Crypto News: Crashing into reality

Elon Musk likes to give as good as he gets, but even he must find navigating the world of free speech increasingly tricky.

As Musk champions the right of people to say what they think, cutting back on moderation on Twitter and allowing those with views on the far end of various political spectra to rejoin the platform, he's also discovering that everything comes with a limit.

The rapper known as Ye has been pushing those limits. Now he's had his account suspended after tweeting an image combining the Star of David with a swastika. Ye has been widely criticized for his recent anti-Semitic remarks.

At the same time Musk has freed up former US President Donald Trump to rejoin if he likes. Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican nomination for president, had dinner in late November at his Mar-a-Lago resort with Ye and a white supremacist who accompanied him.

The links between those holding extreme political views and politicians themselves is likely to become thornier ground for Musk, with his apparent moderation army of one these days, as the 2024 campaign gets into full swing.

Meanwhile the European Union is sending warning shots across his bow over its strict rules on data protection.

European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova, who's spearheading efforts to tackle online disinformation, told Bloomberg that failure to weed out fake or misleading online content could help Russian President Vladimir Putin spread propaganda about his war in Ukraine.

Musk shouldn't underestimate the hefty sanctions Twitter could eventually face if it fails to abide by the bloc's rules, she said. Visiting the US this week, French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Musk's decision to relax Twitter's content moderation policies around subjects like Covid-19 disinformation.

All that suggests troubled waters ahead. Even so, Musk is pushing on with policies that could tempt users to tweet ever-increasingly inflammatory stuff. His latest gambit: Twitter will begin showing a view count for all posts. — Rosalind Mathieson

Musk during a discussion in Washington in 2020. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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Resignation risk | South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's allies closed ranks behind him as the governing party's top leaders prepared to meet to discuss his fate over an independent panel's findings that there may be grounds for his impeachment. It comes a day after Ramaphosa considered resigning over the report into the details surrounding a robbery at his game farm, in which he said $580,000 hidden in a sofa was stolen.

Skirting censors | In dozens of gatherings that took place around China in the past week, people used word of mouth and social media to exploit cracks in the country's version of the internet that's largely sealed off from the rest of the world. Overwhelming censors, demonstrators shared photos, slogans and news about protests, and also sent a message to Xi Jinping just weeks after he secured a third term as president.

Bulk ships normally used to carry iron ore are being scrubbed clean so that they can transport grain to Asia, a shift of cargoes prompted by a slump in demand for the steel-making ingredient. China's housing market downturn has driven freight rates for bulk carriers down 50% from a year earlier, prompting agriculture traders to book iron ore vessels for shipments of corn and soybeans.

Oil cap | The EU is closing in on a deal to cap the price of Russian crude oil at $60 a barrel as a Monday deadline nears. The bloc intends for the mechanism to keep Russian oil flowing to avoid a global price surge, while also limiting revenue that Moscow is using to fund its war in Ukraine. Poland continues to hold out in a push to harden a package of EU sanctions before signing off on the price cap.

Follow our rolling coverage of the war in Ukraine here.

Tax tiff | EU Commissioner Thierry Breton pulled out of a key meeting with US officials, saying the summit would dedicate too little time to addressing EU leaders' concerns about a new US climate and tax law. EU member states have expressed frustration over the legislation they say gives Washington an unfair advantage to lure business investment from the bloc with massive subsidies.

US President Joe Biden said he wouldn't apologize for the new law.

Off the grid | Britain's most vulnerable could unplug from the energy grid without anyone knowing this winter through an inability to pay soaring gas and electricity bills, a utility chief warned. Most at risk are the more than 2 million households using 1970s-style prepayment meters with no digital capability, meaning their suppliers wouldn't be able to see if they disconnected.

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Democratic backsliding in Poland and Hungary is bringing back bitter personal memories of communist repression, the EU's top watchdog for the rule of law said in an interview.
A federal appeals court ruled a judge was wrong to interfere with the Justice Department's criminal probe into Trump's handling of White House documents by appointing a special master to review material seized from the former president's Mar-a-Lago home.
The Senate passed legislation to avert a crippling US rail strike on an 80 to 15 vote and sent the measure to Biden for his signature ahead of next week's strike deadline.
Peru's congress approved impeachment proceedings against President Pedro Castillo, the third attempt to remove him since he took office less than 18 months ago, with the government confident it can beat the latest gambit.
The UK opposition Labour party held a key parliamentary seat in a special election, a boost for leader Keir Starmer in his first electoral test against Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Pop quiz (no cheating!) Which former leader was censured this week for being secretly sworn in to run five ministries alongside his day job? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net.

And finally ... Hundreds of thousands of refugees have made the Turkish city of Gaziantep their home after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad laid siege to Aleppo, that nation's cultural capital, during one of the deadliest episodes of an ongoing civil war. Rather than pining for a bygone era, the displaced citizens have slowly been changing the face of their home across the border to adapt it to their needs, shaped by the memories of Aleppo, and despite tensions with some locals in a Turkish conservative stronghold.