They Criticized Musk on X. Then Their Reach Collapsed.
They Criticized Musk on X. Then Their Reach Collapsed.
www.nytimes.com
They Criticized Musk on X. Then Their Reach Collapsed.
17 comments
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If you are still on this platform, you are part of the problem. No excuses.
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It's almost like free speech absolutism is bullshit.
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"Free speech" for these people has only meant for them.
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Never expect free speech (or other constitutional protections) in a private forum, which is one reason the right is always gung-ho for privatization.
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*in the US.
The EU recognizes that human right such as freedom of speech also should be protected against private parties. Platforms can't ban or restrict you for arbitrary reasons here.
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Link to that? I don't see any such protections except for children and some for journalists. Nothing saying you can't be banned if they want.
https://www.thejournal.ie/social-media-audits-digital-services-act-6151679-Aug2023/
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Reminds me of COVID
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So what, it's his platform, he can do whatever he wants on it, he paid a lot of money for it.
I really don't get why this would upset anyone, he is not forcing you to use his platform.
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"Twitter should be the global town square"
"free speech absolutist"
"make humor great again"
"leftists are snowflakes"
Sure, he doesn't force anyone to use Twitter. It's still unfortunately the de facto communication platform for a lot of government agencies. It's still an important tool for the world. Let's hope some large governments (EU? Please?) grow balls and leave Twitter alltogether...
This is absolutely newsworthy and worth being upset about.
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I mean, calling out Musks hypocrisy is not a bad thing per se, but is it really news?
At the end of the day a lot of people choose to remain on a platform that got bought by an gigantic asshole, who can now do whatever he wants with it. That's how it works and being upset about it just shows that many users are either naive or delusional. Twitter can't be saved, there's nothing left.
Combined with the fact that most Lemmy users probably know about this and already chose alternative platforms a long time ago, articles like these rarely cause more than a shrug, at least for me.
But hey, if it get's a few more people off of twitter (especially like large institutions as you mentioned), I won't complain. As time passes I just tend to think that everyone who still stays on Twitter maybe belongs there.
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it's his platform, he can do whatever he wants on it, he paid a lot of money for it. […] I really don't get why this would upset anyone
lol
- Champions “free speech” to justify buying Twitter in a legitimate way.
- Wins over idealists who think they’re fighting for openness, calling it a “public square”, “Greek Agora” etc.
- Bans critics and content he just doesn’t align with.
- Gets called out.
- “Whoa whoa, I meant my free speech. The rest of you? Peasants.”
- People leave the platform: “I don’t get why this upsets anyone, it’s his platform”.
This reminds me of the behavior most common in subreddits such as /r/Bitcoin, we can even put it side by side:
- Step 1: Preach a grand ideal — “X is the free speech Agora!” / “Bitcoin is your path to financial freedom!”
- Step 2: Rally support by moralizing it — “If you’re against this, you’re against liberty!” / “Only fools ignore Bitcoin!”
- Step 3: When the consequences hit — censorship or market crashes — suddenly the ideal becomes personal: “It’s his platform, he can do whatever he wants.” / “You fool! You shouldn’t have invested more than you can afford to lose.”
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You're misunderstanding what I wrote, because:
People leave the platform: “I don’t get why this upsets anyone, it’s his platform”.
Is exactly the opposite of what I was trying to say with:
he is not forcing you to use his platform
you can just leave, there are so many alternatives available, if you don't then you are part of the problem, giving him power and putting more money into his pockets. In fact you should have seen the writing on the wall many years ago and latest when he bought it.
Being upset about this now after he did so many worse things is just silly.
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I'm of the opinion that having a lot of money shouldn't, in fact, allow you to do what you want. No person should have this power to do mass censorship, not in the last place because manipulating online discourse means manipulating a fundamental aspect of democracy.
Musk specifically is meddling in elections, both in the EU and the US by e.g. bribing voters. Turning the dials of the algorithm lets him do this even more effectively.
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17 comments