4 ms·

When you’re the richest guy in the world you have big enemies and friends, whose tentacles of power reach far and wide and can move populations for or against

When you’re the richest guy in the world you have big enemies and friends, whose tentacles of power reach far and wide and can move populations for or against you. I have enough executive experience to be 100% sure that none of us have a complete picture of what’s going on behind the scenes, with his political or business relationships. It’s been fascinating to see how pliable public opinion is with the influence of these media stories. The generally more intelligent crowd on HN is clearly no exception.

guelo 4y ago
> influence of these media stories The influences are from Elon's actions and tweets as well as leaks from insiders. Media conspiracy theories are not relevant here.
- user3939382 4y ago
  It’s not a “conspiracy theory” why do you think Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post? Because he loves journalism?
  - themacguffinman 4y ago
    Because of the prestige and status that comes with it, hardly an unprecedented reason.
  - toofy 4y ago
    > Because he loves journalism? i mean. yes. while im sure there is an investment piece in their as well, do you think its unreasonable to say journalism is immensely important to a healthy society?
  - HDThoreaun 4y ago
    Because it was cheap and he values journalism
ryanwaggoner 4y ago
You don't need 100% certainty of everything behind the scenes to decide whether this is a disaster. Maybe Musk will prove us all wrong, but right now it looks like a disaster. FWIW, what I've heard from friends inside Twitter matches the reporting.
Tronno 4y ago
By what means should be people be judged, if not by their public words and actions? Any other factors are, by definition, unknowable. Musk's words and actions have been very public indeed. What additional context can we gain by speculating about his private thoughts and back-room dealings?
- user3939382 4y ago
  I try to resist the urge to judge, and remind myself that I shouldn’t be drawing conclusions about things I’m not (or can’t be) informed about. There’s this big social pressure, not just to agree with the prevailing opinions, but in general to have these confident positions on everything. I think the world would be a better place with more “I dont know”s.
the_arcadian 4y ago
There's some willful denial here on HN and in other places that 1) twitter is being punished because it seems its role as supporting free speech rather than policing misinformation, 2) Elon Musk, as founder of Paypal and CEO of Starlink, has more than enough Internet / technical knowledge to run a site like twitter, 3) twitter itself is just not all that complicated and was probably due for an overhaul / rewrite anyway, and 4) investors don't buy companies to run them the exact same way that they were run before, they do it because they see both wasted resources and additional value and opportunity, which means they're always going to lay off some people and hire others. Ultimately, twitter will be judged by its users, and whether they find value in the site, and whether its financially viable - income meets expenses. I think twitter's free speech & openness virtually guarantees the former, since everyone will be able to find something that they like on the platform and ignore the rest. The latter will be opaque for quite a while, since twitter is now private and, I assume, won't be disclosing its financial data except as required by taxes / regulation.
- camel_Snake 4y ago
  Regarding your first point, I'm not sure why this sentiment exists. Twitter isn't any more free-speech than it was before. We've seen some accounts un-banned, like Babylon Bee but not Donald Trump. We've seen plenty other accounts newly banned as well for what is clearly parody. Feels like a wash on that front. I'm relying on hearsay now, but if some employees were really let go for bad-mouthing Elon in the company slack[1], that's certainly not a company attitude congruent with the principals of free speech. It's also notably a reversal of previous Twitter policy, which encouraged free discussion whether critical of leadership or not. [1] https://nitter.net/caseynewton/status/1592539948745650176 https://nitter.net/caseynewton/status/1592539948745650176
  - the_arcadian 4y ago
    As far as I know, Musk hasn't removed any comments critical of him or his management.

guelo 4y ago

> influence of these media stories The influences are from Elon's actions and tweets as well as leaks from insiders. Media conspiracy theories are not relevant here.

user3939382 4y ago
It’s not a “conspiracy theory” why do you think Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post? Because he loves journalism?
- themacguffinman 4y ago
  Because of the prestige and status that comes with it, hardly an unprecedented reason.
- toofy 4y ago
  > Because he loves journalism? i mean. yes. while im sure there is an investment piece in their as well, do you think its unreasonable to say journalism is immensely important to a healthy society?
- HDThoreaun 4y ago
  Because it was cheap and he values journalism

ryanwaggoner 4y ago

You don't need 100% certainty of everything behind the scenes to decide whether this is a disaster. Maybe Musk will prove us all wrong, but right now it looks like a disaster. FWIW, what I've heard from friends inside Twitter matches the reporting.

Tronno 4y ago

By what means should be people be judged, if not by their public words and actions? Any other factors are, by definition, unknowable. Musk's words and actions have been very public indeed. What additional context can we gain by speculating about his private thoughts and back-room dealings?

user3939382 4y ago
I try to resist the urge to judge, and remind myself that I shouldn’t be drawing conclusions about things I’m not (or can’t be) informed about. There’s this big social pressure, not just to agree with the prevailing opinions, but in general to have these confident positions on everything. I think the world would be a better place with more “I dont know”s.

the_arcadian 4y ago

There's some willful denial here on HN and in other places that 1) twitter is being punished because it seems its role as supporting free speech rather than policing misinformation, 2) Elon Musk, as founder of Paypal and CEO of Starlink, has more than enough Internet / technical knowledge to run a site like twitter, 3) twitter itself is just not all that complicated and was probably due for an overhaul / rewrite anyway, and 4) investors don't buy companies to run them the exact same way that they were run before, they do it because they see both wasted resources and additional value and opportunity, which means they're always going to lay off some people and hire others. Ultimately, twitter will be judged by its users, and whether they find value in the site, and whether its financially viable - income meets expenses. I think twitter's free speech & openness virtually guarantees the former, since everyone will be able to find something that they like on the platform and ignore the rest. The latter will be opaque for quite a while, since twitter is now private and, I assume, won't be disclosing its financial data except as required by taxes / regulation.

camel_Snake 4y ago
Regarding your first point, I'm not sure why this sentiment exists. Twitter isn't any more free-speech than it was before. We've seen some accounts un-banned, like Babylon Bee but not Donald Trump. We've seen plenty other accounts newly banned as well for what is clearly parody. Feels like a wash on that front. I'm relying on hearsay now, but if some employees were really let go for bad-mouthing Elon in the company slack[1], that's certainly not a company attitude congruent with the principals of free speech. It's also notably a reversal of previous Twitter policy, which encouraged free discussion whether critical of leadership or not. [1] https://nitter.net/caseynewton/status/1592539948745650176 https://nitter.net/caseynewton/status/1592539948745650176
- the_arcadian 4y ago
  As far as I know, Musk hasn't removed any comments critical of him or his management.