGuajardo/X

Tesla is rolling out its second update to its Robotaxi app after it launched the driverless ride-hailing service less than a month ago in Austin.

Among the changes, Tesla has expanded its service area, added walking directions to both the pickup and dropoff areas, added closing times for dropoff destinations, and allowed editing of your destination after booking a ride.

The new app version, Robotaxi 25.7.5, was rolled out on Monday morning. The biggest change is the near doubling of the service area, as Tesla expanded the possible travel region by a significant margin:

Tesla’s Robotaxi geofence in Austin grows, and its shape is hard to ignore

It’s no surprise Tesla decided to push the envelope with a new, interesting shape to the geofenced area that is hard to ignore.

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The new region includes notable points of interest in Austin, most notably is the University of Texas at Austin. Tesla included the school, which has over 53,000 students, in this expansion, and it could be pushing the app and service to some of them in the coming weeks.

It’s a great addition as it is a highly concentrated area of the city, full of students and visitors.

Robotaxi app changes outside of new service area

Tesla has also added a handful of new changes. With its first update of the Robotaxi app, Tesla addressed several highly requested changes, including the ability to adjust the pickup location instead of being fixed to a default spot.

Walking Directions to Pickup and Destination

In congested and large metro areas, ride-sharing pickups are sometimes confusing to navigate to. When it comes to dropoff at your destination, exiting the vehicle at the front door is not always possible (many in Austin noticed this at Terry Black’s BBQ).

Tesla Robotaxi’s biggest challenge seems to be this one thing

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Now, the app will guide you on how to reach your Robotaxi and your destination when pickup and dropoff are not available at the entrances of the establishments you’re visiting.

Search Results now show closing times

If you’re going to arrive at an establishment close to its closing time, the Robotaxi app will now warn you that you could arrive with only a few minutes to spare, or you could miss it altogether.

This is a nice touch because there’s nothing worse than craving some ice cream at 10 p.m., only to arrive and see the doors are locked and the lights are off.

Many navigation apps have this integrated to eliminate any confusion about closing times.

Destination editing after booking

This feature could go hand-in-hand with the closing times. As a business might close shortly after your arrival, you might find it advantageous to visit another establishment that has more time to serve you.

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You can now pivot your destination after you have entered your Roobtaxi.

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Tesla’s Robotaxi geofence in Austin grows, and its shape is hard to ignore

The expansion stayed true to Elon Musk’s rather lighthearted and juvenile humor at the same time.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has rolled out an expanded geofence for its Robotaxi pilot program in Austin, Texas. With the expansion, the Robotaxi’s geofence now rivals Waymo’s service area, while staying true to Elon Musk’s rather lighthearted and juvenile humor at the same time.

New Robotaxi geofence expansion

Elon Musk actually announced the expansion of the Robotaxi service’s Austin geofence last week, with the CEO stating that the company is expanding its coverage in the city over the weekend. At the time, Musk also mentioned that Tesla would be looking to launch its Robotaxi service in the Bay Area in a month or two.

Sure enough, there were no delays with the Austin Robotaxi expansion’s rollout. On Sunday, electric vehicle owners reported on social media that their Robotaxi apps have been updated with a much larger geofence. The rates of the Robotaxi service was reportedly still kept at a flat rate of $4.20 per ride.

Industry watchers also observed that with Tesla’s newest update, the Austin Robotaxi program now operates in an area that is quite comparable to Waymo’s. During the initial launch of Austin’s Robotaxi service, critics were keen to point out that Tesla’s operational area was notably smaller than Waymo’s geofence.

New shape pisses off critics, makes fans laugh

The fact that Tesla was able to expand its Robotaxi service’s operational area in Austin over the weekend is undoubtedly impressive. In true Elon Musk fashion, however, it also ended up pissing off critics because Tesla’s geofence in Austin is now shaped like a phallus—intentionally. 

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This was something that was suggested by TSLA retail investor Steve Mark Ryan as a joke, but in true Tesla spirit, the company did just that. It’s a classic Tesla move if one were to think about it.

Elon Musk and the Tesla team are keen to play around the joke too, with Musk posting on X that the Robotaxi service is now “bigger, longer, and uncut.” The official Robotaxi service’s X account, on the other hand, also wrote that its new service area is “harder, better, faster, stronger.”

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