Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[alfred russel]

Elon will unban Trump from Twitter and after some hemming and hawing about social media Donald will make a triumphal comeback tweet:

"I AM BACK, no thanks to all those Losers And Haters!"

Our long national nightmare is going to get worse.

I'd think that the twitter ban is one of hte best things going for the republicans.

[The Larch]

I really can't see where Twitter fits.

The world's most expensive vanity purchase?

[OttoVonBismarck]

I deactivated my account / deleted Twitter apps the moment the deal was announced. I have zero interest in Parler which is all that I imagine Twitter under Musk will be, nonstop white nationalism and anti-vaxx stuff. I used it solely as a passive account to access news, so guess back to things like RSS and etc instead.

[Josquius]

And it's announced.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elon-musk-to-acquire-twitter-301532245.html

Huh. Everyone was certain it was a joke. Damn.

What happened to the poison pill defence they were planning?

[Berkut]

I have a Twitter account, but I never actually use it. 

It just seems to uniquely designed to concentrate all of the worst elements of social media. Anonymity combined with an intentional format designed to make sure there is little or no nuance or depth to anything.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I have a Twitter account, but I never actually use it.

It just seems to uniquely designed to concentrate all of the worst elements of social media. Anonymity combined with an intentional format designed to make sure there is little or no nuance or depth to anything.

Yeah, Twitter has always been useless for interacting/discussing (which may be why of all the "major" social media platforms it has never made money, and has a relatively small user base), but after RSS feeds kinda became less common I do think it was a pretty good way, if you curated who you followed, to get breaking news updates. My now-deleted account followed a lot of reputable journalists and news outlets, and a lot of times they would break stuff on Twitter before anywhere else, I'm hoping many of them choose to go elsewhere.

[garbon]

I deactivated my account / deleted Twitter apps the moment the deal was announced. I have zero interest in Parler which is all that I imagine Twitter under Musk will be, nonstop white nationalism and anti-vaxx stuff. I used it solely as a passive account to access news, so guess back to things like RSS and etc instead.

My social media break started last week when I got a new phone and didn't know my passwords. I think I'll continue with that.

[garbon]

And it's announced.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elon-musk-to-acquire-twitter-301532245.html

Huh. Everyone was certain it was a joke. Damn.

What happened to the poison pill defence they were planning?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/25/twitter-elon-musk-buy-takeover-deal-tesla

Twitter's board at first enacted an anti-takeover measure known as a poison pill that could have made a takeover attempt prohibitively expensive. But its initial reluctance to accept a transaction appeared to fade after Musk confirmed a funding package for the deal and shareholders warmed to it.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

let's see what happens first eh.

[Eddie Teach]

Elon will unban Trump from Twitter and after some hemming and hawing about social media Donald will make a triumphal comeback tweet:

"I AM BACK, no thanks to all those Losers And Haters!"

Our long national nightmare is going to get worse.

I'd think that the twitter ban is one of hte best things going for the republicans.

It's the best thing going for anyone who consumes American media.

[Grey Fox]

I use Twitter a lot. Not for discussion but it's a great place to get news. Especially sporting News. I'll miss it so when Musk ruins it.

[Jacob]

I've just started using Twitter the way Otto described - basically a month into the current war.

I think I'm going to save my account deletion for when he unbans Trump and his fellow enemies of democracy.

[Sheilbh]

Practically speaking I'm not sure Musk will actually make much difference to Twitter - I don't fully get the garment-rending online. Trump'll get unbanned but I think that's about it. It's not like Twitter did a mass sweep of the Nazis or anti-vaxx they are still very much there (just ask any female journalist).

I also thnk there's a slight contradiction between people who have (rightly) said that Twitter is a private company and can ban whoever they want, who are now considering its takeover by a weird billionaire (as opposed to Jack and the Saudis) a threat to the public sphere.

I still basically lean to the side that it's a private company that I'll use as long as it provides me with the service I want - and I think it probably will. But I don't massively think the stuff around disinformation/misinformation and the impact of social media is correct.

[DGuller]

I personally think the "it's a private company" argument was always a little strained.  I think social media companies are closer to being privately-held utility companies, which puts some responsibilities on them that purely private companies won't have. 

I think the "private company" argument kicked the can down the road on the discussion of limits of tolerance of intolerance.  I personally think that it should've been legal to ban Trump from Twitter even if Twitter were government-owned, and it would be the shortcoming of the First Amendment if it prohibited such an action.  Paradox of tolerance is a thing, and sticking to a principle that rests on a paradox is a punt, not a principled stand.

[FunkMonk]

I've always used Twitter to connect with people of similar interests. I have a soccer list and an Arsenal FC list 
As well as a list containing historians and other academics.   

I will continue to use Twitter as long as these folks continue to as well.

I occasionally scroll through my regular feed just to see what the latest outrage is. I use it to get a feel for the current fad or discourse. I also use it for laughs if I'm bored of YT videos or IG or the Discord servers I chat on and I've already done the day's Wordle.