Thursday, November 14, 2024

Elon Musk’s Malign Influence — On What Was Twitter: Guardian (UK) Says “Enough!”


I am certain Elon Musk doesn't care that he's becoming. . . increasingly viewed (globally) as a malign force. I am fairly certain that he thinks this is all just some silly video game -- (an endless parade of insipid memes) like the sixth grader he emotionally forever remains.

Most of the adults, however, worldwide. . . I suspect, see it as The Guardian (UK) staff sees it:

. . .Yesterday we announced that we will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X (formerly Twitter). We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our content elsewhere.

This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform. The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.

X users will still be able to share our articles, and the nature of live news reporting means we will still occasionally embed content from X within our article pages.

Our reporters will also be able to carry on using the site for newsgathering purposes, just as they use other social networks in which we don’t officially engage. . . .


For whatever it is worth, for the last three years or so I have been cross posting the few things I do feel belong on the old Twitter/X, also to counter.social and to Mastodon. I agree with The Guardian – it is time to leave Musk's bitter little hellscape. Not that my voice matters, there. . . but it. is. time.

नमस्ते

1 comment:

  1. And… as Don Lemmon points out:

    In addition, starting this Friday, November 15, X is implementing new terms of service, which among other things states that "All disputes ... be brought exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas...." The full terms of service can be
    found here: https://x.com/en/tos.…


    That’s designed to suppress complaints — by victims, about threats / hate crimes.

    Yikes.

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