[News] The Internet Was a Mistake

A thread for updates on the various ways the internet is destroying everything and the undying hellsites of social media. Let's all laugh at the abyss.

I mean I only really use twitter for 2 things. Not sure I know what this would change if anything. But, if the two things I am on twitter for move platforms I assume I will too. Twitter is a very flawed system so I would not miss it too much.

I have been saying that all along. I know I am not alone in recognizing a problem with billionaires wanting control and ownership while pushing away any responsibility or culpability. That free speech protects them from any repercussions. Trump even joked(?) that he could murder someone without repercussions. He has done far worse and has yet to see any penalty.

We see it over and over again. "I won life. Now worship my infallibility!"

First thing Musk is going to do is unban Trump.

That or ban the teenager tracking his flights.

I think it’s entirely possible that he’s doing this just to ban Chelsea Manning for dating his ex.

But then he'd be hypocritical with his stance as a "free speech absolutionist", so that DEFINITELY won't happen.

He can scrape together enough money to buy Twitter but still expects the US government to bail out SpaceX.

Privatize profits, socialize losses.

So now that is seems official that Musk is buying twitter, anyone want to take bets on how long until he starts claiming to have invented twitter like he has with the product of every other company he bought?

So how's the metaverse coming along?

Well, if you're familiar with how the internet is a hellworld, about how you'd expect.

ruhk wrote:

So now that is seems official that Musk is buying twitter, anyone want to take bets on how long until he starts claiming to have invented twitter like he has with the product of every other company he bought?

Nah, he's constructing another story: that of the Savior of Free Speech. By which he means "spend enough money to impose my personal version of free speech".

dejanzie wrote:
ruhk wrote:

So now that is seems official that Musk is buying twitter, anyone want to take bets on how long until he starts claiming to have invented twitter like he has with the product of every other company he bought?

Nah, he's constructing another story: that of the Savior of Free Speech. By which he means "spend enough money to impose my personal version of free speech".

Everyone will be equal on the new Twitter, but some people will be more equal than others.

I don't use Twitter anymore but it would be nice if this inspired some mass exodus of users from the service.

I doubt there'll be any meaningful blip. The opinion I saw expressed amongst many quite STRONG Musk critics online today was "yeah, this blows, but I'm not decamping to f*ckin' Tumblr or something, so might as well ride this out."

Prederick wrote:

So how's the metaverse coming along?

Well, if you're familiar with how the internet is a hellworld, about how you'd expect.

All I see are complaints against Musk’s version of free speech. If you can’t simulate r*pe in the virtual world, then you can’t have honest discourse. /s

Prederick wrote:

I doubt there'll be any meaningful blip. The opinion I saw expressed amongst many quite STRONG Musk critics online today was "yeah, this blows, but I'm not decamping to f*ckin' Tumblr or something, so might as well ride this out."

I've seen a fair bit of this too, and it's been quite disappointing who I've seen it come from. The ol "I've spent 10+ years here, etc".

Having said that, I'm still on facebook despite the incredibly obvious problems there, so maybe I'm being hypocritical? There's a good chunk of extended family who'd forget I exist were it not for facebook. To add to the possible hypocrisy, the only reason I'm even on twitter is because tumblr died quite quickly. I've found a huge amount more great game devs and artists via twitter than I ever did on tumblr, despite how much more I loved tumblr.

Whatever. Probably a good time to mention how much I really love forums in general, and GWJ specifically.

Mr GT Chris wrote:

I don't use Twitter anymore but it would be nice if this inspired some mass exodus of users from the service.

I was actually wondering if I should be pushing for a mass invasion of the service. The way to drowned out the right is by speaking up and all that. I wouldn't have any followers really but if I spend a bit of time retweeting every liberal I can find it raises the ratio of them being heard.

A bit of digging says that "U.S. adult Twitter users are younger and more likely to be Democrats than the general public. Most users rarely tweet, but the most prolific 10% create 80% of tweets from adult U.S. users" so maybe that won't work. It seems like trump's popularity on the site would say that just having more liberal users won't help much.

Where are the K-pop stans when you need them?

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:

Where are the K-pop stans when you need them?

K-pop boot camp.

The vast majority of users actually want moderation of twitter content. They may not say it in as many words, but they vote with their feet.

User growth flatlined in 2015/16 and took the stock price with it. User growth increased by double digits immediately after Trump was banned. There are very few users that want to swim in a cesspool, and if Elon really gets his way, as he seems to be stating, then that will be the result.

I'm confident someone will take him aside and explain this to him. Someone who has seen the worst of what would be posted if they adopted his freezepeach ideals and the likely impact on his personal finances if he went down that path. Elon will announce lots of potential changes that will be coming soon but never really amount to any actual changes.

Interesting take on Ars.

The gist of it: if Musk really wants to improve free speech on Twitter, he needs to get rid of the algorithm that prioritizes engagement. Indirectly these algorithms make sure hot takes and its higher chance of misinformation rise to the top (which is not news of course). But that would also have a huge impact on profitability, so we'll see where Musk's actual priorities lie.

I'm not holding my breath.

I suspect Musk’s actual interest in free speech only extends so far as making certain he can call people whatever names he wants and limiting the sharing of his pre-hairplug photos.

ruhk wrote:

I suspect Musk’s actual interest in free speech only extends so far as making certain he can call people whatever names he wants and limiting the sharing of his pre-hairplug photos.

Okay so I deleted an entire paragraph of potentially offensive assumptions, and will instead ask: since Musk says he has Asperger's syndrome, how would people more intimately familiar with that diagnosis comment on his actions?

I don't know very much about people who actually have Asperger's syndrome, but I know a lot about people who self-diagnose with it on the Internet, and Musk shares a lot of traits with those people.

Whew, I hadn’t even considered that musk - a serial liar - might also be lying about his neurodivergence. Excellent point, hbi2k.

Twitter Admits It Hid Tweets About HBO's QAnon Docuseries

Twitter told the director of "Q: Into the Storm" it had "made the decision not to allow promotion of this documentary" when he tried to advertise the film.

It will only get harder to fight disinformation.

Elon Musk engages with tweets criticising Twitter staff

The world’s richest man agreed to restrictions on his tweets as part of a 95-page agreement covering his $44bn acquisition filed on Tuesday.

However, a day after signing the agreement, which was published on the website of the US securities regulator, Musk responded to tweets from two political commentators that criticised Twitter staff.

Musk replied on Tuesday night to a Twitter post from the podcast host Saagar Enjeti flagging an article claiming Twitter’s legal head, Vijaya Gadde, had become “emotional” during a meeting to discuss the deal. In the post, Enjeti referred to Gadde as Twitter’s “top censorship advocate”, in a reference to the company’s decision in 2020 to block sharing of a New York Post story about President Joe Biden’s son Hunter.

Musk replied: “Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organisation for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate.”

His intervention triggered negative tweets from users about Gadde, including one quote tweet in response stating that she would “go down in history as an appalling person”, while other posts called for her to lose her job.

Musk also replied to a potentially defamatory tweet from the rightwing commentator Mike Cernovich about Twitter’s deputy general counsel, Jim Baker, which referred to Baker’s work in a previous role at the FBI. Replying, Musk wrote: “Sounds pretty bad …”

Musk is essentially Trump with actual wealth.

It’s the Billionaires’ Internet, and We’re Just Posting on It

You won’t find liberation on a platform owned by this or that billionaire.