Musk Takes 9.2% Stake In Twitter

[ua_guy]

Hopefully he shows up Friday or when the deal is closed with cleaning products to signify how he is going to clean up/fire the dead weight that is eating up hundreds of millions of dollars in that company.

I hope those people who snuff out free speech are scared for their jobs...although they'll just head to another tech company and pollute that too.

The first amendment doesn't apply to a social media platform. That's where you're just wrong.

[james.hendrickson]

The first amendment doesn't apply to a social media platform. That's where you're just wrong.

That's right ua_guy. And free speech is a important check on social pathology. Stifling or controlling speech limits people's ability to correctly judge the truth of a given question - and accordingly to correct any errors that may be occurring.

[ua_guy]

That's right ua_guy. And free speech is a important check on social pathology. Stifling or controlling speech limits people's ability to correctly judge the truth of a given question - and accordingly to correct any errors that may be occurring.

The idea is not lost on me, but let's be clear, the First Amendment does not require the owners of Twitter to let people post whatever they want, for all to read, just as you, as a moderator, are not required to let me post this.

The argument that this is about free speech is incorrect. The argument is about political content moderation, and that is the right of the platform owner. The fact that this mostly concerns people who are still mad that Twitter 86'ed Donald Trump and homeopathic Covid cures is telling: They are claiming an illegitimate "right" to be heard on someone else's platform. They went and created their own, but they discovered it's just not popular and doesn't have much influence.

NOTE: Political comment edited by moderator.

[disneysteve]

the First Amendment does not require the owners of Twitter to let people post whatever they want

So many people love to shout about their Constitutional rights being violated despite having no understanding of what the Constitution actually says.

[kork13]

My greater concern with Twitter, Facebook, and other major social media services is their exploitation by foreign governments to conduct influence/information operations (propaganda, in various forms). Whether as a tactic for political, geopolitical, scam/fraud, or basic sales purposes, it's dishonest, deceitful, and destructive. So all of the fake/bot accounts that exist on all of the various social media platforms do need to be far better controlled. Any company that wields a high degree of public influence has an ethical responsibility, even if not a legal/regulatory retirement, to prevent exploitation of that influence against the good of society.

In any case, Musk has completed his deal & emptied half of the C-Suite offices. What he does with the place remains to be seen. He's a technocrat, albeit an attention-seeking loudmouth as well.

[james.hendrickson]

My greater concern with Twitter, Facebook, and other major social media services is their exploitation by foreign governments to conduct influence/information operations (propaganda, in various forms). Whether as a tactic for political, geopolitical, scam/fraud, or basic sales purposes, it's dishonest, deceitful, and destructive. So all of the fake/bot accounts that exist on all of the various social media platforms do need to be far better controlled. Any company that wields a high degree of public influence has an ethical responsibility, even if not a legal/regulatory retirement, to prevent exploitation of that influence against the good of society.

I'm with you 100% on this Kork. People don't realize it, but foreign governments are using social media to sway US public opinion.

[kork13]

I'm with you 100% on this Kork. People don't realize it, but foreign governments are using social media to sway US public opinion.

It's not only done influencing the US, but their own people, their neighbors, and anyone else. If they can get any country anywhere to support or even simply condone or allow their authoritarian behaviors, it's a win for them... And a loss for free peoples everywhere.

[rennigade]

Glad to see Vijaya gadde escorted off Twitter grounds. Couldn't have happened to a better person.

[rennigade]

It's not only done influencing the US, but their own people, their neighbors, and anyone else. If they can get any country anywhere to support or even simply condone or allow their authoritarian behaviors, it's a win for them... And a loss for free peoples everywhere.

People refuse to get it through their heads how much influence these tech companies possess. Guess the general population wasn't ready for Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Also, why are people so upset about Elon owning twitter now. He wants to eliminate as many bots as possible, allow a platform that encourages free speech. Continue to eliminate hate speech and violence and trim the fat of too many employees who arent needed. Whats the issue?

[ua_guy]

Twitter has a product problem and everyone knows it, bots. Once that's formally quantified and acknowledged in a meaningful way, Twitter loses a non-ignorable portion of its user base, and theoretically becomes less attractive as a service on which to sell ads or mine user data. Those are the only way it's generated a profit, occasionally, in the past. Hype about Cybertrucks or personal space travel isn't going to boost share price here, so what is Musk's plan for profitability?

There's also the problems of polarization and the general interest of younger and middle-aged populations in platforms like Twitter. Musk can't allow the kind of "free speech" some of his new followers are hoping for. Companies won't want to be associated with spending their ad revenue there, and many users are opposed to having what some consider "free speech" on the platform (political lies, misinformation, harmful speech) and they'll take off too.

Musk has a talent problem now too. He started cleaning house yesterday which is a dangerous move. Anyone who knows Silicon Valley knows that a tech company exists because of its culture and the talent it can retain. If you can't get talent to work there or investors to pour in heavily, you won't have a service. Truth social knows this, Parler knows this, and Elon Musk acting like a bull in a China shop over at Twitter is about to find out.

[ua_guy]

The other perspective is this could work out fine for Twitter and Musk will magically strike a balance as its new moderator-in-chief and turn a profit. Maybe it's just me, but I'm skeptical since he is reportedly a tyrant behind closed doors, and has fired his own employees for things they've said (so much for fostering free speech!).

[ua_guy]

Glad to see Vijaya gadde escorted off Twitter grounds. Couldn't have happened to a better person.

Savor the feeling. It's the same thing most of us felt when she kicked some people off of Twitter's platform for lying. That's how I know this isn't about free speech for most people, it's about getting revenge, and over-indexing the other way.. Musk wasn't popular with "that" crowd for a long time - he was a green energy, EV-building, rich elitist to them until he started running his mouth and dangling the possibility they could secure their base again on a popular platform. It's probably only a matter of time before Musk gets more involved in politics.

[myrdale]

Musk wasn't popular with "that" crowd for a long time - he was a green energy, EV-building, rich elitist to them until he started running his mouth and dangling the possibility they could secure their base again on a popular platform. It's probably only a matter of time before Musk gets more involved in politics.

"that" crowd views him as a capitalist. If he can turn a profit on green energy or electric vehicles, then he is doing something right. I don't understand exactly what a "rich elitist" is. He is successful in what he does and he is rewarded with money for being successful. Granted it is several orders of magnitude greater than what we see in our lives, but it is not so different.

[ua_guy]

GM (General Motors) suspended advertising on Twitter today until more is known about how Musk intends to run the platform.

I can’t make this stuff up. It’s already happening.

[disneysteve]

GM (General Motors) suspended advertising on Twitter today until more is known about how Musk intends to run the platform.

I can’t make this stuff up. It’s already happening.

Makes sense. Why spend money to advertise through a service that is owned by a competitor.