7 ms·

I have obviously missed something but what is the main objection to Musk being part of Twitter's board?

tmp_anon_22 5y ago
Its a modern incarnation of a billionaire buying a newspaper. Has that ever worked out well? Has it ever been altruistic?
- neilc 5y ago
  I don't think Bezos' ownership of the Washington Post has gone badly so far.
  - manquer 5y ago
    Not much for WaPo perhaps, but for bezos that put him in the target sights of lot of people Many of them state sponsored like Saudi government which targeted him after kashtogi. He also got hacked and his dick pics were maybe compromised. Those hacks could have accelerated his divorce too.
  - topspin 5y ago
    And yet, in a remarkable display of self unawareness, WaPo has declared[1] that Musk's move "Could Be Bad News for Free Speech." [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-twitter-investment-could-be-bad-news-for-free-speech/2022/04/04/ab93b742-b43d-11ec-8358-20aa16355fb4_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-twitter-i...
ausbah 5y ago
likely something about the platform not promoting free speech enough via overreaching censorship, interpret that how you like
mynameisvlad 5y ago
A decent chunk of people in the previous thread were saying he’s doing it to kill the bot that tracks his plane’s movements. In general, he seems to be an active enough user that there’s concerns he will use his new power as a way to shield himself from the consequences of his activity.
- scop 5y ago
  By "shield himself from the consequences of his activity" I think Elon literally meant "I don't want to get shot by some crazy person following my movements". No perfect solution, but I can get his motivation.
  - manquer 5y ago
    Buying Twitter is hardly solving the problem. The content creator can just move to Facebook/Instagram or /tiktok or wherever.
  - mynameisvlad 5y ago
    ADS data is public. Just because a Twitter bot puts it in a nice easy to digest format doesn't mean the data isn't out there, and there's nothing Elon or really anyone can do about it. It is trivial to track a plane if you have its tail number and Elon only flies on a small number of jets. And, no, by "shield himself from the consequences of his activities", I mean things like calling someone a pedophile on Twitter. He is one of the biggest Twitter drama quee s and it would be a lot easier to clean up his messes if he practically owns the company.
    - peeters 5y ago
      Plenty of things are public but are unethical to broadcast, and can range from benign to extremely creepy or harassment.
    - E4YomzYIN5YEBKe 5y ago
      Voter registrations make people's home addresses public information (in many states) but posting that on Twitter violates their doxxing rules.
      - mynameisvlad 5y ago
        Doxxing is very specific-- you are revealing the link between the pseudonymous account and the holder. Elon Musk is a public figure, and posts under his own account. Additionally, a jet plane, whether private or public, does not have any rights. You cannot "doxx" an airplane. Aside from the practical benefits that ADS-B provides, the public nature of it holds everyone accountable.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
sixQuarks 5y ago
HN has a bias against Elon Musk. That’s pretty much what you need to know.
- mhh__ 5y ago
  Or for Elon Musk, depends who you ask. HN is't a person's initials.
  - sixQuarks 5y ago
    Puh-lease. Bias means tendency to lean a certain way, you can’t have bias in 2 opposite directions. The pro Elon crowd here is a minority. Something I’ll never understand, being that this is an entrepreneurial forum and Elon is the worlds best entrepreneur. Jealousy perhaps?
    - mhh__ 5y ago
      What I'm saying is that you can't reduce the whole site down to one made up measure of bias. Maybe it is jealousy, maybe it's that he's a neurotic moron who's more than happy to try and ruin the careers of little people. How many of the great entrepreneurs of history got embarrassed after their scheme doesn't work and call their competitor a paedophile? You can recognize his skills while also recognizing that he's not a very nice man.
      - 0F 5y ago
        No, the bias is everywhere and HN is just reflecting that universal bias. It’s very popular to dislike Elon musk and it’s very unpopular to be a supporter. Count the number of supporters vs detractors in any mainstream thread — musk haters will be the majority every single time despite the fact that his detractors refer constantly to a phantom army of supporters. Every Reddit thread is basically 100 people responding to non-existent “fan boy” straw men. And they also like to spread the falsehood that Elon musk used gem mine money to become successful. It’s literally just made up nonsense. People like to act like his pedo tweet was some kind of crime against humanity. Let’s have a look at your twitter if you’re so indignant. People are such shameless hypocrites.
fallingknife 5y ago
Two reasons. - Haters who can't stand people more successful than them, and who is more successful than Elon Musk? So anything he does is terrible. - Since Trump, HN mostly supports social media censorship of opposing political ideas, and Elon Musk has expressed that he doesn't like this censorship.
- samarama 5y ago
  Science denials isn’t political “idea”, it’s just plain and destructive science denial.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
NelsonMinar 5y ago
One problem is the culture he's created at his other companies. "Black Tesla employees describe a culture of racism: ‘I was at my breaking point’ " https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-25/black-tesla-employees-fremont-plant-racism-california-lawsuit https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-25/black-tesl... "California sues Tesla, alleging rampant racism at factory" https://www.npr.org/2022/02/15/1080884899/california-sues-tesla-alleging-rampant-racism-at-factory https://www.npr.org/2022/02/15/1080884899/california-sues-te... "Black workers accused Tesla of racism for years. Now California is stepping in" https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/18/tesla-california-racial-harassment-discrimination-lawsuit https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/18/tesla-cal...
- bequanna 5y ago
  I'm sure this is all 100% true and in no way backlash for Musk's decision to shift operations away from California and very loud criticism of CA's politicians/bureaucrats.
  - jack_squat 5y ago
    Do you think that's how it works? I have no idea, what's your evidence? California's actions seems pretty consistent with this to me: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.319709/gov.uscourts.cand.319709.57.0_1.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.31...
    - bequanna 5y ago
      > Do you think that's how it works? I have no idea, what's your evidence? Do I think that people leverage their positions of power in the govt to strike blows when they are offended or threatened? Absolutely.
      - mywittyname 5y ago
        He lost in court, multiple times. And he'll probably continue to lose. It's not that people in the government have a vendetta against him. He's just petulant and thinks himself above the law. So, while I'm sure it's enjoyable to to knock him down a peg, he's doing it to himself allowing blatantly illegal shit to happen in his companies.
jillesvangurp 5y ago
None; sounds like a good change for Twitter and probably the best thing that happened to their board in quite some time. I did laugh out loud when I heard about this yesterday. There is a more than a bit of history between Elon Musk and his many detractors and a lot of that involves Twitter. So, Elon Musk buying himself a seat on the board is more than a bit ironic. The man definitely seems to float from one controversy to another and quite a few of those controversies seem to involve Twitter. Buying a big share in Twitter is kind of a ballsy thing to do. But why not? Might I suggest shorting the stock if you disagree ;-).
peeters 5y ago
I'm pretty neutral on Musk but he has an established track record of saying stupid shit on Twitter and ruining others' days/lives. Market manipulation, libel, trolling, etc. I guess I don't trust that a man with that kind of track record would be a positive influence on the social media hellscape we already have. This is acknowledging that he also shares awesome stuff, like technical SpaceX details, and that he often engages with people in a real cool way.
jdrc 5y ago
Bezos is not happy https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-twitter-investment-could-be-bad-news-for-free-speech/2022/04/04/ab93b742-b43d-11ec-8358-20aa16355fb4_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-twitter-i...
- AustinDev 5y ago
  The linked article is from Bloomberg so you can add him to the list people who are big mad.
EricE 5y ago
The gatekeepers are loosing control - or so they feel. Always fun to watch totalitarians get the boot.

