Elon Musk Buys Twitter

[Grapemask]

People seem to be more worried and apprehensive.

Exactly. There is in fact an entire range of thought and emotion between joygasm and "u mad bro."

It's worrying because Elon Musk is 1), an idiot, 2), a liar who absolutely is not a "free speech absolutist" as evidenced by literally his entire life of responding to the speech of people who aren't paying him, 3) still an idiot, because he doesn't or likely pretends not to understand that this particular idea of "free speech" is just "free extremism" and "free misinformation."

The majority of people who voted for one of the candidates in the last US election cited things that weren't true as primary reasons for either their vote or their ideology. These things were spread on social media. And even that wouldn't be so bad if the liars at least wanted good things for society, but oh hey totally unexpected but they're also the people who beat and gas peaceful protestors to get a photo holding a bible like a dirty diaper, or ironically (but unironically) say we should hang people who say mean things about them on the internet.

Musk will probably learn that platforms like Twitter made their decisions for a reason, and then make the same decisions. But I wouldn't be surprised if we have to go through a phase similar to every single WoW expansion, where the devs make the same mistake again so they can write a 30 page blog explaining their wisdom when they fix it (again).

[NED funded]

The part ppl ignore abt this purchase is the board is admitting to their uselessnes at delivering value to both the platform and shareholders. Incompetent fucks B)

[Hammerfest]

Hmmm... maybe I should buy MMO-Champion...

So you can spam Mark Dice videos or...?

That's not a bad idea, now that you mention it... hmmm...

[Kaleredar]

Exactly. There is in fact an entire range of thought and emotion between joygasm and "u mad bro."

It's worrying because Elon Musk is 1), an idiot, 2), a liar who absolutely is not a "free speech absolutist" as evidenced by literally his entire life of responding to the speech of people who aren't paying him, 3) still an idiot, because he doesn't or likely pretends not to understand that this particular idea of "free speech" is just "free extremism" and "free misinformation."

The majority of people who voted for one of the candidates in the last US election cited things that weren't true as primary reasons for either their vote or their ideology. These things were spread on social media. And even that wouldn't be so bad if the liars at least wanted good things for society, but oh hey totally unexpected but they're also the people who beat and gas peaceful protestors to get a photo holding a bible like a dirty diaper, or ironically (but unironically) say we should hang people who say mean things about them on the internet.

Musk will probably learn that platforms like Twitter made their decisions for a reason, and then make the same decisions. But I wouldn't be surprised if we have to go through a phase similar to every single WoW expansion, where the devs make the same mistake again so they can write a 30 page blog explaining their wisdom when they fix it (again).

Your hopes for musk’s moral compass are higher than mine.

He has no reason to care about any sort of blowback; why should he? He’s got billions of dollars, and I assume they hands-off approach to billionaires is exactly the kind of things he politically supports above all else. What they say, misinformation they spread and who they demonize is immaterial so long as they support sweet tax brakes and anti-union legislation.

[Hammerfest]

It is funny hearing the Left parrot the kinds of things the non-Left have been saying about social media all of the sudden... when a billionaire they don't like suddenly gets control.
-snip-

[Endus]

I am going to laugh and use this argument exactly when people start getting furious over what Elon Musk did.

This whole thing is just delicious irony, because the very people that advocated and argued in favor of Twitter being able to do whatever it wanted are the very ones furious over what Musk could do.

It's almost like the issue was never "should a company have the legal right to be able to control the use of its own services, within legal limits like protected classes and so on". We've always agreed with that basic principle.

The issue with Musk in particular is "is this particular individual going to make ethically defensible decisions that are good for the users of the service, or is he going to be unethical and do what's good for himself and people he considers cronies/allies".

You've got the legal right to be an asshole by, say, flipping off a random toddler and calling them a "motherfucking shitball". You're still an asshole, though, for choosing to do so.

"Within your legal rights" /= "morally and ethically justifiable and good". There's no "irony" here, just you missing that pretty wild difference.

Perhaps the solution is not to allow such incredibly powerful social media platforms that have an incredible influence over our lives be governed in what is and isn't allowed be control by private actors: Certainly we in Europe refuse this bullshit argument.

If I'm gonna have an issue with it, the issue's gonna boil down to "capitalism", and I feel that's a wholly different discussion. The only issues with massive corporations boil down to capitalist systems and outcomes; the predatory actions, the attenuation of wealth inequality, the exploitation of a customer base rather than service to said same, etc. All emergent properties of capitalist theory.

- - - Updated - - -

It is funny hearing the Left parrot the kinds of things the non-Left have been saying about social media all of the sudden... when a billionaire they don't like suddenly gets control.

Oh look, someone else who fails to grasp the difference between "within their legal rights" and "actually ethical and good".

There's no discrepancy in position, just you failing to understand the difference between those two standards.

[Hammerfest]

Honestly, I do think this is actually an attempt to sabotage Trump's own social media platform, Truthsocial, before it can get out of beta testing and go live... but we'll wait and see.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh look, someone else who fails to grasp the difference between "within their legal rights" and "actually ethical and good".

