The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.26 PewDiePie Calms Masses & Defies Defeat, Elon Musk VS The SEC, & Pakistan India Hostilities

Episode Date: February 26, 2019

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Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and let's just jump into it. Some of the first things we're going to talk about today are some pieces of news from the digital space. First up, we had digital history being made. Despacito, which is a song I just got out of my head about a month ago, is also the most viewed video on YouTube and it has now made history because it is the only video on YouTube that has over 6 billion views. And the only other video that comes even close is Ed Sheeran's Shape of You with just under 4.1 billion views. Then on Instagram we had Ariana Small BBQ Grill Grande making history.

She has now become the most followed female creator on Instagram, now surpassing Selena Gomez. And in general that's been seen as Ariana Grande being even more present on social media than ever, and Selena Gomez of course recently pulling back for personal reasons. And also if you're wondering who is the most followed person on Instagram, it's actually Cristiano Ronaldo. Then, in kind of history-making, but then also not history-making news,

we had PewDiePie in the news. The first of which is actually connected to a story we covered late last week, which was connected to YouTube cracking down on videos that featured children. In that crackdown, when we last talked about it, on the 20th, YouTube said they had deleted 400 channels, disabled comments on tens of millions of videos, they've reported illegal comments to law enforcement.

Along with that, we found that there were more videos being demonetized. Regarding that, there were a range of videos affected, although, as we kind of pointed out last Friday, some of the videos featured children doing, like, gymnastics and a split in the thumbnail. That doesn't describe all of the videos affected, but as far as the initial case that we saw, that was the example. Then what followed is we saw some accounts just completely having their comments disabled. That stirred up some more panic. Team YouTube then started reaching out to creators to calm them down saying that this move is temporary. In one example writing, yes it's only temporary while we work to improve our tools that detect and remove predatory comments. More here. And adding to protect the safety of minors

please consider keeping your comments turned off for now. More on moderating comments. And as we kind of talked about on Friday, this in general doesn't seem like something all YouTubers should worry about, just people that have kind of family or child content. Which brings me to Felix, because really if there was anyone that was going to call YouTube out based off of just historically

what he has had to go through, this week we saw him chime in on the issue and he said this. They're not setting a precedent by removing comments or demonetizing these videos. It's not something that's gonna affect everyone on the site It's clearly something they've done just to act swiftly at a time when it's necessary and to be honest I appreciate that YouTube does that so before everyone freaks out and say YouTube is over. No, it isn't calm down They are working on it and I trust that they are actually I thought it was important to share that because in a situation like this it would be very easy to fearmonger for views.

I think at the end of the day all of us just want to make sure that these kids are safe and in the meantime to react to this very fast. In this specific avenue YouTube is going big and slowly pulling back. I respect why so many family YouTubers have been panicked, but I do agree with Felix here. We also had Felix in the news because he lost to T-Series for like a second. Well, I mean a few minutes, if I'm not gonna just completely minimize it. But then, thanks to the previously teased Elon Musk, Justin Roiland meme review,

he popped back up and the internet rejoiced despite the fact that he will eventually get passed again. But that doesn't make this whole situation any less amusing to me. Honestly, at this point, I don't know who else could jump into the game to boost subs. But interestingly enough, this story gives us an easy segue into our other story, Elon Musk. Yesterday, the Security and Exchange Commission, the SEC, asked a federal judge to hold Elon Musk in contempt for violating a settlement deal.

And we've been seeing Elon Musk firing back on Twitter. And this specific situation here started on February 19th when Musk posted about Tesla. Tweeting, Tesla made zero cars in 2011, but will make around 500,000 in 2019 then a few hours later responding to his own tweet with a correction saying meant to say annualized production rate at end of 2019 probably around 500k ie 10k cars a week deliveries for years still estimated to be about 400k so the SEC claims that this breaks a settlement that they reached back in October with that settlement specifically stating that Elon Musk must Have social media posts with information that could be considered material for shareholders pre-approved before posting.

