7 ms·

Well, speaking in those terms, I think the thing to watch will in fact be censorship. Elon is extremely idealistic, so it will be fascinating to watch him melt

Well, speaking in those terms, I think the thing to watch will in fact be censorship. Elon is extremely idealistic, so it will be fascinating to watch him melt down when confronted with the reality of how complex free speech and censorship issues really are. I predict that he will succeed in turning Twitter into the rightwing safehaven that "Truth" Social, Parlor, etc have all been trying to become. He's making a deal with the devil to fund Twitter, and if that means selling out to guys like Peter Thiel and other conservative power brokers, then he will do it. Just in time for the 2024 presidential election media cycle too...What could possibly go wrong?

BashiBazouk 4y ago
And what if China requests a tweet removed or user banned and puts a Tesla factory or those sweet tax cuts on the line?
- lake_vincent 4y ago
  Oh that's what I mean - he will enforce his own definition of free speech and censorship. It will be usual "Rules for thee but not for me" kinda thing. It will be a constantly shitfing goalpost, and he will always have some bullshit justification for why whatever he decides is correct. It won't be free speech, it will be Elon speech. He is a petulant child with too much money, and not enough humility. His sink stunt tells you everything you need to know - this is all about Elon. God help us all.
  - umeshunni 4y ago
    "Rules for thee but not for me" I mean, that's no different from Twitter and other platforms currently operate in terms of how they define hate speech or who they cancel.
    - davidw 4y ago
      It's not easy is it? I think the point is that while right now, 'unfair' things might happen, perhaps they will become even more uneven in the future, as he exerts more personal sway into what's ok and what's not, rather than attempting to stick to some guidelines.
    - dpkirchner 4y ago
      > that's no different from Twitter and other platforms Exactly -- and I think that's the source of most folks' pre-schadenfreude. A lot of us have been around long enough to have seen "free speech" platforms come and go and this feels no different, so far.
- concinds 4y ago
  The simple (and inevitable) solution is for some accounts or tweets to be withheld in certain countries. No company can avoid complying with the law; but they can't be forced to take down a tweet worldwide either.
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    > No company can avoid complying with the law; but they can't be forced to take down a tweet worldwide either. Sure they can. "You take down tweets we don't like, or Tesla loses China as a market, we arrest all the employees currently in China, and take your factories and other assets there". Can he say "fine"? Sure, technically.
KerrAvon 4y ago
- lake_vincent 4y ago
  Not saying it's necessarily a bad thing. It is that idealistic thinking that got us SpaceX and all that, so clearly the visionary aspect of his thinking is great, but it is a double edged sword. He thinks free speech is a problem he can solve solve, but I am saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. He is smart, but clumsy, and I seriously question his motives.
- lupire 4y ago
  No one said his ideals are good, and his father's mine and government subsidies are completely unrelated to whether he had ideals. Maybe his ideals are for government investment.
mikkergp 4y ago
> I predict that he will succeed in turning Twitter into the rightwing safehaven that "Truth" Social, Parlor, etc have all been trying to become. I actually don't think so, I think this was bluster, or if they are safe haven it will be safe in the way that a subreddit is safe. You can freely talk amongst eachother but that content won't be promoted to people who don't want to see it. I mean this was his latest tweet: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1586059953311137792?cxt=HHwWgICq2fnH6IIsAAAA https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1586059953311137792?cxt=... My prediction is he ends up growing twitter into a fairly bland chat/communications app/social network, and the focus on global political and social debates slowly weans over time.
- w0m 4y ago
  > This Tweet is unavailable. Learn more Can't help but smile.
  - mikkergp 4y ago
    Did you block him? I still see the tweet. Maybe he got selectively shadowbanned :-)
  - concinds 4y ago
    Twitter's had a few technical issues today (huh.) and I've had the same with other tweets. If you reload you should see it.
  - function_seven 4y ago
    Shows up for me. Here's the text of it in case others can't see it: > Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. > No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
  - NavinF 4y ago
    Twitter does that occasionally. Just reload the page until it works. I don't think they've ever had more than 2 9s of reliability.
- 4y ago
dragontamer 4y ago
Idealistic? Elon Musk has been talking about how awesome Gigafactory Shanghai is for the past year, thanks to Chinese workers who don't talk back to their boss and work harder than their American counterparts. Dude loves his Chinese anti-speech factory. Or at least, he already is pretending to do that so that he gets his Chinese sales numbers up. Musk makes the public statements he needs to do business. He has no morals outside of money as far as I can tell. Dude is 100% willing to spout off anti-American propaganda / stereotypes to serve his Chinese masters (at least, this year when his Chinese factory is opening up. We will see if he really believes those words or if he's just playing dumb or something...) EDIT: > I think there will be some very strong companies coming out of China. There’s just a lot of super talented and hardworking people in China that strongly believe in manufacturing. And they won’t just be burning the midnight oil. They’ll be burning the 3am oil. So they won’t even leave the factory type of thing. Whereas in America, people are trying to avoid going to work at all.
- biscottigelato 4y ago
  I view this as America needs to do better. Not sure why that's anti-American. You fan be good to somebody to tell them the truth and for them to apply themselves. Lie to them and speak American exceptionalism is not pro-America. Its brainwash
  - dragontamer 4y ago
    Elon Musk wouldn't comply with American COVID19 restrictions in his first factory. But when China goes 100% lockdown for the past year, he turns a blind eye to it and calls them hard workers instead. His anti-American bias, at least when talking with the Chinese, is pretty darn obvious. Of course, it all disappears when he flies back to the USA. My point is he's a two-faced double-talking political type. He says what he needs to say to get the money and prestige he needs to do what he wants. Expect more pro-Chinese sentiment from him. The Chinese factory is one of the most important elements of Tesla's strategy right now.
    - deepsquirrelnet 4y ago

