Elon Musk Buys Twitter

[Rennadrel]

That’s a pretty low bar you have there. Explains quite a bit.

We all know you are devoid of a funny bone and you constantly have a stick up your ass so of course the humor goes over your head

[s_bushido]

i'm gonna come in with the biggest bestest bomb shell
if you dont like twitter dont use it

Any individual refraining from using the site doesn't somehow erase the millions who do. Nor does it make the impact/influence it has on society magically go away.

Hell, just look at the recent Libs of Tik Tok crap. Laws are being passed based on what that particular shitstain is posting on her twitter account (or at the every least using it as part of the excuse). And it's being used to frame the entire conversation around LGBT+ people and sexual education...in a way that promises to drag us backwards decades.

So no, your statement was less "bombshell" and more "breathtaking naivete."

[postman1782]

i'm gonna come in with the biggest bestest bomb shell
if you dont like twitter dont use it
i will now swan off into the sunset

No seriously I don't know why anyone's really bothered. Twitter should still do its best to stop child traffickers and terrorist recruiters, I don't think Twitter under Musk is not going to help law enforcement bring them to justice and you're a bit of a pill if you think that he'll withhold that help.



I'm not really sure what we're referring to. Are we talking about Trump telling people to inject bleach or what?

Between the bleach, the incitement of the January 6th terrorist coup attempt, and now with the shit that people are pushing with attacks on schools, curriculum and the don't say gay bills, people are getting killed from the rhetoric. The last few examples, not yet, but it will happen. They had to shut a school down recently because a bunch of parents rushed a school.

[LilSaihah]

So no, your statement was less "bombshell" and more "breathtaking naivete."

it was sarcasm

[unfilteredJW]

We all know you are devoid of a funny bone and you constantly have a stick up your ass so of course the humor goes over your head

Cool, I have a fan.

[LilSaihah]

Between the bleach, the incitement of the January 6th terrorist coup attempt, and now with the shit that people are pushing with attacks on schools, curriculum and the don't say gay bills, people are getting killed from the rhetoric. The last few examples, not yet, but it will happen. They had to shut a school down recently because a bunch of parents rushed a school.

"The president shouldn't shitpost on his twitter" absolutely agree, it seems entirely sensible to have a whole-of-government social media policy. Free speech problems, sure, but find some wiggle room.
"Don't incite terrorist uprisings" that's a no-brainer. I think it is completely reasonable to ban someone for inciting a terrorist uprising. You should probably send them to prison.

That stops with the last few points. People using platforms to discuss proposed and standing law is probably the most fundamental purpose of free speech.

The entire thing? Including the no seriously?

Everything that's in lower case/the part which was quoted is sarcastic.
Yes I appreciate that Twitter provides people with a broad reach and some of those people might not necessarily be people whom you would like to have that reach, and you can't just turn that off by not using the platform. That said, I still think you should vote with your feet, and I still think most people should try to keep their social media consumption down just for the sake of their sanity.
The rest wasn't sarcasm, I don't really have that great of a problem with people expressing their opinions even if they're spicy. This doesn't extend to inviting illegal acts, or speech or communication which is itself an illegal act like child pornography or dealing drugs.

[LilSaihah]

The bleach(disinfectant) thing was during an official White House briefing. That's a bit more than a shitpost on Twitter, tbf.

Okay well now we're at the point where you just have to make sure you don't elect idiots. We're having a shit of a time with it down in Straya so hopefully ya'll have better luck

[Santti]

The left just created a literal Ministry of Truth, because THATS who we all should implicitly trust with whether or not we can say something!

What are you on about? Am I under this ministry by any chance?

[D3thray]

It'd only be disheartening if you had absolutely no knowledge of what free speech actually is in either a legal or philosophical sense.

Free speech (which doesn't actually apply here given it's a private platform anyway, regardless of how much the clowns claiming 'public square' like to whinge) has always had exceptions in instances where speech would create danger to the public or to protected classes. And in this case, the speech which is being restricted fall under these categories; misinformation which creates public danger regarding things like climate change or vaccines, and... you know... hate speech.