There's no discrepancy in position, just you failing to understand the difference between those two standards.

Wow, you're really agitated. Sorry to see that.

And you're failing to see the self evident on this topic... but that's nothing new, is it?

[Doctor Amadeus]

People tend to forget Disney at one point was going to buy Twitter, part of the reason they didn't was due to the issue over ad revenue and content. Jack and Twitter had no problems then like now selling.

Of course Disney never came back regardless to whatever censorship or comments people claim because as I already stated Twitter is basically a dying platform. As to realizing their potential like what bringing back idiots and conspiracy alt-right nut jobs that never left.

Honestly people freaking out on one end or calibrating on the other have no clue.

If you don't believe me look at Twitter stock price over the years, it's been slow growth for a while, not because of Twitter censorship, but because of boredom.

There is a reason 4Chan/8Chan never really have grown

The part ppl ignore abt this purchase is the board is admitting to their uselessnes at delivering value to both the platform and shareholders. Incompetent fucks B)

That really has nothing to do with Twitter

[ParanoiD84]

Good stuff dont use twitter myself though, nice guy is he not providing internet to ukraine too during wartime? Starlink i think its called pretty damn important to have that.

[Hammerfest]

I think the first thing I'll do after I buy MMO-C from Magic Find is rededicate more of the site's assets to covering Elder Scrolls Online.

[UnifiedDivide]

The part ppl ignore abt this purchase is the board is admitting to their uselessnes at delivering value to both the platform and shareholders. Incompetent fucks B)

I think what is actually being ignored is that people like money lol

[Edge-]

So, is Twitter on the dogecoin blockchain yet?

[Draco-Onis]

The part ppl ignore abt this purchase is the board is admitting to their uselessnes at delivering value to both the platform and shareholders. Incompetent fucks B)

So you don't know how money works?

[Rasulis]

It would be interesting to see if Musk can turn Twitter into a profitable venture. Twitter may be influential, but the business model sucks.

Twitter was established 2 years after Meta. Meta revenue for 2021 was 118B and Twitter was 5B.

Meta started being profitable around 2010 and has maintained close to 40% profit margin for more than a decade.

The only profitable quarters for Twitter were 2018 and 2019.

[Endus]

It would be interesting to see if Musk can turn Twitter into a profitable venture. Twitter may be influential, but the business model sucks.

Twitter was established 2 years after Meta. Meta revenue for 2021 was 118B and Twitter was 5B.

Meta started being profitable around 2010 and has maintained close to 40% profit margin for more than a decade.

The only profitable quarters for Twitter were 2018 and 2019.

Any company generating a profit is successful.

It's a binary state. You aren't "more successful" just because you make higher profits. That's a mantra that only works if the only consideration you use is exploiting the most profit out of your customer base as possible, not quality of product/service, not return to the communities you work with, not being a good corporate citizen, not maintaining a strong ethical stance, etc.

[Rasulis]

Any company generating a profit is successful.

It's a binary state. You aren't "more successful" just because you make higher profits. That's a mantra that only works if the only consideration you use is exploiting the most profit out of your customer base as possible, not quality of product/service, not return to the communities you work with, not being a good corporate citizen, not maintaining a strong ethical stance, etc.

To be clear, Twitter was only profitable for less than 2 years out of 14 years in business. It was not profitable in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

[Poopymonster]

To be clear, Twitter was only profitable for less than 2 years out of 14 years in business. It was not profitable in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

I can see him adding a cost/subscription with "benefits". Unlimited retweets. The algo will "promote" your tweets. Automatic obligatory #thoughtsandprayers when something happens without an app for it. "Celebrity" status gets it for free. Pay, er, donate X dollars to remove your ban. Make a fortune off that for those whose pronouns are REEEE/REEEE.

[uuuhname]

Honestly, I do think this is actually an attempt to sabotage Trump's own social media platform, Truthsocial, before it can get out of beta testing and go live... but we'll wait and see.

pfffft yeah, of course everything is an attempt to undermine the spray tanned emperor.. fucking lmao.

[Al Gorefiend]

The Twitter employees expressing fear and concerns over the removal of their various means of censorship tells me exactly why Elon wanted to purchase it and why he did.

He's right in his thought process, we cannot have a few hundred individuals deciding what goes and what doesn't in a democracy.

It's like the moderators of MMO-C being outraged they can't infract people anymore for an opinion they don't like. Get over it, you guys aren't the police of free speech. Crazy too, the mods of OT act very progressive and inclusive, but post a bare nipple and they go insane

[Edge-]

He's right in his thought process, we cannot have a few hundred individuals deciding what goes and what doesn't in a democracy.

Good news! We don't.

We have individuals creating rules for users who want to use a free private platform. The rules have nothing to do with how democracies are run around the world, and if anything their efforts to combat intentional misinformation are a boon to free democracies.

But I can see why a great many authoritarians and "totes not authoritarians" are greeting this news with great excitement.

It's like the moderators of MMO-C being outraged they can't infract people anymore for an opinion they don't like.

This likely literally only exists in your head, bro.