In the interview, Lemon confirmed with Musk that he is prescribed ketamine by a doctor, asking what the drug is used for by the billionaire. 

“I mean, it’s pretty private to ask somebody about a medical prescription,” Musk replied.

However, the billionaire then explained that he suffers from a “negative chemical state in my in my brain, like depression,” which ketamine is used to treat.

“Ketamine is helpful for getting one outside out of a negative frame of mind,” Musk added. “I’m not a doctor, but I would say if someone has depression issues, they should consider talking to the doctors about ketamine instead of SSRIs.”

“Do you feel like you ever abuse it?” Lemon questioned. 

Musk denied abusing the drug and said, “If you use too much ketamine, you can’t really get work done… I don’t really have a situation where I can be not mentally acute for an extended period of time.”

When asked if he suffers from bouts of depression, Musk said, “I wouldn’t say I have a case of extended depression. It’s just once in a while I get into a negative sort of chemical mindset, once in a while. It’s not a common thing.”

Lemon then asked whether Musk was concerned that his ketamine use may prevent government contracts or worry Wall Street. 

“Well, from a standpoint of Wall Street, what matters is execution. Are you building value for investors?” Musk responded. “Tesla is worth about as much as the rest of the car industry combined, from nothing, so that’s pretty good.” 

The billionaire continued, “From an investor’s standpoint, if there’s something I’m taking, I should keep taking it,” referencing Tesla’s continued success. 

Musk also noted that the reason he revealed his ketamine prescription on X was the prospect of helping others become more familiar with treatments for depression outside the realm of the most commonly prescribed antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

The post Elon Musk Defends Ketamine Use: From Investor Standpoint, ‘If There’s Something I’m Taking, I Should Keep Taking It’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Lemon posted the video across platforms – yes, it was on X, too – and taped an introduction in which he challenges the billionaire to watch and explain “why this isn’t what you claim you want on X.”

“Welcome to the Don Lemon show everyone. We’re still here,” the former CNN anchor quipped. 

“In a minute I’m going to bring you my conversation with Elon Musk the one that everyone is talking about,” Lemon continued. 

Lemon then noted that “contrary to what you might have heard we weren’t canceled by X.” Just last week Lemon posted that “Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform.” 

On Monday, Lemon noted, “Yes, after months of begging me wooing me to offer some exclusive content on his platform Elon Musk decided to scrap the deal but our plan is and always has been to release this show everywhere.” 

The former CNN anchor made sure to clarify that his conversation with Musk included “no restrictions, no ground rules, nothing off limits or out of bounds.”

The conversation begins cordially and sails through a number of topics, including Musk speaking candidly about his prescription use of ketamine. But as it nears the closing minutes, the interview grinds to a far more contentious conclusion; Musk becomes increasingly grouchy, chilly and impatient as Lemon asks about his views on race, gender identity and the line between content moderation and censorship on X.

Lemon says in his introduction that he’s not sure “what went wrong,” and that he hopes viewers learn something both about Musk and about himself, “two people who come from completely different vantage points on almost every single issue.” 

The former CNN anchor then challenged Musk to watch the interview in full and “tell the world why this isn’t what you claim you want on X.” 

The post Don Lemon Drops Elon Musk Interview, Challenges Him to Watch It: ‘What Went Wrong? I Don’t Know’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

The prediction seemed aggressive, especially given that Microsoft Bing — with its AI chatbot — hadn’t gained much share at all in a hype-filled 2023. If it comes true, it would be an earth-shaking moment in the tech world, leading to chaos within Google and the web. So I asked Gartner to talk.

This week, Gartner Vice President Alan Antin, who made the prediction, spoke with me via video call about what led to the prediction, and how likely it is to hold up. Though I’m still a bit skeptical, it didn’t seem so outlandish after we talked. Below is our conversation, edited for length and clarity. 

Alex Kantrowitz: Don’t take this the wrong way, but when I saw Gartner’s number that search will decline 25% by 2026 I thought it was crazy. Why do you think that’s going to happen?

Alan Antin: Let me walk you through the thought process. We saw incredibly fast adoption of ChatGPT. The fastest ever to 100 million monthly users…

Right, but that has leveled off…

That has leveled off. That’s true. But think about this more broadly as answer engines. Some people are using ChatGPT, Claude, and other chatbots to answer questions like you would with search. As these bots become connected to the real time internet, the reliability of their answers is getting better. And they’re not going to be the last ones.

