Musk offers to buy Twitter

[dada_dave]

Twitter 2.0: Our continued commitment to the public conversation

Twitter’s mission is to promote and protect the public conversation–to be the town square of the internet. For many years, we’ve said that we want to give everyone the power to create and share ideas

blog.twitter.com

I don't know if this part of Musk's policy is going to be acceptable:

"Our approach to policy enforcement will rely more heavily on de-amplification of violative content: freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach."​

That's suggesting that Musk figures if Twitter can suppress initial visibility and quote-tweeting or retweeting of tweeted material that represents illegal content in some countries or for some providers (of net services or vending of the app itself), the company will not have to remove such content or ban the tweet authors.

So now Musk proposes that one can tweet anything, but an algo will eyeball it and say uh yeah maybe not this and then somehow will isolate that tweet and prevent it popping up into anyone's feed, or a hashtag, or "trending topics" etc. ?

Great, but then he should not call it "absolute free speech," and anyway it starts to sound a whole lot like old Twitter --but without bans and suspensions-- so not really all that great after all. And obviously not all that foolproof since before Twitter flipped to Musk's ownership, the Trust and Safety group was still working hard at trying to improve moderation and toolboxes for users as well. If the new algorithms fail, then users end up tweaking filters all day long or just reporting endless abuse of rules.

Not sure that will be acceptable to name-brand advertisers, regulators and companies that are now objecting to how it's been going on Twitter since Musk took over and started his grand experiments.

The EC is likely to chime in w/ "Please let's see the algos, and let's have a demo of how they work."

Not to mention:

• Our Trust & Safety team continues its diligent work to keep the platform safe from hateful conduct, abusive behavior, and any violation of Twitter's rules. The team remains strong and well-resourced, and automated detection plays an increasingly important role in eliminating abuse.

Which is very clearly not true. Also:

• First, none of our policies have changed. Our approach to policy enforcement will rely more heavily on de-amplification of violative content: freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.

Uh huh. Right. That ain't what's been said by Musk or the people who were told to review those policies.

And we will listen to you, the people who make Twitter what it is: the town square of the internet.

Yay more "vox populi vox dei" Twitter polls which are clearly not intended to cover for Musk doing exactly what he intended to do all along. Edit /s

 

[Eric]

Ouch!

 

[Edd]

Or maybe they're simply having a conversation about this as businessmen. I think the prosaic answer is the most likely one.

Look, I get it, this thread is for venting about how everyone here hates Mr. Musk, not the technicalities of the acquisition, philosophical differences, or business relationships between companies, which I find much more interesting and fruitful to discuss. Since that's not the purpose of this thread, there's no point in my attempts to engage any longer. So, I'll simply leave y'all with this, I hope everyone here finds contentment with your social media choices in the future, regardless of what happens with Twitter.

Indeed, you routinely preface your posts about how neutral you are and what a minefield you’re posting into. While the rest of us are wild eyed leftists and we need to understand how clear-eyed you are compared to us.

No need, man. We get it. You see the truth of things. Got it.

 

[turbineseaplane]

@Eric

Dayum.. That tweet reply to Elon

 

[dada_dave]

In related news:

Anti-Semite Kanye West to buy Parler

Every time a rich guy gets his racist rants blocked by Twitter, seems he has to buy his own social networking company. This will end well, I’m sure.

talkedabout.com

Meanwhile Elon’s reaction to Parler backing out of the deal because of Kanye’s antisemitism:

This was a month ago:

Apparently there’s also one with him, Trump, and Kanye as three musketeers owning all the social media too.

 

[dada_dave]

In related news:

Anti-Semite Kanye West to buy Parler

Every time a rich guy gets his racist rants blocked by Twitter, seems he has to buy his own social networking company. This will end well, I’m sure.

talkedabout.com

Meanwhile Elon’s reaction to Parler backing out of the deal because of Kanye’s antisemitism:


View attachment 19770

This was a month ago:

View attachment 19771


Apparently there’s also one with him, Trump, and Kanye as three musketeers owning all the social media too.

Apparently now they’re no longer best buds, Kanye’s been banned (Edit: or maybe just suspended, unclear) - ostensibly for inciting violence for posting a swastika inside a Star of David but probably actually for this:

Ahhhhh … this is just ... I can’t even keep up with these nut jobs.

 

[Eric]

Watching the rich eat their own, they should make it into a reality TV show that I'll never watch.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Are the advertisers excited to come back yet?

 

[dada_dave]

Are the advertisers excited to come back yet?

View attachment 19786

Probably not

https://mobile.twitter.com/aravosis/status/1598721692364410887

[Edit: preview isn’t coming up for me, so here’s a quote:

Elon Musk just let a neo-Nazi white supremacist leader back on Twitter.

And he’s not referring to Kanye]

Hate Speech’s Rise on Twitter Is Unprecedented, Researchers Find (Published 2022)

Problematic content and formerly barred accounts have increased sharply in the short time since Elon Musk took over, researchers said.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Edd]

Are the advertisers excited to come back yet?

View attachment 19786

Advertisers = free speech opponents whose $ Twitter counts on and Elon publicly criticizes for not giving Twitter business. I’ve a lot to learn from Elon, I always thought you didn’t openly challenge the client publicly.