BashiBazouk 4y ago

And what if China requests a tweet removed or user banned and puts a Tesla factory or those sweet tax cuts on the line?

lake_vincent 4y ago
Oh that's what I mean - he will enforce his own definition of free speech and censorship. It will be usual "Rules for thee but not for me" kinda thing. It will be a constantly shitfing goalpost, and he will always have some bullshit justification for why whatever he decides is correct. It won't be free speech, it will be Elon speech. He is a petulant child with too much money, and not enough humility. His sink stunt tells you everything you need to know - this is all about Elon. God help us all.
- umeshunni 4y ago
  "Rules for thee but not for me" I mean, that's no different from Twitter and other platforms currently operate in terms of how they define hate speech or who they cancel.
  - davidw 4y ago
    It's not easy is it? I think the point is that while right now, 'unfair' things might happen, perhaps they will become even more uneven in the future, as he exerts more personal sway into what's ok and what's not, rather than attempting to stick to some guidelines.
  - dpkirchner 4y ago
    > that's no different from Twitter and other platforms Exactly -- and I think that's the source of most folks' pre-schadenfreude. A lot of us have been around long enough to have seen "free speech" platforms come and go and this feels no different, so far.
concinds 4y ago
The simple (and inevitable) solution is for some accounts or tweets to be withheld in certain countries. No company can avoid complying with the law; but they can't be forced to take down a tweet worldwide either.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  > No company can avoid complying with the law; but they can't be forced to take down a tweet worldwide either. Sure they can. "You take down tweets we don't like, or Tesla loses China as a market, we arrest all the employees currently in China, and take your factories and other assets there". Can he say "fine"? Sure, technically.

KerrAvon 4y ago

lake_vincent 4y ago
Not saying it's necessarily a bad thing. It is that idealistic thinking that got us SpaceX and all that, so clearly the visionary aspect of his thinking is great, but it is a double edged sword. He thinks free speech is a problem he can solve solve, but I am saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. He is smart, but clumsy, and I seriously question his motives.
lupire 4y ago
No one said his ideals are good, and his father's mine and government subsidies are completely unrelated to whether he had ideals. Maybe his ideals are for government investment.

mikkergp 4y ago

> I predict that he will succeed in turning Twitter into the rightwing safehaven that "Truth" Social, Parlor, etc have all been trying to become. I actually don't think so, I think this was bluster, or if they are safe haven it will be safe in the way that a subreddit is safe. You can freely talk amongst eachother but that content won't be promoted to people who don't want to see it. I mean this was his latest tweet: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1586059953311137792?cxt=HHwWgICq2fnH6IIsAAAA https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1586059953311137792?cxt=... My prediction is he ends up growing twitter into a fairly bland chat/communications app/social network, and the focus on global political and social debates slowly weans over time.

w0m 4y ago
> This Tweet is unavailable. Learn more Can't help but smile.
- mikkergp 4y ago
  Did you block him? I still see the tweet. Maybe he got selectively shadowbanned :-)
- concinds 4y ago
  Twitter's had a few technical issues today (huh.) and I've had the same with other tweets. If you reload you should see it.
- function_seven 4y ago
  Shows up for me. Here's the text of it in case others can't see it: > Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. > No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
- NavinF 4y ago
  Twitter does that occasionally. Just reload the page until it works. I don't think they've ever had more than 2 9s of reliability.
4y ago

dragontamer 4y ago

Idealistic? Elon Musk has been talking about how awesome Gigafactory Shanghai is for the past year, thanks to Chinese workers who don't talk back to their boss and work harder than their American counterparts. Dude loves his Chinese anti-speech factory. Or at least, he already is pretending to do that so that he gets his Chinese sales numbers up. Musk makes the public statements he needs to do business. He has no morals outside of money as far as I can tell. Dude is 100% willing to spout off anti-American propaganda / stereotypes to serve his Chinese masters (at least, this year when his Chinese factory is opening up. We will see if he really believes those words or if he's just playing dumb or something...) EDIT: > I think there will be some very strong companies coming out of China. There’s just a lot of super talented and hardworking people in China that strongly believe in manufacturing. And they won’t just be burning the midnight oil. They’ll be burning the 3am oil. So they won’t even leave the factory type of thing. Whereas in America, people are trying to avoid going to work at all.

biscottigelato 4y ago
I view this as America needs to do better. Not sure why that's anti-American. You fan be good to somebody to tell them the truth and for them to apply themselves. Lie to them and speak American exceptionalism is not pro-America. Its brainwash
- dragontamer 4y ago
  Elon Musk wouldn't comply with American COVID19 restrictions in his first factory. But when China goes 100% lockdown for the past year, he turns a blind eye to it and calls them hard workers instead. His anti-American bias, at least when talking with the Chinese, is pretty darn obvious. Of course, it all disappears when he flies back to the USA. My point is he's a two-faced double-talking political type. He says what he needs to say to get the money and prestige he needs to do what he wants. Expect more pro-Chinese sentiment from him. The Chinese factory is one of the most important elements of Tesla's strategy right now.
  - deepsquirrelnet 4y ago