We don’t do the calculations of how many searches there are, so this is coming third party, but over 8 billion searches happen per day. So even with 100 million ChatGPT users, you might say, ‘Oh, you’re never gonna get there unless you see all kinds of other things come into the market.’ And the way we got to this potential decline in search traffic is we have yet to see major companies who control a lot of the access to the internet besides Google, do anything in this space. 

So if you think about it, there are over 1.5 billion Apple iPhones. All it takes is a new rollout. And suddenly, the access point to impact that giant number of daily searches happens without people having to download or subscribe to a version of ChatGPT.

Google pays Apple $18 billion a year to be the default iPhone search. So are you suggesting that Apple will forego that revenue to put a large language model (LLM) that replaces search in their phone?

A shift in the marketplace might happen through new complete entry points. In which case, it might take longer for that to happen, because the behavior is going to need to evolve over a longer period of time. Or it could happen much more rapidly if a business decision was taken to say, well, we’re not going to have that same sort of platform relationship.

Right. And how did you get to the 25% number, exactly?

Just through internal debate.

Can you share a little bit about the contours of that debate?

I know you already think that 25% is a crazy number, but the first number put out there was actually even higher. The thought was you could see multiple entry points besides ChatGPT, and should you see some of the other companies that have large scale distribution come in, you could actually get there a lot faster. 

So the contour of the debate was, well we don’t know what that cycle is going to look like. And so, it just became….  Within a couple of years time, the probability of one of these events happening — either an acceleration of new entry points, or a sea change in how current relationships and current platforms work — if you put some probability statement around each one, then you could say, ‘Okay, well that could get you to that point.’ So it’s not tremendously scientific. It’s probability statements that we look at to get to that. 

But do you believe that search and chatting with large language models is zero sum? I have this hypothesis that search is effectively for web navigation, whereas a chatbot is to satisfy curiosity. There is some overlap, but not dramatic overlap between the two. 

It depends on which platform you’re using. Using something like Perplexity, which is an AI-first search experience, where it’s giving you a nice summarized answer, but also saying, well, here’s where we drew that from… it’s giving you a blended model. Whereas, a pure chatbot may be satisfying a little bit more of a curiosity but you don’t necessarily know where it’s coming from, so you need to fact check that. You’re getting different experiences.

But from a research perspective, if you have it on your smartphone, and you are trying to get an answer, and if you believe their reliability is better, why would you want to go look at all of the links that turn up from traditional search, versus just ‘Oh, I got the answer right here in a couple of sentences.’ Depending upon the sophistication of the person doing the search, they may or may not have different considerations about that output.

So if people use Perplexity that would count as replacing the traditional search?

That’s right. 

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on what this all means for Google.

They have fantastic products and they certainly are heavily invested in artificial intelligence. They have to be able to think through how they continue to deliver a great entry point and a great experience for users. And, at the same time, understand what the business model is going to be. That’s fundamentally what they have to work through and it’s a very challenging question. 

If Google were to lose 25% of traffic within two years, that would be one of the greatest business tanks of all time.

I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember the earliest days of the consumer internet. There was a time where the main way to get on the internet was through a company called AOL… 

Of course I remember

Things can change. We don’t have a crystal ball that says, ‘Well, we know exactly how that’s going to play out.’ But there are enough signs of change of behavior — and change of technology — that would suggest this is something that’s evolving and changing. Over the next couple years we’re going to see whether or not the incumbent players are able to figure out how to offer better experiences and not lose to new entrants.

Search replaced portals like AOL because search was a better way to access the web. But if you’re right about this 25% decline in search, it’s also a decline of the web. Because if you go chatbot instead of search, you’re not navigating to web pages.

It’s quite possible that the corollary is exactly that, which is the importance of individual web pages will also decline. But at the same time, think about what might be feeding large language models. Let’s say LLMs are the main way people are getting their answers and doing their research, there still needs to be some way for those models to be fed. 

This is really a big part of what we wanted to get people starting to think about, which is you may need to be thinking about what your content strategy is and what your digital content strategy looks like. So that way, even if your site traffic goes down, which could very well be, you’re still going to be part of the conversation and part of the outputs that come from the answer engines.