 

[turbineseaplane]

This is going just great /s

I swear some of these Fox "News" screenshots look like something out of the Command & Conquer games or something

 

[Eric]

Probably not

https://mobile.twitter.com/aravosis/status/1598721692364410887

[Edit: preview isn’t coming up for me, so here’s a quote:



And he’s not referring to Kanye]

Hate Speech’s Rise on Twitter Is Unprecedented, Researchers Find (Published 2022)

Problematic content and formerly barred accounts have increased sharply in the short time since Elon Musk took over, researchers said.

www.nytimes.com

You can link to tweets or post screenshots but they'll no longer be displayed inline here at this site, here's the thread on it.

 

[Eric]

Good guys on both sides Trumpism at its finest.

 

[Eric]

Twitter is losing 1.5 million users per month at this point as Mastodon continues to grow.

Migration to other social media platforms shows no signs of slowing following Elon Musk's chaotic takeover at Twitter, report says

Since Elon Musk's takeover, Mastodon account names have been added to the Twitter bios of more than 90,000 users, according to a report.

www.businessinsider.com

Migration to other social media platforms shows no signs of slowing following Elon Musk's chaotic takeover at Twitter, report says​

• A new report published on Friday found that the #TwitterMigration shows no signs of slowing.
• In the midst of Elon Musk's Twitter takeover, users are joining other social networks like Mastodon.
• Mastodon is growing by approximately 1.5 million new users per month, as per Dewey Digital.

 

[dada_dave]

An interesting pair of articles:

What’s Going on With Twitter’s Trust & Safety Policy? | TechPolicy.Press

The status of trust and safety efforts at Elon Musk's Twitter are contested, writes John Perrino.

techpolicy.press

Hello! You’ve Been Referred Here Because You’re Wrong About Twitter And Hunter Biden’s Laptop

Hello! Someone has referred you to this post because you’ve said something quite wrong about Twitter and how it handled something to do with Hunter Biden’s laptop. If you’re new h…

www.techdirt.com

Basically a good synopsis of what’s happening so far as content moderation after Elon as well as Elon’s efforts to gin up controversy and keep eyeballs on Twitter feeds (but also relates to how content moderation worked before Musk).

 

[Eric]

Not a fan of Breed but she's right to bust him on this, anyone who has had to even replace a sink in their homes in SF has to go through all sorts of regulations and permits. Musk is just an entitled asshole who does what he wants without following any of the same rules the rest of us do.

Musk Slams San Francisco Mayor for Probe of Bedrooms at Twitter

Elon Musk is sparring with Twitter Inc.’s hometown of San Francisco after turning some space at the company’s headquarters into makeshift bedrooms, a possible violation of city building codes.

www.bloomberg.com

Musk Spars With San Francisco Over Probe of Bedrooms at Twitter​

• Company has converted spaces at office into sleeping areas
• Billionaire slams Mayor London Breed over fentanyl in city

 

[lizkat]

Twitter is losing 1.5 million users per month at this point as Mastodon continues to grow.

I admit I've not even been checking into Twitter OR Mastodon lately as I got tired of the whole focus in social media (of any brand) on good ol' Elon Musk. I find it hilarious though that a bunch of people I know who used to be on Twitter every day are now relying on one or two friends who still use Twitter and screengrab the tweets (in case they disappear?) for posts to the rest of the crowd via their FB accounts.

Me, without a FB setup, well I rely on email from a pal who in turn takes screengrabs of occasional FB posts from her timeline. So I'm seeing Twitter through increasing layers of opacity... and still throwing it all away bc it's still all tweets about Elon Musk.

Wake me up when the Twitter changes hands again or Elon melts down and takes a break from work.

 

[Eric]

I admit I've not even been checking into Twitter OR Mastodon lately as I got tired of the whole focus in social media (of any brand) on good ol' Elon Musk. I find it hilarious though that a bunch of people I know who used to be on Twitter every day are now relying on one or two friends who still use Twitter and screengrab the tweets (in case they disappear?) for posts to the rest of the crowd via their FB accounts.

Me, without a FB setup, well I rely on email from a pal who in turn takes screengrabs of occasional FB posts from her timeline. So I'm seeing Twitter through increasing layers of opacity... and still throwing it all away bc it's still all tweets about Elon Musk.

Wake me up when the Twitter changes hands again or Elon melts down and takes a break from work.

I've been using Reddit for a long time now anyway, long before Musk took over so I'm sort of set with that. I do miss the breaking news aspect of Twitter but I've gone back to Google News which does a pretty good job of aggregation, even in today's fast paced world.

 

[lizkat]

I've been using Reddit for a long time now anyway, long before Musk took over so I'm sort of set with that. I do miss the breaking news aspect of Twitter but I've gone back to Google News which does a pretty good job of aggregation, even in today's fast paced world.

I've pretty much just gone back to using browser bookmarks for my online news subs, and added a couple of political newsletter briefings. After the holidays if Twitter is still in hostile hands lol I will think about making my Mastodon setups more useful. It's not that hard but it's time consuming.

 

[Eric]

Another one down...