Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[OttoVonBismarck]

Also as for Mastodon--for the purposes of Twitter it should be considered "not a thing."

Mastodon is a fundamentally different technology and product than Twitter. Mastodon is a federation of independently owned and operated servers. No company owns it, and the codebase is entirely open source and cannot be owned. Each server operator is entirely "King of the Castle" with no one who has the ability to regulate them--with one sole exception, if other server operators deem another server operator is running a server they don't want to be federated with, they can block it. This ends up being very common.

That means Mastodon is actually a patchwork of small, only partially connected servers.

Worse, user registration is per server--and you have no recourse if a server operator shuts down the server your account is on--your account is just gone. You also have no recourse if they randomly decide they do not like you and ban you--you cannot migrate to another server, you have to create a whole new account.

Let's imagine a scenario where you are on mastodon.social, the Mastodon server operated by the guy who runs the Mastodon open source project. It is one of the larger servers--with around 250,000 users. But it is also closed to new registrations. Why? Because it costs money to operate a server with lots of users, and Mastodon has no business model, each server is supported by the generosity of the server operator and whatever means they can find to raise money--which is usually soliciting donations through Patreon or a similar service. The server operator of mastodon.social is working to expand the capacity now.

But think about that--the very biggest Mastodon server is 250,000 and is scraping pennies together to afford upping its capacity. Twitter has a userbase of 400m or so. On top of all that, the biggest Mastodon server is also seen as "problematic" by a lot of servers in the "Fediverse" (the term for the universe of all Mastodon servers.) It is mostly because as the biggest Mastodon server, it also has the greatest raw number of trolls and "problem users." And because it is entirely volunteer ran, and until recently I think only had like 3 people helping run it, it was not "well moderated." So lots of other servers in the Fediverse have long blocked mastodon.social. I have noticed several blue checkmark types who have publicly said they are leaving Twitter migrated to mastodon.social accounts, I presume because they understood it was the largest Mastodon server and ran by the guy who maintains the project. They are probably unaware that many other users of Mastodon will never be able to see their Mastodon posts because they are on a server that is blocked by a large chunk of the Fediverse.

The only way Mastodon could really replicate Twitter would be for a single Mastodon server to grow big enough to host a Twitter sized audience--which would cost many tens of millions of dollars a year, bare minimum, to operate. You would need a big company to afford and operate that...which now we're back with all the "negatives" of Twitter--that it's controlled by a big company, possibly owned by a single rich person, who may have harmful inclinations.

Mastodon seems like a decently maintained open source project--and it probably has some application; I can imagine using it for operating small private networks (or intranet social networks inside a company), and maybe it being a home for niche communities--like Languish could probably operate as a Mastodon server, and would certainly be blocked by much of the Fediverse I'm sure. But it is almost antithetical by design to being able to be what Twitter is, which is a fully single and connected network that has really large scale. Mastodon is almost designed to inhibit such a large network.

[Josquius]

One thing I've heard on twitter is amidst the firings in America they're hiring a lot in Japan and seem to be pivoting towards being more of a Japanese company: for various reasons twitter being far bigger over there.
Heard ought of this?
I do like the thought of this happening. I miss the days where different countries had unique social media. And as you say twitter isn't going to just vanish :MySpace still exists afterall.

[The Larch]

And now it seems that Musk has moved into "blanket amnesty" for all historical Twitter malcontents.

Elon Musk offers general amnesty to suspended Twitter accounts
Poll organised by new owner backed reopening accounts, leading to fears 'superspreaders of hate' will return to social media platform

Elon Musk has announced a general amnesty for suspended Twitter accounts in a move that brought a warning that "superspreaders of hate" will return to the social media platform.

Twitter's new owner said an amnesty for blocked users would begin next week after a majority of votes in a poll on his account backed the move. Accounts suspended on Twitter include Donald Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon, rightwing UK commentator Katie Hopkins and David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard.

