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F@#! Twitter [1]
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Date: 2022-12-17
Live by the sword, die by the sword
Okay, I get. Twitter has evolved into a global town square, a platform for journalists and public figures to disseminate information, an essential tool for social justice campaigns around the world. Now an overgrown adolescent with too much money and obvious self-esteem issues has sent this online resource-for-the-greater-good on a path likely to see it disintegrate into a cesspool of hate and misinformation, if it survives at all. If New Owner’s erratic and capricious management style isn’t bad enough, hypocritical actions such as welcoming back previously banned toxic figures while simultaneously removing his critics make a mockery of his pronouncement he’s a “free speech absolutist”.
My overall reaction? If Twitter disappears tomorrow, I won’t miss it.
I’m sure I’m not the only middle-aged man who regards social media as a necessary evil. I’m active on LinkedIn, have a YouTube account, and spend as much time on Daily Kos as I do with my emails. But I have steadfastly refused to do much with Facebook (and FB-owned Instagram and WhatsApp), succumbing to pressure to get a FB page but quickly deleting it. Twice. Luckily too old to even consider TikTok, and not at all surprised there’s serious talk of banning it*.
Twitter posed a dilemma. I eventually got Twittered, but only so I could access Twitter threads I saw embedded on websites and blogs I regularly read. Maybe tweeted 20-30 times in the four years I’ve had an account, tops. Somehow found out I had more than one account when I deleted I thought was the single account I had and still kept getting emails. Probably visited Twitter more in the year I’ve been on DK than the entire time I’ve had a Twitter account.
Didn’t know hardly dididly-squat about Twitter until You-Know-Who insisted we would all begin our day with his latest Tweet Rage S-Storm. Why major media outlets allowed This Person to use Twitter as an organ to broadcast (his idea of) official U.S. policy is beyond me, but it ironically worked out well for both sides. Media outlets got ratings (CNN down 70% since It left WH), fascists nearly staged a successful coup.
The only reason I even remotely cared about Musk’s takeover of Twitter is how loudly he signaled his intent to allow the return of hate speech and misinformation. In that he hasn’t disappointed. But besides the obvious damage Twitter and other social media platforms have done to public discourse, I look forward to the day Twitter either disappears or somehow Musk gives it up to more responsible hands. Either way, I’m good. If it does survive as an Elon-joint, what needs to happen goes far beyond Twitter.
In the end it’s not reasonable for us to expect private companies to live up to any expectations other than those of shareholders and managers. If we want a public town square let’s establish one, keeping in mind “public” means it’s owned by All of Us, i.e. the government. Even (so-called) non-profits eventually develop some level of self-interested agendas. To demand a private business has the public good as a foundational principle (wouldn’t that be nice?) is at best naïve at and in the long run certainly bound to disappoint most who try. That’s one reason DK gets #respect for building an audience with a definite political direction and culture of civil discourse. Whether it’s DK moderation, user culture, or both, seems to work most of the time.
DK-ers often point out Elon’s idea of “free speech” is basically incorrect, as the term refers to restrictions government places on free and open speech, however offensive. I think many people like Elon confuse the old & familiar Equal Time provision for broadcasters to give time to opposing viewpoints with the idea that any information platform or publicly available forum must allow anyone to say anything. Someone with more knowledge would have to provide detailed description of how the law has changed since internet, but free speech certainly doesn’t prohibit a privately-owned company from establishing rules and standards of use. And I’d probably have to be a lawyer to explain why a city ordinance banning sale of pornography isn’t the same legal issue as an online platform like Twitter establishing and enforcing use standards. Libel and defamation laws require all publications to make sure they don’t knowingly disseminate false information, but that doesn’t legally require them to give space to every opinion or point-of-view.
I know 1st hand how some people will assume they have a right to say and do anything anywhere at any time. In my previous work life as a performing musician, hecklers or people who wanted to disrupt the show did happen occasionally. “Get your own nightclub/concert hall,” we’d tell them. In 25 years no less than three times I had someone jump on stage in-between songs and try to perform for the audience. Using Elon’s idea of free speech, I suppose I would have had to let them go on with the show.
So now we have in Musk someone like TFG, intoxicated with the attention lavished on him, racking his brain for new and ever-erratic ways to keep his name on the tips of our tongues. I think I’ll have to do with Elon what many on DK suggest we do with Previous Guy- stop giving them the oxygen. There may be a paradox posting a DK diary about Twitter containing the case for why we all should decrease clicks about Elon, ‘cuz at this point it’s not clear we can talk about one without mentioning the other. Since I wasn’t tweeting much anyways I’ll wait to see Mastodon threads embedded in DK diaries I need access to before attempting to learn this new method/system of info sharing supporting it.
I even bore myself when I say yet once again we’ve put false expectations in the capacity of profit-driven enterprise to consider public good. There’s a persistent belief in a benign, market-friendly form of human-centered values owners of capital will tolerate, should allow. And they do sometimes to limited degree, usually from prolonged efforts on the part of those who champion humanity. Twitter has helped promote the cause of democracy and freedom, shouldn’t that be enough to rescue it from the clutches of a proto-fascist billionaire?
No. Let Elon have Twitter. If he loses the whole $44B, gets driven away from Telsa and SpaceX, loses 80-90% of his fortune, he’ll still be a billionaire. He’s really rich. Imagine what Former Dude probably owes to Russian mobsters about 40x. Rather than invest time saving Twitter, I’d prefer helping Musk burn it down faster and move on. I wasn’t such a big fan of Twitter to begin with. There, said it.
What Twitter has demonstrated is the potential, nay need, for the digital public square. I’d prefer building (more like demand) digital public squares really belonging to us. It’s unlikely any post Twitter-like platform can be all things to all people, another reason Mastodon looks like the next most likely candidate. Ironically, it could happen a fully or partly publicly owned Twitter-type platform would face a deluge of lawsuits blocking any attempt at developing or enforcing standards.
The obvious danger of New Twitter is the proven ability of neo-fascist/white supremacist/hate groups/etc. to exploit social media platforms. I see the possible implosion of Twitter as an opportunity to bring more accountability to all of them. It’s not about censorship. Any online platform (including live video gaming) is akin to publishing and should- and considering the differences in technology- follow similar logic when establishing rules and standards. This should be a kind-of baseline. I know setting up the way it would all work IRL takes time, but we’ll have to get started sooner or later.
* Forget about spying. TikTok is the primary online platform used by America’s youth. It would be naïve to think China won’t do something with that.
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