I have covered internet companies for a while. In my experience, when a company comes across a formidable competitor, that tends to slow down its growth. But to lose 25% share over two years almost goes against the law of nature on the internet, where web traffic tends to expand year over year. So that being said, do you still stand firmly behind your 25% number?

Well, it’s a prediction. There are a lot of variables that are moving. We’ll probably update it next year because there are a lot of moving parts.

The post Will Search Engine Traffic Really Drop 25% by 2026, As Gartner Predicts? appeared first on TheWrap.

The ousted CNN journalist assured potential viewers in a post announcing the news on Tuesday that “hardcore questions were asked” and that the interview will spotlight Musk “like you’ve never seen him before.”

“You won’t want to miss this,” Lemon wrote.

“The Don Lemon Show” premieres March 18.

First guest. @elonmusk like you’ve never seen him before.

You won’t want to miss this. #TheDonLemonShow pic.twitter.com/hEBGBAoqdp

— Don Lemon (@donlemon) March 12, 2024

Responding to fans’ wariness of Musk being his premiere interview, Lemon took to the comments on his X post to reassure the spotlight did not kowtow to the entrepreneur who, in essence, serves as his talk series’ boss.

“You know me better than that,” he wrote to one user who said, “I see Don is kissing the ring already.”

“Oh I did,” he wrote to another who encouraged him to “make sure you ask the right questions!”

“I was hoping that you would be asking some hardcore questions. Doubtful with Elon Musk as your first guest,” wrote another concerned fan, to whom Lemon replied: “Hardcore questions were asked.”

Lemon first announced his content partnership with X in January, saying at the time, “I’ve heard you … and today I am back bigger, bolder, freer!”

“My new media company’s first project is ‘The Don Lemon Show,’” the former CNN anchor continued. “It will be available to everyone, easily, whenever and wherever you want it, streaming on the platforms where the conversations are happening. And you’ll find it first on X, the biggest space for free speech in the world.”

X CEO Linda Yaccarino replied warmly to the announcement, writing, “We’ve been waiting for your return.” 

The post Don Lemon Sets First X Series Interview With Elon Musk: ‘Hardcore Questions Were Asked’ appeared first on TheWrap.

“Roku’s security team recently detected suspicious activity that indicated a limited number of Roku accounts were accessed by unauthorized actors using login credentials obtained from third-party sources (e.g., through data breaches of third-party services that are not related to Roku),” a Roku spokesperson told TheWrap. “In response, we took immediate steps to secure these accounts and are notifying affected customers. Roku is committed to maintaining our customers’ privacy and security, and we take this incident very seriously.”

The filings note that 15,363 accounts were compromised between December 28, 2023 and February 21, 2024. The accounts constitute a “very small percentage” of Roku’s users, the company said.

According to a notification letter sent to impacted customers, once hackers obtained access to the impacted accounts, they changed the login information and in a limited number of cases, attempted to purchase streaming subscriptions.

In response, Roku secured the accounts from further unauthorized access by requiring the registered account holder to reset their password and took steps to cancel and refund any unauthorized subscriptions or charges.

The letter emphasized that while the sign-in email addresses and passwords were compromised, the breach did not give the hackers access to social security numbers, full payment account numbers, dates of birth, or other similar sensitive personal information requiring notification.

News of the breach was first reported by Bleeping Computer, which noted that the hackers sold the stolen accounts for as little as 50 cents per account.

Roku said its team “continues to actively monitor for signs of suspicious activity, to ensure that all customer information and data is kept secure.”

The company encourages its customers to review the subscriptions and devices linked to its account, use a strong unique password for each of its online accounts, to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by monitoring account activity and statements, credit reports, and other online account information for suspicious activity and to report any suspicious
activity to their account provider or other applicable institutions.

The post Over 15,000 Roku Accounts Compromised in Data Breach appeared first on TheWrap.

So the key question for all of us, no matter what role we play (business or creative), is how we best prepare ourselves for success in an industry that is increasingly transformed by generative AI. One thing is certain. Passivity plays no positive role in any tech-tonic shift. We must move past fear and paralysis to acceptance and action. 

With that in mind, here’s a six-step program to best position yourself for this coming generative AI sea change (more like tsunami). Depending on your mindset, consider it your generative AI “cheat sheet” or “survival guide.”