Its a modern incarnation of a billionaire buying a newspaper. Has that ever worked out well? Has it ever been altruistic?

neilc 5y ago
I don't think Bezos' ownership of the Washington Post has gone badly so far.
- manquer 5y ago
  Not much for WaPo perhaps, but for bezos that put him in the target sights of lot of people Many of them state sponsored like Saudi government which targeted him after kashtogi. He also got hacked and his dick pics were maybe compromised. Those hacks could have accelerated his divorce too.
- topspin 5y ago
  And yet, in a remarkable display of self unawareness, WaPo has declared[1] that Musk's move "Could Be Bad News for Free Speech." [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-twitter-investment-could-be-bad-news-for-free-speech/2022/04/04/ab93b742-b43d-11ec-8358-20aa16355fb4_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-twitter-i...

ausbah 5y ago

likely something about the platform not promoting free speech enough via overreaching censorship, interpret that how you like

mynameisvlad 5y ago

A decent chunk of people in the previous thread were saying he’s doing it to kill the bot that tracks his plane’s movements. In general, he seems to be an active enough user that there’s concerns he will use his new power as a way to shield himself from the consequences of his activity.

scop 5y ago
By "shield himself from the consequences of his activity" I think Elon literally meant "I don't want to get shot by some crazy person following my movements". No perfect solution, but I can get his motivation.
- manquer 5y ago
  Buying Twitter is hardly solving the problem. The content creator can just move to Facebook/Instagram or /tiktok or wherever.
- mynameisvlad 5y ago
  ADS data is public. Just because a Twitter bot puts it in a nice easy to digest format doesn't mean the data isn't out there, and there's nothing Elon or really anyone can do about it. It is trivial to track a plane if you have its tail number and Elon only flies on a small number of jets. And, no, by "shield himself from the consequences of his activities", I mean things like calling someone a pedophile on Twitter. He is one of the biggest Twitter drama quee s and it would be a lot easier to clean up his messes if he practically owns the company.
  - peeters 5y ago
    Plenty of things are public but are unethical to broadcast, and can range from benign to extremely creepy or harassment.
  - E4YomzYIN5YEBKe 5y ago
    Voter registrations make people's home addresses public information (in many states) but posting that on Twitter violates their doxxing rules.
    - mynameisvlad 5y ago
      Doxxing is very specific-- you are revealing the link between the pseudonymous account and the holder. Elon Musk is a public figure, and posts under his own account. Additionally, a jet plane, whether private or public, does not have any rights. You cannot "doxx" an airplane. Aside from the practical benefits that ADS-B provides, the public nature of it holds everyone accountable.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

sixQuarks 5y ago

HN has a bias against Elon Musk. That’s pretty much what you need to know.

