to think Elon Musk is shining direct sunlight on a very grubby state of affairs?

[LondonWolf]

Just staggered at what's coming out tbh. When he first bought Twitter there were several lengthy threads on here lamenting that Twitter would soon move to the Right and be full of hate. Now it appears that no one was bothering to work on child protection, child sexual abuse and exploitation routinely unaddressed, and Twitter employees were working directly with the FBI and government to censor stories some which arguably had direct impacts on how people would vote. Are there any threads on here discussing what's coming out like there were screening about how horrific it was all going to be, because I can't see any?

None of this surprises me

I was very confused by the outrage on Musk taking over Twitter.

I think we have hit the point where so many people see political agendas that might not be there, it's too confusing to take the opinion of most people, apart from your trusted view.

OP I remember having a chat here about the term "dog whistle" and thinking, at last, a sane political chat.

Have a look at the fragrant Melissa, who was involved in vetting foreign ie non US political ‘ news’ for ‘truth’.

I think it's a lazy term personally with little meaning and cones straight out of cancel culture, which I can't support.

So it's a choice between neo nazis under Elon or violent misogynists and paedohiles under Jack.

I'm not sure which is worse

That's where I stand too @SmartWatch

I genuinely did want a discussion, for example the post detailing who has been let back on. I wasn't aware of them in particular, now I am. However I am also aware of multiple brave men and women who were banned and "cancelled" for saying things like "Men Can't Be Women Tho" and who are now gradually being let back on. It feels like he's trying to restore balance and I believe he is a free speech absolutist as am I so I am very interested to see how it all plays out. As ever though snark and bristling at the slightest whiff of disagreement seems to be the order of the day.

OP I remember having a chat here about the term "dog whistle" and thinking, at last, a sane political chat.

I remember too

It's very important to realise that this misunderstood genius is saving the world!!!
in about 6 months time we will all be able to go and live on a lovely colony on Mars🍋
(And don't listen to all those lies about Tesla cars exploding in flames etc)
And of course this is nonsense, he loves animals
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/06/elon-musk-neuralink-animal-creulty/

I'll meet you on the roof, just need to pop out to Tesco to get enough tin foil for all of us.

It's been absolutely a private fiefdom of self selecting bigotry and control for a while.

That is now being exposed, as OP says. What happens next will at least be very visible, I think.
No more pretence that Twitter allows free speech and protects minorities.
A more accountable, reduced governance is how it looks at the moment.

If it's the Wild West, it should be equally wild for everyone, no protection of some at the expense of others.
If it's to be tightly modded, then the terms should be transparent so we all know what's allowed and what's not and it's applied evenly.

So now we wait.

I think he's maybe best described as a maverick, someone with an unusual set of talents which can be very valuable but also someone unbalanced, should not be in charge of anything without there being extensive guardrails, should not be given free rein

You think that CSE on Twitter is "tin foil hat" territory? I've no idea, though have seen many accounts of it being so and also seen evidential tweets at time. Why do you think that? Genuine question.

This is where I stand too. I just like balance. Isn't that the ideal? I genuinely did go looking for a thread before starting this as I had seen several against EM so wanted to see if the most recent releases were being discussed. I'm finding the whole thing fascinating.

No I don't think CSE is tin foil hat territory on the contrary it's been pretty front and centre in quite strange ways c.f. that recent campaign ad. But I do think it's very easy to slip into tin foil hat territory when it comes to these things. I mean honestly it is.

I'm not sure why people think Musk is in bed with the "far right".

Is it not ridiculous that under previous ownership the President of the USA was banned but the heads of ISIS and Al Qaeda were allowed? Trump is a massive twat but not the leader of a mass murdering death cult.

Actual neo nazis on Twitter participating openly in stochastic terrorism is fine because “I just like balance”. Let’s not even delve into the links between the far right and transphobia, and the far right and child sexual exploitation.

@roarfeckingroarr did you miss my post at 11:22, or just not think that qualifies as being in bed with the far right?

You’re glad that racist, homophobic and anti semitic attacks have increased? Can you say why?

You do that after some time to work out who’s worth keeping. Anyone who does it immediately is an egomaniac who thinks they know better without full experience.

Twitter is a private company - people forget that. If anyone thinks Elon is some sort of white in shining armour needs to have a strong word with themselves.

Oh I agree but I do thing there's some weight in the accounts on that thread. I find the Balenciaga situation completely baffling. How did they think they'd get away with it? Happy to be corrected but I have never seen anything like that before, so overt, do you think it was signed off on in full awareness. Initially I was inclined to think it was a couple of stylists who got completely carried away and wanted to see how far they could go in the name of "art" but 🤷🏼‍♀️

That’s just bullshit!

That’s just bullshit!

It's not entirely though. Have you been reading the releases via Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss?

I work for a Bay area company, and I didn't get the shreiking of 'right wing takeover' of twitter when Elon bought it out.

Everyone kind of new there was questionable moderation policies in place and those had become political in tone.

Twitter has to make money, so they gotta mod, it isn't just a public square it's a big corporation and engineered system (private company can do what it wants) , and those take money to run.

But what highlighting is the regular cadence of deep state meetings. At some point that meeting becomes collusion between the US federal government and private companies to effect speech suppression. Activity that would absolutely violate the 1st Amendment if it were the government's finger on the mouse button. And I'm not sure that the government exercising that (unconstitutional) power by proxy through a tech company is something that people are happy about.

It might seem cool when it happens to Trump, but it is definitely not limited to him, or even to right-wing positions.

As for the CSE, it doesn't surprise me. It was constently flagged, Tumblr used to be awash with it as well back in the day

I've got to take my dd to buy a Christmas jumper now 🙄 so not abandoning the thread. Will check in later.

This. It is very worrying. I am sure Twitter had blind spots and bad practice before Elon Musk, but the idea that he is going to change it for the better is laughable.