The thing is, Tesla did create a board to approve posts, but they said that he did not receive approval before posting this. And the thing is, that's not the most surprising thing to hear, and I say that because of something that he said in a 60 Minutes interview back in December. In that interview, Musk is asked

if he has had any of his tweets censored since the settlement, or if someone reads his tweets. He responds no to both questions, also saying, "'The only tweets that would have to be, say, reviewed "'would be if a tweet had a probability of causing "'a movement in the stock.'" She follows up by asking how would anyone know if the tweets would impact the market

if not all of them are being read, to which he said, "'Well, I guess we might make some mistakes. "'Who knows?'' Then adding, "'I want to be clear. "'I do not respect the SEC. "'I do not respect them.'" Musk then going on to say that he abides by the settlement out of respect for the justice system. But a big thing I want to hit on here is while Elon Musk did not get approval to post this tweet,

Tesla also claims that he didn't need approval for this tweet. And the reason for that is they say that the correct information has already been available to the public since late January in an earnings call. But the SEC maintains that he violated the agreement by not getting approval and in their filing said the information He tweeted was inaccurate and disseminated to over 24 million people adding Musk has thus violated the court's final judgment by engaging in the very conduct that the pre-approval provision of the final judgment was designed to prevent and they also actually Referenced Musk's 60 minutes appearance in their file and on the other side of this we've seen Musk take to Twitter to criticize the SEC Yesterday Musk responded to a tweet that included a screenshot of transcripts from Tesla's quarter four earnings,

saying the numbers had already been made clear, writing, SEC forgot to read Tesla earnings transcript, which clearly states 350K to 500K, how embarrassing. And when one user responded by saying, good thing, judges are awesome, Musk said, indeed, I have great respect for judges. It's not perfect, but in general, we should be very glad of the US justice system.

So, this morning, Tesla shares went down 3% in pre-market trading, and I mention that because of this interesting exchange. A user on Twitter wrote, Some thoughts. SEC filed for contempt for the court because the tweet was not pre-filtered despite having potential to move the markets. Even if the tweet did not state anything wrong, it was clearly not pre-filtered and thus the SEC is technically right. But another adding, but it didn't move the markets and the SEC complaint did. Whereas the enforcement committee that protects the small investor from the SEC enforcement committee, which Musk replied, Exactly. This has now happened several times. Something is broken with SEC oversight.

So what now? Well, this isn't the first time that Musk has been in trouble with the SEC for his tweets. As you might remember, we talked about it on the show. The SEC previously sought to remove him as CEO of Tesla after tweets he sent back in August. They accused him of fraud and share price manipulation, and they eventually reached a settlement where he was allowed to stay on as CEO, but he lost his role as chairman. And that, of course, was the same settlement that resulted in the mandate that his tweets be reviewed,

as well as he and Tesla separately being fined 20 million each. And so this time around, it's unclear exactly what the consequences would be for breaking the settlement. According to Erska Vilikonia, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, he could face fines up to $1,000 per day. And that would be from when the court issued the order

until the court rules that he is in full compliance. Right, so for someone like Elon Musk, that would essentially be nothing. But you also have people like Rebecca Roife, a professor at New York Law School, who says this could just be the beginning of the SEC trying to threaten Musk's position as CEO again. But as far as what happens next, I have no clue.

Although, the last updates to this story, according to The Hill the Hill that a federal Judge in Manhattan has told Elon Musk that he has until March 11th to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court It's going to be interesting to see how this develops. I mean we talked about that 3% dip We've now seen the stock going back up. I mean whenever you're talking about stuff like this the market is actively fluctuating Yeah, it's gonna be really interesting to watch and see how far this gets But of course like I try to do with any story we talk about on this show I do want to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this?. But of course, like I try to do with any story we talk about on this show,

I do wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? What do you think is gonna happen? What do you want to happen? Then let's talk about our final story today, which if you've watched this show for a while, you know this topic's not gonna be a happy one. Today, that story is what is going on

between India and Pakistan. These two countries have been embroiled in a territorial conflict over Kashmir, a disputed region that lies between them. And this has been going on since both countries gained independence back in 1947. Since then, the countries have gone to war over Kashmir twice, and to give context to these wars, Kashmir is 60% Muslim, but mostly controlled by India, a Hindu nation. So we have this territorial dispute that involves two distinct religious groups,

which is just a known recipe for disaster. This, of course, has led to significant violent conflict in the region for both sides over the years which brings us to actually earlier this month when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle full of explosives into an Indian convoy on a busy highway. This happened in Pulwama located in a part of Kashmir under Indian control and according to reports at least 40 soldiers were killed. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the region in decades. This attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terror group based in Pakistan that leads a pro-Pakistan insurgency in Indian Kashmir. However, India placed the blame ultimately on Pakistan, saying that they turn a blind eye to the group's activities.

