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Twitter blocks visitors. How to maintain information flow? [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-06-30
Many Kossacks have expressed irritation with Daily Kos for continuing to link Tweets. They argue that Elon Musk is a Very Bad Person who is quite friendly with white supremacists and neo-Nazis and that linking to his site generates money for him and his Very Bad Causes.
It’s hard to argue that Musk other than a Very Bad Person who does Very Bad Things. However, I have pointed out Twitter’s business model, at least as recently as the end of last year, involves selling ads and user data. So, if one blocks ads and fingerprinters, one gives Musk no money. In fact, one is getting information for free at his expense.
Well, apparently he has figured this out. As of this morning, login to Twitter is required to read Tweets. Musk is apparently trying to block bots that scrape information. However, as TechCrunch notes, this could backfire:
it’s possible that this is a tactic to force silent lurkers into creating an account. Like many of Twitter’s recent changes, this could easily backfire. If tweets aren’t publicly accessible, search engine algorithms could rank the site’s content lower, meaning that fewer people would be directed to the site from Google. Also, it’s just kind of annoying.
In other words, he could lose not just lurkers, but current members who post infrequently, and simply don’t want to take the time to sign in.
In the past, this has happened and workarounds have been discovered. Or maybe, as has happened so often, Musk will just change his mind. If people learn of any, feel free to post. Or, if you know of key people who have already made provisions against the day, provide their mastodon, post, or bluesky addresses and I will promote them.
In a world in which most media is owned by conservative or even pro-authoritarian sources, Twitter going dark is a serious blow to activism. Now, it may hurt the right even more than it hurts the rest of us, but our resources are very thin.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/30/2178601/-Twitter-blocks-visitors-How-to-maintain-information-flow
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