16 ms·

Prediction: Twitter becomes more efficient, focused and profitable than they ever have been. And it will return to the platform neutrality and free speech ideal

by memish 4y ago

Prediction: Twitter becomes more efficient, focused and profitable than they ever have been. And it will return to the platform neutrality and free speech ideals it had prior to 2015ish.

phailhaus 4y ago
Twitter is already biased towards right-wing sources, despite the right being the loudest at claiming persecution. [1] If Twitter actually became more platform neutral, then ironically we should see a shift towards the left. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-admits-bias-in-algorithm-for-rightwing-politicians-and-news-outlets https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-a...
- Auracle 4y ago
  By one metric, and according to Twitter themselves.
CobrastanJorji 4y ago
What is this pre-2015 neutrality you speak of? Wikipedia mentions a 2015 campaign of trying to ban ISIS propaganda accounts. Are you talking about that?
- andrew_ 4y ago
  I'd say it returns more to Twitter of 2010. It's the 2010 - 2013 era that people dig up "now-offensive" tweets from most often.
- codetrotter 4y ago
  The 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump was formally launched on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_2016_presidential_campaign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_2016_presidential... My guess would be that parent commenter is talking about the time before Twitter was fighting back against the “alt right”.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- KerrAvon 4y ago
  - o_1 4y ago
    posting mainstream media commentary on bias isn't going to win anyone over.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- dendrite9 4y ago
  I remember that banning campaign as part of why Telegram got popular for ISIS.
davidw 4y ago
The tricky part about neutrality is that "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor" Of course, it's not always clear what injustice is and reasonable people might disagree, but I think there are certain minimum standards, like "anti-semitism and blatant racism are bad".
- malfist 4y ago
  Removing my comment, it was misunderstood as me supporting hate speech, which was not my intention.
  - davidw 4y ago
    > Neutrality means I get to say what I want and you can't get mad at me or get my job to fire me. Twitter as a company/platform never went after anyone's job. Free speech does not mean that speech is without consequences.
    - throw10920 4y ago
      "Consequences" are enacted by an authority. The thing that happens on Twitter is "mob justice". EDIT: I did not read carefully before commenting, this comment is irrelevant.
      - davidw 4y ago
        The 'authority' mentioned was an employer, who is free to hire and fire people at will in he US, in many cases. Turns out that employing, say, a nazi, is not popular at many companies. This can certainly go to far, but it's kind of up to the employer, isn't it.
        throw10920 4y ago
        I misread. You're right, it's fully reasonable for companies to remove individuals from employment due to their own speech (but nobody else's).
pastor_bob 4y ago
platform neutrality is antithetical to profitability in the social media world.
brm 4y ago
Prior to 2015, Twitter was the pre-child view source generation tweeting interesting articles and what they ate for lunch.
duped 4y ago
4chan has always been around if you want platform neutrality and free speech. The results are unsurprising.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
justapassenger 4y ago
Very simple question - how?
adrr 4y ago
That’s counter to profitability. Advertisers don’t want free speech. They don’t want controversy.
lupire 4y ago
Kanye bought Parler for under $1B. Why pay $44B to make Twitter into a Parler knockoff?
superfrank 4y ago
> And it will return to the platform neutrality and free speech ideals it had prior to 2015ish. I'm not sure that's possible. Even if you could magically roll back Twitter to pre-2015 (staff, code, rules, etc.), the world has changed and the average Twitter user has changed.

by memish 4y ago

Prediction: Twitter becomes more efficient, focused and profitable than they ever have been. And it will return to the platform neutrality and free speech ideals it had prior to 2015ish.

phailhaus 4y ago

Twitter is already biased towards right-wing sources, despite the right being the loudest at claiming persecution. [1] If Twitter actually became more platform neutral, then ironically we should see a shift towards the left. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-admits-bias-in-algorithm-for-rightwing-politicians-and-news-outlets https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-a...

Auracle 4y ago
By one metric, and according to Twitter themselves.

CobrastanJorji 4y ago

What is this pre-2015 neutrality you speak of? Wikipedia mentions a 2015 campaign of trying to ban ISIS propaganda accounts. Are you talking about that?

andrew_ 4y ago
I'd say it returns more to Twitter of 2010. It's the 2010 - 2013 era that people dig up "now-offensive" tweets from most often.
codetrotter 4y ago
The 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump was formally launched on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_2016_presidential_campaign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_2016_presidential... My guess would be that parent commenter is talking about the time before Twitter was fighting back against the “alt right”.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
KerrAvon 4y ago
- o_1 4y ago
  posting mainstream media commentary on bias isn't going to win anyone over.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
dendrite9 4y ago
I remember that banning campaign as part of why Telegram got popular for ISIS.

davidw 4y ago

The tricky part about neutrality is that "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor" Of course, it's not always clear what injustice is and reasonable people might disagree, but I think there are certain minimum standards, like "anti-semitism and blatant racism are bad".

malfist 4y ago
Removing my comment, it was misunderstood as me supporting hate speech, which was not my intention.
- davidw 4y ago
  > Neutrality means I get to say what I want and you can't get mad at me or get my job to fire me. Twitter as a company/platform never went after anyone's job. Free speech does not mean that speech is without consequences.
  - throw10920 4y ago
    "Consequences" are enacted by an authority. The thing that happens on Twitter is "mob justice". EDIT: I did not read carefully before commenting, this comment is irrelevant.
    - davidw 4y ago
      The 'authority' mentioned was an employer, who is free to hire and fire people at will in he US, in many cases. Turns out that employing, say, a nazi, is not popular at many companies. This can certainly go to far, but it's kind of up to the employer, isn't it.
      - throw10920 4y ago
        I misread. You're right, it's fully reasonable for companies to remove individuals from employment due to their own speech (but nobody else's).

pastor_bob 4y ago

platform neutrality is antithetical to profitability in the social media world.

brm 4y ago

Prior to 2015, Twitter was the pre-child view source generation tweeting interesting articles and what they ate for lunch.

duped 4y ago

4chan has always been around if you want platform neutrality and free speech. The results are unsurprising.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

justapassenger 4y ago

Very simple question - how?

adrr 4y ago

That’s counter to profitability. Advertisers don’t want free speech. They don’t want controversy.

lupire 4y ago

Kanye bought Parler for under $1B. Why pay $44B to make Twitter into a Parler knockoff?

superfrank 4y ago

> And it will return to the platform neutrality and free speech ideals it had prior to 2015ish. I'm not sure that's possible. Even if you could magically roll back Twitter to pre-2015 (staff, code, rules, etc.), the world has changed and the average Twitter user has changed.