That accusation, of course, feeds into a reputation that Pakistan supports terror groups, a reputation that even led to President Trump cutting 1.3 billion in military assistance to Pakistan just late last year. There, specifically because of their alleged use of terrorist groups to achieve military objectives But Pakistan denies all of these allegations and that terror group is even officially banned by Pakistan

Although Pakistan is also accused of shielding its leader from being labeled a terrorist by the UN Which is a designation that would freeze their bank accounts But all of that leads us to today when Pakistani officials reported airstrikes on their territory conducted by Indian warplanes And while these countries have been in conflict for a while This is the first time in decades that either party has sent warplanes across what is these countries have been in conflict for a while, this is the first time in decades that either party has sent warplanes across what is known as the Line of Control to strike the opposing side.

And specifically what they did here is they dropped bombs near Balakot, a town near the disputed border. On the one side, the Indian foreign secretary justified the attack by doubling down on the idea that Pakistan supports the terror group. India struck the biggest training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot.

In this operation, a very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, trainers, senior commanders, and groups of jihadis who were being trained for Fida in action were eliminated. And also adding that Pakistan made a commitment back in 2004 not to allow its soils be used for terrorism against India. However, right now it is unclear whether the planes actually hit anything or anyone. A spokesman on the other side for Pakistan's armed forces claimed that there were no casualties and tweeted out,

"'Payload of hastily escaping Indian aircrafts "'fell in open.'" This along with photos of the strike. And we've seen various security officials, analysts, and diplomats in New Delhi also doubt India's claims. This due to the fact that Indian Prime Minister Modi made it clear that India was going to retaliate,

prompting any terrorist groups to evacuate areas near the border. We saw Raul Betti, an analyst at the London-based Jane's Information Group, state that What they hit is speculation for now. They say they hit a terrorist camp, but a lot of intelligence sources say those camps in Pakistan had been cleaned out in recent days. And these officials also say they doubt the existence of such large-scale training camps by the border, asserting that instead it would most likely be spread out in small clusters throughout the country. Additionally, in the past few days, India has moved troops into villages near the line of control, arresting Kashmiris suspected of being part of an insurgency against India.

And there have even been reports of families fleeing the border region as the conflict escalates. And really confirming the fears that these families have, that the fighting will only intensify from here, you had Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan's office responding to the attack in a statement saying India has committed uncalled-for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing also just a quick pause to mention the super happy Fun time note that a lot of people forget both Pakistan and India are countries that possess nuclear weapons

But back to the story Khan's offices statement also accused Modi's government of using the attack to spur support before an upcoming election Stating this action has been done for domestic consumption being election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk. And Bedi also made this claim, stating that the attack, quote, is more political symbolism than anything else. Mr. Modi had to show some demonstrable action on India's part ahead of elections. And reportedly in a recent rally in New Delhi, Modi proclaimed, We won't let this country bow down as photos of Indian soldiers killed in the recent Palawama bombing played in the background But ultimately that is where we are as of recording this video. This is a still ever developing situation

You know something you should just be aware of since you have two nuclear powers going at one another with one vowing retaliation You know that sort of thing, but of course like with every story we cover I'd love to know your thoughts on the situation Do you think that this is just posturing, angling, kind of chest puffing in an election cycle? Any and all thoughts that you have here, I'd love to see. And that's where I'm going to end today's show. And remember, if you like this video,

you like jumping into the news with us on the daily, let us know, hit that like button. Also, if you're new here, you want more, be sure to subscribe, definitely ring that bell to turn on notifications. Also on that note, if you missed and you wanna catch up on the last Philip DeFranco show or this morning's Extra Morning News Deep Dive, you can click or tap

right there to watch those. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in, I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.