So yeah; you basically just don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Changing moderation on twitter doesn’t make illegal things on the platform suddenly not illegal. It’s still subject to state and federal law. Like you said private companies can do what they want within those bounds. In the far back ye olden times of 2019 twitter said for example that alternate or misinformation about vaccines wasn’t against its rules. See this all falls under the umbrella of ‘things you don’t like’ not ‘things which are illegal’. Your subjective view on what does and does not constitute ‘hate speech’ is immaterial.

I don’t know if you know how to properly use the phrase ‘don’t know what the hell you’re talking about’ when you say things like that. Maybe a grammar or literature course is in order? Brilliant has ads all over the place, maybe that’s a good place to start?

While moving away from personal monopolies of things like entertainment and social media would be good, not all elites are created equal.

In Musk's case, it's because he specifically has a history of reprising against critics of his person or conduct (see: Tesla's toxic work environment, calling the cave diver guy a pedophile, etc.), not understanding the public safety exception to free speech (see: refusing to restrict Russian state propaganda from Starlink), promoting misinformation which is dangerous to public safety (see: him spreading misinformation about COVID), as well as encouraging theft of intellectual property (see: refusing to credit artists for their work). All of which are far more easily facilitated through him controlling Twitter.

But at the end of the day, this is likely to be a poison pill for him. He financed the acquisition through borrowing which has proceeded to crash Tesla's stock, and Twitter isn't sufficiently profitable for him to be able to make a return on that acquisition. It remains a case of a weird nerd having a midlife crisis because his wife left him for another woman. Rofl.

Admittedly everything he claims to want to do is just talk at this point and I’ll happily eat my words if things turn out otherwise, but returning the standard of moderation on twitter to what is legal is a positive change in my book.

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Reminder that if you were born in 2500 BCE, watching the Pyramids being built in Egypt, and you took $10,000 dollars every day (or the equivalent in gold, whatever) and put it in a vault, and did that for your entire immortal life up to today, $10,000 every day, you'd still have less money than Elon Musk.

Billionaires existing is proof the economy is deeply, deeply broken.

Seriously? You fell for that internet truism? Weren’t you in economics or something (sorry if I’m misremembering). Add the very real phenomenon of inflation to that statement. I think you’ll find you have something like 10 decillion real dollars (pulling from memory, not doing the math again, it’s a ridiculously huge number).

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If you're in favor of "unregulated free speech", you're advocating to legalize child pornography and terrorist recruitment material and threats of violence and so forth. That's literally your argument, going that deep.

If you recognize those things should be illegal, you recognize that freedom of speech must have limits, and you need to stop playing the goddamned fool and pretending otherwise.



1> Section 230 doesn't do what you apparently think, and the ranting about it has been incredibly stupid from Day 1.
2> Open-sourcing Twitter doesn't "do" anything. It isn't the code that makes Twitter what it is.



The small cadre of elites who used to own Twitter were making reasonably ethical choices.

Musk is threatening a bunch of completely unethical reforms, and he's probably just straight-up lying about them in the first place like he has about a whole host of other things; remember when he promised he'd fix Flint's water supply? Yeah. Musk says a lot of complete shit and then fucks off and does stupid rich-guy stuff.

The shift in people's opinion has nothing to do with the fact of capitalist ownership existing, but the nature of the specific capitalists in question. You're deflecting from that, and I'm pretty sure you're doing so deliberately.

Yes I was being hyperbolic with ‘unregulated free speech’ because ‘speech with is less regulated to the extent it conforms with local, state, and federal law’ doesn’t make a good bumper sticker. I was making the point that much of what is being objected to is in fact speech which is allowed under the first amendment of the US constitution (since Twitter is of course a US company).

[Endus]

Seriously? You fell for that internet truism? Weren’t you in economics or something (sorry if I’m misremembering). Add the very real phenomenon of inflation to that statement. I think you’ll find you have something like 10 decillion real dollars (pulling from memory, not doing the math again, it’s a ridiculously huge number).

Where did I say "put it in a modern bank account paying interest" or "the equivalent of $10,000 in that-era's money"?

I very specifically said you put an amount of gold that would be worth $10,000 today into a vault. No interest, no "inflation" since the valuation was always at today's dollar value.

At which point, it's a really simple calculation; $10,000/day, times 365.25 days a year (accounting for leap years), times 4500 years, and you end up just shy of $16.5 billion.

