Why anyone would praise the richest guy on the planet who has already demonstrated himself as notoriously thin-skinned buying a major internet communications platform is beyond me.
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Elon Musk Is Officially Purchasing Twitter for $44 Billion
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Kind of funny that this whole anti-censorship and pro free-speech is coming from a guy who cancelled a journalist his Tesla order because of an article that journalist wrote about Tesla.
I love that you criticize censorship and then, in the same breath, advocate firing people based on their political views.
I wonder if this will ultimately usher in “whatever is next after Twitter”?
This last decade got us all too used to the same players in tech.
I preferred the more dynamic 2000’s vs this era of totally entrenched players.
This last decade got us all too used to the same players in tech.
I preferred the more dynamic 2000’s vs this era of totally entrenched players.
You mean Texas, where they are pulling books off library shelves if the people in them are not straight? After all, they wouldn't want parents to have a choice, right?
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
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Elon Musk money screamed!
I can't believe a single person can buy a massive social media platform like that. Hopefully Twitter doesn't end up like Facebook.
Where did he say no moderation? also you can choose to follow or not anyone you want or block anyone you want
Someone needs to tell Elon that the FoS clause doesn't apply to private companies
Cover those ears
What makes you think he can’t? He seems to have his ear on the pulse pretty well. Do the twitter exec even know what bots are?
From Eli Pariser -- great thread:
Musk’s stated reasons for buying Twitter are self-contradictory. He’s going to unlock Twitter’s profitability but also not running it to make money. He’s going to make the platform better for “absolute free speech” but create a subscription tier (impediment to unfettered speech!)
Pretty much every platform speech expert thinks his ideas are bad/unworkable. It’s a random collection of design ideas that sound good at first blush (edit button! Post the algo to Github!) but are very complicated and not necessarily helpful in practice. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/18/musk-twitter-free-speech/
And his free speech ideas aren’t just dumb, they’re dangerous. What happens in a space with no public safety and no moderation? The loudest voices – usually the people who can pay the most – win. That means companies, bot networks, state actors.
Beyond that though, let’s remember that if/when Elon takes ownership of Twitter, he has a LOT of latitude to do *whatever he wants* with the platform. He can boot who he wants. He can shadow-ban who he wants. There’s no law that prevents that.
And he’s shown a willingness to use his companies to extract revenge on critics. Check this out: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/03/elon-musk-blogger-tesla-motors-model-x
Musk says he’ll steward Twitter for the greater good. Even leaving his personal history aside, the recent history of billionaires doing this is not so hot. For every Washington Post (praise grudgingly given) there’s a Tribune Company, Gothamist, Pacific Standard, or hey, MySpace.
Here’s the thing: This is not just about Twitter, and not just about Musk. It’s about the fundamental way we’re choosing – and it is a choice – to structure our communications mediums.
When we – the people who actually power these platforms and make them worth visiting – choose to structure them as for-profit companies, we choose to cede decision-making to the highest bidder.
But there’s no reason we couldn’t choose to create public benefit social media we own and govern. As @ethanz has been writing for years, in every new media epoch some countries choose to invest in public goods.
Maybe this is the kick we need to decide that the way we connect and communicate with each other shouldn’t be subject to the whims of a mercurial billionaire, and invest in something better.
Musk’s stated reasons for buying Twitter are self-contradictory. He’s going to unlock Twitter’s profitability but also not running it to make money. He’s going to make the platform better for “absolute free speech” but create a subscription tier (impediment to unfettered speech!)
Pretty much every platform speech expert thinks his ideas are bad/unworkable. It’s a random collection of design ideas that sound good at first blush (edit button! Post the algo to Github!) but are very complicated and not necessarily helpful in practice. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/18/musk-twitter-free-speech/
And his free speech ideas aren’t just dumb, they’re dangerous. What happens in a space with no public safety and no moderation? The loudest voices – usually the people who can pay the most – win. That means companies, bot networks, state actors.
Beyond that though, let’s remember that if/when Elon takes ownership of Twitter, he has a LOT of latitude to do *whatever he wants* with the platform. He can boot who he wants. He can shadow-ban who he wants. There’s no law that prevents that.
And he’s shown a willingness to use his companies to extract revenge on critics. Check this out: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/03/elon-musk-blogger-tesla-motors-model-x
Musk says he’ll steward Twitter for the greater good. Even leaving his personal history aside, the recent history of billionaires doing this is not so hot. For every Washington Post (praise grudgingly given) there’s a Tribune Company, Gothamist, Pacific Standard, or hey, MySpace.
Here’s the thing: This is not just about Twitter, and not just about Musk. It’s about the fundamental way we’re choosing – and it is a choice – to structure our communications mediums.
When we – the people who actually power these platforms and make them worth visiting – choose to structure them as for-profit companies, we choose to cede decision-making to the highest bidder.
But there’s no reason we couldn’t choose to create public benefit social media we own and govern. As @ethanz has been writing for years, in every new media epoch some countries choose to invest in public goods.
Maybe this is the kick we need to decide that the way we connect and communicate with each other shouldn’t be subject to the whims of a mercurial billionaire, and invest in something better.
It is when used to silence folks that do not agree with your point of view.
His stated goals are:
- Less content moderation
- Better spambot detection
- Open source timeline algorithm
- Edit button (which Twitter was working on anyway)
To me there are two issues:
1. Harassment: Plainly unacceptable, period.
2. Hypocricy: No matter your political opinions, you have to at at least agree that its mostly conservatives being banned from Twitter while we still have Putin, radical fundementalists and continuing to use the platform.
I think Elon can address the later while not impacting the former.
To all those closing your Twitter accounts, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
It’s not the airport, no need to announce your departure.
I'm all in favor of this because taking Twitter private will result in a better product.
Great, the person buying Twitter claiming free speech isn’t allowed there is the same person who for decades has silenced and attacked others free speech towards him or his companies.
This is not a shock in America though.
This is not a shock in America though.
Twitter can do whatever it wants to, whenever it wants to and your right to free speech wouldn't be violated
So let me get this straight. You invest 13 years on a platform but decide to suddenly leave because you don’t like the owner, without even waiting to see what he does?
Aren’t the same laws assigning fault to the company that hosts the information still in place? Maybe Elon’s goal is to just tie up any legal challenges in red tape with a green bucket of money?
Speaks volumes about his well oiled PR machine
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
All this is worth $44 Billion dollars, LOL?
And I encourage everyone to use Truth Social.