Step 1: Accept this new AI reality

First, open your mind to what Sora represents — our new transformational generative AI reality. As with any new technology, once it’s out of the box that genie can’t be put back in. New technologies always disrupt established companies, norms and business models. If nothing else, the internet revolution taught us that. 

Exhibit A in the world of media and entertainment is Blockbuster Video. Remember that blue, white and yellow behemoth? It was the seemingly unbeatable video champ –- until it wasn’t. Blockbuster execs blithered, dithered and arrogantly dismissed the glaringly obvious Internet revolution in front of them and then, as they say, the rest is history. Thousands of stores were shuttered, tens of thousands of jobs were lost and ultimately the company shut down completely. All that remains is its place in entertainment infamy as a cautionary tale.

At the same time, others more tuned into the emerging force of the Internet birthed entirely new categories of jobs and mega-companies, Netflix being one of them (i.e., what Blockbuster could have been). Today, Netflix finds itself in the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks that dominate our 401ks. Only Apple and Microsoft pre-dated all the others in that Internet-laden basket, and that same tech cycle is likely to happen here. Nvidia is proof positive of that, moving from relative obscurity less than 15 months ago to being one of the world’s five-most valuable companies with a valuation that exceeds $2 trillion.

Step 2: Learn about Generative AI 

Once you move past acceptance, it’s time to move toward action. Educate yourself about generative AI, because it will significantly impact all aspects of your personal and professional life. The more you know about AI, the more control you will have over it and the better positioned you will be to evolve in these relentlessly changing times. Generalists who demonstrate basic knowledge, flexibility and an openness to new possibilities are far more likely to prosper than those who are complacent, too narrowly focused in (and comfortable with) their expertise, and who ignore the current state of affAIrs. 

It’s imperative to track developments in generative AI closely. Read your favorite entertainment publication daily (especially this one!). Listen to your favorite media-tech podcasts (I recommend “Hard Fork” from The New York Times as a taster). Subscribe to the numerous newsletters (shameless plug: subscribe to my free weekly media-focused generative AI newsletter “the brAIn”). Learn about the media and tech industry players leading the change. Equally important, learn the relevant basic jargon (e.g., large language model or “LLM”) so that you can effectively engage in informed conversations. Your expanded AI knowledge base and vocabulary may lead you to your next job, especially since many traditional ones will evaporate. 

Remember, Tyler Perry just halted his $800 million studio expansion – which means putting hundreds of new jobs on ice – after watching OpenAI’s “Sora” text-to-video demo. But check job listings. You’ll see no shortage of those in need of AI expertise. So there’s no need to panic. But there is a need to take action and evolve.

Step 3: Use and experiment with the AI tools

Once you’ve invested in this basic foundation, use the generative AI tools that are openly available. Experiment with them. You simply can’t understand the power of this new transformational technology in a vacuum. Start with text-to-text generator ChatGPT and text-to-image generator Midjourney. If you want to experience the latest state of the art specifically geared to creators and the entertainment industry, check out Lore Machine (a company that I previously profiled) and its latest story visualization system. It will blow your mind, as this video demo shows.

I remember when I first used ChatGPT soon after OpenAI unleashed it into our unsuspecting world 15 months ago. Its impact was immediate and visceral, and I immediately knew that nothing would ever be the same. Now, here we are, Microsoft –- OpenAI’s main investor -– is the most valuable company in the world, and no longer the sleeping giant from the North. 

Step 4: Meet the people leading the change

With your newfound generative AI curiosity and tech chops, get out of your bubble and practice what I call “active serendipity” – putting yourself in an IRL position to make things happen. Mingle with others who either drive this generative AI change, share valuable perspectives about it or at least are equally committed to taking action. Attend industry meetups. In Los Angeles, AI LA is a great organization that hosts ongoing events. Its next big media and entertainment focused summit is “AI on the Lot” on May 16th. 

Organize discussions of your own. For media and entertainment executives, invite generative AI tech startups to demonstrate their wares. They most likely will be happy to do it simply because they may want to partner with you. Similarly, generative AI tech startups should reach out to media and entertainment companies so that both sides can learn. That investment may lead to game-changing opportunities for everyone involved.

Step 5: Elevate and support humanity

Elevate humanity. Support human creators with your energy, time and dollars and, for those of you so inclined, remain steadfast in your belief that true originality flows only from the human mind (rather than the algorithmic reconstitutions of earlier works). This doesn’t mean that you fear technology. To the contrary, it’s an explicit acknowledgement of generative AI’s potential to become an invaluable tool for the creative community. 