Musk had launched a poll on Wednesday asking if a general amnesty should be offered to accounts provided they have not "broken the law or engaged in egregious spam". Musk did not specify which laws he meant. More than 3.1m votes were recorded by the poll, with 72% in favour of an amnesty.

Announcing the result, Musk tweeted: "The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week." He added "Vox Populi, Vox Dei", a Latin phrase meaning "the voice of the people [is] the voice of God."

Musk's announcement came days after he reinstated Trump's account as well as the accounts for Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate – whose extreme misogynistic views led to a Twitter ban in 2017 – and the unlocking of the account for US rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, who was sanctioned last month for posting antisemitic comments.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate, a campaign group, said "superspreaders" of hateful content would benefit from the move and urged advertisers, many of whom have already paused spending on the platform, to stop funding Twitter.

"Superspreaders of hate, abuse and harassment will be the only people to benefit from this latest decision by Twitter," said Imran Ahmed, chief executive of CCDH. "The choice for advertisers has never been starker: stick around and back Elon Musk, or protect their brands and ensure their marketing dollars aren't used to enable the spread of hate, abuse and disinformation."

Angelo Carusone, president of US campaign group Media Matters, which monitors "conservative misinformation", said reversing the suspensions would turn Twitter into an "engine of radicalization".

This week Musk ruled out the return of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has promoted the false claim that the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax, saying he had "no mercy" for people who capitalise on the deaths of children for personal fame. Other banned Twitter accounts include the rightwing writer Milo Yiannopoulos and former BBC presenter David Icke.

Musk had previously said there would be no account reinstatements until a newly announced content moderation council had met. However, the Tesla CEO then said human rights groups "broke the deal" by urging advertisers to halt spending on the platform.

[HVC]

And now it seems that Musk has moved into "blanket amnesty" for all historical Twitter malcontents.

Musk had previously said there would be no account reinstatements until a newly announced content moderation council had met. However, the Tesla CEO then said human rights groups "broke the deal" by urging advertisers to halt spending on the platform.

Yes, this will surely attract more advertisers. Surely a very stable genius.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

And now it seems that Musk has moved into "blanket amnesty" for all historical Twitter malcontents.

Musk had previously said there would be no account reinstatements until a newly announced content moderation council had met. However, the Tesla CEO then said human rights groups "broke the deal" by urging advertisers to halt spending on the platform.

Yes, this will surely attract more advertisers. Surely a very stable genius.

Or maybe the advertisers need to stop pandering to the woke fascists.
Because the normal people already know it is bs anyway: playing woke in west and pandering to local cultures in the rest of the world because 'money'.

[HVC]

Advertisers play the odds. Why risk offending customers when they don't have to.

As for money, companies that don't care about money aren't companies for long.

[Zoupa]

He's reinstating any and everybody. I feel bad for every woman on twitter that will have to face an avalanche of their stalkers and rape-threats makers because fReE SPeeCH!!!1111!

[Zoupa]

What is the point of the report function if the guys get a blanket amnesty?

Like I got a bunch of accounts of russian tankies banned for denying the Holodomor for example. Now they'll be back. I don't think this very stable genius thought this through. Twitter will turn into 4chan/8chan territory reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaal quick, and then you get zero ad dollars.

Does he not have any advisors/lawyers or something?

[The Brain]

He is an attention whore. This way he gets attention.

[Admiral Yi]

Or maybe the advertisers need to stop pandering to the woke fascists.
Because the normal people already know it is bs anyway: playing woke in west and pandering to local cultures in the rest of the world because 'money'.

Donald and Marjorie got banned for spreading lies, not for being unwoke.

[Josquius]

Bloody commie nazis

The "anti woke" extremists have been screaming go woke go broke for years now. Advertisers still continue to refuse to go back to the 1970s.. This suggests what they're doing works.

[HVC]

Bloody commie nazis

The "anti woke" extremists have been screaming go woke go broke for years now. Advertisers still continue to refuse to go back to the 1970s.. This suggests what they're doing works.