Maybe try actually reading what I posted, rather than kneejerking about something else you read on the Internet.

[D Luniz]

The one thing in all this I keep wondering
If the claim of "go woke go broke" is to be believed, and twitter is some "leftist woke cesspool"
Why fight to be there?
Why not flood to parlour, yikyak or even truth social? If there is a userbase demanding it, it should be easy and profitable to justify doing that right? Hell, How much cheaper than $44 billion would it be to build a twitter clone from the ground up?
Cheering twitter being bought for 44 billion means they didn't go broke, they got richer, and nothing stops some of them from making another twitter later, with the moderation that all those terrible leftists will move to.
And then it's right back to this point again.

Unless
So let's all just admit, this is just the right wing wanting to be around people that dont want them, and can and will do fine without them
the loudest most expensive "I NEED YOU, WHY DONT YOU NEED ME?!??!" whine in human history

[Elegiac]

Changing moderation on twitter doesn’t make illegal things on the platform suddenly not illegal. It’s still subject to state and federal law.

That's nice. I'm talking about your silly little claim that not being a free speech absolutist is suddenly a bad thing ("disheartening") when not even the actual law on free speech is absolute.

Like you said private companies can do what they want within those bounds. In the far back ye olden times of 2019 twitter said for example that alternate or misinformation about vaccines wasn’t against its rules. See this all falls under the umbrella of ‘things you don’t like’ not ‘things which are illegal’. Your subjective view on what does and does not constitute ‘hate speech’ is immaterial.

Congratulations on finally grasping the concept that something being legally permissible does not make it ethical or not socially destructive - you know, like fake news and hate speech.

Admittedly everything he claims to want to do is just talk at this point and I’ll happily eat my words if things turn out otherwise, but returning the standard of moderation on twitter to what is legal is a positive change in my book.

And your book is wrong, as evidenced by the fact you think hate speech is subjective.

Yes I was being hyperbolic with ‘unregulated free speech’ because ‘speech with is less regulated to the extent it conforms with local, state, and federal law’ doesn’t make a good bumper sticker. I was making the point that much of what is being objected to is in fact speech which is allowed under the first amendment of the US constitution (since Twitter is of course a US company).

While completely avoiding justifying why the first amendment should be the litmus test for permissible speech - especially when American law is known to be overly permissive of hate speech and misinformation. Hence why this country has become the modern West's breeding ground for fascists.

[Edge-]

The one thing in all this I keep wondering
If the claim of "go woke go broke" is to be believed, and twitter is some "leftist woke cesspool"
Why fight to be there?
Why not flood to parlour, yikyak or even truth social? If there is a userbase demanding it, it should be easy and profitable to justify doing that right? Hell, How much cheaper than $44 billion would it be to build a twitter clone from the ground up?
Cheering twitter being bought for 44 billion means they didn't go broke, they got richer, and nothing stops some of them from making another twitter later, with the moderation that all those terrible leftists will move to.
And then it's right back to this point again.

Unless
So let's all just admit, this is just the right wing wanting to be around people that dont want them, and can and will do fine without them
the loudest most expensive "I NEED YOU, WHY DONT YOU NEED ME?!??!" whine in human history

Please do not ask for ideological or intellectual consistency from this crowd. You will find none of it.

[Zan15]

The one thing in all this I keep wondering
If the claim of "go woke go broke" is to be believed, and twitter is some "leftist woke cesspool"
Why fight to be there?
Why not flood to parlour, yikyak or even truth social? If there is a userbase demanding it, it should be easy and profitable to justify doing that right? Hell, How much cheaper than $44 billion would it be to build a twitter clone from the ground up?
Cheering twitter being bought for 44 billion means they didn't go broke, they got richer, and nothing stops some of them from making another twitter later, with the moderation that all those terrible leftists will move to.
And then it's right back to this point again.

Unless
So let's all just admit, this is just the right wing wanting to be around people that dont want them, and can and will do fine without them
the loudest most expensive "I NEED YOU, WHY DONT YOU NEED ME?!??!" whine in human history

Because it requires all those "woke" companies to actually advertise on those trash right wing sites.

