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Disappointing that competitors are bootstrapping new social networks by mass-scraping Twitter data. This is almost certainly what Elon was referring to earlier

Disappointing that competitors are bootstrapping new social networks by mass-scraping Twitter data. This is almost certainly what Elon was referring to earlier this week; the same thing happened with Substack Notes. Hope Twitter pursues legal action against Meta for this.

gsabo 3y ago
I’m curious how you think data scraping could be used to bootstrap a new social network like this
smoldesu 3y ago
What content is being scraped, here?
tills13 3y ago
maybe I missed it but how does this utilize Twitter data for bootstrapping?
brucethemoose2 3y ago
I am not sure what you mean? Why does Threads need any Twitter data?
threeseed 3y ago
a) There is no evidence of mass-scraping. b) It is legal and ethical to scrape public data. Especially when that data is owned by its users and not by Twitter. c) The more likely explanation for Twitter's rate limiting is that they didn't pay their AWS/Google bill and rather than cut the service off they limited its bandwidth and/or compute capacity.
asdadsdad 3y ago
Meta is extremely hypocritical about scraping. They continuously send their legal team to threaten third parties on scraping of their platforms yet time and again are caught red-handed
danShumway 3y ago
> are bootstrapping new social networks by mass-scraping Twitter data I am 99% sure that this is not a real thing and that you're using all of these words incorrectly. When was Substack illegally scraping Twitter data? What Twitter data is being used to bootstrap Threads?
- lopkeny12ko 3y ago
  > When was Substack illegally scraping Twitter data? https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1644638493883211779 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1644638493883211779 > What Twitter data is being used to bootstrap Threads? I have no proof of this. It's just speculation. I also don't have an iDevice so I can't install the app and look for myself. But the timing of Twitter's rate limiting this week, combined with Elon's clarification that Twitter data is being mass-scraped, combined with the launch of Threads this week...can't be a coincidence, can it?
  - gremlinsinc 3y ago
    actually it can, because threads has probably been in development for months? I doubt Zuck put it together since Friday. Most likely he knew Elon musk is an idiot who doesn't know the first thing about social media companies and has created a power vacuum for a Twitter like app, and now there's one for a Reddit like app.. If someone could marry the two, in a non profit Wikipedia sort of way, with decent Democratic way to moderate and vote on new features etc, we could kill two birds with one stone and replace both Twitter and Reddit.
  - predictabl3 3y ago
    Friend, I am a fan of, and highly recommend use your critical thinking skills to evaluate statements that others make before parroting them. I don't repeat things that make no sense on their face, like "Substack is scraping Twitter" or "Threads is bootstrapping off Twitter data". Like, what would that even mean? Do you really think Meta is going to launch a Twitter competitor and just wholesale impersonate accounts and their content? If not, what even are you implying? (from the "proof" link where Elon was accusing Substack of scraping:) >2. Substack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted. lol, reading that still makes me chuckle. I can't believe people eat his crap up even when the circumstances make it clear that he's backpeddaling and desperately trying to save face.
clipsy 3y ago
As respectfully as possible: can you define what you mean by scraping? Because it seems very much like you don't understand what that word means or are using it very idiosyncratically.

gsabo 3y ago

I’m curious how you think data scraping could be used to bootstrap a new social network like this

smoldesu 3y ago

What content is being scraped, here?

tills13 3y ago

maybe I missed it but how does this utilize Twitter data for bootstrapping?

brucethemoose2 3y ago

I am not sure what you mean? Why does Threads need any Twitter data?

threeseed 3y ago

a) There is no evidence of mass-scraping. b) It is legal and ethical to scrape public data. Especially when that data is owned by its users and not by Twitter. c) The more likely explanation for Twitter's rate limiting is that they didn't pay their AWS/Google bill and rather than cut the service off they limited its bandwidth and/or compute capacity.

asdadsdad 3y ago

Meta is extremely hypocritical about scraping. They continuously send their legal team to threaten third parties on scraping of their platforms yet time and again are caught red-handed

danShumway 3y ago

> are bootstrapping new social networks by mass-scraping Twitter data I am 99% sure that this is not a real thing and that you're using all of these words incorrectly. When was Substack illegally scraping Twitter data? What Twitter data is being used to bootstrap Threads?

lopkeny12ko 3y ago
> When was Substack illegally scraping Twitter data? https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1644638493883211779 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1644638493883211779 > What Twitter data is being used to bootstrap Threads? I have no proof of this. It's just speculation. I also don't have an iDevice so I can't install the app and look for myself. But the timing of Twitter's rate limiting this week, combined with Elon's clarification that Twitter data is being mass-scraped, combined with the launch of Threads this week...can't be a coincidence, can it?
- gremlinsinc 3y ago
  actually it can, because threads has probably been in development for months? I doubt Zuck put it together since Friday. Most likely he knew Elon musk is an idiot who doesn't know the first thing about social media companies and has created a power vacuum for a Twitter like app, and now there's one for a Reddit like app.. If someone could marry the two, in a non profit Wikipedia sort of way, with decent Democratic way to moderate and vote on new features etc, we could kill two birds with one stone and replace both Twitter and Reddit.
- predictabl3 3y ago
  Friend, I am a fan of, and highly recommend use your critical thinking skills to evaluate statements that others make before parroting them. I don't repeat things that make no sense on their face, like "Substack is scraping Twitter" or "Threads is bootstrapping off Twitter data". Like, what would that even mean? Do you really think Meta is going to launch a Twitter competitor and just wholesale impersonate accounts and their content? If not, what even are you implying? (from the "proof" link where Elon was accusing Substack of scraping:) >2. Substack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted. lol, reading that still makes me chuckle. I can't believe people eat his crap up even when the circumstances make it clear that he's backpeddaling and desperately trying to save face.

clipsy 3y ago

As respectfully as possible: can you define what you mean by scraping? Because it seems very much like you don't understand what that word means or are using it very idiosyncratically.