Elon Musk / Twitter

[Circumferences]

I'm just musing really, seeing as it's looking like Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter, whether this is good news for people with opinions like those on this board, or if it won't make any difference.

EM has strong "free speech" principles so he claims, but is currently based in the extremely problematic (from a GC pov) California. I understand he's moving the company or the factory anyway to Texas because workers rights barely exist there, but HQ would still be in California.

He'll probably keep all the same HQ staff on too, who are openly misogynistic and pro-paedo, who ban us for stating black isn't white and keep violent rape and death threats against us up because "they don't break talk guidelines"...

Anyone know what Elon Musk thinks of GC feminism?

Helen Lewis very excellent on WH and mentioned the issue of misgendering potentially being policed less on twitter as being a potential benefit (amongst many concerns) under its new ownership.

(MN is pretty much unusable today so I don't know if this post will appear five times or not at all...)

I use a pseudonym. Can't take chances after my son was cancelled by his TRA 'friends'. When this madness ends I will leave Twitter again. Already left Reddit and many FB groups.

I laugh at all the so-called left wing (those that kick out other left-wingers for GC views etc) people saying that a lack of censorship is what leads to dictatorships and that's what dictators want. Because Russia, China, North Korea et al are well known for freedom of speech?

There needs to be a crack down on the moderators with political agendas, it is the excessive policing (particularly of those with sensible viewpoints, such as specifying basic biology) that has been the main problem with Twitter.

I laugh at all the so-called left wing (those that kick out other left-wingers for GC views etc) people saying that a lack of censorship is what leads to dictatorships and that's what dictators want. Because Russia, China, North Korea et al are well known for freedom of speech?

There needs to be a crack down on the moderators with political agendas, it is the excessive policing (particularly of those with sensible viewpoints, such as specifying basic biology) that has been the main problem with Twitter.

Also has a temper and once punched a woman.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2075943/amp/Bradley-Manning-trial-Wikileaks-suspect-punched-female-superior.html

I'm just currently enjoying all the hysteria over this. It's popcorn time in the Screaming household!

The Private Eye has a piece in their current issue which makes the point that some of Musk’s own behaviour doesn’t lean towards allowing unfettered free speech.

According to them, Tesla workers were either sacked (or threatened with it, I need to go back and check) for posting their own reviews of Tesla cars.

This is my feeling as well as to where to draw lines. Basically all the classic restriction on speech - libel, defamation, threats of violence, illegal pornographic content, but not anything else.

If Meghan Murphy, KJK and all the other banned women are allowed back on, then I'll probably sign up for it. Am tentatively optimistic about this.

Tbh don't really know what open source means, so who will be against the move & why?

I think it means that the stuff under the bonnet will be put into the public domain. As in: the things Twitter does to suggest other accounts to you to follow, or stories it promotes. But I'm not claiming expertise(!).

I do wonder if it means the number of likes could not be messed about with as easily. I'm sure I've seen it said that tweets are de-boosted for example. Also the spelling of hashtags seems to have sometimes gone awry, or been messed about with.

As far as I know, open source means they share their code. So anyone could use their code on any other platform or to create a new platform.

I am wondering how dissent within Twitter will play out. I think (could be wrong) that he typically builds companies from the ground up - whereas taking over something established is a very different task and internal sabotage and foot dragging is rife in such situations.

"I wonder how dissent will play out?"

Entertainingly, if this is anything to go by:

"Democrats are reportedly concerned that Donald Trump will soon return to Twitter following Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover.
The social media giant has blocked its junior staff from making changes to its website, amid reports the atmosphere at the social media giant is “absolutely insane”.
Tweaks to the platform code will need approval from senior staff, according to reports, as the buyout by the world’s richest man sent some staff into despair.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” one staff member told the New York Times, adding “I hate [Musk], why does he even want this?”."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/04/26/markets-live-latest-coronavirus-news-pound-euro-ftse-1008/

I think this is Musk's MO. He buys successful companies and products. He bought out Tesla too and there was a lot of resistance at the time (I think partly because of his union- breaking activities). So I think he will take over twitter and make sure it does what he wants it to do. He's set out his stall in terms of free speech so I'm hopeful the banning of women will stop and MM, KJK etc will be welcomed back.

It sounds like the twitterati is having a meltdown! Lots of flouncing and a lot more threats to flounce. They won't all go because they're all addicted. I might sign up though.

It's going to be unpopular as it it will be proof that Twitter's algorithm isn't "fair". There's long been suspicions that staff manipulate the trends and shadow ban people with views that don't align with Twitter staff. Account bans are also random - it's ok to issue rape threats but not call Lia Thomas male.

This is a survey so people might be too embarrassed to admit that they donated to the Republicans party but this chart suggests major staff political bias

Needmoresleep
I thought he has said that he will do more verification of users, so less trolling. "Everyone will be a blue tick".

If he does that, while I agree that there will be less trolling, I also think it will drive a lot of women (including me) off the the platform, for fear of real world trolling...

There are many ways to verify. It doesn't necessarily mean a loss of anonymity. He later clarified jokingly it would be a green tick as he didn't mean verfication in the same way as the current blue tick.

You can verify that the user is a person without making them use their real name.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” one staff member told the New York Times, adding “I hate [Musk], why does he even want this?”."

They sound like children. I suppose that's what Twitter's done to the discourse though.

Twitter could hardly get any worse. I expect nothing from Musk but this performative wailing and gnashing of teeth seems deluded.

Sadiq Khan has weighed in:

twitter.com/SadiqKhan/status/1518890999401140224
"Free speech cannot mean a free pass for hatred. We must not forget the impacts of online hate speech, which fans the flames of prejudice and leads to appalling and tragic real-world violence. Social media companies must do more, not less, to protect their communities."

The first reply:

twitter.com/esjayXX/status/1518934384111460352
"374 women banned for understanding biology. We keep receipts."

While I'm here, Khan is also busy celebrating lesbian visibility day, seemingly without irony:

twitter.com/SadiqKhan/status/1518929994990370816
"On #LesbianVisibilityDay we’re proudly flying the Lesbian Pride flag from City Hall - to celebrate London’s lesbian communities and their contributions to our city’s past and present."

Sadiq Khan is an idiot. Posters all over London telling people staring is illegal and ‘hate speech’ will be reported, while shitty housing, crime, wages, transport and traffic make the city a dump.

I fully expect that a Must-owned Twtitter will be the end of hammerbans for posters observing that female is a material biological reality.

Not giving him a pass, but one reason for the popularity of publicly supporting transactivism is that it is very cheap for employers and for the governments, whereas addressing sex discrimination would not be cheap at all.

Gestures like the ones you describe cost almost nothing, but actually doing something about housing, crime, traffic etc. would be very expensive. Politicians love doing stuff which looks good and costs them nothing.

‘Gestures like the ones you describe cost almost nothing, but actually doing something about housing, crime, traffic etc. would be very expensive. Politicians love doing stuff which looks good and costs them nothing.’

Yes, that’s true.

Politicians love doing stuff which looks good and costs them nothing.
^^
Fees aside, this is basically the SW diversity champions scheme! Posing with flags and posting tweets.

So many companies banging on about inclusion and ‘love being love’, then you do a quick Google and they’re stripping out gay or Black people from their content in China, or running their business with a male-only board in the Middle East. Hypocrites.