

News
Under Elon Musk, Twitter is “taking child exploitation seriously”
Twitter is “taking child exploitation seriously,” the platform’s toughest critic on child sexual exploitation (CSE) told Teslarati in an exclusive interview.
Eliza Bleu is a survivor of human trafficking and an advocate for victims, especially children. Bleu has been putting pressure on Twitter for several years to remove CSE material at scale, and up until Elon Musk’s acquisition, Twitter has been slow to remove most of the content. She told Teslarati that she is happy to see the new changes the platform is implementing under Elon Musk’s new leadership.
She pointed out that under the new leadership, Twitter is “taking child exploitation seriously.” However, there is still much work to be done. There is an ongoing lawsuit against the social media platform that began before Elon Musk purchased it. The plaintiffs, John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 were minors who were sexually exploited, and videos of that exploitation were posted to Twitter. When the two, who are now adults, begged Twitter to remove the content, Twitter refused.
The content that the plaintiffs wanted Twitter to remove had over 167,000 views and 2,223 retweets.
Bleu pointed out a few key changes Twitter has made under its new leadership. The first changes were to its reporting system. In a tweet thread, Bleu made suggestions for Twitter, and so far, the platform has implemented two of those suggestions. The first one is clear and easy reporting. Twitter implemented a two-click reporting for children reporting their own abuse material.
Bleu noted that there needs to be a separate tab for adults experiencing sexual exploitation as well. “It needs to be crystal clear for both adults and children experiencing sexual exploitation, and the reporting options need to be separate.”
Easy Steps Twitter Could Take to Remove Child Sexual Exploitation Material:
1. Clear easy reporting. (Two click reporting for children reporting their own abuse material. Easy enough for a child.)
2. Prioritize the removal of reports of child exploitation first.
— 𝔈𝔩𝔦𝔷𝔞 (@elizableu) November 1, 2022
The other key issue that the platform has been noticeably working on is the removal of hashtags known to be used to sell CSE. These are known hashtags that are used for trading CSE on the platform. In the video below, attorneys Lisa Haba and Peter Gentala, the two attorneys representing John Doe 1 and John Doe 2, explain how these tags are used.
These hashtags are mentioned in the lawsuit, and Teslarati investigated them to see if the platform was actually removing the content. We found that Twitter is removing most of the content; however, there are still accounts posting requests for content.
Wow! The most popular hashtag used to sell child sexual abuse material on Twitter is almost completely cleaned out.
— 𝔈𝔩𝔦𝔷𝔞 (@elizableu) November 20, 2022
The screenshot below shows that Twitter removed content from the “Latest” tabs for one of those top hashtags. The tabs for “Photos” and “Videos” was also empty. However, the “Top Tweets” section still had requests for CSE and used several other tags. Unfortunately, some of those tags are still very active. Bleu noted that the predators will continue to post using a variety of tags, but the tags could help authorities catch the criminals–which is one of the reasons why Teslarati is not publishing the tags.

In her tweet thread, Bleu noted that some of the tags outside of the top three are actively engaging in sharing and posting the illegal content. Bleu told Teslarati that Twitter’s new sense of urgency makes her hopeful.
“After years of advocating for the minor survivors of Twitter, I’ve never been as hopeful as I am right now. I don’t expect perfection from a platform. All I’ve ever wanted was to see a sense of urgency around such a serious matter. In many of these cases, this is a matter of life or death for each victim, so every second matters.”
Bleu’s suggestion for Twitter is to continue prioritizing the removal of the CSE content, go through reports, go over all the backlogs of all the reports, and work hand-in-hand with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She added that Twitter should innovate around this issue using all the technology that’s available.
“There’s a lot of free technology available that platforms utilize and have had a lot of success,” Bleu added. Her final request for Twitter and Elon Musk is “to tackle this issue at scale without violating innocent citizens’ digital privacy rights.”
Your feedback is welcome. 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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Elon Musk
Tesla rolls out Steer-by-Wire improvements to Cybertruck

Tesla is rolling out some improvements to the Steer-by-Wire system on Cybertruck, which is one of the features exclusive to the vehicle as it is not active on any other vehicle in the company’s all-electric lineup.
Steer-by-wire is a steering system that turns the direction of wheels mechanically. It differs from vehicles with typical electric power steering systems in the way that those rely on the steering wheel column to transfer steering torque to the wheels.
There are a handful of EVs that use steer-by-wire, including the Cybertruck, Hummer EV, and Silverado EV. The latter two use a traditional steering column and only have steer-by-wire on their rear wheels, so they differ from the system the Cybertruck uses.