mhh__ 5y ago
Or for Elon Musk, depends who you ask. HN is't a person's initials.
- sixQuarks 5y ago
  Puh-lease. Bias means tendency to lean a certain way, you can’t have bias in 2 opposite directions. The pro Elon crowd here is a minority. Something I’ll never understand, being that this is an entrepreneurial forum and Elon is the worlds best entrepreneur. Jealousy perhaps?
  - mhh__ 5y ago
    What I'm saying is that you can't reduce the whole site down to one made up measure of bias. Maybe it is jealousy, maybe it's that he's a neurotic moron who's more than happy to try and ruin the careers of little people. How many of the great entrepreneurs of history got embarrassed after their scheme doesn't work and call their competitor a paedophile? You can recognize his skills while also recognizing that he's not a very nice man.
    - 0F 5y ago
      No, the bias is everywhere and HN is just reflecting that universal bias. It’s very popular to dislike Elon musk and it’s very unpopular to be a supporter. Count the number of supporters vs detractors in any mainstream thread — musk haters will be the majority every single time despite the fact that his detractors refer constantly to a phantom army of supporters. Every Reddit thread is basically 100 people responding to non-existent “fan boy” straw men. And they also like to spread the falsehood that Elon musk used gem mine money to become successful. It’s literally just made up nonsense. People like to act like his pedo tweet was some kind of crime against humanity. Let’s have a look at your twitter if you’re so indignant. People are such shameless hypocrites.

fallingknife 5y ago

Two reasons. - Haters who can't stand people more successful than them, and who is more successful than Elon Musk? So anything he does is terrible. - Since Trump, HN mostly supports social media censorship of opposing political ideas, and Elon Musk has expressed that he doesn't like this censorship.

samarama 5y ago
Science denials isn’t political “idea”, it’s just plain and destructive science denial.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

NelsonMinar 5y ago

One problem is the culture he's created at his other companies. "Black Tesla employees describe a culture of racism: ‘I was at my breaking point’ " https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-25/black-tesla-employees-fremont-plant-racism-california-lawsuit https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-25/black-tesl... "California sues Tesla, alleging rampant racism at factory" https://www.npr.org/2022/02/15/1080884899/california-sues-tesla-alleging-rampant-racism-at-factory https://www.npr.org/2022/02/15/1080884899/california-sues-te... "Black workers accused Tesla of racism for years. Now California is stepping in" https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/18/tesla-california-racial-harassment-discrimination-lawsuit https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/18/tesla-cal...

bequanna 5y ago
I'm sure this is all 100% true and in no way backlash for Musk's decision to shift operations away from California and very loud criticism of CA's politicians/bureaucrats.
- jack_squat 5y ago
  Do you think that's how it works? I have no idea, what's your evidence? California's actions seems pretty consistent with this to me: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.319709/gov.uscourts.cand.319709.57.0_1.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.31...
  - bequanna 5y ago
    > Do you think that's how it works? I have no idea, what's your evidence? Do I think that people leverage their positions of power in the govt to strike blows when they are offended or threatened? Absolutely.
    - mywittyname 5y ago
      He lost in court, multiple times. And he'll probably continue to lose. It's not that people in the government have a vendetta against him. He's just petulant and thinks himself above the law. So, while I'm sure it's enjoyable to to knock him down a peg, he's doing it to himself allowing blatantly illegal shit to happen in his companies.

jillesvangurp 5y ago

None; sounds like a good change for Twitter and probably the best thing that happened to their board in quite some time. I did laugh out loud when I heard about this yesterday. There is a more than a bit of history between Elon Musk and his many detractors and a lot of that involves Twitter. So, Elon Musk buying himself a seat on the board is more than a bit ironic. The man definitely seems to float from one controversy to another and quite a few of those controversies seem to involve Twitter. Buying a big share in Twitter is kind of a ballsy thing to do. But why not? Might I suggest shorting the stock if you disagree ;-).

peeters 5y ago

I'm pretty neutral on Musk but he has an established track record of saying stupid shit on Twitter and ruining others' days/lives. Market manipulation, libel, trolling, etc. I guess I don't trust that a man with that kind of track record would be a positive influence on the social media hellscape we already have. This is acknowledging that he also shares awesome stuff, like technical SpaceX details, and that he often engages with people in a real cool way.

jdrc 5y ago

Bezos is not happy https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-twitter-investment-could-be-bad-news-for-free-speech/2022/04/04/ab93b742-b43d-11ec-8358-20aa16355fb4_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-twitter-i...

AustinDev 5y ago
The linked article is from Bloomberg so you can add him to the list people who are big mad.

EricE 5y ago

The gatekeepers are loosing control - or so they feel. Always fun to watch totalitarians get the boot.