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> Twitter is making the transition towards a "free speach" platform Twitter was originally a free speech platform. It transitioned away from that, much to the

by memish 4y ago

> Twitter is making the transition towards a "free speach" platform Twitter was originally a free speech platform. It transitioned away from that, much to the chagrin of its co-founder. "Twitter stands for freedom of expression. We stand for speaking truth to power. And we stand for empowering dialogue." https://twitter.com/jack/status/651003891153108997 https://twitter.com/jack/status/651003891153108997 The point is to restore the platform's core value and be a neutral, trusted public square. Jack himself said Elon is the only one he trusts to do that.

demygale 4y ago
It takes a huge leap of logic to come to the conclusion that Musk cares about free speech for anyone other than himself. What he wants is speech without consequences for himself. His ability to speak is mostly unrestricted by any government power, and policy changes at Twitter will have no effect on what few restrictions he might encounter.
- bko 4y ago
  So why would he buy Twitter? No one thinks its going to be a good investment. It was kind of a prerequisite to have shareholders agree to the purchase. There's no conceivable reason for him to spend his time, effort and money in buying twitter apart from his stated purpose. He's going to lose money and time on it. And its a stretch to think his personal wealth or companies will benefit from Musk owning Twitter. So if no other plausible explanation as to why he wants to buy twitter, why not just take him at face value?
  - I_DRINK_KOOLAID 4y ago
    Musk got to #1 in the Forbes 400 by saying things to people on twitter and becoming a techno-utopian cult figure This is like Kim Kardashian buying E! to make sure they can never cancel "Keeping up with the Kardashians". Musk wants to keep rolling his promises into the future in order to avoid people asking them about practical and tangible results in the present, as they have been underwhelming to say the least when compared to the financial bubble he managed to inflate.
    - jeffwask 4y ago
      "Musk got to #1 in the Forbes 400 by saying things to people on twitter " And funding armies of bots to say nice things about him and his companies... which is an interesting juxtaposition to any free speech agreement. In it's purest form banning bots, fake posts, etc. could be categorized as limiting speech.
    - memish 4y ago
      You think some tweets did that as opposed to transforming the car and space industries?
      - I_DRINK_KOOLAID 4y ago
        Every verb it's always about "-ing" with Musk supporters....never "-ed". You can shake Gates or Bezos hand and say to them that they transform-ed the software and online retail business respectively. Tesla cars accounts for like 1% of the total vehicles sales occourred globally in 2021. I remind you Musk has been at the helm of Tesla since 2002, that's 20 years. 1% in 20 years, that's hardly transform-ing either. The only word which makes sense when talking about Musk (if you want to cut him some serious slack) is "aspirational".
- drstewart 4y ago
  >What he wants is speech without consequences for himself. His ability to speak is mostly unrestricted by any government power ... and you're the one lecturing about flawed logic?
compiler-guy 4y ago
There is some “truth to power” on twitter, but there is also quite a bit of “lies in my favor”, “bullying to the weaker”, and “outright fraud to the gullible” also. Not sure how Elon intends to fix any of that by making it even more of a free for all.
lastofthemojito 4y ago
I mean, if we're splitting hairs, Twitter was originally a way to communicate with friends over SMS in a new way. Following friends would get their status updates delivered to your phone via text message, so you could learn that Suzy was planning on getting drinks at Bar X tonight or that Jim was looking for folks to play disc golf this weekend, without Suzy or Jim texting you individually. Oh, and Twitter also made a website where you could find these status updates, but that wasn't the initial focus. Eventually, the SMS delivery bit became obsolete and everyone used the Twitter website or apps, and the content became less "what am I up to" and more "what are my thoughts on current events". So yeah, then it needed content moderation in the same way that any web comments section needs content moderation but your iMessage group chat with some friends does not. I think Elon's talk about "free speech" and "open sourcing the algorithm" will just result in users having a choice of a handful of open-sourced, but vetted and approved newsfeed algorithms. By default it'll probably be something like today - users who post hate speech or who incite violence will be hidden. Sure, there will probably be an option to show tweets from everyone, even loonies who think Jews should be killed before their space lasers activate the 5G COVID vaccines or whatever, but hardly anyone will enable that algorithm. But Elon will have technically "brought back free speech" and will declare victory.
- deltarholamda 4y ago
  A lot of people have forgotten the OG Twitter. University campuses practically used it as a mass notification system. The inertia from that led to today's Twitter, where being on Twitter is nearly a prerequisite if you're a reporter, famous, or otherwise in the public eye, because of the number of users. Even though a high Twitter follower count is worth about as much as Mardi Gras beads, it's perceived as valuable because the Important People on Twitter see it as valuable. I'm not sure what Musk's endgame is (and I doubt anybody else does either, and I may be including Musk in that), but a privately owned Twitter is probably the best case for the platform, if people want it to continue.