Get woke go broke still seems to trip up entertainment (tv and movies). Whether the shows were just bad and happened to be woke, or if the wokeness was their downfall is up for debate.

But I agree with ads. It's not worth the bad press to be associated with hate and lies. Last thing Walmart wants is an add to pop up along side a tweet proclaiming the virtues of the kkk

[HVC]

Twitter might be out of compliance with EU Laws.

Twitter has disbanded its entire Brussels office, according to media reports, raising questions about the social media company's compliance with new EU laws to control big tech.

Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa, who were in charge of Twitter's digital policy in Europe, left the company last week, the Financial Times reported.

The pair had survived an initial cull when Elon Musk laid off thousands of employees following his takeover last month. It is unclear whether Mozer and La Nasa were made redundant or chose to leave in response to Musk's ultimatum to commit to working long "extremely hardcore" hours or quit.

Neither was it clear whether Twitter was closing its office in the European capital, one of the world's largest centres of tech regulation.

Questions to Twitter's press office went unanswered, while Moser and La Nasa did not immediately respond to messages.

In the first round of layoffs, Twitter sacked about half its 7,500 workforce, dissolving entire teams, including human rights, machine learning and algorithmic ethics. Among the thousands who lost their jobs was the head of the Brussels office, Stephen Turner. He tweeted on 14 November: "After 6 years I am officially retired from Twitter. From starting the office in Brussels to building an awesome team it has been an amazing ride."

The collapse of the small Brussels team has raised questions about the company's ability to enforce new rules intended to rein in the power of big tech and restrict hate speech. EU officials are said to have many contacts based in Dublin, where Twitter has its European headquarters, although that office has also faced 50% cuts. "I can confirm that we have active and ongoing contacts with Twitter (and other platforms) on different topics," a European Commission spokesperson said.

Senior officials have expressed confidence that the departures at the Brussels office do not threaten Twitter's ability to comply with key EU laws affecting large tech companies.

The news came as the commission revealed that Twitter – along with most other tech companies – had become slower in responding to hate speech reports. In 2016, large social media companies agreed to a code of conduct with the EU executive, pledging to assess most notifications of hate speech in less than 24 hours. In a seven-week period this year, Twitter assessed only 54% of notifications within 24 hours, as part of a general performance decline by most signatories to the code.

The company will also have to grapple with the EU's Digital Markets Act, a landmark law intended to curb the dominance of large platforms that came into force this month.

[Syt]

Andor has a pretty diverse cast, including many leading females, and a lesbian couple. Didn't see much backlash from the anti-woke brigade against it, but it may have been too niche.

There was a twitter thread a while ago (around the "Black Little Mermaid" "scandal", or maybe "Black Admiral April" in Star Trek SNW, because on Animated he'd been white) - can't find it anymore. But it tackled the "it's not accurate to the source" complaint that often comes up when adaptations change a character's race to non-white by pointing out a whole list of (white) characters from big franchises that were changed in appearance from their sources without major backlash.

[celedhring]

Bloody commie nazis

The "anti woke" extremists have been screaming go woke go broke for years now. Advertisers still continue to refuse to go back to the 1970s.. This suggests what they're doing works.

Get woke go broke still seems to trip up entertainment (tv and movies). Whether the shows were just bad and happened to be woke, or if the wokeness was their downfall is up for debate.

But I agree with ads. It's not worth the bad press to be associated with hate and lies. Last thing Walmart wants is an add to pop up along side a tweet proclaiming the virtues of the kkk

Stuff like She Hulk or RoP are rather mediocre, yet they aren't particularly worse that most generic similar shows that don't attract this kind of ire from certain groups. I get RoP is from a beloved IP so it was always going to be a target, but I find a lot of the criticism rather dishonest. I watched Black Adam and is total mediocre superhero crap, but it has a manly man doing manly things so it doesn't get the criticism that She Hulk got.