They are basically cheering the takeover of twitter, flocking back to twitter, just to give more money to those "woke" companies and support those "woke" causes.

They are basically doing the opposite of what they want too

[Rasulis]

Whoops. https://www.statista.com/statistics/...mber-of-users/

The funny part, 4 of those (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp & Messenger) are owned by a single entity. Don't forget Facebook Marketplace.

[s_bushido]

Whoops. https://www.statista.com/statistics/...mber-of-users/

I'm not sure that the apps that people in China and India are using is very relevant to the subject of failed right-wing Free Speech™ platforms in the States. You could have at least linked this one, which lists Twitter as 4th behind Facebook and Instagram.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...d-by-audience/

And even that's closing in on 3 years old. Things have invariably shifted since then.

[D3thray]

Where did I say "put it in a modern bank account paying interest" or "the equivalent of $10,000 in that-era's money"?

I very specifically said you put an amount of gold that would be worth $10,000 today into a vault. No interest, no "inflation" since the valuation was always at today's dollar value.

At which point, it's a really simple calculation; $10,000/day, times 365.25 days a year (accounting for leap years), times 4500 years, and you end up just shy of $16.5 billion.

Maybe try actually reading what I posted, rather than kneejerking about something else you read on the Internet.

I didn’t read anything about that. I used the thing between my ears. I’ve seen that claim reposted several places and it’s ridiculous on its face. You’re using the real phenomenon of the passage of time juxtaposed to essentially depositing money in a bank to accentuate the ridiculousness of Elon Musk’s ‘wealth’. Except that Elon doesn’t have his ‘wealth’ from from banking. He has it because the mob frothing at the mouth over the twitter deal bought cars from his company and don’t like what he’s done with the money. It’s not a fair comparison and therefore disingenuous. I’m sure you don’t just sock away your surplus earnings into a bank account and call it a day because you’re not dumb. You just rail against the excesses of a capitalist system all while benefiting from it.

That’s not to say everything is perfect but Elon has the buying power he does from the same mechanism we all (should) use to plan for retirement.

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And your book is wrong, as evidenced by the fact you think hate speech is subjective.

That’s because it is, or what constitutes hate speech (to some) wouldn’t change over time. That’s how subjectivity works.

While completely avoiding justifying why the first amendment should be the litmus test for permissible speech - especially when American law is known to be overly permissive of hate speech and misinformation. Hence why this country has become the modern West's breeding ground for fascists.

I too was appalled by fascists like antifa using BLM as a cover to promote a violent agenda. But that’s precisely what free speech is designed to combat so no one group can monopolize public discourse in such a fashion. Free speech protects democracies. That doesn’t mean all speech which is legal is ethical (also subjective by the way in case you’re wondering) but that’s not the goal and never was.

[Elegiac]

That’s because it is, or what constitutes hate speech (to some) wouldn’t change over time. That’s how subjectivity works.

Luckily it hasn't changed, then.

I like how you keep having to add silly qualifiers like "to some", as if some people having bullshit opinions is somehow a contravention of fact.

I too was appalled by fascists like antifa using BLM as a cover to promote a violent agenda.

Today in right wing nonsense arguments; "antifascists are the real fascists." Really letting the mask slip there (to say nothing of claiming stopping police brutality is somehow a violent agenda).

But that’s precisely what free speech is designed to combat so no one group can monopolize public discourse in such a fashion. Free speech protects democracies.

Yeah, no.

Free speech is designed to counter legal and political suppression of reasonable criticism and dissent. It is not an excuse for permitting the platforming of right wing extremists who are engaged in the malicious propagation of false information and hate speech - something which can very well end up being fatal to a tolerant and democratic society.

Again, you've not actually demonstrated why America's lax interpretation of free speech should be the standard of moderation on social media when all that has done has turned Twitter and Facebook into breeding grounds for fascism, anti-vax propaganda, and climate change denial.

[Spectral]

...nothing stops some of them from making another twitter later, with the moderation that all those terrible leftists will move to.

First mover advantages and network effects prevents that for the same reason that competitors have failed in the space in general.

[Snorkles]

Twitter makes its money from ads, which is probably the biggest influence in terms of what they moderate. Way above what the users want.

I don't see how new ownership is going to change that unless it becomes a paid service.