Elon Musk runs the whole of Twitter like the jealous, power-drunk moderator of a small 5,000-member Discord server.
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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People are free to either agree with the CEO view or to not use the platform. Sad but true. At least it reminds us all that it is a private for-profit company and always has been. No matter whether the "value" of it was mostly provided by user-created contents.
It's kind of a good example as to why the "benevolent dictator" idea is fundamentally flawed—you don't really get two benevolent dictators in succession unless you're incredibly lucky, and doesn't matter how lucky you are, you're not getting three in a row
But, I really hope this twist of fate of how he accidentally bought Twitter in the first place helps people learn the lesson about all that "free speech" they were whining about. Your speech is not free when it is moderated by a corporation. Yes, the constitution allows you to say what's on your mind, but it does not tell media corporations that they must allow you to say whatever is on your mind. If the uneducated people haven't caught on yet, they shall never catch on, which really might mean stupid is just stupid, no matter how much education you throw at it.
It's not even that, free speech is about the government, not private entities, it's about not being arrested for what you say, it has nothing to do with what private companies do on their platforms, they're free to do what they want and they're not limiting any free speech by doing so because they're not the government.
It's baffling how many people still don't understand that and go on crying about free speech related to private entities.
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Maybe he is aware of that, but wants to remind us all how internet communities were in the 00s.
Banning people for mentioning competing platforms just brings nostalgic tears.
Or maybe he doesn't, just all the benevolence social media owners would show goes down the pipe when there really are decentralized alternatives which work. When they didn't feel threatened, they could seem wiser.
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No surprise there. Weren't they banning people for posting their Mastodon/Cohost accounts or something?
Yes. Twitter was at one point tagging links to Mastodon as "potentially harmful" and removing them.
But the one thing that's been shown consistent about Mr. Musk's ownership of Twitter is that it is consistently self-contradicting. So as Twitter positions itself as "free speech absolutist" one can rest assured that the reality will be "self-contradicting".
Let us not forget that time that Musk said that "Elon Jet Tracker" would not be banned WHILE it was indeed banned. Literally tweeting verifiably false information and then subsequently being called out on it, only for Musk to do the traditional "ignore and move on".
Yeah, I think at this point it’s easier to compile a list containing categories of platforms/people/accounts they didn’t ban :)
Just thought it was kinda funny.
And no one is surprised.
Elon made it clear shortly after taking over that "free speech" was speech he happened to agree with, and he had no intentions of ethical consistency on 'free speech' when it came to speech that was critical of him or his platform. Twitter already went nuclear on links to Mastadon and similar alternative platforms earlier this year while their dumpster fire was raging.
Fee speech, pay $8/mo to post hate speech at your leisure.
lmao that is such a good descriptor of what's going on there. Elon figured he could make money from racists wanting to be racist around normal people.
Honestly seems like it could be the GOP's definition of free speech.
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Yeah, I think what he said was that anything allowed by law would be permitted, whatever that means. But then when they started impeding links to mastodon he was like "we don't have to let you advertise our competition >>>:(." Elon/Twitter has gotten so tedious to hear about.
The thing there is that like ... it's not about consistency or values. The fact that he lied is meaningless to him, throwing it in his face is wasted effort. Communication is a tool to get what he wants, not a goal unto itself.
how is that free speech, twitter is blocking a competitor for obvious reasons
same as reddit did with lemmy and kbin when they banned users and sub for mentioning it and giving migration howto's
They did? Have a source? That seems like one more argument against the "Lemmy doesn't matter to Reddit" crowd.
Man, and that's before the protests. For "spam" lmao, there's entire communities built on self-promotion, those are fine I guess?
Because anyone who cries "freeze peach!" at any provocation are really just people that want to say hateful shit without repercussions. Generally, those same people are the ones to shut other people down from expressing their own freedom of speech.
Anyone that cries "free speech" when government isn't involved at all is a dolt
Musk fans then: finally! We have absolute free speech
Musk fans now: it's a private company. He can do whatever he wants
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Musk was only appealing to right wing idiots who think “freedom from social consequences” is a human right and co-opt “free speech”, making it a meaningless term
Musk purported to be a free speech absolutist when he bought Twitter. He said only illegal content should be suppressed. Obviously, he's a liar. He banned tons of Leftist accounts shortly after he took over.
It’s some form of sarcasm
You can tell Lemmy's getting bigger when the gullible people start showing up.
Logic doesn't matter. Literally do anything at all and say "it's because free speech" or "it's to stop cancel culture" and the fan boys will cheer it.
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"Free speech absolutism (but not if you link to my competitor)" isn't free speech absolutism. It's just another hypocrisy to throw on the pile.
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Ah yes. The exact kind of action I would expect from someone who has measured responses like "Zuck is a cuck".
Use a platform ran by a five year-old, expect five year-old behavior.
Although it won't absolve one of crimes, affluenza seems to be a real thing. The social isolation and deference that money brings seems to have a host of well-documented psychological issues that accompany it. Musk, like Trump, seems to believe that he can do whatever he wants without meaningful consequences, because he exists in a bubble of sycophants and wealth, where rules for the plebs do not apply. Normal people can't burn this much good will and go on with their lives unhindered. Normal people would be permanently financially ruined if they lost that much doing stupid and illegal business moves.
Geez that's rough and must really suck. We should help all of those rich people get over their lack of personal connections. By taxing most of their money away.
Geez that's rough and must really suck. We should help all of those rich people get over their lack of personal connections. By taxing most of their money away.
This could be done in a generation if we made sensible inheritance laws, a wealth tax, or did away with capital gains and implemented an income tax with the highest bracket >90% like the US did in the 1940s-1960s instead, (provided this is done without loopholes.) There's huge benefits to living in a country with more economic equality in terms of crime, political engagement, home ownership, economic competition, social mobility, terrorism, poverty reduction, mental health, etc., It's harder to exploit people when they have resources.
made sensible inheritance laws, a wealth tax, did away with capital gains, ...done without loopholes
So it's not going to happen, got it.
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Is anyone surprised?
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