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Cats and dogs have both brought us many iconic memes over the years, and the pup behind one of the most recognisable viral images – Cheems the shiba inu – has passed away, his owner has announced. Cheems, real name Balltze or ‘Ball Ball’, was popularised online for his love of cheeseburgers or a “cheemsburbger”, and appeared in “Swole Doge vs Cheems” and “bonk” memes too. He was not the pup behind the ‘doge’ meme, however – with that being a shiba inu named Kabosu who, despite reports in December 2022 that she was critically ill with leukaemia, is still smiling away in adorable photos on Instagram. In their post to the social media platform on Friday, Balltze’s owners confirmed Cheems “fell asleep” during a surgical procedure known as thoracentesis, which concerns the removal of fluid or air from around the lungs. He had been battling cancer, with his owners hoping to arrange chemotherapy following the surgery. The owners wrote: “Don’t be sad, please remember the joy that Balltze brought to the world. A shiba inu with a round smiling face connecting you and me, he has helped many people during the pandemic and brought a lot of joy to many of you, but now his mission is completed. “I believe he is running freely in the sky and having a lot of delicious food with his new friends. He will always be inside my heart. “I hope he can continue to bring joy to everyone in the online world, that’s my only humble request.” Tributes soon poured in for Balltze, with Twitter/X users resharing some of their favourite memes of the beloved pup: https://twitter.com/PupperNelson/status/1692848881095111118?s=20 https://twitter.com/RealSpikeCohen/status/1693120280225362193?s=20 https://twitter.com/ManuelNFTs/status/1692937774955925565?s=20 https://twitter.com/babywhalegg/status/1692929323353755831?s=20 Rest in peace to a very good boy. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Microsoft’s Thursday today didn’t give us any bold new hardware ideas. Instead, the company settled

Elon Musk has told advertisers to “go f*** yourselves” if they try to pull marketing from X. The chief executive of the platform, formerly known as Twitter, suggested that companies were attempting to “blackmail” him by threatening to pull ads. Mr Musk has faced criticism in recent days over a tweet that led to accusations of antisemitism. Many of the world’s biggest companies and the site’s biggest advertisers pulled their marketing from his platform in response. He initially said that he was “sorry” for the tweet and denied any suggestion he was antisemitic. But he also said that any advertisers who pulled marketing because of that tweet should “go f*** yourselves”. “Don’t advertise,” he said at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit. “If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself. Go f*** yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.” At one point he added the words “Hey Bob,” an apparent reference to Robert Iger, chief executive of Walt Disney, which pulled ads on X. Billionaire Elon Musk told advertisers that have fled his social media platform X over antisemitic content to “go fuck yourself” in a fiery Wednesday interview. His profanity-laced remarks followed a moment of contrition in a New York Times DealBook Summit interview, as he first said “I’m sorry” for a tweet that agreed with an anti-Jewish post on X on Nov. 15. Musk has faced a torrent of criticism since he on Nov. 15 agreed with a user who falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people, saying the user who referenced the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory was speaking “the actual truth.” On Wednesday Musk said he had “handed a loaded gun” to detractors, describing his post as possibly the worst he had made during a history of messages that included many “foolish” ones. The “Great Replacement” theory holds that Jewish people and leftists are engineering the ethnic and cultural replacement of white populations with non-white immigrants that will lead to a “white genocide.” Musk‘s post drew condemnation from the White House for what it called an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.” Following the post, major U.S. companies including Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and NBCUniversal parent Comcast suspended their ads on X. A report from liberal watchdog group Media Matters precipitated the advertiser exit, which said it found ads next to posts that supported Nazism. The platform filed a lawsuit last week against Media Matters for defamation. In the wake of the condemnation, Musk traveled to Israel and toured the site of Hamas’ assault in the country on Oct. 7. On Monday, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in a live-streamed conversation on X. Musk on Wednesday said the trip had been planned before his message and was “independent” of the issue. Musk in Israel said he is against antisemitism and anything that “promotes hate and conflict” and stated that X would not promote hate speech. “The fact that you came here speaks volumes of your commitment to try to secure a better future,” Netanyahu told Musk during the conversation. The two men previously met at Tesla’s headquarters in California in September to discuss the merits and dangers of advanced artificial intelligence. During the conversation, which took place shortly after Musk attacked the Anti-Defamation League, Netanyahu urged the billionaire to strike a balance between the protection of free speech online and fighting hate speech. Additional reporting by Reuters Read More Elon Musk mocked for trying to resurrect QAnon Pizzagate conspiracy Elon Musk set to meet Netanyahu and hostage families in Israel Elon Musk weighs in on Dublin riots claiming country’s PM ‘hates the Irish people’ Elon Musk’s antisemitic comments have pushed X advertisers over the edge Musk files defamation suit against Media Matters over Nazi X post claims OpenAI staff ‘threaten to quit over ousting of Sam Altman’

Elon Musk is “purging” old accounts on Twitter, he has said, in yet another controversial change to the service. He said that accounts with “no activity at all for several years” would be removed from the platform. He noted that the result is likely to be a decrease in people’s follower account. But the move has already led to widespread criticism from users who say that it could remove important personal and social history from the site, as well as being yet another ill-explained move from Mr Musk. Much remains unclear about the plan. Mr Musk did not clarify what would mark an active account, for instance – whether it would need its owner to sign in, or if they might have to post – and gave no information about the timescale of the “purging”. But here’s everything we do know about what will be happening to those old Twitter accounts. Why would Elon Musk do this? Mr Musk suggested that the focus is on “free[ing] up abandoned handles”. Many Twitter users who joined the site in its early years were able to claim much-desired usernames – such as those with only three characters – and have not used them since. Even before the purge, people have gone to considerable lengths in order to get those accounts. Those holding particularly valuable handles have spoken about being subject both to hacking attacks and considerable monetary offers to get access to them. It also has the benefit of giving an indication that staying as an active member of Twitter is valuable – or, at least, that it might be problematic not to use an account at all. That in turn could mean that more people log in to more Twitter accounts more regularly, which is a key metric at advertising-driven companies such as Twitter. Why is it being criticised? Many users have suggested that getting rid of those old, inactive accounts will mean deleting history. That might mean deleting accounts that were run by dead loved ones, or simply removing posts that have had a substantial impact on the world. In response, Mr Musk has indicated that the accounts will be “archived”, in a tweet replying to one such critic. He did not give any information about what this might mean, but other comments suggested that the posts may stay available on Twitter but not at the old handle. Many also suggested that the plan had not been fully thought through when it was announced, noting that Mr Musk had given no information to those who might have accounts removed, such as those that use them only to follow developments on Twitter and not post their own tweets. Read More Elon Musk threatens to reassign inactive Twitter accounts Elon Musk says Twitter will let media outlets charge users per article view Jack Dorsey says Twitter ‘went south’ after its sale to Elon Musk Bluesky might be the hottest and most controversial app in the world Apple finally launches two professional apps on the iPad AI robots figure out how to play football in shambolic footage