Credit: Tesla
The system has made the massive Cybertruck have better steering, and although its size is large, it is one of the easier Tesla vehicles to steer through tight spaces — granted you have the room.
Tesla is making an improvement to the system, according to a new update that will roll out in the 2025.8.4 Software Update as the steering wheel is now going to give more realistic feedback by adapting to road surfaces, the company said (via Not a Tesla App):
“The steering wheel now gives you more realistic feedback, adapting to different road surfaces for a better driving experience.”
This feature will work alongside another improvement as the Cybertruck’s air suspension ride height is now adjustable through the Tesla App.
Tesla Cybertruck steer-by-wire system helps avoid potential collision
The changes from the update, in terms of the more realistic feedback, will improve the overall feel of the road for drivers, making for a better driving experience.
News
Rivian startup spinoff raises $105M in funding for micro EV production
Meet Also, Rivian’s micro EV spinoff, now a full-fledged startup with $105M in funding. It’s adapting Rivian’s tech for compact EVs.

Rivian’s skunkworks program has turned into a full-blown startup called Also. The new startup, which is separate from Rivian, raised $105 million from Eclipse Ventures. Also will focus on micromobility or the development of micro electric vehicles.
Also started within Rivian, aiming to figure out if the electric vehicle company’s technology could be condensed to fit smaller EVs, including vans, trucks, and SUVs. Eventually, the skunkworks program discovered it could, indeed, fit Rivian’s technology in smaller, more compact electric vehicles, but the project was bigger than Rivian.
“We’ve been taking the Rivian technology stack and adapting it to much smaller form factors and then coming up with some incredibly exciting embodiments of that technology in these very small form factors,” Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe told Reuters.
Rivian will always be part of Also. It holds a minority stake in Also and Rivian’s VP of future programs, Chris Yu, will be the startup’s president.
According to Scaringe, Also plans to debut its first vehicle designs later this year. One of the designs seems to be a bike, as Scringe described it having a seat, two wheels, and a screen with a few computers and a battery.
Also aims to start producing its flagship product by 2026 for customers in the United States and Europe. In addition, it plans to launch consumer and commercial vehicles made for Asia and South America.
Investor's Corner
Financial Times retracts report on Tesla’s alleged shady accounting
“Turns out FT can’t do finance,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk quipped on X.

The Financial Times has issued a retraction for an article it recently published that accused the electric vehicle maker of shady accounting practices.
The FT’s retraction has been appreciated by the electric vehicle community in social media, though many highlighted the fact that the publication’s initial erroneous allegations have already been spread across numerous other media outlets.
The Allegations
In an article published on March 19, the Financial Times pointed out that if one were to compare “Tesla’s capital expenditure in the last six months of 2024 to its valuation of the assets that money was spent on,” “$1.4 billion appears to have gone astray.”
The FT article highlighted that Tesla reported spending $6.3 billion on “purchases of property and equipment excluding finance leases, net of sales” in the second half of 2024. However, in that period, the company’s property, plant, and equipment only rose by $4.9 billion. As noted by members of the r/Accounting subreddit, this appeared to be the basis of the FT‘s article, which seemed careless at best.
Unfortunately, the publication’s allegations were quickly echoed by other news outlets, many of which proceeded to accuse Tesla of implementing shady accounting practices.
The Retraction
In its retraction, the Financial Times explained that Tesla’s payments for assets already purchased and the possible disposal of depreciated property could help explain the alleged discrepancy in the company’s numbers. With these in consideration, the publication noted that the “crack we’re left with at Tesla is now small enough — just under half a billion dollars — to be filled with some combination of foreign exchange movements, non-material asset write-offs, or the sale of machinery or equipment close to its not-fully depreciated value.”
“As we sound the Alphaville bugle while lowering this particular red flag, one unavoidable conclusion is that at a certain point it’s necessary to trust the auditor’s judgment,” the publication noted.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded to the Financial Times‘ retraction, commenting, “Turns out FT can’t do finance” in a post on social media platform X.
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