Twitter is basically Truth Social now

[noblegiraffe]

My 'Following' tab is dead because everyone interesting has left.

My 'For you' tab is full of Elon Musk's prolific blithering and other right wing shit, and AI bots commenting on posts generated by AI bots.

Given Musk's exceptionally prominent role in Trump's new government, is it appropriate for UK politicians to be posting on there? I don't think they'd use Truth Social.

Such a shame, it used to be great.

That sounds really interesting - could you recommend some accounts?

Yes, and the justification for the bannings "its a private company they can do what they want" always rang a bit hollow when a) it was supposedly a "public square" and treated as such by journalists and b) the company was being encouraged to take certain positions to fit policy rather than the government. It felt like an incredible amount of power/responsibility to concede to a private company - if speech is hateful then the government should be able to legislate on that in full view.
And when Musk took over there was some hypocrisy from the "its a private company they can do what they want people", but ALSO hypocrisy from other people who were suddenly fine with an individual having an incredible amount of control over public discourse when it was an individual they thought would agree with them (Musk). My view has always been the same - free speech matters but algorithms aren't free speech. And looking to see what people are saying on Twitter is no replacement for proper journalism or a good way for politicians to engage with their people.
The reason for why content moderation being a hot topic in the first place was because Facebook helped cause a literal genocide (actual literal genocide for once). So suddenly becoming all socially concientous was a fig leaf for that and cracking down on "and-trans hate speech" an easy way to show how committed they were. But it was never really in the social media companies' interest to moderate for the public good. And it definitely isn't in Musk's - he isn't on anyone's side but his own.

I agree with this but now absolutely everyone is bullied. It's a shit show.
There is no space for reasonable discussion. It's reactive and people post vile sound bites and content for likes. Including Musk.
It was nowhere as bad as before. Its aim is to create division.

That extension's really good, @JoBrodie! Thanks!

So is Blue Sky a space where women are allowed to talk about the impact of gender ideology on their sex based rights freely? Or are they called bigots for not believing men are women if they say they are?

Setting itself up as a "tolerant", "inclusive" and "safe space", it seems to have already become as intolerantly exclusive as all such safe spaces must.

Posting this tweet because I had it open, but I saw one earlier that had been marked for transphobia.

I don’t have an account there, but there could be someone that will insult another person based on their beliefs, as with x/twitter as an example someone that’s pro abortion will be called child murderer. There are also lately tweets like “your body my choice” made by man that surged after Trumps election. So long story short there would be hateful people everywhere.

You may be right, but I do think people are romanticizing what old Twitter used to be like. It could be an awful place then as well, particularly for women. Debate was just not allowed on some subjects.

You can make a starter pack and feed to create that space and block accounts you are not interested in.

I feel like it's absolutely a-okay for your social media channels to be an 'echo chamber'. If you're a politician or a journalist etc. who really needs to see all points of view, that's one thing. But if you're just on an app like twitter or blue sky, to catch up on current affairs, follow some knitting gurus, and read some funny nonsense, then tailor your feed to suit yourself! You're under no obligation to take in content you've no interest in, or that actively aggravates you.

I think I was the first to mention BlueSky starter packs, but I'm not one who's complained about algorithms. It very much depends on why and how you use this kind of platform.

Speaking for myself I don't use it to seek out political opinion, religion or debate topics. I do look for verified news sources, for 'this has happened' rather than this is what to think about what happened; customer services and to engage with people who share my hobbies and interests such as the natural world, cookery, photography and different sports. Therefore it's not an echo chamber, it's a sharing and learning experience and as such, I have to say even the later version of Twitter isn't a cesspit on my timeline, but I do find it's a less appealing place than it was pre-Musk.

Calling people looking for topics that they like on SM ‘curating an echo chamber’ instead of just finding stuff they are interested in is bizarre.

It’s like saying that if you go on MN you have to visit EVERY section and thread. If you don’t like dogs but do like watching TV there is nothing wrong with hiding the Doghouse but following Telly Addicts.

@Perfectlystill the difference on Bluesky is there is no algorithm, you only see what people you follow post or repost. So building who you follow is tedious, one by one, you don’t get recommended people. Some people collect groups together into starter packs eg UK journalists, so you can follow all of them in one click if you want. They are whoever has migrated so there are journalists from the Times and FT as well as the Guardian etc. I have to say I haven’t seen any from more right wing papers like the Telegraph or the Sun but if they arrive I will follow them, as I did on twitter, in order to get a breadth of views.

Reform UK has created an account there if you are looking for something less 'leftie'

Interesting, apparently MPs are discussing leaving twitter and some already have. https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/mps-approach-tipping-point-move-away-elon-musk-x

it was terrifyingly brutal moderation of perfectly normal and sane views.

Musks's takeover improved that - he is a free speech absolutist, so you would expect to see things you disagree with. Anything offensive (and I don't honestly see much that is) I simply block and move on. You have to teach the algorithm what you want to see, and you do that by your engagement.

I've been on since 2009, and yes it was "better in the good old days" but the Musk era is much better than the years that went before it when the TRAs behind the scenes controlled all the narrative.

Reform UK and GB news are both on there if you want some right wing balance.

But yes, the starter packs have been very useful in finding people I was already following on Twitter without having to search all of them individually. It’s a bit reductive of people to suggest that all of those people agree all the time.
There is nothing stopping some of the people complaining about Bluesky being an echo chamber joining it and stopping it being an echo chamber. They just aren’t going to get their views amplified for posting something controversial by the algorithm because there isn’t one.

Such tripe. He is absolutely NOT a free speech absolutist. Many views he does not personally agree with have been removed from Twitter.

Yes, Musk is very much in favour of free speech as long as it agrees with his views.

Leaving aside the left/right echo chamber thing because that’s not what everyone uses Twitter for, it just doesn’t work properly anymore. Musk broke it. It wasn’t perfect before Musk but it was more functional.

He's certainly not boosting a plurality of views from what I can see.

Is everyone else now getting massive ads on twitter that cover the entire screen including the tweet you were just trying to read?

Wrong!

oh care to elaborate? Citation needed.

Never deleting mumsnet. This is fucking hilarious. Post of the year!

What makes people like Gertrude even more hilarious than they are, is the fact that they truly don't know they are being hilarious. 🤣

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/08/01/free-speech-absolutist-elon-musk-files-obvious-slapp-suit-against-non-profit-critic/

https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-ngo-antifascist/

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/15/1143291081/twitter-suspends-journalists-elon-musk-jet

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/elon-musk-and-free-speech-track-record-not-encouraging.html

www.vice.com/en/article/x-purges-prominent-journalists-leftists-with-no-explanation/