With this human-first mindset, dig even deeper to learn about evolving basic guardrails like copyright law, advocate for AI “trust and safety,” and support policies that define sensible emerging rules of the game. The entertainment industry’s Human Artistry Campaign is one advocacy group working with Congress right now. 

Step 6: Invest in relationships

Most importantly, invest in relationships! Hollywood has always been a business built on relationships, after all. Practicing “active serendipity” increases those odds, together with informed direct outreach. People are generally not as unattainable as you think, so long as you personalize your outreach and demonstrate authenticity and some kind of shared interest. Appeal to something that will interest them (not you). 

Ironically, the more that technology takes over our lives, the more that human relationships matter. So long as humans exist on this planet, I believe that humans will always gravitate to other humans to bond and build the next business booms. 

That human connective tissue is impenetrable, even by the most adept artificial minds and hands.

Reach out to Peter at peter@creativemedia.biz. For those of you interested in learning more, sign up to his “Fearless Media” newsletter, visit his firm Creative Media at creativemedia.biz, and follow him on Threads @pcsathy.

The post A 6-Step Hollywood Action Plan For Sora’s Generative AI Wake-Up Call appeared first on TheWrap.

The open part of OpenAI, we learned this week, was more of a recruiting tactic than a dedication to open source. And no matter how far its technology advances, OpenAI will always have an incentive to present its research as something close to artificial general intelligence, but not quite there. 

Indeed, as the two parties exchange fire, Musk may well succeed in portraying OpenAI’s true nature as a for-profit, Microsoft subsidiary. All the while, the public will gain invaluable insights into OpenAI’s founding and evolution.

Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

OpenAI’s openness was mostly a recruiting tactic 

In an attempt to rebut Musk’s argument that OpenAI betrayed its founding agreement, OpenAI leadership released an extraordinary internal email this week. On January 2, 2016, OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever wrote that open-sourcing its research wasn’t crucial to its mission, and indeed mostly a recruiting ploy.

“As we get closer to building AI, it will make sense to start being less open,” Sutskever wrote. “The Open in openAI means that everyone should benefit from the fruits of AI after its built, but it’s totally OK to not share the science (even though sharing everything is definitely the right strategy in the short and possibly medium term for recruitment purposes).”

Sutskever’s comments run contrary to OpenAI’s early public posturing as an open source shop (it is in the name, after all), and aren’t exactly in sync with the company’s’ founding document. “The resulting technology will benefit the public,” the document said, “and the corporation will seek to open source technology for the public benefit when applicable.” 

OpenAI has since stopped open sourcing its biggest GPT models. That may be because it believes it’s close to building “AI” — or artificial general intelligence, in the context of Sutskever’s email — or because it’s using the cover of being ‘close’ to keep its research proprietary. And that is where things get tricky.

Microsoft muddies the founding agreement

A few years after the Sutskever email — which Musk agreed with, complicating his case — OpenAI inked a $10 billion investment deal with Microsoft that entitles the tech giant to a large share of OpenAI’s profits. But the deal only applies to OpenAI’s technology before it reaches artificial general intelligence. 

OpenAI has now effectively boxed itself into a position where it must be close enough to AGI that it can’t share the research, but far enough away to keep delivering profits for Microsoft. Musk’s lawsuit claims OpenAI has reached AGI, a dubious argument, but it’s awkward either way. The case lays it out cleanly.

“Given Microsoft’s enormous financial interest in keeping the gate closed to the public, OpenAI, Inc.’s new captured, conflicted, and compliant Board will have every reason to delay ever making a finding that OpenAI has attained AGI,” the lawsuit says. “To the contrary, OpenAI’s attainment of AGI, like ‘Tomorrow’ in Annie, will always be a day away, ensuring that Microsoft will be licensed to OpenAI’s latest technology and the public will be shut out, precisely the opposite of the Founding Agreement.”

I asked Musk via email if pressing OpenAI to make admissions like those in Sutskever’s email, which would draw out the tension in the company’s position, would make bringing the case worth it. He did not reply by press time. 

