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?

@BewareTheLibrarians I will check that out and see if that helps, thanks!

I think the thing for everyone to remember is, Elon wants to make money and to do that he needs as much content as possible with as many people as possible. He’s chosen the controversial path of stirring up theories about Hunter Biden, bringing back Trump etc etc. sadly it doesn’t quite chime with what advertisers want to be associated with.

The public like Twitter because it’s a simple way of communicating and reading about the world in real time, which other social media outlets haven’t mastered.

As is always the case in capitalism, what individuals want and what business owners want don’t always align!

The funniest part of it is that Musk didn't actually want to buy Twitter in the first place - it all started in a similar vein to Trump saying he'd buy Greenland. He was just trying to stir up trouble, to try to force them to allow more behaviour along his own political lines...that's why he kept throwing up spurious excuses as to how bad the bot problem was (for example), so he could get information on it out of them and then publicise it. Of course, you can only do that if you're actually serious about buying, which he wasn't...

...and then the courts forced him to buy it, which has exposed the fact that he hasn't got the first clue what he's doing. He fired a bunch of the most experienced C-Suite folk in the industry, and a couple more left, and now he can't do the one thing that's saved all the businesses he's bought into in the past - hire people who know more than him to make it work in spite of his behaviour.

What we're seeing is somebody who has no experience in software management, social media platform provision, or large-scale platform management try to micromanage all of these things and trying to show the world he's amazing at everything, while the world's watching with nowhere to hide.

I think it's hilarious. I mean...he never even understood the one critical part of Twitter (that a lot of folk here seem to miss too) - it actually panders to neither side of the political divide, but rather focuses your feed on the things most likely to make you engage. That means polarisation - you'll be shown stuff that either makes you very happy or very angry, and nothing in between.

That's why the left always think the place is a cesspit of ultra-right-wing nutcases, and the right think its a censorship-heavy cesspit of ultra-left-wing lunatics.

it actually panders to neither side of the political divide, but rather focuses your feed on the things most likely to make you engage

The issue is not what it shows you, but the accounts it bans versus those that it let stands

Yes if this term is gaining ground now it’s somewhat galling as GC women / women in general have been dealing with this anyway before Musk.

Women have been silenced over it which adds to the despair

I’d be super interested to read the qualifications of any “business analyst” who thinks it is good practice to fire 75% if a company’s staff when you take it over.

I’m really struggling to think of another time when this has happened - most takeovers spend a lot of time and money maintaining continuity and ensuring they don’t lose organisational knowledge.

Was this an actual business analyst, or some random Elon techbro fanboy?

I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing where it goes. I don't know.

The people talking trash are doing it elsewhere very effectively. It doesn't go away when people can't see it.

If it's public it can get ratiod to hell and back as people display to the wider world what cesspool their minds are. And we can all tell them.

@SantaCarlaCalifornia

If you've been reading the releases, you'll see that they did in fact also take things down in response to requests from the Trump White House.

It's also worth remembering that

1. Trump's own intelligence services believed the laptop story to likely be a piece of Russian disinformation.
2. Hunter Biden was a private citizen, not running for office.
3. Posting naked pictures without consent is extremely problematic.

which has exposed the fact that he hasn't got the first clue what he's doing[....]no experience in software management, social media platform provision, or large-scale platform management try to micromanage all of these things and trying to show the world he's amazing at everything, while the world's watching with nowhere to hide
Isnt it just GLORIOUS to watch, the richest man in the world gets himself in the shit and he just keeps on digging
oh how the mighty fall😂😂

Was this an actual business analyst, or some random Elon techbro fanboy?
suspect that no matter how solid the credentials Melon would dismiss anyone who says anything which pricks his wafer thin massive ego bubble, so inevitably the only people who can get heard are fanboy acolytes?

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?

If this is the case, are the people who are getting uptight about far right accounts being reinstated fine with ISIS and Al Qaeda being allowed? Why are they only making a fuss now?
Either all extremists should be allowed or none. I presume they all have the usual monitoring when they are active.

This. Freedom of speech is important. Maybe people can develop some critical thinking skills again rather than simply banning everything they don’t like.

I actually find it quite amusing that the terrorists manage to behave according to the rules of the platform, but the POTUS of the time couldn't. That's why they didn't get rid of the ISIS folk at the time - they don't ban people according to who they are, just what they do.

yes, I don't get why Isis etc were allowed an account though.

Well, Sinn Fein can have one, so... ;)

But what are/were the rules of the platform? You have to wonder if they were subject to the same rules as people have said serious threats against “terfs” have been left, yet things not even half as bad said by the “terfs” (no death threats or inciting violence) have got them banned.