by memish 4y ago

demygale 4y ago

It takes a huge leap of logic to come to the conclusion that Musk cares about free speech for anyone other than himself. What he wants is speech without consequences for himself. His ability to speak is mostly unrestricted by any government power, and policy changes at Twitter will have no effect on what few restrictions he might encounter.

bko 4y ago
So why would he buy Twitter? No one thinks its going to be a good investment. It was kind of a prerequisite to have shareholders agree to the purchase. There's no conceivable reason for him to spend his time, effort and money in buying twitter apart from his stated purpose. He's going to lose money and time on it. And its a stretch to think his personal wealth or companies will benefit from Musk owning Twitter. So if no other plausible explanation as to why he wants to buy twitter, why not just take him at face value?
- I_DRINK_KOOLAID 4y ago
  Musk got to #1 in the Forbes 400 by saying things to people on twitter and becoming a techno-utopian cult figure This is like Kim Kardashian buying E! to make sure they can never cancel "Keeping up with the Kardashians". Musk wants to keep rolling his promises into the future in order to avoid people asking them about practical and tangible results in the present, as they have been underwhelming to say the least when compared to the financial bubble he managed to inflate.
  - jeffwask 4y ago
    "Musk got to #1 in the Forbes 400 by saying things to people on twitter " And funding armies of bots to say nice things about him and his companies... which is an interesting juxtaposition to any free speech agreement. In it's purest form banning bots, fake posts, etc. could be categorized as limiting speech.
  - memish 4y ago
    You think some tweets did that as opposed to transforming the car and space industries?
    - I_DRINK_KOOLAID 4y ago
      Every verb it's always about "-ing" with Musk supporters....never "-ed". You can shake Gates or Bezos hand and say to them that they transform-ed the software and online retail business respectively. Tesla cars accounts for like 1% of the total vehicles sales occourred globally in 2021. I remind you Musk has been at the helm of Tesla since 2002, that's 20 years. 1% in 20 years, that's hardly transform-ing either. The only word which makes sense when talking about Musk (if you want to cut him some serious slack) is "aspirational".
drstewart 4y ago
>What he wants is speech without consequences for himself. His ability to speak is mostly unrestricted by any government power ... and you're the one lecturing about flawed logic?

compiler-guy 4y ago

There is some “truth to power” on twitter, but there is also quite a bit of “lies in my favor”, “bullying to the weaker”, and “outright fraud to the gullible” also. Not sure how Elon intends to fix any of that by making it even more of a free for all.

lastofthemojito 4y ago

I mean, if we're splitting hairs, Twitter was originally a way to communicate with friends over SMS in a new way. Following friends would get their status updates delivered to your phone via text message, so you could learn that Suzy was planning on getting drinks at Bar X tonight or that Jim was looking for folks to play disc golf this weekend, without Suzy or Jim texting you individually. Oh, and Twitter also made a website where you could find these status updates, but that wasn't the initial focus. Eventually, the SMS delivery bit became obsolete and everyone used the Twitter website or apps, and the content became less "what am I up to" and more "what are my thoughts on current events". So yeah, then it needed content moderation in the same way that any web comments section needs content moderation but your iMessage group chat with some friends does not. I think Elon's talk about "free speech" and "open sourcing the algorithm" will just result in users having a choice of a handful of open-sourced, but vetted and approved newsfeed algorithms. By default it'll probably be something like today - users who post hate speech or who incite violence will be hidden. Sure, there will probably be an option to show tweets from everyone, even loonies who think Jews should be killed before their space lasers activate the 5G COVID vaccines or whatever, but hardly anyone will enable that algorithm. But Elon will have technically "brought back free speech" and will declare victory.

deltarholamda 4y ago
A lot of people have forgotten the OG Twitter. University campuses practically used it as a mass notification system. The inertia from that led to today's Twitter, where being on Twitter is nearly a prerequisite if you're a reporter, famous, or otherwise in the public eye, because of the number of users. Even though a high Twitter follower count is worth about as much as Mardi Gras beads, it's perceived as valuable because the Important People on Twitter see it as valuable. I'm not sure what Musk's endgame is (and I doubt anybody else does either, and I may be including Musk in that), but a privately owned Twitter is probably the best case for the platform, if people want it to continue.