Musk vs. Google

One fascinating subplot in Musk’s case is his fear of Google’s AI motives, and his determination to balance it with OpenAI. “Deepmind is causing me extreme mental stress. If they win, it will be really bad news with their one mind to rule the world philosophy,” Musk said in an email to the OpenAI team in February 2016. The lawsuit also cites an apocryphal story of one Deepmind investor joking that shooting its CEO, Demis Hassabis, would be the best possible thing they could do for humanity, given dangers of AI. 

Now, look a the landscape: Musk’s had a messy divorce with OpenAI, Google is building tech on-par with OpenAI (though not without its hiccups), and Musk is now building his own AI, Grok, that’s largely underwhelmed. In this context, a lawsuit is one option to bend the technology back in the direction Musk intended. And while it may not change reality, it could indeed reshape the narrative around his erstwhile partner.

The post After Elon Musk’s Lawsuit, No More Illusions About OpenAI appeared first on TheWrap.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, Iger said the company did the deal last month because it was underrepresented in video games and that he was stunned to learn that Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids were spending about 30% of their screen time playing games. Epic is the studio behind the massively popular free-to-play cross-platform game “Fortnite.”

“We had a decent licensing business, the Spider-Man game and Sony, one of the most successful games of 2023,” Iger said. “I thought we could do more. And as we studied it, we were really impressed with what Epic had been able to accomplish with ‘Fortnite.’”

Under the deal with Epic, Disney will have a commercial agreement to build a “Disney universe” where consumers can create their own games from the studio’s IP and play games Disney and Epic create. Players can also buy digital goods. Epic, Iger said, will build the ‘verse at its expense. In exchange, Disney agreed to take an equity position in Epic.

The new universe is expected to launch “in a few years,” Iger said.

“We’re calling this a universe, just so that we don’t use the word metaverse,” he said. “But this will be a deep, rich, fully immersive, engaging experience for consumers. Not only does it speak to how young consumers are spending their time, but it speaks to basically how much more we can leverage our IP in a completely different medium.”

Disney already has a presence in Fortnite, but with their Epic deal, “There will be an interoperability to it.” If consumers “buy digital goods in one, you can port it into the other and so on.”

The post Bob Iger Plans to Leverage Epic Games Deal to Build Disney Universe That Lives ‘Side by Side to Fortnite’ appeared first on TheWrap.

The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco by ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, ex-Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde and ex-General Counsel Sean Edgett,

According to the lawsuit, Musk “has a special ire toward” the company’s former execs and has “vowed a lifetime of revenge” against them.

The suit cites a quote Musk gave biographer Walter Isaacson, that he would “hunt every single one” of Twitter’s executives and directors “till the day they die” It goes into detail about how Musk and his “gunslinging lawyer” Alex Spiro cut off the former executives’ email access and delivered dismissal letters before they could officially resign.

The Plaintiffs lawyer argues that they were still protected by The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, also known as ERISA and that his “scheme… was a pointless effort that would not withstand legal scrutiny.”

In 2023, X denied the severance claims The Plaintifs were told that they were fired for “gross negligence” and “willful misconduct” for “negotiating, litigating and closing the acquisition.”

“Under Musk’s control, Twitter has become a scofflaw, stiffing employees, landlords, vendors, and others. Musk doesn’t pay his bills, believes the rules don’t apply to him, and uses his wealth and power to run roughshod over anyone who disagrees with him,” reads another section of the suit.

This is believed to be the 30th nonpayment lawsuit filed against the SpaceX founder since he took control of Twitter in October 2022, with landlords and vendors also suing Musk.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported this story.

The post Elon Musk Sued for $128 Million in Unpaid Severance by Former Twitter Execs appeared first on TheWrap.

The judgment against the American tech giant is the result of an antitrust case filed by its Swedish audio-streaming competitor Spotify.

Apple’s platforms restrict competitors’ ability to “inform users of Apple devices about alternative, cheaper options to purchase music available on the internet outside of the Apple ecosystem. This is illegal,” reads a Monday statement from the EU commission, which issued the fine of €1.8 billion.

Apple says it will appeal, and argued that the commission has not found “credible evidence of consumer harm.”

Spotify said it was happy that the case delivers “some justice,” but added “it does not solve Apple’s bad behavior toward developers beyond music streaming in other markets around the world. Our work will not be done until we succeed in securing a truly fair digital marketplace.”

The post Apple Fined Nearly $2 Billion by European Commission for Allegedly Abusing ‘Dominant’ Music-Streaming Position appeared first on TheWrap.