I neither know much nor care enough about TERFs to find out - I regard them in the same way I would anybody who has "exclusionary" or similar in their definition.

However, the rules of the platform are easy enough to dig out:

help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-rules

You'll note the inclusion of "terrorism". That's the key in figuring this one out...the rules are about what's said on the platform - and because the ISIS et al accounts don't outright espouse terrorist acts, they remain on the platform. TERFs, however, appear to regularly break several rules (hate speech, abuse, harassment etc), and so they inevitably get banned.

TERF is a slur, derogatory towards women and people who believe in biological reality. Megan Murphy, a Canadian feminist was banned from Twitter for saying “yeah that’s him” about this guy:

https://mirandayardley.com/en/jonathan-yaniv-is-a-predator/

Her account was only reinstated last week.

Meanwhile, here are some examples of what’s been allowed to stand as abuse towards JK Rowling:

https://medium.com/@rebeccarc/j-k-rowling-and-the-trans-activists-a-story-in-screenshots-78e01dca68d

You'll note the inclusion of "terrorism". That's the key in figuring this one out...the rules are about what's said on the platform - and because the ISIS et al accounts don't outright espouse terrorist acts, they remain on the platform. TERFs, however, appear to regularly break several rules (hate speech, abuse, harassment etc), and so they inevitably get banned.

Yet threats against them remain. Strange. And as PP says, they are not exclusionary of anything, that’s just the stupid term used by dimwits to describe people who believe in biological reality.

TERFs, however, appear to regularly break several rules (hate speech, abuse, harassment etc), and so they inevitably get banned.

'TERFs' have been banned for stating biological reality, suggesting that puberty blockers for children should be scrutinised, standing up for women's representation in sport, advocating for vulnerable women who's safety and dignity depend on maintaining single sex spaces.

Is that 'hate speech' or abuse do you think? Please elaborate on your views.

THIS ⬆

Twitter will just lurch from one extreme to another.

So, Musk has been castiagted by the great and the good for firing three of the heads of trust and safety at Twitter. Many people pointed out these these so called heads of trust and safety did nothing to stem the tide of child abuse available on the platform. We were all told it was more complicated than it seems, and we little folk wouldn't understand how it all works.

Well, the latest is that one of those fired, one Yoel Roth, wote a thesis in which he argued gay hookup app Grindr be made accessible to underage boys. You read that correctly, he wanted adult men to be able to contact underage kids through Grindr. This is one of the people in charge of Twitter trust and safety, overseeing the platform when it was awash with child porn.

Now that this has come to light, Penn State University have withdrawn access to the thesis (which I am sure breaks some law or rule) but the internet being the internet, you can still read it here to make up your own minds.

twitter.com/Brick_Suit/status/1601817409442050048

uploads-ssl.webflow.com/60981d118b006454de9222b2/61d364a68536fc3f5cf77933_Roth-Dissertation.pdf

‘says so on the thread”.

Riiiight, so a thread on Twitter about how great the new owner is should be treated as 100% accurate. Gotcha 😉

Who knows what the truth is these days but I know for sure you need to check multiple news sources before even starting to believe anything and for that reason YABU.

I wouldn't come on to a thread about the leaks on twitter and pretend it could be fake .... it makes you look very partisan and to put it bluntly have obviously no clue about the situation.

You could post some articles from these 'multiple news sources' that refute the leaks are false, especially considering they are Slak dumps

You are still at 'this didn't happen' stage, most shitlibs have moved onto 'it did happen and this is why it's good' and have moved on from the argument of thinking that Elon is a saviour.

If you want to supply some articles that prove the leaks to be false then feel free, there is a lot of people scrambling around in the US at the minute so if you have the smoking gun you could make a new career..

Riiiight, so a thread on Twitter about how great the new owner is should be treated as 100% accurate. Gotcha 😉

No. I didn't say that. Why are you pretending I did? Can you quote which part makes you think I said that anything on the thread should be treated as "100% accurate". The thread also isn't about how "great the owner is" it's about CSE, and possible vote interference, neither which I see you don't bother to address. To busy be sneering and "clever" to actually engage in the point of the thread and say anything worthwhile. This is why I just couldn't be arsed to come back to my own thread yesterday. The silly snark, the exaggerating and at times actual lies and twisting of what people say, when throughout I was nothing but respectful to anyone who replied to me and trying to keep the discussion on track. It's just so fucking tedious having to deflect all that constantly. The ability to have any kind of decent discussion on MN is pretty much dead. I think I am just too old for SM tbh. Maybe I should give myself a big break from it for Christmas 🤶🏻 ✌🏻